Black Creek Burning (The Black Creek Series, Book 1) (21 page)

Brie turned to see him. Andy rocked up on the balls of his feet when he saw her. "Miss
Chapman!" He ran to her and surprised Nathan at the easy way he sat on one of her
legs. "How is Macey? Is she better? Goldie missed her. Are you coming back to school?
The newsman said you're not coming back to school."

Nathan stood with the water in one hand and his thumb in his pocket with the other.
He'd forgotten how Brie had spent more time with Andy during the week than he did
these past few months.

Placing her hand on his back, she looked down at him. "Macey is around here somewhere
reminiscing with your dog. She is much better, and I'm afraid the newsman was right."
She looked thoughtful before she continued, "I broke a rule and my bosses are going
to decide on my punishment."

"Are you in time out?" he asked with a sincere look.

Nathan noticed Brie pressing her lips together. "You could say that, yes." She held
onto him with one arm as she reached in her bag. "I brought you something."

"Really? What is it?" Andy strained his neck to see what she was pulling out of her
bag.

"It's not much." She pulled out several decks of cards and handed them to him.

Confused, Nathan tilted his head and lowered his eyebrows.

Andy took the decks and bolted for the stairs, yelling, "Thanks!" as he ran.

"He's likely to make a mess. So, sorry." She pulled out a gray binder and set it on
his table.

He pushed off from the wall and walked toward her. "Ah. Card castle." He set the water
down on the folding table. "Is this a
binder
full of notes for Dave?"

"No, I'm still working on that. I have a proposition for you."

Chapter 18

Nathan sat on the single empty chair, leaned back and crossed his ankles. "I'm listening."

"The binder is for my landscaping business. I threw some sketches together yesterday
at the vet's. I would need to do more accurate measurements and to learn more of your
personal tastes." She turned the binder to face him and flipped through pages, stopping
at a sketch of his house. "I was surprised at how much I remembered of what your house
looks like. Of course, I could easily picture the northwest corner since I see it
every day, but I could picture the other sides, too."

He sat forward, looking at the first sketch. It was an excellent rendering of the
front of his house with curvy lines of buried brick sectioning an array of plants
and shrubs. He tried not to look smug that his procrastination ate at her. "You can
draw."

She smiled bigger now. "I wouldn't say that with Duncan in the house." She leaned
closer to him, turning the pages. She smelled amazing. "These are different angles
of your home and what I recommend, but you can change whatever you want, of course.
Basically, more color means more maintenance. See, this is an aerial view of the back
and the corners that could be dug out at the ends of your land. Tiered is what I would
recommend with the slope back there."

"Speak of the devil." He took the binder and set it on his lap, flipping through pages.
He recognized Duncan's footsteps on the stairs.

When Duncan made the turn at the bottom of the stairs, Nathan noticed he had his own
binder tucked under his arm.

"Hi, Miss Chapman. Andy said you were here. Macey and Goldie are crashed in the foyer.
She looks better."

"It's good to see you, Duncan. What do you have there?"

"You said at lunch last week you wanted to see my latest drawings." Duncan shrugged
a shoulder and handed his binder to Brie.

"Let's let your dad look through his pictures, and we'll go in the next room."

Everyone hesitated at Brie's reference to him as Duncan's dad, then Duncan looked
up to her.

They seemed to exchange some sort of an understanding before she went on. "I saw a
lot of clean wall space for us to lean on in the dining room." Brie took a box of
drawing chalks from her bag along with Duncan's leather binder and walked with him
to the next room.

Nathan flipped through the pages of Brie's plans for his yard. The trees, plants and
shrubs were organized, yet arranged to look natural and casual. Honestly, he was more
interested in Brie's sketches of his house. Looking at it through her eyes gave him
some ideas.

He pulled out his notebook, worn and curved from the confines of his back pocket,
and slid the pencil from behind his ear. He decided to add some arches to the porch
that would accent the curves of the border she had planned. He also decided on some
brick for the front of the house that would bring out some of the color she'd chosen.
Won't the outside painters be happy with that, he imagined sarcastically.

Finished, he set the book on the table and walked toward the dogs. He stopped short
when he reached Brie and Duncan. They sat close with Brie's arm around him and his
head resting on her shoulder. They flipped through pages and commented on each. Absently,
she fixed the tag on the back of his shirt. It was that simple gesture that caused
his heart to fall out of his chest and land soundly at her feet.

It wasn't until he walked her to her truck that she explained the point of her visit.
"I'll do your yard for you under one condition."

He lifted an eyebrow to her. "Condition?"

"You pay for the materials, and the labor will be my way to work off the vet bill."

He opened his mouth and took a breath.

Brie lifted a hand. "It's my only condition. Take it or leave it."

He stood and looked around, considering. He wanted to refuse, but the thought of having
her here almost daily was too tempting. Instead he held out his hand and they shook
on it.

A Bonneville pulled up the gravel drive. Nathan noticed her pull at her ear. His dad
stepped out of the car first as Nathan opened the door for his mother. They both wore
blue jeans and sneakers like a young couple.

"Is this her?" His dad gestured to Brie. "I'm Sylvester Reed and this is my wife,
Mackenzie. It's good to finally meet you."

Brie held out her hand.

Nathan spoke up. "Yes, this is Brie, Brie Chapman."

His dad took hold of Brie's hand and pulled her into a hug just as he had done with
him a few days before. He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder in Nathan's direction.
"He'd better be taking care of you."

"I'm tucked away nice and safe."

"Well, a shave would be nice." Mackenzie reached up on her toes to kiss him on the
cheek. She turned to face Brie. "We've heard so much about you, dear. I just want
you to know we didn't raise our boys this way." There was silence at the mention of
Nathan's older brother. His dad breezed over it.

"We've got cans to shoot and boxes of BBs to burn through. Where are those grandkids
when you're looking for them?" His dad kissed the top of his moms head and patted
her behind.

"I really should take my dog home before we go downtown, Nathan. It was very nice
to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Reed."

They waved and Brie blew two whistles for her dog. Macey bolted out a little faster
than she should have and paused to make a quick circle around his parents before jumping
into the cab of Brie's truck.

* * *

Macey lay sleeping in the middle of her oval rug. At the sound of the door, she scrambled
to her feet. "You have a key," Brie said as she opened it.

Nathan smiled at her. "I'm being polite."

Anxious, she didn't step aside for him.

"Can I take a look at what you've got before we leave?"

"I made a copy for you to keep." She slipped her hand in his arm and urged him out
the front door. The rain had stopped but the air was still damp. Most people didn't
care for the smell, but she felt it was soothing, nearly as soothing as the man climbing
in her truck.

As he drove, she caught him up on what her sister had found out regarding her suspension.
Not-so-subtly, Nathan led the subject to something lighter. He spoke about Goldie's
morning ritual of whining at his front door, expecting her and Macey to run by.

"Thank you for giving me some space. I do feel better, much more together and ready
for this." She nodded her head toward the police station as they passed.

A spot was free on the first level of the parking garage. They dodged puddles and
spring potholes as they crossed the street to the station.

"Is he expecting us? I didn't think to call ahead." She was surprised at how the feelings
of anxiety and despair crept back as she walked toward the building, like they had
never been suppressed.

"Yes."

"And he will be in charge of looking into this? I really hope so."

"He won't be
in charge
. He'll be working under a senior detective."

She felt the warmth of Nathan's hand on her lower back as he opened the glass door
for her. They checked in and the officer behind the front desk pointed the way to
the stairs. Dave met them as they reached the top.

She noted how clean it was in the station. And empty. She always expected dirty people
sitting on benches, waiting to be questioned or arrested. Television. Metal desks
were pushed together next to clusters of chairs with arm rests. It didn't smell soiled,
but she sensed coffee that had likely been on a burner all day.

"Glad you could make it." Dave shook hands with her first, then Nathan.

"Come on back to my office." He gestured and followed behind them.

"Office?" Nathan asked. "You moving up? What happened to the desk stuck next to your
partner?"

Dave spoke as they walked. "One of the detectives took early retirement. Offices moved
around. I got the small one. They're finding a new partner for him. He's not too happy
right now. They're phasing me out for the next few months. I still have beat time.
Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Water?"

"No, thank you." She clutched her bag with two hands.

"Well, please sit down, and we'll make this as painless as possible."

"I know how this goes. You ask a lot of questions and don't tell me anything about
what you think and very little about what you know. I'm not trying to be rude. I just
know."

"I'll be up front with you, Brie. I do have questions and you're right, I can't tell
you anything that would compromise an investigation. I can tell you that I take a
personal interest in this case and will do everything in my power to find out who's
after you."

Dave motioned toward two wooden chairs that sat opposite his desk. His chair scraped
along the floor tiles as he pulled it around to sit with them. "Tell me what you've
got."

She handed Dave a copy of the list he'd asked for. She went through, explaining as
she pointed to different pages. There were several. The first was a visual timeline
covering each incident to the closest date and location she could remember. Each subsequent
page listed individual incidents with more details, starting with the dead mouse.
Everyone she could think of was listed. Each page following covered another episode.

"Impressive," Dave commented. "The only question I have, for now, is who you told
that your dog was pregnant?"

She rested back in the chair, considering, and went through the list in her mind chronologically.
"My sister, Mrs. Melbourne, Amanda Piper and, well, everyone at work."

When she stopped, Dave finished taking notes, then explained he would canvas her neighborhood
and the houses around the school asking what people heard or saw during the time of
each incident.

"I need to tell you I'm going to be questioning some Bloom staff, too." He reached
in his shirt pocket and took out a business card. "You also need to understand I'm
only second in command here, Brie. If you have something to add, you can contact me."
He held out the business card for her to take. "Or you can contact Officer Tanner.
I'll be in touch with—"

She stood up from the chair and took a large step back, clutching her copy of the
folder to her chest. "Why is Tanner involved?"

"Well... it made sense since he was lead detective after the fire."