The Comeback Kiss (15 page)

“
So, she was worried about her friends?”
Finn asked.

“
The
newspaper clippings on the box,”
she said, handing the box back to him. “
Do you notice anything weird about the clippings?”

Finn looked at the box again and saw that Izzy was right. The clippings weren
’
t complete, mostly covered with the other decorations
, but Finn did notice one thing.

They were all about accidental fires that had happened in town. From what he could gather, there had been three in the seven years prior to Karen
’
s death.

“
Well,”
he said, “
this is a little quirky, I
’
ll grant you that. But
your mom died in a car accident.”

Izzy took a deep breath. “
Running from a fire.”

“
And you think her fire was related to these other fires? Lucy
’
s Lake has been around for a while. Lots of old buildings with lots of old fuse boxes.”

Izzy scooted forward on
her chair. “
Look at the box again.”

“
Izzy,”
Finn said, holding the box out to her, “
I
’
m not playing games here. If there
’
s something to see, just tell me what you think it is.”

Izzy gave him plaintive eyes. “
Please. Just look closer. I want to make sure i
t
’
s not my imagination.”

Finn took another look at the box. Flowers. Stickers of little girls in fluffy dresses. Something registered and he looked closer.

Everywhere the word “
accidental”
appeared in print, the shellac was just a little bit thicker, a lit
tle browner. Kinda like a subtle highlighter.

“
Do you see it?”

Finn looked up at Izzy. “
You think your mother thought these fires weren
’
t accidents?”

Izzy relaxed and sat back. “
You see it.”

“
I see it,”
he said. “
What
’
s it mean?”

“
I don
’
t know,”
Izzy said.
“
But here
’
s some more weird. I was working for Vickie Kemp last summer, and one day she asked me to go pick up something for her at her house, and I found an identical worry box in the far corner of her closet.”

Finn raised an eyebrow. “
She sent you to ge
t something from the far corner of her closet?”

Izzy rolled her eyes. “
No. I snooped, okay? Don
’
t tell Tessa. Anyway, I found one, just like Mom
’
s, only it had a Catholic saint medal in it, Saint Catherine of Siena.”

“
Yeah? So what?”

“
I looked her up. She
’
s the patron saint for fire prevention.”

Finn looked down at the box, then back up at Izzy.

“
It
’
s all clear, then,”
he said flatly.

“
Well, duh,”
Izzy said. “
They knew who was setting the fires and they wanted to protect themselves.”

Finn put the box down
on the bed and rubbed his eyes. “
Look, kid. I
’
m not gonna tell you there aren
’
t some questions here, but I think you
’
re connecting dots that might not be there.”

“
I
’
m looking for more dots,”
Izzy said. “
That
’
s why I
’
ve been snooping. I thought if I could f
ind Margie
’
s box, you know, there might be another clue. I searched her car, her shop. I even broke into her safe
—”

“
You what?”
Forget underestimating Izzy; Finn made a mental note never to turn his back on this kid for a second.

“—
and there was nothing,”
Izzy went on. “
I know she
’
s gotta have a box, and there
’
s only one place I haven
’
t searched. Her house. It
’
s gotta be there, and if we can just get to it, her box might have another clue...”

“
Why are you so sure she has a box?”

Izzy looked at him like he w
as stupid. “
Because the three of them were best friends.”

Finn waited for the rest. Instead, Izzy just looked at him.

“
Yeah. So?”

Izzy huffed. “
You don
’
t know a whole lot about women, do you?”

“
Apparently not,”
Finn said, and couldn
’
t help but smile.

“
Look
, best friends share everything. If Vickie and Mom had a box, Margie has a box. I just need to find it.”

“
Um, no,”
Finn said. “
You
need
to eat and sleep and breathe. You
want
to find this box. Big difference, as in, drop it.”

“
But if I could just find Marg
ie
’
s box
—”

“
Okay, fine,”
Finn said. “
Let
’
s say Margie had this box ten years ago. She might have thrown it out. She might have lost it.”
Izzy made a rude face at this. Finn ignored it and talked over her. “
And your mother died in an accident.”

“
Caused by t
he fire,”
Izzy said.

“
Maybe. Maybe not. But everything has been deemed an accident so far, and I think the best thing for you to do is let this go.”

Izzy leaned forward, maintained eye contact. She wasn
’
t backing down, which meant this wasn
’
t about getting
attention, or stirring up trouble. The kid really believed everything she was saying.

“
Joe said the fire at Mom
’
s might have been suspicious.”

“
He told you that?”
Finn asked. That wasn
’
t like Joe, being the big, strong, silent, protect-the-womenfolk type
that he was.

“
I overheard him say it to Max once a few years ago,”
Izzy said. “
And there
’
s one more thing.”

She paused. Finn let her, just waiting. This was the big reveal; no need to rush it.

“
My mom... she had this locket. A little heart, a picture of me
on one side, a picture of Tessa on the other. She always wore it, but they didn
’
t find it. It wasn
’
t at the shop, it wasn
’
t on her, and it wasn
’
t in the car.”

Finn took this in. For a big reveal, it was on the smallish side, but it obviously meant somethi
ng to Izzy. He shrugged. “
Maybe she wasn
’
t wearing it that night.”

Izzy shook her head. “
She always wore it.”

“
Maybe it burned up in the fire.”

“
It was pure gold.”

“
Maybe an investigator pocketed it. Maybe a member of the cleanup crew swept it up and threw
it away. Maybe your mom lost it before any of this happened and just didn
’
t want to tell you. At any rate, you got a lot of maybes and not a lot of facts.”

Izzy sighed. “
I know. It doesn
’
t make sense. But I
’
ve got a gut feeling on this. I really think the
re
’
s something here.”

Her eyes were earnest and desperate. Getting bigger. And a little watery.

Shit.
If the kid started crying, he was a goner. Crying women were hell on him. He never knew what to say or do, usually ended up patting them on the shoulder a
nd saying something lame like, “
There, there.”

“
I know it was a long time ago. I know the fire was deemed an accident.”
She sniffled. “
I know there might be reasonable explanations for everything. But what if the reasonable explanation is that someone out
there is responsible for my mother
’
s death? How can I just pretend these big questions aren
’
t there?”

Her eyes brimmed with tears. Finn patted her on the shoulder. “
There, there.”

She swiped at her eyes and sat up straighter.
Thank God.
Finn lowered his ha
nd.

“
I don
’
t know if any of this means anything,”
she said, “
but it
’
s driving me crazy. I can
’
t sleep at night. I just... I need to know. I just need to, and I don
’
t know how to follow up on something like this. I don
’
t know what to do.”

“
Have you talked
to Tessa about it?”
Finn asked.

“
Oh, pffft,”
Izzy said, rolling her eyes. “
I can
’
t tell Tessa. She
’
d pull a freak-out of mammoth proportions if she found out I snooped around Vickie
’
s house, and my case kinda rests on that second box. I can
’
t go to the pol
ice. They
’
d just call Tessa. Can
’
t go to Joe, he
’
d just go to the police.”

She looked up at Finn. Her eyes had somehow managed to get even bigger. How the hell did she do that?

“
But you,”
she said, pleading, “
you
’
re a detective. All certified and bona fide
and... whatever. You could do this. You could help me.”

Fiim sighed and took another drag of his cigarette, not quite having the heart to tell her that the only thing he knew about detectives was how to avoid getting caught by one. Besides, whatever Tessa
had been telling people, he knew she had a reason. He wasn
’
t going to be the one to rat her out.

“
Look, Iz,”
he said, trying to figure out how to let her down easy. He didn
’
t know what had happened to Karen Scuderi, but Izzy made a compelling argument. No
t to mention the unsettling fact that Vickie
’
s pet shop got a fresh coat of soot yesterday morning. Izzy
’
s snooping could have made someone nervous, and a nervous arsonist can easily result in charred shih tzu.

But he was no detective. He couldn
’
t take the
case if he wanted to.

Of course, because of Tessa
’
s lies and his decision to keep them, he couldn
’
t tell Izzy that.

As it turned out, it didn
’
t matter. In the grand tradition of frying pan/fire, the door to the shack opened up, and in walked Babs Wiley Mc
Gregor, in all her Annie Hall-looking glory.

“
We
’
ve found him,”
she said, and before Finn could wonder who exactly comprised the
we,
Tessa stepped into the shack. Izzy jumped up, stuffing the box into the backpack in one swift, deft movement.

Tessa
’
s eyes
went from Izzy to Finn to the cigarette and then back to Finn, where they flashed murder. Finn nudged Izzy with his elbow and leaned over to speak quietly in her ear.

“
Guess this means no Samoas for me.”