The Comeback Kiss (49 page)

Tessa tried to see what Grace had pulled f
rom her pocket, but it just looked like a vial of perfume.

“
I don
’
t understand what you
’
re doing,”
Izzy said. “
You can
’
t just burn us all up here and think no one
’
s going to have questions.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “
Yeah, let
’
s talk about questions, darling
Isabella. You and your incessant questions. I knew you
’
d have them someday, which is why I hired this nitwit”—
she indicated Mary Ellen with her chin
—“
to keep you girls busy. But you, with your poking around and your questions. This is really all your fau
l
t, you know?”

Tessa saw Izzy
’
s eyes widen, and she reached for her sister
’
s hand.

“
Don
’
t listen to her,”
Tessa said. “
This is not your fault.”

“
Oh, sure it is,”
Grace said. “
All I did was play a little bit, burn down a few places that no one really missed
anyway. No one got hurt. Hell, when I took out that barn on the edge of town, Melvin Cheeters made a damn fortune on the insurance. But then Karen had to start in with all the questions. What business was it of hers, anyway?”
She looked at Vickie and Marg
i
e. “
Or yours. Or Sosie
’
s, for Christ
’
s sake.”

“
Sosie told you?”
Izzy said, her voice wavering.

“
Did you think she wouldn
’
t?”
Grace said, her voice dripping with contempt. “
Although, granted, she didn
’
t until just yesterday. All sniveling on my porch.”
Grac
e
’
s voice went up to an annoyingly high pitch. “‘
I
’
m worried about Izzy, Aunt Grace. Izzy
’
s gonna get hurt. She
’
s my best friend.
’
Blah blah blah.”
Grace
’
s voice went back to normal. “
Honestly, kid needs to strap on a pair, know what I mean?”

Grace opened
the vial in her hand and started to pour it in a long line on the floor. The cloying smell of gardenias filled the shack.

“
You know,”
Grace said thoughtfully as she poured the liquid onto the dry wooden floor. “
Perfume makes an excellent accelerant. You wo
uldn
’
t even believe how flammable this shit is. And virtually untraceable.”
She held up the empty vial. “
I didn
’
t even figure that out until I took out Karen
’
s craft shop, can you believe that? Man, she was pissed off. Clawing at me and yelling. But what
d
id she expect I was asking her to meet me for at two in the morning? Not the brightest bulb in the box, your mother.”
Tessa felt her sister start, and tightened her grip on Izzy
’
s hand. As long as Grace still had the gun on them, they had to keep their co
o
l.

“
You
’
re not going to get away with this,”
Izzy said, her voice tight with fear and anger.

Grace laughed.

“
I don
’
t plan on getting away with it, you stupid little bitch,”
she spat. “
My life is over. Once they start investigating those fires, they
’
re gonn
a know Matt didn
’
t do it, that he was protecting me. But the thing is, if I
’
m going down, I
’
m damn well gonna take you with me.”

Deftly keeping the gun pointed at her hostages, she gripped a rolled piece of newspaper and dipped one edge into the woodstove
. It caught, and she dropped it on the line of perfume on the floor.

Which lit up like a line of black powder. Of course, the old warped wood of the shack didn
’
t help matters. Grace might have been crazy, but she was right about one thing
—
that place was a
tinderbox.

Grace stepped back toward the door, then stopped, keeping the gun trained on them. Tessa stood up as the fire started to edge toward her. Grace said nothing, just laughed. Tessa looked behind her to the window. She could block it while Izzy craw
led out. The idea of taking a bullet to get Izzy to safety didn
’
t bother her in the least.

“
Izzy,”
she said, nodding toward the cast-iron skillet that hung on the wall, “
grab that. Break the window.”

“
I don
’
t think so,”
Grace said. She cocked the gun, aime
d it at Izzy. “
Anyone moves, the kid gets it.”

Tessa exchanged glances with Vickie, Margie, and Babs. Mary Ellen whimpered and took a step forward. Grace glared at her.

“
What did I just say? Anyone moves, the kid gets it. That includes you.”

“
But,”
Mary El
len whimpered, “
I was on your side.”
“
You were on my payroll, and if you
’
d done your job, we wouldn
’
t be here.”

“
But
—”

Mary Ellen didn
’
t get a chance to finish the thought, because at that moment, all hell broke loose.

Finn pulled up next to the cars at th
e side of the lake. There was Tessa
’
s Thing, the Mazda, Vickie
’
s little Ford, and a Subaru he didn
’
t recognize. When he hopped out and saw the Lucy
’
s Lake Fire Association sticker on the bumper, he cursed under his breath and scanned the lake. There was n
o
sign of Tessa. He looked up toward the shack and saw black smoke coming from the woodstove pipe. It took him a moment longer to realize that the smoke wasn
’
t just coming from the pipe; it was also leaking through the walls, and he could see flames lickin
g
through the side window. He took off around the lake, skidding and sliding through the snow. The freezing air cut at his lungs as he ran, his only thoughts of Tessa. If he was too late...

If he was too late...

He shut off that train of thought and pushed
harder, falling in the snow and pushing back up until he finally reached the shack, where he skidded to a stop, his breath raw in his chest.

Tessa, Izzy, Babs, Vickie, and Margie stood in a circle around two other women. As Finn gasped for breath, he could
see that Grace Tarpey was one of them, lying unconscious on the snow next to a cast-iron skillet. The other woman was a skinny blonde who matched the description of the evil troll social worker.

Tessa looked up, saw him, and smiled. Finn rushed over to he
r and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head.

“
Shit, Tess, you just took ten years off my life.”
He pulled back and put his hands on either side of her face, looking into her eyes. “
Are you okay? You
’
re okay?”

Tessa smiled. “
All things consi
dered, I
’
m pretty great, yeah.”

He wrapped her in his arms again and looked at Izzy, who grinned at him.

“
I hit her with a frying pan,”
Izzy said, pointing to the unconscious pile that was Grace Tarpey. Finn had to laugh.

“
You what?”

“
Well,”
Izzy said, sli
ght concession in her voice, “
first Babs charged her and got the gun away.”

Finn raised an eyebrow at Babs. “
Gun?”

Babs gave a dismissive wave of the hand. “
It
’
s not as brave as it sounds. I used Mary Ellen as a human shield to do it.”

Finn looked down at
the blonde slumped on the ground next to Grace Tarpey.

“
You
’
re Mary Ellen?”
he asked. “
The social worker?”

“
I could have been killed!”
she sobbed.

Babs sighed. “
Yeah, she could have. But luckily, Grace was too surprised to actually shoot. Mary Ellen and I
took her down, didn
’
t we, Mary Ellen?”

Mary Ellen didn
’
t answer, just whimpered to herself.

Finn pulled back and looked at Tessa. “
You
’
re serious? She had a gun on you and you all took her down?”

Tessa smiled. “
How did you find me?”

Finn shrugged. “
I che
cked your house, Joe checked Max
’
s. That pretty much left the lake.”

Tessa huffed. “
I really need to get out more.”

Finn looked down at her, let out an awkward-sounding laugh, and felt his heart catch in his chest as he fully realized that he
’
d almost lost
her. Almost really lost her. Forever.

“
Oh, hell,”
he said, drawing her close in his arms so she couldn
’
t see his face. He took a deep breath and blinked hard to ward off the...

“
Finn?”

He swiped at his eyes quickly, then let her pull back to look at him.

“
Sorry,”
he said. “
Smoke was getting to me.”

One corner of her mouth twisted up into a smile.

“
Yeah,”
she said, “
that can be a bitch.”

He looked at her, taking in everything about her. The dark hair falling around her shoulders, the flush in her lightly fr
eckled cheeks, the hint of laughter in her eyes, even when she
’
d just been through hell.

She was his girl.

He put one hand on her face.

“
I love you,”
he said.

She smiled up at him. “
Yeah, I know. The question is, what are you gonna do about it?”

Good quest
ion
, he thought. Just then he heard footsteps behind him, and turned to see Joe running toward them, breathless.

“
Fire,”
he gasped, gesturing toward the shack. He looked at Tessa. “
Everyone okay?”

Tessa laughed. “
We
’
ve had heroes running to our rescue twic
e in one day. We
’
re doing great.”

Joe straightened up, still gasping for breath, then pulled out his cell phone.

“
Calling in the troops?”
Finn asked.

Joe nodded.

Finn looked at the flames shooting up into the sky from the shack.

“
Ask
’
em if they got marshm
allows.”

Chapter Twenty-six

Tessa stood back and surveyed her canvas, tilting her head a bit to the left. She looked at the bowl of fruit that sat on the three-legged table, then back at the oil painting in front of her, and decided she needed better li
ghting in the attic. Which meant another trip to the store. Between fixing up the basement, buying products to get the smoky smell out of the first floor, and all the paint she
’
d been snapping up, she was pretty sure she
’
d managed to jump-start the town e
c
onomy in the course of the last week.

Well,
she thought,
there are worse things to do with money.

She put her brush down on the ridge of her easel and pulled off her smock, then gasped as she saw the figure standing behind her.