As the paramedics rushed up, I joined them. I wasn’t sure who the two firefighters were—at least they were both safe. Agnes was a dear, old friend. The other two were our new heroes. I felt sure they both had some kind of special town award coming to them when this was over.
The heat from the house was unbearable. Two or three people helped each of the firefighters get away from it. I helped a few others get Agnes out of the area. The paramedics followed along, trying to check Agnes for injuries even as we were running toward the street.
Agnes was crying hysterically. She was covered in black soot—no way to know if she was burned or not. I held her hand while the paramedics tried to put an oxygen mask over her face. She kept pushing it aside even though she was coughing. I tried to calm her down, and she reached out to grab me with both arms.
“I don’t want any of it, Dae! It killed Max and almost killed me. It destroyed our home—our lives. Take it! It’s cursed!”
Before I could ask what she meant, she pressed something into my hand. It was black from the soot it had accumulated in the fire—but there was no doubt what it was.
Max was desperate. He didn’t know what else to do. He opened the box again and looked at its contents. There was more than enough for Agnes’s surgery. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut.
Agnes mercifully lost consciousness. The paramedics put her on a stretcher and moved her to the ambulance.
I looked at the black soot from her touch. I was covered in it. I rubbed the coin she’d given me against my shirt until the bright gold beneath it began to gleam. This wasn’t pirate gold. This had been made more recently—in Germany. The man who’d given Max this gold to save Agnes’s life was a much older man, someone I’d never seen before.
I tucked the gold coin in my pocket, glad that my encounter with it had been mild compared to pirate gold. I looked around in the smoky crowd to locate the two firefighters from the roof. A group of volunteers were helping remove charred gloves and melted boots. As soon as their hoods were removed, I saw that one of them was Luke and the other, Kevin. I’d known it was him even as I hoped it wasn’t.
I was close enough to hear Kevin joking with the paramedics as they checked him and Luke for injuries. Luke was quiet and somber, but thankfully, they both seemed fine. I couldn’t get any nearer with so many people crowded around for more important reasons than my own—wanting to wail pathetically and throw my arms around Kevin.
“Looks like Sam’s surfaced,” Chief Michaels said to me. “That fire was arson. I don’t have to be with the fire department to know it.”
“That doesn’t mean it was Sam.”
“It doesn’t mean it wasn’t either. Somebody did these things, Mayor,” he responded, provoked. “Sam knows about cannons—his cannon destroyed our museum. Now this. He ran. That makes him our prime suspect until we know better.”
I felt stupid and chastened. Of course he was right. I’d been trying to protect Sam. That may have even colored my vision about him. He might have been running away from the police, not someone who wanted to kill him. I didn’t know him as well as I knew Max. I was going to have to stop being so protective of people because they seemed like they couldn’t be guilty. Sam had issues with Max. Maybe it got to be too much.
How that related to the new gold coin in my possession was anyone’s guess. Maybe the two incidents weren’t related. But I knew I owed the chief an apology. “I’m sorry, Chief Michaels. I hate it, but I know you’re right.” It took a lot for me to say that.
“Your heart’s in the right place,” he responded sympathetically. “You don’t understand the criminal mind. Sometimes good people turn bad.”
The fire was all but contained. People were starting to move away from the smoldering remains of the pink house Max and Agnes had shared for so many years. They were going home to cherish what they still had and mourn the loss to the community.
I noticed the TV crew from the mainland had set up near the police perimeter. I walked close, deciding to use them for a change. I told them about our two heroes, and they followed me, armed with cameras and microphones.
I was the cool, smiling mayor who introduced Luke and Kevin to the media, who loved them at once. They were a perfect image for the six P.M. news that night. Handsome heroes with sooty faces that saved a woman from a terrible death.
I looked on as the reporters asked their questions, trying to capture the excitement of the moment. Kevin nodded toward me with a question in his eyes, and I winked at him. This was good for Duck despite the way it came about. It was right for people outside the Outer Banks to see our lives—both good and bad.
Of course, that gave the reporters the run of the restricted area. They took advantage by talking to Cailey and Chief Michaels. Then they were lucky enough to find an old Banker who still believed in the curse of Rafe Masterson. I could imagine their eyes lighting up over that.
“What was that all about?” Kevin asked when we were alone. Luke had gone to talk with Cailey and Gramps.
“It’s your fifteen minutes of fame,” I explained. “You were a hero today. Why not let them tell your story?”
“You might’ve asked first.”
I looked at his blackened face. He seemed serious. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d enjoy it.”
“You thought wrong.” He got up and took his gear to the fire truck.
I followed him. We were obviously having our first fight. “I didn’t realize. I was proud of you and Luke. I wanted everyone to know what kind of people we have here in Duck.”
He didn’t say anything—just finished putting his gear away.
“Hey! I said I was sorry. Really sorry. Why are you so upset?”
“It reminded me too much of closing a big case for the FBI. They liked to show off too. I’m not a volunteer firefighter to show off.”
He turned away from me, and I realized this went much deeper than I’d imagined. “Let me buy you a drink. We can talk for a while.” I didn’t want us to go our separate ways like this.
For an instant, he stared at me as if he didn’t know me. I wondered if he was going to give in or if he’d stay mad all night. Finally he nodded. “Okay. But we go someplace quiet and you’re buying.”
I let out a sigh of relief. As long as he wasn’t going to be angry anymore, I could handle the price. “You got it. We can get a dark table at Wild Stallions. I’ll even spring for those potato skins you like so much.”
He finally smiled—creases of pale skin visible between the cracks in the soot on his face. I wondered if I should tell him and risk breaking the mood. Maybe it would be better for him to go out and deal with the soot later.
“We’ll have to swing by the Blue Whale so I can take a shower and change clothes. Hero or not, I’m not going out like this.”
“That’s fine,” I agreed. “Whatever you need.”
He draped one arm across my shoulders as we started walking. “You’re kind of a pushover for a good glower, aren’t you?”
“Only from you.” I smiled at him. “The world should be a happy place, don’t you think?”
“I think going to mayor school might’ve warped your sense of reality.”
“Funny. I was thinking the same thing about you—except with the FBI.”
We walked around all the congestion built up because of the fire. The acrid smell of smoke was with us all the way across Duck to the Atlantic side. Kevin let us both in the Blue Whale, then poured himself a glass of good whiskey, which he swallowed in a single quick gulp.
“I thought I was buying you a drink after you changed clothes.”