No aging golden retriever, either.
He settled onto a comfy sofa facing the massive stone fireplace and let himself become transfixed by the flames, let them take him back to the moment he and Sean had realized a hot spot had flared up and Jasper was trapped.
The hot spot had had help flaring up. It hadn’t been an accident.
But suspicions weren’t evidence.
A. J. Cameron dropped into the chair next to him and stretched out his legs, his boots scuffed, worn. “How was the skiing?”
“Good. You don’t stay cold cross-country skiing.”
“I know what you mean. Lauren and I are twisting Rose’s arm to have dinner at our house tonight. She’s been spending a lot of time alone lately, and with what happened yesterday and this morning…” A.J. cast his steely eyes on Nick. “She needs to be with family.”
“Makes sense.”
“You’re welcome to join us.”
Nick took it as a grudging invitation. “Thanks, but another time.”
A.J. leaned back in his chair, but there was nothing casual about his mood. “Sean says you’re solid but you can be thickheaded.”
“That sounds like Sean, and Hannah tells me he’s the charming Cameron.”
A.J. didn’t respond with even a hint of humor. “Rose doesn’t want to stay here again tonight. I think it’s partly because of you. If she told you to get lost, you’d leave her alone, right?”
Nick listened to the fire hissing as a hunk of bark burst into flames. “I can take no for an answer if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“If she asked you to go back to Beverly Hills?”
“She hasn’t. I don’t know what’s on your mind, A.J., but I can see it’d take a strong man to fall for Rose with her three big brothers ready to pounce.”
“Consider the situation,” A.J. said grimly.
“There’s always a situation to consider, isn’t there?”
A.J. got heavily to his feet. “Not one involving a man burned to death.”
Two men burned to death, Nick thought—Jasper Vanderhorn and now Derek Cutshaw.
The firstborn Cameron seemed genuinely concerned for his sister’s well-being. Nick tried to lighten the dark mood. “What’s for dinner? You aren’t going out to shoot a moose, are you?”
A.J. glanced down at him. “Derek Cutshaw isn’t dead because of you, is he?”
“I hope he’s not dead because of anyone. I hope his death was an accident.” Nick could feel the heat of the fire. “Did Rose agree to meet you for dinner?”
“I’m picking her up myself,” A.J. said.
Nick stood up. “Maybe I’ll head into the village and check out the Black Falls nightlife.”
A.J. grinned slightly. “That won’t take long.”
Nick parked in front of the Black Falls library across from the town common. It was open, lit up against the dark night.
Looked cozy.
He took a sanded, shoveled walkway through the middle of the picturesque common and crossed Main Street to Three Sisters Café. It was closed, but lights were on and he could see Myrtle Smith and Dominique Belair with a patchwork quilt spread out over a couple of tables they’d pushed together. They had needles and thread in hand and were doing what appeared to be a few last-minute stitches.
Nick didn’t think he’d ever actually seen anyone quilt anything.
He wondered if Rose could quilt any better than she could knit.
He left the two women to their sewing and continued down Main Street. The temperature had dropped fast with nightfall. The village was dark and quiet, but O’Rourke’s appeared to be filled with people. He could hear raucous laughter inside as he mounted the sanded concrete steps.
A three-person band was setting up opposite the bar and nearly every table was filled with Vermonters and tourists enjoying their drinks and the hearty food.
Nick sat on a high stool at the bar. Liam O’Rourke took his order. “Sean’s told me about you,” Liam said. “You two have been friends for a long time.”
“Ever been to Beverly Hills?” Nick asked him.
“I like winter.”
“You could come in summer.”
“Too hot.”
“That’s Arizona. Most of the time Beverly Hills is relatively mild.”
“Then why the fires?”
“It’s dry.”
“Fire season’s over out there?”
“Fires can happen anytime, but the peak season is September and October. We’re relatively wet and cool right now. That helps keep fires down.” That was the short answer. Nick doubted Liam wanted the long answer. “It’s good you like Vermont. Is your cousin Bowie here?”
“I don’t have patience with troublemakers.”
“You mean Bowie or me?”
“I mean anyone who makes trouble.”
Did that include Hannah Shay? Derek Cutshaw and his friends? Rose?
“Have you seen Robert Feehan today?” Nick asked as Liam set a frosted beer glass in front of him on the worn bar.
“Not in a week or more. Same as what I said yesterday when you were here with Rose.” In case you’re testing me, Liam’s tone said. “I told the police the same thing, so don’t think you’re being subtle.”
“I’m not the subtle type.” Nick glanced at a narrow, vertical menu. “I’ll have the beef stew.”
“Salad?”
“No, thanks.” He grinned. “Stew’s got carrots and onions.”
Liam didn’t seem amused.
Another big guy who looked a lot like Liam entered O’Rourke’s. The stonemason, Nick thought. Bowie O’Rourke, currently on probation after taking on Derek Cutshaw right here in his surly cousin’s bar.
Liam made what passed for introductions, handed his cousin a Coke and moved down to the end of the bar. Bowie stood next to Nick. “How’s Hannah doing in California?”
“Loves it,” Nick said.
“Is Sean spoiling her?”
“Trying, but she’s stubborn and self-sufficient.”
“Her brothers? They like it there?”
Nick knew Devin Shay, the older of Hannah’s two younger brothers, better than he did Toby. “They like California even more than Hannah, at least for now. Devin’s working for Sean and starting on the road to becoming a smoke jumper. Toby’s mountain biking to his heart’s content. He likes being an exchange student. I think he’ll end up finishing his senior year there.”
“Hannah still studying for the bar?”
“Every day by the pool, but I don’t know if she’s signed up to take it yet.” Nick sipped some of his beer. “She seemed happy to have Beth come for a visit.”
Bowie nodded, not touching his Coke. “Hannah’s like a sister to me,” the stonemason said, making it sound like a warning. “We grew up in a hollow out past the Whittaker place.”
“So I hear. What about Rose Cameron? Is she like a sister to you, too?”
Bowie glanced sideways at him. “What difference does it make to you?”
Nick took no offense. “I’ve been trying to figure out why Derek Cutshaw might have gone to the Whittaker place when he did. I’ve picked up an undercurrent around here. I think he had something going on with Rose, and you knew. You weren’t just keeping him from spouting off about Hannah last year in that fight, were you?”
“Rose wasn’t even in Black Falls then.”
“Hannah’s one of her closest friends, and she was here. So were all three of Rose’s brothers. If Cutshaw was out of control and lied or exaggerated about her in front of everyone—or even told the truth, shared a secret—”
“Now you’re the one going too far,” Bowie said darkly.
“I don’t care about any history between Cutshaw and Rose. If you intervened to keep him from embarrassing her, then good for you. It’s a small town. She’s entrusted with people’s lives. She didn’t need some drunken idiot carrying on about her. I only care that she’s safe.”