Page 23 of Never Fall Again

Landry turned and saw four men approaching. One was a silver fox–type of man. In his fifties. Gray hair. Handsome. Two were probably in their twenties. They wore black cargo pants and T-shirts that declared them to be members of the Gossamer Falls Fire Department. The fourth man was in khakis and a navy-blue polo shirt. The belt at his waist carried a gun and a badge. Maybe one of Gray’s officers?

Behind her, Glenda replied to something Gray said, then hung up the phone. She pointed to the men. “Y’all are going to meet in the conference room. Go on in. I’ll bring coffee and tea in a few minutes.” Then she turned to Bronwyn and Landry. “Follow them.”

“Thank you.” Landry took a few steps toward the side door, and Maisy stayed glued to her side. “You coming with me, girl?” Maisy leaned against her leg.

Landry looked at Glenda. “Is it okay if she comes back?”

“Sure. She has the run of the place. She’s kind of our mascot.” Glenda pressed a button and a buzz indicated the door was unlocked.

Landry followed the others down a short hall and into a small room. The table was oval and had eight chairs. Landry suspected that it was rare for all eight seats to be taken, but they would be today.

She and Bronwyn took two seats near the door. Maisy slipped under the table and lay down with her head on Landry’s foot. “Cal told me I should get one of Maisy’s puppies for Eliza. If her puppies are anything like her, I’m going to have to have one,” she said to Bronwyn.

Cal and Gray walked in. Gray took the seat at the head of the table. Cal took the seat to Landry’s right. He pulled the chair out and grinned. “There you are.” Maisy’s tail banged against the floor in a quick rhythm.

“You trying to steal my dog?” Cal winked as he took his seat. Maisy shifted her body, and Landry peeked under the table. Sure enough, Maisy now lay with her head on Landry’s boot and her body across one of Cal’s feet.

“Thinking about it.”

Bronwyn leaned around her. “She needs one of the puppies. You have to give them one now.”

“In my head, one already has Eliza’s name on it.”

Before Landry could respond, Gray called their meeting to order with introductions. He started at his left. “I think everyone knows Bronwyn Pierce, CEO of The Haven Corporation and owner of Favors. Then we have Ms. Landry Hutton, artist-in-residence at The Haven. Much of her work was destroyed in the blaze.” He paused. “I’m truly sorry about that, Landry.”

She couldn’t speak, so she nodded in acknowledgment.

“Y’all know Cal.”

No one in the room seemed surprised or upset by Cal’s presence. They all did that chin-lift thing guys have perfected as a means of nonverbal communication.

Gray pointed to the end of the table. “This is our fire chief, Steve Jensen. Then we have two of our volunteer firefighters who were on the scene last night, Mike and Jack Dwyer.” He grinned at Landry. “Yes, they’re brothers. No, they aren’t happy about it.”

Everyone chuckled, and the brothers shot Gray identical “not funny” glances before returning their attention to her. “Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Hutton. Sorry it’s under these circumstances,” Mike—or was it Jack?—said.

The other Dwyer chimed in and directed his words to both herand Bronwyn. “Sorry about your shop. There wasn’t any way to save it.”

“I appreciate that, Jack.”

So the guy beside the fire chief was Mike. Then Jack. Landry repeated their names several times in a vain attempt to memorize them.

“And then we have one of our officers, Brick Nolan.”

Did he just sayBrick? Was that the man’s name? Really?

No one else seemed to find anything strange about the name, so Landry kept her question to herself.

Gray picked up a legal pad. “I don’t want to keep anyone here longer than necessary. But we all need to be on the same page.”

He began with a rundown of the events of the evening, none of which Landry would ever forget.

Then he covered what the fire marshal had discovered. “Jesslyn thinks there was at least one cell phone, and possibly two, used to initiate the fire. This indicates advanced planning and skill and that the perpetrator knew the building’s layout.”

“Not a stranger to The Haven, then.” Chief Jensen also had a legal pad and made notes as he spoke.

“Either they’ve been there before, or they were well coached as to where to plant the devices.”

“Hard to get onto The Haven grounds.” The officer, Brick, directed his words to Bronwyn.