Part 14 (1/2)

The smoke billowed out and Mac and Teri stumbled into the fresh night air.

In the distance, we heard the sirens.

”Ah, the cavalry, just in time,” I said.

Mac and Teri were coughing as they collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.

Firefighters rushed onto the scene, trying to control the burning stable. The paramedics had Bedford on a gurney, wheeling him toward the ambulance with Maggie at his side.

”Bedford, you'll be fine,” I heard Maggie say as I approached and stood next to her. He reached up and grabbed Maggie's wrist and pulled her to him. ”Please Bedford, lie still,” she said.

”I never told,” he whispered. I leaned in, as did Maggie.

”Never told who?” Maggie asked. Bedford coughed violently and kept his vice grip on her wrist.

”Secrets, so many secrets.” His voice came out in a desperate whisper.

Then he said something else that both Maggie and I could barely hear. It sounded to me like he said ”love.” I leaned back as he closed his eyes.

I stood there numbly staring at Bedford's still body. Finally, he let go of Maggie and the paramedics lifted him into the ambulance.

Behind us, the fire department soaked the smoldering rubble while Steve and his deputy directed the traffic. Mac was standing now, with his arm around Hannah, who was sobbing. Teri was close by.

We watched as the ambulance drove out of sight.

”You three look like h.e.l.l,” Steve said. ”What happened?”

”Not now, Steve,” Maggie said quickly. ”I need to get Kate and her family to the clinic. You can drive. We should have gotten another ambulance. Aunt Hannah, please stay here.”

”I'll leave my deputy with her,” Steve said.

We drove in relative silence to the clinic. The ambulance was already there. The paramedics met us at the door as they were coming out. Maggie talked to them for a moment or two. When I saw her shoulders slump, I knew. I felt the tears catch in my throat.

”Let's go. You all need to get checked out. Doc's with Bedford,” Maggie said in a tired voice. She looked at our questioning faces and shook her head.

She examined Mac and Teri first. ”You're next,” she said, and beckoned me into the small examining room.

I sat on the table and Maggie snapped on another pair of gloves. She reached up and pulled the dirty bandage off my forehead and I caught my breath and flinched.

She winced. ”Sorry,” she whispered, surprisingly gentle.

When she was finished, she stripped off the gloves, tossing them in a nearby wastebasket. She then turned to me. I took a deep quivering breath and, as I reached up to rub my forehead, she held my arm.

”Don't do that, you're filthy,” she said.

Then, unexpectedly, she reached up and brushed the hair off my forehead. Her fingers lingered for a moment.

She gave me a worried look. ”Are you all right?” she asked.

I nodded. ”And you?” She said nothing, and when I saw her bottom lip quiver, my heart broke. ”Bedford's dead, isn't he?” I asked. The tears welled up in her blue eyes and I whispered, ”I'm so sorry, Maggie.”

Maggie put her hand on my shoulder. ”I know. I can't believe it. What a horrible accident, Kate,” she said.

I thought of the shovel wedged through the handles of the stable door, and, of course, thought of everything else that has been happening since I drove into this town. ”I don't think it was an accident, Maggie.”

I looked into her eyes and saw the realization there. She blinked several times but said nothing. She just flopped down on the table next to me. Instinctively, I put my arm around her small shoulders and pulled her close. She clung to me and quietly cried for a moment or two. She looked up then with sad eyes and I reached down and ran my thumb over her cheek, wiping away the tears.

”C'mon. We need to tell Steve,” I said.

Doc was talking with Mac, Teri and Steve when Maggie and I came out.

”Your family told me what happened, Kate. Could you see how the fire started?” Steve asked.

”No, but I don't think it was an accident, Steve,” I said, and now all eyes were on me.

After everyone cleaned up, we sat at the kitchen table.

”Okay, Kate. Let's hear it,” Steve said.

”After Maggie and I got Bedford out of the stall, I tried to go back in to get Mac and Teri. The stall entrance was blocked, so I ran around to the front of the stable. There was a shovel wedged through the handles of the stable doors. I had to yank it out in order to open them. It doesn't take a great detective, which I am not, to know someone put it there. And I'm thinking whoever it was started the fire.”

There was silence around the table. Steve took a deep breath. ”Any ideas?” he asked.

”Well, I think the only one who knew was Bedford,” I said. I then thought of my conversation with him earlier in the day. ”I had a talk with Bedford this morning after Chance found Miranda's jewelry. He said he talked to you and the deputies outside after the intruder incident. He was cryptic-”

”Who? Bedford? I didn't talk to him. I didn't see him until he was walking up to Maggie's car,” Steve said.

”Okay, then he was not being cryptic, he was lying,” I said.

”Why lie about that?” Maggie asked and I shrugged.

”Maybe he didn't want anyone to know what he was doing,” Teri offered.

”What could he be doing at that time of night?” Mac asked.

”Well, because of his limp, he couldn't be the intruder, that's for sure,” Steve said, and I nodded in agreement.

”But if he was outside, wouldn't he have seen something?” Maggie asked.

As I listened to everyone, my mind raced recounting the conversation with Bedford once again. ”Yes, I think he probably would have,” I said. ”I think Bedford knew much more than we'll ever know. For instance, he told me that Maggie saddled her horse that morning. Maggie told me it was already saddled and ready for her. Did he lie? Perhaps. He lied about talking to Steve. What else was he lying about?

”After I met your Aunt Sarah, I overheard them. Sarah asked Bedford what he had said to me. He told her he said nothing, but then for some reason he brought up Alexander Winfield,” I said and looked right at Hannah.

It was then I realized the Hannah had been conspicuously silent. I looked at her as she sat at the head of the table. Our eyes met and for an instant, I got that old feeling. Though it had been many years since my investigating days, I could still recognize that look.

Hannah knew something.