* * *
Callie changed out of her pajamas before heading back outside. She also gathered up the clothes Levi had in the laundry to take out to him, since he was in his underwear and couldn’t go into the barn to reclaim what he’d removed when he went to bed. Fortunately, adrenaline lent her the strength she needed to remain on her feet. Otherwise, she doubted a person in her condition would be able to hold up under such a strain. But she was determined to battle through the fatigue for the sake of the farm.
Levi had her gardening hose, which was long enough to reach almost anywhere in the clearing. He was using it to wet the buildings closest to the fire so that one of the sparks floating in the air wouldn’t cause something else to ignite.
But he needed to get off the premises. The fire department was on its way. No doubt the police would follow. They’d want to know what had started the blaze. She wanted to know the same thing. After hearing Godfrey tell her how upset Denny was, she suspected this was the retribution he and Powell had promised a couple of nights ago, but she wasn’t about to make any accusations. Not until she learned more about the origins of the fire.
“Let me take over,” she said. “You need to put these on and get out of here.”
He resisted her attempt to give him his jeans and grab the hose. “Stand back, I’ve got it.”
“The fire department will arrive any minute!”
“You look like you’re about to keel over from shock. I’m not going to hand this off to you.”
The way she looked had nothing to do with the shock—or not that much. But she was glad she didn’t have to lie. He’d supplied his own answer. “You’re the one who came coughing and stumbling out of the barn only a few minutes ago.”
“I’m fine. Take Rifle and go in the house so the two of you don’t get hurt.”
Rifle was darting back and forth, barking at the fire as if he could scare it away.
“If the fire department doesn’t get here soon, we won’t be able to keep this from spreading,” he said. “I’ll come for you if it gets anywhere close to the house.”
Callie was afraid it would destroy the entire farm. Fortunately, Godfrey lived far enough away that it wouldn’t threaten his property. He had no clue there was trouble, or she knew he’d be here, doing what he could to help. Anyway, this was her problem, not Levi’s, especially when protecting it put him at risk. “Don’t you understand? Chief Stacy or someone else will come, too.” She had to shout to be heard over the fire and the splat of water hitting wood. “They’ll question you, maybe discover something that’ll lead them to those speeding tickets.”
When she tried to take the hose again, he held it away from her. “I’m not leaving this to you!”
“But I’m worried.” She didn’t want his gallantry rewarded with jail time. “They could lock you up if...if what you’re running from is serious enough.”
“Some things are worth doing time for.”
His response brought Callie a measure of relief. Whatever he’d done in the past couldn’t be too bad or he wouldn’t take that chance.
“You like this place as much as I do,” she said.
“I was talking about you,” he responded matter-of-factly. Then he asked her to hold the hose so he could jerk on his clothes and went to get another ladder from the garden shed. The one he’d been using to fix the barn roof was too close to the blaze, and he couldn’t retrieve it. This was shorter, but tall enough that he could reach the tops of the smaller buildings he was hoping to save. Her grandfather had used it to pick grapefruit and oranges.
Since the only other hose was connected to a spigot inside the barn, Callie could do nothing but watch him work. He was efficient and strong, and she was glad to have his help. She barely felt capable of staying on her feet; she couldn’t have carried that hose and climbed up and down that ladder.
But there wasn’t a lot he could do to put out the fire on his own. They needed more hands and more water. If the fire department didn’t arrive soon, the barn, at least, would be completely destroyed.
She was about to go inside to call the dispatcher again when she heard the sirens and checked her phone. It’d taken them twenty-nine minutes, which wasn’t bad for a country department made up almost entirely of volunteers.
Wringing her hands, she tried to wait as patiently as possible, but watching the flames leap higher and higher wasn’t easy. It was important to her that the farm survive and go on, even if she didn’t.
* * *
The dry, sun-bleached wood of the barn made such perfect tinder that putting out the fire turned into a real battle. After two hours, they managed to save part of the structure, but the back section had burned almost completely to cinders, including the room Levi had been using. Seeing the charred remains of the bed where he’d been sleeping when the fire broke out left quite an impression on him.
But he couldn’t focus on that. Not right now. Chief Stacy had just approached him, asking if he’d come inside the house so they could talk.
Levi was tempted to put him off, to act as if he was still trying to salvage some of his belongings from the ashes. He might be able to slip away among the departing firemen, many of whom had shown up in their own vehicles. He’d fixed his bike, so he had transportation. Only his promise to paint the barn stood in his way, and there was no longer anything he could do to fulfill that commitment. It would take a minimum of two weeks to rebuild what had been damaged. And the labor would cost far more than the few hundred bucks he owed Callie.
He could send her the money for the impound fees and those bike parts when he landed his next job. He had to leave, move on before his past caught up with him.
But he couldn’t abandon her on the heels of such a traumatic event. If it was arson, as he suspected, there was a good chance Denny was behind it. Who else would do this? Besides Kyle and Godfrey, Levi hadn’t interacted with anyone in Whiskey Creek. And Callie couldn’t name one other person who might have a grudge against her.
Levi wanted Chief Stacy to look into the possibility of Seamans’s involvement and, if he’d done it, hold him accountable. Levi wouldn’t, couldn’t, leave Callie alone until he knew she’d be safe—not when it was helping him that had endangered her in the first place.
“Well?” Stacy prompted.
Levi figured he was probably making the wrong decision, but he wiped his sooty hands on his jeans and agreed.