Hell Fire

Maybe the stress of being back in Kilmer had gotten to me. Surely I didn’t suspect a middle-aged innkeeper would murder my dog. Still, I made sure he was out of sight as I hurried toward the stairs.

Chance came hard on my heels. “There’s something off about her.”

I didn’t feel safe to answer until we’d locked the door behind us. “You think?”

We still hadn’t met her husband or her daughter. The inn seemed eerily quiet, no sounds within to indicate a meal being served; just the rain drumming on the roof and our breathing. I would have liked to blame my wet clothes, but my skin just crawled.

And the idea of getting naked and stepping into that old-fashioned tub, then drawing the curtain so I could take a hot shower? My teeth chattered.

“You’re freezing,” he said. “You take the bathroom first.”

“Come in with me.” The words shot out before I could stop them.

He froze. “You want me in the tub with you? Naked bodies, hot water, steam . . .” Chance’s look turned dreamy for a moment; then he seemed to gauge my expression. “Jesus, you’re scared to death. What’s wrong?”

I could only shake my head. “I don’t . . . I don’t know. Please, will you sit in there with me? Keep me company?”

Score points for Chance—because he didn’t question my unusual, neurotic behavior. It felt . . . good. I said, Thank you, with my eyes. And he smiled. God, he was so beautiful. Men had no right to look like he did, especially dripping wet.

Shivering all the while, I gathered up my toiletries and made my way to the bathroom. The hinges creaked as I pulled the slatted door wide. A door on the other side adjoined the Plumeria room. However crazy it sounded, I wanted Chance parked in between, watching my back.

My breathing slowly settled. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I undressed in the tub behind the shower curtain, knowing he could see the sexy shadow play of my movements. His muffled moan verified that notion.

“Cruel and unusual,” he muttered.

“You always did say I have a mean streak.” I sounded almost normal, thank God.

“Do you ever.”

The pipes groaned, and then the hot water gushed out, no warm-up period . . . unusual for a place this old. I derived a certain amount of satisfaction from washing myself with him only a few short feet away. I imagined him watching my hands with rapt attention, and my pulse spiked. Okay, I didn’t want to tease myself, so I finished up quickly.

But when I stepped onto the bath mat, safely wrapped in a towel, I didn’t receive the sizzling welcome I anticipated. I started to make a joke about finding him frozen in the middle of the room, but Chance motioned me to silence. At first I didn’t know what I was listening for. Then it registered.

Creak. It came from the floorboards in the Plumeria room. For reasons I couldn’t articulate, the sound chilled my blood. I stilled too, listening to light, furtive steps coming closer and closer. Steam twirled in the air between us like a fiendish fog.

I held my breath, every muscle coiled. And then . . . the decorative brass doorknob turned ever so slowly, side to side. Nobody knocked. The door didn’t rattle. I heard no steps going away, but they might have been drowned by my thundering heart. After what seemed like an eternity, I had to inhale. Stars sparked in my field of vision, and the terror I hadn’t been able to explain before returned twofold.

Would they come into our room? Would they try the door from the other side? There might be a perfectly reasonable explanation, but my twitchy nerves screamed no.

“Whew. Either we’re both crazy, or . . .” Chance wrapped his arms around me, rubbing my back through the damp terry cloth of my towel. “We should find somewhere else to stay.”

While Chance stood guard, I scrambled into clean clothes. Butch trotted into the bathroom and whined. I tried to shush him, but he ignored me, scratching at the bottom of the door that led into the Plumeria room. Against my better judgment, I hunkered down on all fours and peered to see what had the dog so riled up. I spied something through the little crack beneath the door, and a foul smell told me the powdery residue wasn’t dust.

“Chance, come take a look at this.”

He crouched down. “Smells rotten.”

“We’ve either been visited by something nasty or this is a spell component.” Dammit, I wished I had my mother’s books. “Let’s get out of here.”

“First . . .” He got a zip bag out of his duffel and used a comb, wrapped in toilet paper, to scoop up a little of the powder. I didn’t know what he planned on doing with it, but it didn’t seem like the time to question him.

We snatched our belongings, and I opened the door into the hall. Another line of evil-smelling powder ran across our threshold. I remembered the way Chuch and Eva had warded their house with sea salt and wormwood and I hesitated, wondering if we’d been hexed or blessed.

“Could this be for our protection?” I wondered aloud. “A country tradition?”

“Either way, step over it. Don’t get it on your shoe.”

That sounded like a wise idea, if only to avoid the smell, so I did just that. Chance followed me, closing the door behind him. I stifled a little scream when Sandra Cheney came around the corner.

“Lunch is ready,” she said. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it. I made a lovely pot roast with potatoes and carrots. Peach pie for dessert.”

Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled, but no lightning flashed afterward. To me it sounded like a portent of things to come.

“Thank you, but we have an engagement,” I returned as politely as I could manage.

Something flickered behind her pale blue eyes. “An engagement? I didn’t realize you knew anyone in Kilmer. I took you for tourists, not that we get many these days.”

I dodged her question. “Why is that?”

She made a vague gesture. “Oh, you know. People just bypass the town, since the highway doesn’t run by here.”

“What made you open a bed-and-breakfast?” Offense seemed like the best defense. If I questioned her all the way to the foyer, she wouldn’t be able to do the same. Chance walked ahead, apparently trusting me to deal with the situation. I had to admit; I liked the sensation.

“It was always here,” Sandra said. “My husband’s maternal grandmother used to run the place. Jensen’s Boardinghouse, she called it. We just updated the look and changed things a little when we took over.”

We reached the stairs and I let her pass. I didn’t want her thinking too hard about why I had both my backpack and my purse; nor did I want her getting a glimpse of Butch.

“How did you wind up in Kilmer?”

Sandra cut me a surprised look. “Why, I’ve always lived here. Before I married Jim, I was Sandy Prentice.”

Said as if the name means something to me. I tried to appear suitably impressed.

“Nice.”

Her expression morphed into a tight-lipped courtesy that said I just knew you weren’t from around here. Good for me.

“Reverend Prentice is my father,” she went on, “and the minister at the Methodist church.”

The same one Miss Minnie always tried to drag me to? No wonder I didn’t recognize Sandra. I never went inside churches if I could help it. The whole witch’s daughter thing made me uncomfortable.

As I cast about for something to say, Chance put in, “Well, no wonder you have such a knack for setting people at home. As a preacher’s daughter, you must’ve helped host a lot of get-togethers.”

Sandra flushed, obviously delighted. I struggled not to snort.

“Yes, I did help my father when he’d have the deacons over to Saturday breakfast. And aren’t you a sweet thing to notice?” Her newscaster accent finally stressed and broke, giving way to a drawl as she flirted.

“I could hardly help it.”

“I hope you’ll stop by the dining room and meet Jim and Shannon before you leave. That way you won’t be