Irresistible Stranger

lives.

Gasoline was one of the most common accelerants arsonists used, the fire chief told him.

He got it.

But he’d never liked coincidences. And he didn’t like not knowing where Lily was.

Damn town was full of the best people a man could ask for in neighbors-friends, people who cared.

But someone wasn’t so nice. Two fires in less than two weeks? No record of arson in years, until Lily suddenly came back in town? It just didn’t make sense.

Lily couldn’t escape the B and B to save her life. As fast as she’d gotten here from Griff’s, she’d tiptoed in the back door, scooted up the back stairs in bare feet, and hustled inside her room. Trying not to make a sound, she’d peeled off her clothes, grabbed a satchel of toiletries and opened the door to go into the bathroom.

And there was Louella, standing there with a heap of fluff-dried pink towels. “I thought you’d might appreciate some fresh towels, honey.”

“Thank you so much.”

“The whole town’s talking about the fire at Griff’s. And I worried when you didn’t come in last night. But I told myself, Louella, it’s none of your business. She’s a grown woman, I told myself. But then I remembered, you don’t have any parents to watch out for you, and you’re young and pretty, and I don’t like to-”

“Louella, I absolutely have to take a shower.”

“Of course, you sweet thing. You just go on. I won’t say another word.”

And she didn’t, she just turned around and headed for the stairs-yet somehow, her beaming face was there when Lily opened the bathroom door twenty minutes later. “I wanted to tell you that I’d saved you some cinnamon rolls from breakfast. But also, since you missed breakfast, I thought, well, you might like a little sandwich with me.”

Lily had never lived with anyone so intrusive, but Louella was like an honorary grandmother. An unshakeable honorary grandmother. She managed to pull on clam diggers and a violet cami, swooshed up her hair with combs- she had to get it cut or she was going to go out of her mind. Louella watched her apply brush, lipstick, mascara.

And since Lily still hadn’t managed to shake her by then, she figured she might as well try grilling Louella. “Were you living here when the mill closed?”

“Of course I was. That mill closing almost killed the whole town.”

“Did you happen to know my dad? My mom?”

“Of course, honey pie. Your mom-she thought the sun rose and set on her daughters. She always had you dressed so cute. And y’all had manners, not like kids are raised now. All you girls could shake a stranger’s hand, say hello, sit quiet in church. You were angels, all three. Although I have to say, your older sister-”

“Cate.”

“Yes, that one. She had a little hellion in her. Used to make me laugh. I can remember one time, your mama must have wanted her to have a bath-she was maybe four? And Cate, now, she didn’t want it, ran out of the house stark naked with your mama chasing after her, carrying a baby under one arm, must have been you? And Cate, oh my…”

Lily wanted to laugh. She could easily picture her independent older sister being that kind of handful-but just then, she couldn’t be diverted. “Louella, do you know if there are people still living here who were connected to the mill back then? Anyone who might have known my dad?”

By then, Lily had herded Louella down the stairs, through the kitchen, had accepted a wrapped bag of something homemade and fragrant-but before Lily could leave, Louella had parked her ample body in front of the screen door.

“Well, yes,” she said slowly. “The owner of the mill back then was Webster Renbarker. Your daddy was his second in charge. The mill didn’t close because it wasn’t thriving, you know. The place did real well, once your dad took on the management reins. Everybody said so. The problem with Webster was that he got a brain tumor. Started acting goofy. Hid his own money from himself. Sabotaged his own shipments. Nobody could figure out what was going on until it was too late.”

“He died,” Lily assumed with a sinking heart.

“Oh, he’s alive. It was just nothing at that point could keep the mill from bankruptcy, between Webster’s shenanigans and his medical bills. Came a point, they took out the tumor. He lost the sight in one eye, as I recall. And he’ll never be what you’d call normal. Lots of days he’s fuzzy. That’s what I hear from the grapevine, anyhow-”

“I don’t suppose you know where he lives?”

“Why, sure I do. Lives in North Carolina, some place for seniors. Has some supervision. You know. That kind of place.”

“Okay.” For a few moments, Lily actually thought she had a real lead. She tried not to feel disappointed as she aimed firmly for the door. “Well, thanks for sharing all that, Louella-”

“A course, he’s here now.”

Lily whirled back. “Say what? You mean here? In Pecan Valley?”

“Well, yes, for a couple more days. He’s visiting his wife’s cousin, Barbara Marr, it’s an annual thing they do in the summer, bring him here for a week, take him back. You know the Marr house, the red-tile roof at the far end of Magnolia Drive? He was here last week at least. Remember seeing him at Debbie’s Diner. Not like he can’t do some things on his own. He just tends to be unpredictable, bless his heart. And when he’s home here, people look after him, not like anything was his fault. Right after…”

A minute later, Lily was gunning the engine of her rental Ford. If this Webster Renbarker was shortly leaving town, she had to try to reach him before the chance was gone. Griff was going to wonder where she was. She wanted to be with him, not gallivanting all over town on what was probably going to be a wild-goose chase.

But if there was even a small chance the long-ago fire had a connection to the immediate fires, she had to try.

She knew where the house with the red-tile roof was. It couldn’t take ten minutes to drive there-even less if she speeded, which she most certainly intended to do.

Chapter 6

Okay, Lily thought as she charged up the steps to the library, nothing was going to go smoothly today. She’d found Barbara Marr’s house, but not Webster Renbarcker. “Web” was at the library, his cousin claimed. She often dropped him off to spend a couple hours there. If Lily wanted to find Mr. Renbarcker, she needed to go there.

So she had.

She swung open the heavy library door, fretting that this was going to be a whole wasted morning, when she could have been with Griff. What she’d risked that morning-what she wanted to risk with him again-made her wonder if she was losing her mind.

Chasing an old man who might not even talk with her seemed another symptom of insanity-yet she only took a few steps into the old, cool library to feel bombarded by a flush of great memories. Her dad had often brought the girls here-likely to give their mom a break, Lily thought now-but as a child she’d only known those mornings as a special treat. The smell of books, the tall windows letting in the long, yellow ribbons of light, the quiet, the big chairs that a little girl could curl up in…she’d loved it all when she was a child.

Still did. The old blue rug looked the same, so did the giant, oak library desk. It was impossible not to feel safe here. She ambled through aisles in the adult section, not certain what Webster Renbarcker looked like-but for sure, he had to be a senior.

There was no one over fifty in adult fiction, or in the reference room in back. Disappointed, she just glanced in the childrens’ room, even as she was aiming for the back door…and there he was. An older man with longish white