In Hot Water Read Free

me alone,” Bob screamed. “Get out of here. I can take care of this myself.”
    “Bob is crazy, Chief,” Bert said. “I think he’s gonna drive the dozer into the cabin.”
    “Somebody, besides Bob, better do something,” Walt muttered.
    John moved quickly out of the way as the bright yellow bulldozer began to jerk forward again only a hundred yards or so from the cabin.
    “He’s gonna do it,” Kent said. “He’s gonna ram the cabin.”
    “Shoot him, John,” Walt demanded. “Take out your gun and shoot him in the leg!”
    The Smittys’ cameras were flashing, like paparazzi following a famous movie star. They got as close as they dared when Bob started moving faster toward the cabin.
    Stella gritted her teeth, her hands clenched in tight balls. She ran to John’s side.
    “I don’t know what else I can do,” he said. “I can arrest him after it’s over, but that won’t do much good now. I called Don. He’s on his way.”
    “I understand that Bob’s on the council and he owns an important business. You can’t just shoot him.”
    “I’m sorry, Stella.”
    They all waited for the impact of metal hitting logs. Stella scanned the front windows in the cabin but couldn’t see Eric. What would be left of him when the cabin was gone? Would he disappear for good?
    The bulldozer was close to the front steps. The frenzied look on Bob’s face was frightening. Everyone stood completely still as the heavy scoop blade reached the stairs.
    Then the bulldozer shuddered and shut down.
    The quiet after that moment was startling. Bob tried again and again to restart the engine. It didn’t work. That gave John the opportunity to jump on the dozer and take the keys from him.
    “I think that’s enough for one day, Mr. Floyd. Come on down now. We don’t want this to go any further.”
    Stella let out a long breath of relief, and her pager went off. There was a fire in Sweet Pepper.

Chapter 2
    “I want that cabin torn down,” Bob yelled as John escorted him to the back of his police car. “I want that ghost laid to rest once and for all.”
    “I’ll have to take care of this first,” John told Stella. “I’ll come out to the fire, if I can.”
    Stella wanted to know if Eric had stopped the bulldozer. There wasn’t time to find out. She was going to have to wait until after the fire brigade had answered the call.
    “Do what you have to do,” she said to John. “We can handle it.”
    “Going down with us, Chief?” Kent was already behind the wheel of the Cherokee.
    “Yes.” She jumped in the front seat beside him. Bert was in the back. “Let’s go.”
    Most of the volunteer firefighters were already getting in their gear by the time Stella and her supporters reached the firehouse at the end of the long road from the cabin. Eric had built the cabin close to the firehouse for his convenience. The fire brigade had been his life, and ultimately, his death.
    “The fire is out at Sweet Pepper Lake,” Tagger Reamis said when they got inside. He’d been on communications when the call came in.
    He was a Vietnam veteran, one of the members of the original fire brigade. Tagger didn’t go out on calls, but he was pretty good at communications, now that he’d stopped drinking. “215 Half Moon Road. I think that’s old Barney Falk’s place at Sunset Beach again.”
    “This better not be another speed test. I don’t care if he used to be the state rep from this area or not. Some of us have better things to do than run after him every month or so,” JC Burris said. He was a thin, wiry black man who worked at the Sweet Pepper canning plant. He used to drive a cement truck, which made him perfect for driving the engine.
    Stella agreed and knew the rest of the volunteers did too. These people took time out from their daily lives to service the fire and emergency needs of their community. They were passionate about what they did, and they didn’t like being played.
    Barney Falk had dragged them out to his