“But you said no.”
Noelle returned to sit beside him again. A little closer, and he dared to rest his arm on her shoulder, more in comfort than anything else. But his mind raced at how his project might have played a part in her loss.
“I said no. Quite adamantly. I couldn’t have allowed them to tear down the building right after losing Mom and Dad. The plans the representative showed us were of a really modern design, nothing like the rest of the town.” She twisted her hands, focusing on them. “But I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. My building is gone. The others can just make their deal, if it’s not too late. Maybe whoever this developer was has already found another small town street to decimate.”
Decimate. A harsh word. He’d wanted to invest in his new area, to help bring shoppers to the town center and away from the supercenter planning to build in the outskirts. The kiss of death to any small downtown. Not that she could know that. His sources had offered him information he could not reveal.
“Maybe he wanted to help the town?”
She scoffed. “He offered us no input on the design or anything. We were just given a dollar figure per square foot and told take it or leave it. And it wasn’t as if we had anyone else to go to.”
Rage built low and slow. While he’d intended to remain anonymous for the time being, for various reasons, his good intentions had led to strife. No, he didn’t have another town to decimate. He’d intended to do a good deed for a town he hoped to be part of for many years.
His cell phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket and checked the number. “Excuse me a moment?” At her nod, he went into his office, closing the door behind him.
“Chief, thank you for calling back. What have you been able to determine about the fire?”
“Arson, we think. An accelerant causing the flames to move fast. We are looking for the point of ignition now, but after Noelle left, the walls caved in the rest of the way, and it’s hard going in the dark and with the weather.” The man’s voice was low but vibrated with anger. “On Christmas Eve. Little Noelle could have been killed. Her father was one of our top volunteers for many years, you know. A good man, pillar of the community.”
“I realize it’s Christmas Eve, but maybe after the holiday you can do some more checking….”
“Like hell!” Muffled sounds came as the chief shouted orders to someone. “We aren’t going home until we follow up on every lead. The sheriff is here, too, along with several of his deputies. We don’t want to let the trail go cold.”
Charles was speechless with admiration for the community he’d made his own. “Noelle said something about some of her neighbors being very excited about selling out to the new project.” He paused then drew a deep breath. “I was the developer behind it. I wanted to help build the town up. But I think I inadvertently created a situation.”
“I had guessed it was you. Even if you keep a low profile, your good works filter back to some of us. Charlie, nobody wanted it to go through more than me. Noelle’s restaurant went up like a lit match. If she had been in there five minutes longer, she’d be as dead as her poor parents and in a lot more painful way than the car crash that killed them instantly.”
“On Christmas Eve.”
“Yes. Look, I have to go see if I can find the perp. If they used any kind of accelerant, we don’t want them to have time to get the smell off them.”
“Thanks, Chief. You know I moved here because Joe went on and on about what a great town it was…and I couldn’t agree more.”
“My son talks more than he acts. I hope he comes back one day, too, when he’s done seeing the world. Maybe with a fraternity buddy here, he will.”
“I hope you can button this up before you miss all of Christmas. Let me know if I can do anything to help.”
The chief chuckled. “Just take good care of our Noelle. She left before I could offer to have my wife pick her up and take her to our house. I think she forgot how we stick together here, in all those years she was away. We need more of our young people to come home and bring the town to life. Your project would have been a good catalyst.”
“It still may be. Say hello to Joe for me.”
“What? You’re just as likely to talk to him as I am.”
Joe hadn’t arrived yet to surprise his folks. Hopefully, he’d get there before the storm settled in. Already, outside the windows, the icy sleet frosted the trees. White, but not quite picture postcard, holiday weather.
Rattling from the living room caught Charles’s attention. “I’ll take care of our girl while you find out who almost ruined all our Christmases.”
“I thought you didn’t know Noelle before today?”
“I didn’t…and wouldn’t that have made for a much less Merry Christmas?”
“Charlie…Merry Christmas to you both.”
After disconnecting, he wandered back to the living room to find out what the heck was going on.
Seated on the floor in the middle of a pile of kittens with a large white cat in her lap, Noelle giggled. In the glow of the firelight, with the Christmas tree behind her, she presented a red-sweatered picture of holiday cheer.
Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at him. “I was going to ask if you had cat food for the babies, but I found them all eating out of a bowl in the kitchen along with this beauty.”
“Noelle, meet Mrs. Hamilton-Andover-Schnobbery. She is an almost pure Persian rescued from the shelter by my sister who felt a man needed a pet. Apparently, a big dog did not occur to her.” The white fluffy cat flicked a stare at him of utter disdain as usual. “And she hates men.”
“No wonder she hates you with a name like that.” Mrs. Schobbery’s purrs rose as her new admirer stroked her head. “She looks much more like a Duchess to me.”