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Chapter Thirty
It had been a week since the fire. Plum was living with Gideon—not sleeping in the guest bedroom anymore, but in his bed, and she’d had some visitors at the rectory.
Doctor Eric came almost every day to check on her, and Nurse Marni had visited a few times too. The first time she’d brought Plum a few caftans and a full-length satin robe with voluminous feather trim from the vintage store in town.
“Who says you can’t convalesce in style?” she’d said with a wink, and Plum had broken down into tears. She cried a lot these days, which she hated but Gideon didn’t seem to mind. Not at all in fact, except he knew it botheredher.
Mrs. Symes and some of the other members of the hostess committee came by, too. Some of them had knit her hats and mittens and scarves and socks, and one of them gave her a quilt that looked like a cousin of the one Gideon had on his bed. Mrs. Symes gave her a gorgeous set of vintage Pyrex mixing bowls that she claimed had been in the back of her cupboards gathering dust.
“I hate cooking,” she’d said. “You’ll get a lot more use out of these than I ever did.”
Saoirse and Arthur had been by as well, offered to help with the insurance company if they gave her any trouble, and some other people who she’d met only briefly at Hive. It was hard to believe how kind they were after having met her only once, but it wasn’t hard to believe they were doing something kind for Gideon. She was sure he’d earned their kindness many times over.
The fire chief also came by, a barrel-chested, bearded man who told her apologetically it looked like the fire had been started in the kitchen of Caffeinatrix.
“No signs of arson which is good for insurance, but…”
“But what?”
“It looks like the source of the fire was a gas stove toward the back and…it just doesn’t make a lot of sense, is all. You said no one had been there for hours at the point the fire was likely to have started?”
“That’s right,” she said, and Gideon took her hand. He was sitting next to her on the couch—she had asked him to be here for this and now she was glad she had. “I locked up before I left for the night and I was out for a few hours, and when I came back, I didn’t—”
Something sparked at the back of her brain.
“You didn’t what, darling?” Gideon nudged.
“I didn’t even go into the shop, but I checked the door and it was locked like it should be. I did think I heard a noise, but I assumed it was a raccoon or something in the alley.”
Chief Kelly’s brow furrowed. “They can be troublesome alright, but not likely to turn on a gas stove in a locked building. Not really ones to use dish towels either.”
“Do you think someone set the fire on purpose?” Gideon asked, his thumb rubbing across her wrist and his whole body rigid with tension. “Was someone trying to hurt Plum?”
“No,” the chief answered, shaking his head. “No, there weren’t any accelerants or other signs of foul play. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about on that score. It’s just the timing is off, that’s all. If someone had left a dishtowel on the stove when you were closing up, the fire would’ve started a lot earlier.”
Plum mostly felt numb these days, when she wasn’t grieving the loss of her business, the loss of her apartment and all of her things. But that made anger flare in her stomach.
“Are you saying I’m lying? Do you think I had something to do with this or I’m covering it up?”
She knew she sounded hysterical. Shefelthysterical.
“No one is saying that, love. Chief Kelly is just trying to figure this out, alright?” Gideon soothed, but she didn’t feel soothed. The tears came again and she buried her face in her hands.
Plum could hear the men talking around her and she wanted to scream. She hated being so helpless and at loose ends, not knowing what to do or how to fix any of this. She hated hurting and having her emotions overwhelm her so easily when she let herself feel anything at all.
After a couple of minutes, during which she thought Gideon showed Chief Kelly out, Gideon came back and scooped her up in his arms, carried her upstairs to the bedroom where he rocked her for a bit before tucking her into bed and telling her he’d be right back.
She heard the water running in the bathroom and then he came back with a tall glass of water. Gideon wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and put the cup to her lips, holding her fast.
“Drink up, young lady. Doctor Eric said you need to be getting plenty of water. I can get you tea instead but you need to be getting enough fluids. We’re not arguing about this.”
The truth was she didn’t want to argue. She was tired and sad and felt yucky. So she took a few swallows and then Gideon took the cup away, rubbed the back of her neck and kissed her forehead and praised her for being cooperative.
She let him give her the rest of the glass and when it was done she pulled on his shirt until he sat on the bed next to her and she could curl into his side, snuggle against him while he wrapped his arms around her.
He at least made her feel safe.
* * *
