Smoke and Mirrors by Taylor Anne

Author:Taylor Anne [Anne, Taylor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Suspense
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2016-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Graeme stood in the middle of the bar surveying the mess. He put his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth. He wanted to scream and throw something, but that would only add to the destruction he faced right now. It was seven thirty at night. The bar should be full of customers, not policemen and firemen. How the hell did this happen? The inside seating area of the bar wasn’t destroyed, but the stench of smoke permeated the furniture and air. The walls were smoke scarred, but the fire was contained and extinguished before the inside of the building had been ruined. It was the outside room that took the hardest hit. He walked outside to assess the damage done there. Walking through the door, he kicked the smoldering chunks of wood. He ran a hand through his hair, stopping in the middle of the open patio. It was totally demolished. The canopy was nothing more than a heap of black fabric lying on the sand. Tables and chairs lie on the sandy floor, broken and charred. Cooper and a few of their regular customers hauled pieces of wood to the dumpster. Graeme couldn’t bear to stand there any longer, so he headed back inside to the bar.

Glass mixed with liquid had formed a sticky mess on the bar and the floor. Most of the liquor bottles were smashed, like someone took a baseball bat and drug it along the wall, crushing the bottles along the way. His anger boiled. He wanted nothing more than to smash his fist into the remaining few bottles that were untouched. He clenched his fists and jammed them in his pockets before he did more damage to the bar he loved.

“Damn.” All of the hard work that was put into renovating the bar was ruined. The place was nothing more than ashes and broken glass. Even though the entire bar was not damaged, it would take weeks to get things back to normal again. What the hell happened there? Was this a random act by a group of hell-raisers? The lump in the pit of Graeme’s stomach convinced him otherwise. The damage done there was planned. Deliberate. But why? And by whom?

Graeme was at the trial with Abby when he received the call from Chief Colby. He told the chief to call Cooper until he could get there. It didn’t dawn on him until the words were out of his mouth, but Cooper would have already known about the fire since he was a volunteer for the fire department. The drive from New Orleans to Orange Beach was nerve wracking. Graeme stayed on the phone almost the entire time trying to get some answers.

Abby tried calling him several times. He dismissed her calls. He hated dodging her, but he was not ready to discuss the fire, or the reason he walked out of the courtroom the first time. He didn’t want to hear the sympathy in her voice. And he certainly didn’t want to hear the anger at what his words would bring.

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