Volume 12
Killing dragon fires come to town, leaving the bodies of homeless veterans who have come to Chelsea for an unknown reason.
A group calling themselves “Ultimate Scavenger Hunters” are in Chelsea to play their game. A game that will leave the people of Chelsea in the lurch.
A wedding party comes to town to make use of The Escape’s wedding charter service. The yacht doesn’t leave port before unwanted excitement occurs.
One has to wonder if the town itself will ever find a sense of “normal” that doesn’t involve crime!
Come visit with the folks of Chelsea for a while.
Purchase Options
You can order from Tiger Lily’s Store. This is the same paperback book you can get from Amazon. The difference is that it will come from the author and will be signed.
Excerpt From Dragon Fire
Chapter 1
Tiger Lily pressed her nose against the window pane. Her siblings and their friends from the neighborhood surrounded her at the back of the Café. They watched Pete and the Chief of the Fire Department across the street. They conferred by their cars, red lights still flashing. Cyril paced back and forth, agitated. He glanced at the cats in the window from time to time to shake his head. On every third turn, he let out a mournful howl.
On this cool June morning, the Café was more crowded than usual. Locals and tourists shared what they knew and started rumors with what they didn’t know.
From the table facing The Avenue, she heard two men. They were older, apparently hard of hearing, and definitely missing a screw or two.
“There was a fire at the old marina.”
“I heard it was that upscale condo place.”
“No, the marina. There was something about a boat.”
“No, it was an abandoned building.”
“At the marina.”
“No, the condo place.”
“What building is abandoned over there? Did you drive by?”
“No. I heard it from Joe who said he could see it.”
“From where? Joe lives on the southeast side of town.”
“He, well, I thought he said he saw it. He might have said Tully saw it.”
“That makes sense. Tully lives over there.”
“By the condos.”
“No, by the marina.”
Tiger Lily turned her ear to the table straight behind her. Two women this time.
“Did you hear? The Marina burned to the ground!”
“The Marina? I didn’t see anything going on down there.”
“Well, that’s what they just said over there. The Marina!”
“Poor Cheryl! She grew up there! What will she do now?”
Even Tiger Lily knew the marina in question wasn’t “The Marina.” It was the old junky place she had heard about. Oh, well. She tuned her ears to another table. Four women added their knowledge to the pile.
“They suspect arson.”
“Arson? You don’t say. Who did it?”
“I heard it was one of those homeless men living out there.”
“Out where?”
“At the old marina. Sometimes they crawl into one of those old boats to sleep.”
“You don’t say. Homeless men? In Chelsea?”
“It’s a problem. That’s for sure.”
“We need to do something about that. Before they come into town and start sleeping in the street.”
“And setting fires.”
“Raping women.”
“Leaving their trash.”
“Why would they start a fire?”
“Maybe they needed to keep warm.”
“It’s June. Why would they need a fire?”
“Who knows? With homeless folks, you never know what you’re getting into.”
Tiger Lily huffed to herself and concentrated on a table further back in the room. Loud voices this time. A man and a woman.
“They found a body.”
“Who?”
“Don’t know. It was burned.”
“That bad? Can’t tell who it was?”
“Don’t know if it’s a man or a woman, but probably a man.”
“Who said?”
“I heard it at Mr. Bean’s.”
“You went to Mr. Bean’s? Whatcha doin’ eatin’ breakfast here for?”
“I didn’t eat there. Just went in for gossip. Saw that old guy that used to be on the Town Council in there, Hank’s his name, and asked him what he knew.”
“And he said there was a body?”
“Yep. Burned beyond all recognition.”
Tiger Lily had heard enough. She concentrated on Cyril. He stood still now and faced the Café. Apparently he was going to try to convince Pete to come in. If Pete came in, they’d get the straight scoop.
A motion caught the corner of her eye. Boone and Pastor Teresa had come out of the church, Soul’s Harbor, and walked toward Pete. Boone said something, turned and pointed to the Café. Pete nodded, and Boone turned with Teresa to walk in the direction of the Café.
Tiger Lily watched as they walked past the windows to the door, entered, looked for an empty table, and spied one. It was in the back of the room, near the window. Near her.
Tiger Lily turned to her siblings and friends, “Spread out. Get what real news you can. I’ll need someone to stay here with me. I’ll bet Boone and Pastor Teresa know something.”
Moriah said, “I’ll go sit with my mom. She hears everything.”
Little Socks nodded. “I’ll go with you. She always gets good stuff.”
Mo didn’t answer, but he turned to follow them. He liked being near Moriah’s mom, Clara. Moriah, low to the ground, light-colored and rotund – she called herself “fluffy” – well, she was “fluffy” also – was the Jeff to Clara’s Mutt. Clara was a tall Haitian beauty, whose long black hair was nearly always pulled tight to her head. A bright red flower generally adorned her hair behind the left ear.
Clara always gave Mo marvelous full body pets, from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. Frankly, he didn’t care if he heard gossip or not, if he could get that.
Kali and Ko, unaccountably away from the Inn, said at the same time, “I’m going to sit with Trudie.” “I’m going behind the coffee counter.”
Tiger Lily sighed. “Okay. You might hear something good there.”
Mr. Bean and Tillie looked at one another and raced to the hostess stand. Mr. Bean could jump to the top; Tillie would be forced to stand at the foot of it. They could hear gossip as people walked in.
Sassy Pants said, “I stay wit you here.”
“That’s good, Sassy. I can use your help. What about you guys? Where will you go?”
She had turned to look at their neighbors from across the street, Simon Finnegan and Oscar McMurphy. Simon Finnegan looked at his sister before answering. “We’ll go into the back room. The Café’s full today, and those tables are being used. Maybe we’ll hear something.”
“Maybe someone will drop food on the floor.”
Tiger Lily nodded. As they turned to go, she saw Sassy Pants, already on top of the table, getting a “stummy” from Pastor Teresa. She jumped to a cat ledge on the table and hissed, “Not on top of the table. Get onto a ledge.”
“Me get stummy first. Den I get down. Not yet.”
Tiger Lily hissed one more time then gave up. Pete was on his way in, and Cyril was headed in their direction.
Now they would hear what really happened.
Tiger Lily had awakened in the middle of the night. The alarms woke her first, and the smell of the fire kept her awake. The soft June air had gone rancid in seconds. Annie and Henrie had gone through the Inn, closing the windows to try to keep the smell away.
Tiger Lily realized the humans couldn’t tell. Not from the distance of the fire, at least. But she could. She smelled burning flesh. The humans wouldn’t know until the gossip started to roll in.
From their third floor windows, Tiger Lily and her siblings watched the flames over the trees. The flames looked like a dragon. Dragon fire, she thought. Evil. Devouring everything in its path.
Little Socks had cried, “Oh, no! Sis will get burned up!”
Mr. Bean stopped her. “No. Mommy just called Chris. It’s not them. She said it’s further up the coast.”
Relieved, they calmed a bit and continued to watch the flames.
Sassy Pants asked, “What’s dat smell?”
“It’s something alive. Or something that used to be alive,” answered Tiger Lily.
“Like a cat?”
“Bigger than a cat. Probably bigger than a dog. Probably a human.”
“But not Chris?”
Tiger Lily looked at Mr. Bean, who shook his head. She answered, “Not Chris. Mommy said he’s okay. And Sis is okay, too. It’s nobody we know.”
Silently, she prayed she had told the truth.