“I’ll tell him,” she said, eager to do anything that would help prove his innocence.

“Have you lost faith in me, Allison?” Before she could answer, he continued. “I swear to you I had nothing to do with the fire.”

“Who else could have done it?” she asked rather than admit her faith had been shaken.

“I saw him.” Anson’s voice was so low she could hardly hear it.

“What?” she said breathlessly. “Who?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” she nearly shouted. She wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t going to let him lie to her, either.

“I don’t know his name,” Anson groaned, his frustration evident. “I’ve seen him before, but I don’t know who he is. He ate at the restaurant. But I only saw him one time and then again the night of the fire. I swear that’s the truth. I shouldn’t have told you this much…I don’t want to involve you any more than I already have.”

“But Anson, I—”

“All I’m asking,” he said, cutting her off, “all I want from you is to believe me. If you can’t do that, there’s nothing more for me to say….”

“Don’t hang up,” she cried.

She heard the drone of silence and tears welled up in her eyes.

“Anson?”

“I’m here. I should go,” he said.

“No, please.” She felt like she was grasping at wind.

“I can’t talk anymore.”

“I went to see your mother,” she rushed to tell him. “I understand now what you meant when you came to me that night. You said it was better if I didn’t know what you’d done. You meant the money you stole, didn’t you?” She could only hope that was all he’d meant.

“I took that money from my mother,” Anson admitted. “I’m not proud of it and I’ll pay back every penny. I promised I would and I will.”

“She let me read your letter,” Allison told him, “and I told her about your phone call.”

“Did Cherry tell you about the fires I started as a kid, too?” he asked.

Allison heard gruff voices in the background. She couldn’t decipher what was being said, but it was clear that Anson needed to get off the phone.

“Yes, she told me.”

“No wonder you don’t believe me,” he said. “Listen. I didn’t nearly burn the house down when I was a kid. My mother was drinking and she left a cigarette burning. She blamed me, but it was her fault. The other incident wasn’t me, either. It was another kid from the neighborhood. I know this looks bad, Allison, but I swear I wasn’t responsible for the fire at The Lighthouse.”

“I want to believe you. With all my heart, Anson.”

“Thank you,” he whispered and then, before she was ready, he disconnected.

Allison’s hand tightened around her phone and she held on for a long moment, trying to maintain the sense of closeness they’d shared.

Anson had told her far more than he had in his previous call or the night of the fire, and it gave her hope that he was telling the truth.

As she drove back to Cedar Cove, Allison’s thoughts whirled in a hundred different directions. On impulse, she stopped at the First National Bank. The last time she’d made a deposit, Allison had seen Justine Gunderson there.

Ms. Gunderson was talking with a client at her desk when she entered the bank. Allison sat in the waiting area until Justine was free. During that time, Allison changed her mind twice before she found the courage to approach the owner of the burned-out restaurant.

“Can I help you?” Ms. Gunderson asked pleasantly as Allison walked toward her.

Her knees felt weak, and Allison sat down in the chair opposite Justine. “I’m Allison Cox,” she said. Because she felt it was important to maintain a businesslike facade, she extended her hand across the desk.

Justine shook it and seemed to take her seriously, which reassured Allison. “I don’t know if you remember me,” she said. They’d met at The Light-house and at a party held by her parents a couple of Christmases ago.

She waited, but Ms. Gunderson gave no indication that she did.

“I’m Zach Cox’s daughter—and Anson Butler’s girlfriend,” she said in as straightforward a manner as she could.

Justine’s eyes flickered with recognition.

“I talked to Anson today. A little more than thirty minutes ago.”

Justine leaned forward, her elbows on the desk. When she spoke, her voice was low and tense. “Does Anson know the sheriff wants to talk to him regarding the fire?” she asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

“Anson knows.”

“Is there a reason he won’t talk to the authorities?”

Allison wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I want him to come back to Cedar Cove more than anything.”

“My husband and I realize he was upset after we laid him off.”

Allison had never seen Anson more distressed than the day last autumn when he’d found her in the mall. He’d been so negative, convinced the world was against him. Convinced that nothing he said or did would ever be good enough.

“He was so hurt and angry when he lost his job. He didn’t take that money, Ms. Gunderson. I know that. He’d tried really hard to do everything right—and then to be falsely accused…You can’t imagine what it did to him.”

Justine sighed. “My husband felt bad about the way he handled the situation. We’d never had anything like that come up before. Seth liked Anson. In fact, he’d recently made him a prep cook.”

Allison nodded vigorously. “Anson thought he was making progress and that he’d be able to pay off the shed and—”

“The shed?” she asked.

Allison lowered her eyes. “He was making restitution for the fire in the city park.”

Ms. Gunderson went very quiet. “I’d forgotten about that,” she said after a moment. She pressed her fingertips to her forehead. “I’ve tried to put as much of this behind me as I can. As you might’ve guessed, this whole episode has been devastating for Seth and me.”

“Your husband knew about Anson’s past. My father talked to him about it and Mr. Gunderson agreed to give him this job.”

“You believe in your friend, don’t you?” Justine said gently.

“Yes!” She wanted to defend Anson, explain that he was a good and honest person and how intelligent he was. None of that made any difference, though, unless there was evidence exonerating him.

“If he’s truly innocent, then your friend’ll return of his own free will and answer the sheriff’s questions.”

“I’ll talk to him about it,” Allison said. The next time Anson phoned, she’d make sure he understood how important it was to contact the authorities if he hoped to clear his name. Otherwise, this fire would hang over his head for the rest of his life. Otherwise, the entire town would lay the blame at his feet. His reputation had cast a shadow of doubt over him, and his disappearance only reinforced people’s suspicions. Refusing to step forward hindered his chances.

It hindered their chances.

Twenty-Six

Linnette was waiting for her sister at the high-school track. Gloria had finally convinced her to try running, which she claimed kept her in good shape and allowed her to pass the police department’s regular fitness tests.

Gloria was supposed to join her when her shift ended. Together they’d do a lazy mile, she’d said. Then, in a few weeks, after Linnette had built up her endurance, they’d run farther. Gloria had made it sound like fun and as a physician’s assistant, Linnette often advised patients on the health benefits of exercise. The least she could do was practice what she preached. Besides, seeing her fit and firm would be a nice surprise for Cal when he returned.

Gloria was only a few minutes behind her; she pulled into the lot and parked next to Linnette.

“Hey, you look great,” Gloria said as she stepped out of her car.

Linnette did a full turn so her sister could get a complete view of her jogging suit. “I should. This running outfit cost me over a hundred bucks.”

Gloria rolled her eyes. “You don’t need designer clothes to run—an old pair of jeans and a T-shirt would’ve worked fine.”

“Not for me. I figure that if I’m going to sweat, I want to look as good as I can while I’m doing it.”

Shaking her head, Gloria led the way. It was late enough that the school had finished with the track, which was now open to the public. Several other runners circled it; a few more walked.

“Chad asked me to send his greetings,” Linnette said, watching for her sister’s reaction. Gloria didn’t give any indication that she cared. “Hey, that’s quite the poker face,” she teased.

“What?”

“I mentioned Chad’s name and you didn’t even raise an eyebrow. When are you going to admit you’re as interested in him as he is in you?”

“Do you want to run or not?” Gloria asked, ignoring the question.

“Run, of course.” She was looking forward to some brisk exercise and, in the process, spending time with her sister. All they seemed to do when they got together was go out for meals, which defeated her goal of getting into shape. Gloria was the one who’d suggested they start running and Linnette had happily agreed.

Gloria demonstrated a few warm-up exercises.

Linnette carefully followed her instructions. “Hey, this is great. I feel better already.”

“We aren’t running yet.”

Linnette jumped up and down a few times, showing her sister that she had plenty of energy in reserve. “Lead on and don’t hold back on my account,” she said, gesturing dramatically at the track.

“We’ll start off nice and easy,” Gloria told her. “I wouldn’t want to kill my sister, the health care professional.”

“It’s nice to have a sister, isn’t it?” Linnette murmured, basking in the glow of first finding a friend and then learning that friend was also her sister.

“I agree—a sister is a good thing,” Gloria said with a smile.

They took off down the track, and to Linnette’s surprise it wasn’t bad. She could breathe almost normally. But by the end of the first lap, her breathing had grown heavier and her speed had decreased. “How many laps in a mile again?”

“Four.”

Gloria had to be kidding. Each time around felt that far. “That was a joke, right?”

“You’re already a quarter there.” Gloria cast her a knowing look.

This wasn’t welcome news. Her lungs ached, and her legs didn’t want to cooperate. She felt suddenly depressed to realize she still had three laps to go before she was finished. Besides, in addition to her aches and pains, she noticed that perspiration was running freely down her face. “Maybe you were right about starting off slow and easy,” Linnette managed, although it stung her pride to suggest she wasn’t up to the challenge.