Page 29 of A Spot of Trouble
Cinder sighed.
“Strike two.” The umpire—an EMT named Sue who worked in Wilmington and was therefore neutral in the longtime rivalry between the Turtle Beach fire and police departments—held up two fingers.
Griff shrugged one of his massive shoulders. “To answer your question, no. The playing field has typically been somewhat even. In fact, the trophy seems to go back and forth from year to year. But after the controversy last year, we lost two of our best players. That’s why Murray brought you in. I guess he figured you were good enough to replace them both.”
Sam lowered his head. Always intuitive to his moods, Cinder rested her chin on his knee. “Are you ever going to tell me what exactly happened last year, or am I going to have to ask Violet to fill me in?”
“What?” Griff shook his head. “No way. You can’t do that. Absolutely not.”
Sam squinted past left field, to where Violet’s cupcake truck sat shining in the Saturday morning sun like silver Christmas tinsel. The line that snaked from her order window stretched all the way to the parking lot.
Turtle Beach’s softball field was situated near the boardwalk on the bay side of the island, affording a stunning view of the pink morning sky and sunlight dappling the calm waters of the bay. No one was paying much attention to the beautiful surroundings, either from the bleachers or on the field. Sam had never seen a community so invested in softball. It was strange…in a sweet, wholesome sort of way—especially the manner in which the group of residents from the senior center had planted themselves squarely between the groups of spectators cheering for the two opposing sides. Neutral territory. The three older women who seemed to be close friends with Violet sat smack on the front row, wearing a mismatched combination of clothing showing their support for both teams. #FreeCinder T-shirts with TBFD hats. Gigantic red foam fingers on their left hands and blue ones on their right.
Maybe Griff was right. Maybe Cinder’s newfound popularity had truly catapulted Sam straight to favored status. Yesterday as he’d been walking to work, three different people had stopped him on Seashell Drive’s sand-swept sidewalk to greet Cinder. It had been two days since he’d most recently been accused of dognapping.
“Well, if she can’t tell me, you’re going to have to spill the proverbial beans.” Sam stared hard at Griff. “Tell me.”
Griff glanced to the players on either side of them, neither of whom seemed to be paying them the slightest bit of attention. All eyes were on the softball diamond.
“Fine.” Griff’s voice shifted to a low murmur. “About a year ago, Violet started dating a firefighter from our department.”
“Seriously?” Violet March with a fireman? Sam couldn’t see it…didn’twantto see it, unless of course the fireman in question was himself.
Sam shook his head. Where on earth had that thought come from?
“You okay?” Griff frowned at him.
“Peachy.” He ground his teeth. “Go on.”
“Where was I?” Griff removed his cap, ran his hands through his hair, and replaced the cap.
Don’t make me say it, Sam thought.We were at the part where Violet was dating a firefighter.
Griff nodded as if he could read Sam’s mind. “Oh, yeah. So Violet started going out with Emmett.”
Sam breathed a tiny sigh of relief. No one at the firehouse went by that name. Whoever she’d dated must have transferred to another station, although why that seemed like such an important distinction was a mystery he couldn’t begin to fathom.
“Wait.” Sam’s eyes narrowed as he studied his new friend. Somewhere in the periphery, he was vaguely aware of one of his teammates making it to first base. Finally. “So the big rivalry between the departments must not have been a thing back then?”
Griff let out a laugh. “It definitely was. It’s been a thing for as long as I can remember. Come to think of it, I’m not really sure when it started. Or why.”
Interesting.
Still, Griff’s observation didn’t have anything to do with Violet. “Looping back to my original question…”
“Sure, sure, sure.” Griff lowered his voice another degree and Sam strained to hear him over the commotion of the game. “It was kind of a scandal when Violet and Emmett started dating, given the fact that he was a firefighter. From what I hear, her dad wasn’t happy about it at all. Her brothers were more supportive. I think they were kind of hoping for some kind of truce. We all were, to be honest. Everyone but Chief March and Chief Murray, anyway.”
Griff sighed and continued. “And Emmett pursued her really hard. From what I hear, she resisted at first, but he really pulled out all the stops—flowers, cards, the whole drill. He used to go running with Sprinkles on the dog beach.”
Sam’s stomach hardened like a rock.
“Violet fell hard for him after that. Everyone in town knows the way to her heart is through that Dalmatian.”
Sam shifted his gaze back toward the cupcake truck where Sprinkles was clearly visible through the trailer’s back window. All one-hundred-and-one spots of her.
“But then, on the night before Guns and Hoses, Chief March’s playbook went missing,” Griff said.
Sam turned back toward him, incredulous. He shook his head. “No.”
