Lone Star Valentine (McCabe Multiples) Read Online Free PDF Page A

set.”
    Given that everyone else was there, too, Lily stepped to the podium. She gave a brief introduction to Harriett Montgomery, and then it was time.
    Harriett moved past the rope lines. Then pulled off the draping, revealing a six foot high chili pepper on the vine.
    It was, as Lily had expected, quite beautiful in a stark, elemental way. And the perfect complement to the Laramie Chili Cook-Off & Festival they were inaugurating, that they hoped would put the town of Laramie, Texas, on the way to fame forevermore.
    Still smiling while everyone clapped politely, Harriett posed for the photos she had requested. Then, with the videographer still filming, Harriett stepped behind the statue and reached down to do something near the bottom—Lily wasn’t sure what—before straightening again and coming proudly back to the podium.
    Lily looked at the artist in confusion.
    Harriett took the microphone and advised the crowd happily, “Wait for it... Wait for it...”
    A second later, a faint charcoal-like smell filled the air.
    Lily furrowed her brow in confusion.
    Then a wispy gray curl of what certainly
looked
like smoke appeared at the top of the chili pepper stem. Lily blinked and blinked again.
    “Is that...?” Lily turned to Gannon’s mother. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted that Gannon seemed as concerned as she suddenly was.
    “Keep waiting,” Harriett advised, even more calmly, to the crowd.
    So everyone did.
    And then, a second later, flames burst out of the six-foot-tall chili pepper. And this time there was absolutely no mistake, Lily noted.
    The
entire statue
was on fire.

Chapter Three
    The fire department had barely put the flames out when former Laramie mayor Rex Carter stepped up to the dais and took the microphone. “This,” Rex said, with a derisive good old boy snort, “is what you get when you put a woman in a man’s job.”
    Several people booed him.
    Others listened with seeming agreement while the firefighters stood by, watching the red-hot tower continue to spit embers skyward.
    Harriett elbowed Rex aside. “Don’t blame Mayor McCabe,” the artist stated as she stepped up to the microphone. “Lily had no idea what I planned to do. Nor did anyone else.”
    While the videographer filmed, the Laramie newspaper reporter called out, “Mrs. Montgomery! Why did you light the statue on fire?”
    Harriett smiled and explained, “I wanted to complete the work. It’s a fire statue—half sculpture and half performance art.”
    Lily sighed. She wished like heck she had seen this coming. “Well, I wish you would have told someone what you planned ahead of time,” she said, not bothering to hide her exasperation.
    A number of spectators nodded in agreement.
    Harriett Montgomery shrugged, unaffected by all the negative attention. “I didn’t think you’d let me do it if I did. Local statutes and all.”
    Harriett was right about that, Lily thought in consternation. Both the fire and sheriff’s departments had been called to the scene as soon as the flames shot skyward, and the senior officials from both looked mighty unhappy.
    Gannon stepped in. He laid a cautioning palm on his mother’s shoulder. “I don’t think you should say anything more, Mom.”
    The lawyer in her surfacing, Lily agreed. There was enough reckless behavior here as it was without adding to the liability. “In any case, it’s been quite an event,” she declared with a tight officious smile.
    Rex Carter took another long look at the charred ceramic statue. “You haven’t heard the last of this,” he muttered to Lily before he strode away.
    Realizing she had just given her prior political opponent ammunition against her, Lily watched as the crowd dispersed. Then, hoping to smooth the waters somehow, she went to see how the official investigation was going. Fire Chief Tom Evans scowled at her as she approached. “She’s lucky she didn’t start a grass fire.”
    She should have asked a few more questions instead