Sully smiled. “There’s a bit of synchronicity with my rescue. We realized at the hospital that we’d grown up together in Missouri. Her family moved away right before I turned fourteen, so having that connection was a surprise.”

Ruby clapped her hands. “I love reunion stories! And I don’t know anyone more deserving of joy than she is.”

Sully frowned. “About Melissa. You said you took her home and someone else is staying with her. Doesn’t she have any family here?”

“She has no one but herself,” Ruby said. “You know what, Sully? I believe in things happening for a reason. And whether you find your mother here or not, I believe you were led here to Blessings to be the angel Melissa needed today. Have you two talked?”

“Just briefly in the ER when we finally recognized each other,” Sully said.

“Today notwithstanding, she is quite a survivor,” Peanut said. “She was widowed at a young age and had been living a very simple life here that bordered on poverty. She’d worked at Bloomer’s Hardware ever since she moved here, around twenty years ago. She used to clean house for an old man named Elmer Mathis to make extra money to make ends meet. Earlier this year her boss let her go so he could hire a nephew. She was angry, and with good reason, but in a panic too, trying to find another job.

“Then Elmer passed away and left everything he owned to her, and it was a godsend. Her situation has drastically changed since then, inheriting his laundry and cleaning business, his money, and the grand old home that she’d cleaned for so many years. It would have been a tragedy for her life to have ended at any cost, but it would have been such irony, considering her financial troubles were finally over.”

Sully was quiet. Knowing her story gave her even more substance than he’d already witnessed. He couldn’t wait to talk to her.

* * *

As Niles Holland’s body was being removed from the scene of the accident, Lon thought he noticed the scent of liquor on him, but with all the smoke, it was hard to tell. He wasn’t one to let suspicion slide and turned to his deputy.

“Ralph, take a camera to the impound yard and check out the inside of Niles’s car. See if there are any signs of empty cans or bottles…anything that might indicate he had been drinking.”

“Yes, sir,” the deputy said. “Although there’s no telling what’s inside that car after the explosion and the fire.”

“Well, we didn’t pick up any beer cans or bottles around here after the explosion, so if it’s not still in the car, I’m going to assume there wasn’t anything. But if there is an empty liquor bottle or empty beer cans, it will confirm my suspicions. Just check it out and take pictures, regardless. If he had been drinking, it will show up in the autopsy report.”

“Yes, sir,” Ralph said, and headed for his cruiser.