Fire Light Fire Bright – Into The Woods

Dodge drives as far as he can, but even his Jeep can’t go where the trees are so thick he has to turn sideways to walk between them.  It’s a hot muggy day, too hot for the first week of June, and it’s not long before Dodge is fanning himself with his cowboy hat.  Not a breath of wind stirs as he wipes the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and tries to rehearse what he needs to say, but the words just won’t come.

He hates being put into this position, but he has no choice.  It has to be done.  He finally comes to the clearing that Dylan calls home.  Dodge stands off to one side and watches the big man for several moments.  He is sitting on a tree stump, drinking coffee from a mug and staring into the fire like he is in a trance.  Without even blinking his eyes, he softly calls,  “Come have a cup of coffee, Sheriff, it’s fresh made.”

Dodge steps out from behind a tree, “Durn it, Dylan, how do you do that?  How’d you know it was me?  I didn’t make a sound.”

“Smelled your after shave.”

Excerpt from Chapter Twelve, Fire Light Fire Bright.

Fire Light Fire Bright

The small north-central town of Glenwood, Texas is being methodically burned to the ground. Every few days another fire. Acres of scorched pasture, and skeletal remains of the once majestic trees that surrounded the township attest to the skill of the arsonist. Sheriff Dodge Brewster is frustrated by his inability to find even a single shred of evidence.

Several teenage girls in surrounding communities have been brutally raped. When the rapist finally targets Glenwood, the girls are not only raped, but murdered also. Deep in the woods outside of town, a Vietnam vet lives as a hermit. The people of Glenwood accuse him of every misdeed that occurs. The arson, rape and murders are no exception. They are demanding that Dodge arrest the vet, but new evidence in a turn of events point to his own friend.

Will Dodge be able to prove his friend’s innocence? Will he have to arrest him? Or will he go along with the townspeople and arrest the Vietnam vet?