J.A. Jance - Trial by Fire: A Novel of Suspense

ALSO BY J.A. JANCE

A LI R EYNOLDS M YSTERIES

Edge of Evil

Web of Evil

Hand of Evil

Cruel Intent

J OANNA B RADY M YSTERIES

Desert Heat

Tombstone Courage

Shoot / Dont Shoot

Dead to Rights

Skeleton Canyon

Rattlesnake Crossing

Outlaw Mountain

Devils Claw

Paradise Lost

Partner in Crime

Exit Wounds

Dead Wrong

Damage Control

Fire and Ice

J. P. B EAUMONT M YSTERIES

Until Proven Guilty

Injustice for All

Trial by Fury

Taking the Fifth

Improbable Cause

A More Perfect Union

Dismissed with Prejudice

Minor in Possession

Payment in Kind

Without Due Process

Failure to Appear

Lying in Wait

Name Withheld

Breach of Duty

Birds of Prey

Partner in Crime

Long Time Gone

Justice Denied

Fire and Ice

AND

Hour of the Hunter

Kiss of the Bees

Day of the Dead

J.A. JANCE

Touchstone
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New York, NY 10020
SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead,
is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2009 by J.A. Jance

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information,
address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department,
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Touchstone hardcover edition December 2009

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Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jance, Judith A.
Trial by fire/J.A. Jance.
p. cm.
A Touchstone book.
1. Reynolds, Ali (Fictitious character)Fiction. 2.
ArizonaFiction. I. Title.
PS3560.A44T75 2009
813'.54dc22
2009015875

ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-6380-8
ISBN-10: 1-4165-6380-6
ISBN 978-1-4165-6388-4 (ebook)

In memory of Anthony Nadolski and to Ernie Gabrielson,
two outstanding Bisbee educators.

TRIAL BY FIRE

She awakened to the sound of roaring flames and to searing heat and lung-choking smoke. Maybe she was already dead and this was hell, but why would she go to hell? What had she done to deserve that? Just then a scorched beam fell across her leg, and she felt the horrifying pain of burning flesh her burning flesh. Thats when she knew wasnt dead. She was still alive. And on fire.

She tried to shake the burning two-by-four off her leg but it was too heavy. It wouldnt budge. She tried shoving it away and managed to move it a little, but in the process her hand caught fire as well. She tried to sit up, desperate to find some avenue of escape, but the floor around her was a sea of flame. She was barefoot. She couldnt bring herself to step into the fire. There was nowhere for her to go, no way to escape. It was hopeless. She was going to die.

Falling back onto the bed, she began screaming and praying and coughing, all at the same time. Please, God. Let it be quick. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Another wooden beam fell. This one didnt land on her directly, but as the hungry flames licked away at it, she knew they were really searching for her. The pain was all around her now. Her whole body was on fire. Somewhere, far beyond the flames, she heard something elsethe sound of breaking glass. Was there glass in heaven?

Hello, a voice called. Where are you?

Why is He asking that? she wondered. God knows everything. He must know where I am.

Then, unexpectedly, a mysterious figure clothed all in yellow or maybe even orange rose up silently out of the flame and smoke. He was holding his arms stretched out toward her, reaching for her.

Not God after all, she thought despairingly. Satan. I really am in hell.

Darkness fell and there was nothing at all.

On a gorgeous mid-May morning with temperatures still in the seventies, all was right with Ali Reynoldss world. The cobalt blue sky overhead was unblemished by even a single cloud, and Sedonas towering red rocks gleamed in brilliant sunlight.

The seemingly endless remodeling project on Alis recently purchased Manzanita Hills Road house had finally come to an end. The workers were gone, along with their trucks and their constant noise. Now, seated on her newly refurbished flagstone patio and surrounded by an ancient wisteria in full and glorious bloom, she was enjoying the peace and quiet, as well as a third cup of freshly brewed coffee, while she worked on a speech, a commencement speech actually, that she was due to deliver at not one but two high school graduation ceremonies at the end of the week.

How she had gotten roped into doing two commencement speeches one day apart was a wonder to her still.

A year or so earlier Ali had agreed to take the helm of the Amelia Dougherty Askins Scholarship Fund, a charitable entity that helped provide financial assistance for college expenses to deserving students from schools all over Arizonas Verde Valley. Though she was once an Askins Scholarship winner herself, this was Alis first year of administering the program. The time-consuming process of searching out and evaluating likely recipients had put her in touch with students, teachers, and administrators from a number of local schools.

Alis ties to Sedona Red Rock High School had to do with the fact that both her son, Christopher, and her new daughter-in-law, Chriss bride, Athena, taught there. When it came time to cajole Ali into agreeing to speak at commencement, her son and daughter-in-law had known just which strings to pull.

Although Sedona was Alis hometown, Sedona Red Rock wasnt her actual alma mater, since there had been no high school in Sedona at the time Ali was an eligible student. Instead, Ali and her classmates had been bused to nearby Cottonwood, where they had attended Mingus Union High School and where Alis favorite teacher had been the head of the English department, a gruff but caring character named Ernie Gabrielson. Once word leaked out that Ali had been scheduled to speak at Sedonas graduation ceremonies, a delegation had been sent requesting that Ali do the same for Mingus. Hence the two separate invitations. The two events, however, required only one speech, and Ali had been working on it for several days.

She wanted her talk to be fun and meaningful. Ali had graduated from high school and gone away to college. After obtaining her degree in journalism, she had gone off to work in the world of television news, first reporting and then anchoring newscasts in Milwaukee, New York City, and finally L.A. She had returned to her hometown in the aftermath of losing both her anchor position and her philandering husband, Paul Grayson. Her initial intention had been to stay in Sedona just long enough to regroup, but now she had settled back into small-town life and was reveling in it. She was glad to be out of the constant hustle and bustle and traffic of L.A., and she was enjoying living close to her parents and her son.