Andrew joined them. "She's lucky. Looks as if there's minimal fire damage, some water damage. Closing the dampers on the downstairs fireplaces helped. It was a dumb thing to do, but it helped."
"Andrew's right, Piper." Her father's expression was grave. "You could have passed out from smoke inhalation and ended up getting carted out of here on a board."
"Any one of you would have done the same thing."
Hannah patted her hand. "Not I. If the Frye house had ever caught fire, I'd have let it burn to the ground. I might have even poured some gasoline on it." She smiled at her family's look of shock. "Well, why not?"
"Because it's illegal, for one thing," Andrew said.
"A pristine, historic house like that, Hannah." Benjamin shook his head. "It's a beauty."
She sniffed. "You never lived there."
Andrew dropped down onto the picnic table and said, half amiably, half seriously, "Don't give Jackson here any ammunition, in case he decides to put in that resort."
Clate took the half-hearted jibe in stride. "I'd invite you all over to my pristine, historic house, but I know you Macintoshes like to stay in the thick of things."
"Well, someone should bring Piper a blanket or a shawl," Hannah said. "She's freezing."
Piper stiffened to keep herself from shaking and shivering. "I'll be fine."
Everyone ignored her. "I've got a blanket in the truck," Benjamin said.
She sighed in resignation. "There's a shawl in my studio. It's closer."
"I'll get it," Clate said, and moved off. In Piper's estimation, he looked as calm and in control as he would if he hadn't just pulled a woman off a burning house.
When he was out of earshot, Piper frowned at her two brothers. "I can't believe you two would think he could do something like this."
Andrew looked mystified. "Like what? You're the one who didn't get her chimney properly cleaned."
"I did, too. Someone set that fire, I tell you. I felt it."
He groaned. Benjamin held his temper in check, and their father said, "Piper, be careful. You don't want to start flinging unwarranted accusations of arson. A chimney fire's not that easy to set. It could have been an accident."
"It wasn't an accident."
Hannah had shrunk down into the bench, her brows drawn together in concentrated thought, her green eyes as clear and bright and vivid as Piper had ever seen them. It was the same sort of expression she'd had when she first mentioned her father's treasure.
"Piper's right." At first, the men didn't hear her. Then she raised her chin and drew her own handwoven shawl about her thin shoulders and repeated herself in a louder, stronger voice. "Piper's right. It wasn't an accident. Someone set the fire."
Andrew snorted. "Well, hell, let's just go find Ernie and tell him. He'll take your word for it, Hannah. Let's get Stan Carlucci to vouch for you."
"You needn't be nasty," Hannah said airily.
"You want to see nasty, Hannah? Walk over there and tell Ernie you've divined that someone set Piper's chimney on fire." Andrew was red hot himself now. Nothing drove him crazier than the people he loved not heeding his version of common sense. "People are asking enough questions about you as it is."
"Phooey. I stopped caring what people thought of me in 1935 when this town practically ran out of money and decided to blame me." She pursed her lips. "It was arson."
"Pop, you talk to her."
"What? Me? Aunt Hannah hasn't had to account for her actions to anyone in eighty years. She's not going to listen to me."
She smiled. "Your father did spoil me."
"Yes, he did."
"Maybe someone stuck something up in the chimney," Piper said, "and when I built a regular, ordinary fire in the kitchen, it caught fire, set whatever creosote was there on fire, and—"
"And who the hell would stick jellied gas or napalm or God knows what up in your chimney?" Andrew asked derisively. "He'd have had to get up on your roof or get inside and stick it up your chimney, which wouldn't be easy, and in case you haven't noticed, you live out on an isolated road. You come and go as you please. Clate comes and goes as he pleases. Who would risk being seen?"
Piper jumped up in a rush of impatience. "I don't know who. If I did, I'd be trying to run him down with my car right now. I am trying to go through proper channels."
"A day late there," Benjamin said mildly.
She supposed he had a point. "Well, at least we all know now it wasn't Hannah, don't we?"
Hannah perked up at this prospect. "Are you implying I can't climb up on a roof?"