He pulled onto the highway right behind the ambulance. Not a good sign. The radio chattered with voices issuing instructions and calling for assistance. If their firefighters couldn't deal with the problem, the call would go out to neighboring counties for help. Given the location of the home, a fire might even create a forest fire. All it needed was a slight wind to fan the flames into some of the aged trees or brush.
The early spring had been abnormally dry, and it wouldn't take much to start a disaster. Before he even reached the fork in the road leading to the blazing house, Tony could see smoke and flames above the trees. As he made the final turn, he pulled onto the shoulder to let another fire engine fly past. The house, a two-story beauty built of stone with large beams and wooden shutters, had a European castle feel. It looked like everything but the stones were completely ablaze.
Huge flames rose above the roof. Tony heard the whoosh and roar of it, sounding like a tornado. The firefighters were spraying the nearby trees. Nothing could help the house. He walked closer, careful to stay out of the way, trying not to breathe in too much smoke.
Wendell Cox, the fire chief, talked into a radio as Tony approached. He included Tony in his statement. “Residents and family animals, all accounted for, all fine.” He pointed to a cluster of people wrapped in blankets, huddled by the ambulance. “One of the children, the little boy, suffered some smoke inhalation, but it doesn't seem too bad.”
“Any idea what caused this?” Tony flinched when the beams of the house finally collapsed and the roof fell into the flames, sending a volcano of sparks and ash into the sky. His eyes watered.
“Haven't had much time to think about it.” Cox shook his head. “The place was fully engaged by the time we arrived. If it was a chimney fire, what happened to the smoke alarms?”
“I know these people, sort of.” Tony focused on the family. The woman, standing with two children, was one of Theo's quilting friends, and her husband had something to do with the fertilizer plant on the edge of town. One of the few new businesses in the area. “Nice people. Where's the husband?”
“I talked to him. He's on his way. You might want to find out if they have any enemies.” Cox stared past him at the burning house. He frowned. “I'm calling in an arson investigator. This is well out of my league, but even I can tell this was deliberate.”
“You and your team are doing a great job.” Tony didn't relish the idea of charging into a fire. He'd done some initial training with fire and knew it wasn't for him. He'd rather be shot again than enter a burning building—hot, dark, and airless.
“Hey, Sheriff.” Cox waved to attract Tony's attention again and continued listening to his radio. “It's a good thing you're here. We've got a big problem, and I'm going to give it to you.”
Tony didn't like the way this sounded. He stared at the almost skeletal remains of the house. How had it burned so fast? “Definitely arson?”
“Well, that too. I'm pretty sure we'll find lots of evidence pointing to an accelerant.” Cox shook his head. “But what you get is the body in the garage, or what's left of the body and the remnants of the garage. Since I'm the fire chief only when called from my job as an electrician, I'm handing him over to you. You've got arson and maybe a murder.”
“You're sure it's human remains?”
“Oh, yeah.” Cox stared at his boots. “It's none of my crew. I'd call the doctor if I was you. I don't know what killed him, but he's certainly dead in suspicious circumstances.”
Tony recognized good advice when he heard it. He called for Doc Nash and Wade. The last thing Tony wanted to deal with was a burnt body. He'd heard it would smell like roast pork. If that was the case, Tony doubted he'd be enjoying any barbeques for a long time.
As he made his way over to the homeowners, he thought wretched and miserable didn't quite cover the way Susan Smith and her children looked. The three of them were wrapped in blankets and sat with the dog, next to the ambulance. Smudged with smoke and grime, the children clung to the piece of nylon cord someone had given them to use as a makeshift leash. He guessed it was more for the children's benefit than a necessity. The dog, a big beautiful collie, shivered and whined at their feet, occasionally giving one of them a doggy kiss, and gave no appearance of wanting to leave.
“You've spoken to your husband?” Tony said.
Susan nodded. “He's on his way.”
“Can you tell us what happened?” Tony and Wade and the fire chief formed a small semicircle shielding her from the sight of her destroyed house. The air reeked of smoke and ash. “Did the smoke alarms go off?”
“Yes, that's when we ran outside.” Susan pulled the children closer. “It was just an ordinary school day. We dropped Zach at school and Lotti and I ran some errands while Nicholas was at story time in the library. When story time ended, the kids and I stopped for a few groceries and came home. Nothing exotic.” She shivered. “We pulled into the garage and closed the door.”
The little girl began to wheeze. Susan patted her gently.
“And then?” Wade said.
“We carried the groceries into the kitchen and I started putting them away. Lotti and Nicholas ran off to the family room to play.” Susan paused and closed her eyes. “I heard a loud thump. And then a pop, like a balloon or small firecracker going off. Then the smoke alarms all over the house starting shrieking, so I grabbed the kids and Jeff and my cell phone. Even as we ran outside, I was calling nine-one-one.” She opened her eyes. They were bloodshot and teary. “All the sudden there was another, louder boom, and everything was on fire.”
“Jeff?” the fire chief looked confused.
“Jeff's the dog,” said Susan. For emphasis the big dog thumped his plumed tail on the ground.
“There's no one else supposed to be here?” Tony wrote the names and her description in his notebook. “A neighbor, a cleaning woman, relatives who would have access to the house?”
“No. Why?” Susan's eyes went glassy. “Was someone found or something?”
Tony was saved from having to answer her question in front of the children by the husband making his way toward them. Medium tall, with average features tightened by fear, the man didn't seem to notice the house at first because he was clearly searching for his wife and kids. They all hugged together in a knot, the dog whining in the center of the huddle.
When Mr. Smith finally turned to look toward the house, all color leached from his face. “W-what happened?”
The chief answered. “I'm afraid at first glance, it looks like arson.”
“Who-oo?”
“Ah, now's there is an interesting question.” Tony and the fire chief led Mr. Smith a slight distance from his family. “Anyone angry at you?”
“That's ridiculous.” He shook his head. “I'm just an ordinary guy.”
“Make any enemies at work? Get along with the neighbors? No one thinks your dog barks too much?” Tony knew all too well a motive didn't have to make sense to anyone but the perpetrator.
“We, the company, had to let a couple of people go last week. And besides, why burn my house when I'm not home? Wouldn't they come after me or some other executive?”
“What would be worse?” Tony said. “Losing your life or losing your family?”
“Oh, my God.” Ashen and shaking, the man collapsed as if his bones had dissolved, sitting heavily onto the ground. “I didn't imagine.”
“So what were the names of the people you had to let go? If they had nothing to do with the fire, it should be easy enough to eliminate them as suspects.” What Tony didn't say was if the body in the garage was one of the unhappy former employees, it wouldn't exactly clear up all the questions.
Tony stared at the building, thinking, and watched the fire fighters putting their equipment back in order. The chief stood near the open garage, staring in. He beckoned for Tony to join him.
“What do you see, Chief?”
“It don't make sense.” The chief pointed to the burned wreck of a car, the doorway int
o the house, and the spot between them where the body was discovered. “She had to see it there, and the kids would have seen it too.”
“Maybe someone was hidden in the garage and just got caught when the fire started.”
“Maybe, but I don't think so. Even a crazy person would dive for the door into the house but I've got an idea.” The chief rubbed his chin, smudging it further. “There was an accelerant used on him.”
At the idea of being torched, Tony's stomach protested. “Are you sure?”
“Yep.” The chief's eyes were badly bloodshot and his face spotted with grime and ash, but there was no doubt he was serious. “He was burnt much worse than the stuff around him. Look at that.” He motioned upwards.
Tony glanced up through the hole that had once been the garage roof. “You think he could have been on fire when he fell through the roof?”
“Yep.” The chief nodded. “I'm thinking that's the way it happened.”
“He was on fire and stayed on the roof until it collapsed?” Tony shook his head, trying to dispel the nausea conjured by the horrific image. “I hope he was already dead when he started to burn.”
They walked farther out on the yard and stared up. Too much of the house was gone for them to gauge the circumstances. The chief slapped Tony on the back. “Don't worry. We'll get you a report that will help tell you what you need to know, but you're the one who has to figure out why our body was on the roof.”
Tony sincerely thanked the chief, but found himself hoping the report would arrive in the next ten minutes and would explain every detail, especially why there was a dead man or woman, and who or what caused him to be dead. In the meantime, he wanted to talk to the family and to the recently fired factory employees.
Tony radioed for someone to pick up the two men who were the recent fertilizer company layoffs and bring them to his office, and he wanted them there by the time he drove back to town and let everyone in his department know it. If one of those men turned out to be the body in the garage, he wasn't sure if that would make things better or worse. The charred body in the garage disturbed him on several levels. Why didn't Susan and the kids see the body when they returned home?
When he studied it, it looked to him like her minivan stopped just short of the body. If it wasn't there when they got home, how much time had elapsed between their arrival and the start of the fire. Where did the body come from? Was it a man or woman? How did it catch fire?
Anger flooded through him when he thought about Susan being home alone with small children when the fire began. Until they identified the body, Tony suspected everyone, including Susan. What if Zach's birth mother came to the house, and Susan killed her and set the fires to cover it up? Stupid, but people did stupid things even more often than they committed crimes.
Tony climbed into his Blazer, opened the console, and pulled out his jar of antacids. Munching a few, he stared at the burnt-out house. The extent of the damage was shocking. The roof was gone. The upstairs, floor and all, had collapsed into the lower level. Half-burned carpet hung suspended where the staircase had been. Every pane of glass was shattered. Shrubbery was burned to a crisp. If the fire wasn't caused deliberately, he'd turn in his badge. He didn't have to be an arson specialist to see the house had burned from the top down.
But who, and why? Could it have been caused by the owners? Person or persons unknown? With what motivation? Why would someone come to a house with the intent to burn it down? Was it a spur-of-the-moment action? “I'm here and not doing anything else, so I'll burn down the house?” That didn't feel right. Did the owners expect to be paid enough in insurance to cover rebuilding and extra to pay for something else? Arson for profit?
“That is so awful.” Theo was at the shop when she answered a phone call from Nina giving her the news. Nina had seen the smoke from her house and gone over to the house and taken the family into her home. “Why weren't you at school? Are they staying with you?” Theo knew she wasn't giving Nina a chance to answer one question before asking the next. She held her breath to stop talking.
Nina began. “I started feeling really ill, and since I don't have a class during the last school period, I came home early.” Nina's voice lowered. “I think Susan and her family will move into the Riverview Motel later today, but Theo, they've lost everything. They're just sitting together hugging each other. I've left them alone to give them a bit of privacy. Not to mention, I doubt catching my flu bug would make them feel any better.”
“It's lucky you were able to help them. Can you imagine losing everything? All the baby pictures?” Theo didn't have the flu, but she felt sick and light-headed just thinking about having all her family treasures destroyed.
“Susan doesn't even have her purse. There was not enough time to grab it.” Nina snuffled quietly. “She and the kids were lucky they got out of the house before it exploded.”
“Exploded?” Theo felt the shock of the word as if it hit her. “It wasn't a fire?”
“I don't think anyone knows how it started.” Nina's voice quavered. “Your husband and the fire chief and Wade and Sheila were out there stringing crime scene tape when I arrived. And not just around the house. They were going partway into the woods. They looked very serious. As I was leaving, I had to show my ID to Darlin' Darren, and he's known me since I was his baby-sitter. He wrote down my license plate number and took my picture too.”
Theo sensed there was more. “And?”
“And at first I didn't think Tony was going to let me bring the family here. I swear it looked like he wanted to lock them up somewhere, but I'm not sure why.” Nina whispered, “He had this tight jaw and squinty look. I've never seen him look so intimidating.”
Theo knew the look Nina described. When Tony wore it, something very serious was happening.
“We ought to be able to gather some clothes and toiletries from the other quilters.” Theo stood by the cash register, relaying the information to Gretchen and her customer. “Can you imagine having everything go poof? Your pictures, favorite toys, your clothes, even your underwear.”
Theo watched as Gretchen carefully folded the yardage she'd just cut. Her hands trembled.
“It makes me want to cry,” said Gretchen.
Theo blinked back her own tears. Crying would not help. “While you keep an eye on the shop, I'm going to run up to Nina's house and see if I can get a list of sizes and their most immediate needs.”
By the time she had the twins loaded in the SUV, Theo had begun a mental list of the most pressing things she could supply. She was certain Susan and her family were in shock and probably in denial.
Theo's eyes overflowed, just thinking about them losing their home. At least the whole family was fine.
As Theo approached the turn into Nina's driveway, she saw Tony's Blazer blocking it so she parked on the edge of the road. Wade had parked his vehicle behind Tony's. Tony climbed out of the Blazer and walked toward her. “Go home, Theo, or at least back to the shop.”
Theo blinked, surprised. He never talked to her like that. Tony didn't give her a chance to speak; just turned his back to her and walked up the sidewalk. As she watched, Tony went inside and seconds later Nina came out of her own house, wearing a raincoat over her pajamas.
Nina climbed into Theo's vehicle and covered her face with a tissue. “I'll try not to breathe on you or the girls. I'm really sick and hope I'm not contagious. There's a fire in the area, and your husband just told me to get out of my own house.”
Theo thought Nina looked as bad as she sounded. “Is the family okay?”
“As okay as they can be with their house burned down around them. No one had much to say while I was around. They were clearly in shock, so I gave them blankets to wrap up in and some hot coffee, but I think they're too stunned to cry.” Nina wiped her own eyes. “I did hear John call the insurance company to ask what they needed to do first.”
Theo stared at the front door. No sign of Tony or Wade returning. “I came because Gretchen and I
felt so bad and wanted to see how we could help. I'm in charge of getting sizes so we can at least supply a change of clothes and some toiletries.”
Nina snuffled. “Oh, look.”
Theo saw Tony walking toward his car, carrying the little girl. Walking behind him was Susan. The big collie had his muzzle pressed against her thigh. Susan's husband and son looked like refugees, wrapped in blankets and moving slowly behind the rest. Theo guessed they felt like refugees too. Tony put the little girl in a car seat he moved to the backseat of the Blazer while the couple settled the boy and climbed in, their movements stiff and awkward.
Tony opened the rear hatch and the collie jumped inside. Closing it carefully, Tony turned toward Theo. She thought he must have realized he couldn't ignore her because he came to her SUV, rested his arm on the roof, and leaned in.
“Sorry I was so brusque. You can help.” Tony rolled his shoulders. “And thank you, Nina, for having the sense to bring them here. I was shocked when they vanished, but staying near the rubble of the house wasn't going to do them any good, and they would only be in the way of the fire investigation.”
Theo thought he looked almost as bad as the family had. “Some of us want to help supply the basic necessities for tonight. Where are they going?”
“The Riverview Motel.” Tony attempted a smile. “I'm sure the family would all appreciate some clean clothes, toothpaste, and stuff to get them through the next twenty-four hours or so. They'll have lots of talks with the insurance company and with me, and with any number of other branches of the law. We'll stop by the school and pick up Zach, the older boy, on our way, so give us a head start.”
Theo sensed there was something more, something deeper, going on here than a house fire. “What happened?”
Tony stared at Theo then at Nina. “I know the pair of you are more likely to talk less if I tell you than if I make you dig the information from someone else. A person died in the fire, or shortly before the fire. We don't know who, and we don't know when, how, or why. Lips sealed?”
Barbara Graham - Quilted 04 - Murder by Vegetable Page 14
