Burning Justice (9 page)

M
y PTV took
three wrong turns on the way to the Grindleys and I didn’t get there until almost supper time, which turned out to be a good thing because George was just pulling into the dock behind the house as I parked in their large, circular driveway. I skirted around the side of the house, my white tennis shoes making tracks in their lush, green lawn.

“Yoohoo! Mr. Grindley?” I yelled as I came around the corner of the house. The man on the boat turned to look in my direction, shading his eyes from the setting sun behind me. He was an older man, his face wrinkled with concern, probably wondering who the crazy lady running across his lawn was.

“Who are you?” he asked.

I reach into my tote and pulled out my private investigator badge. Badges worked wonders to get people to talk and unlike snarky computerized security systems, real people tended to assume a badge meant you were with the cops.

“Callie Justice. I’m investigating the death of Evangeline Barrows.” He didn’t need to know that I was a ‘private’ investigator.

“Oh, such a terrible thing. I don’t know that I can help with anything, though.” He bent down to tie the ropes from his boat to the metal cleats on his dock. I remained on the grass and listened to the water lap lazily at the shore while he secured the boat. The lake had that ‘somber’ feel to it that happens in fall, as if it knows the warm weather is over and it will soon be frozen over. A seagull cried in the distance and as I glanced in its direction, I realized you could see the Barrows’s backyard from where I stood. There was still evidence of the fire, but the charred remains of the boat and the dock had been removed, leaving only a burned out patch of grass behind the house.

I squinted to try to see further. Was Nathan in the house right now? Maybe he was with Jenny. I realized that from this vantage point, you could almost see into the big glass windows in their living room. But I didn’t see anyone inside.

“Did you want to ask me some questions?” George had finished securing the boat and come to stand beside me while I had been spying on his neighbor.

“Yes. I’m sorry to bother you. I won’t take long. I was just wondering if you noticed anything out of the ordinary that night. I see you have a view from your garden here of the Barrows’s house. Were you home? I believe your wife told the other police officer you might have been out in the boat.”

“I’m usually out in the boat. Mostly fishing. Sometimes just gettin’ away from the missus.” He winked at me.

“Were you out on the boat before? Did you see anything unusual or suspicious.”

“I’m usually not staring at the neighbors’ houses. I’m more concerned with getting my fishing rig set up and all. But I think if there was a big fire, I would’ve noticed. Fires kind of stand out. Especially at night. But I heard it happened at two in the morning and I’m sure I was tucked into bed at that time. The fish don’t bite much after dark.” His gray brows furrowed together. “Just how did that fire start anyway?”

Good question. “We’re not exactly sure. We think the boat filled up with gas fumes and then a spark ignited it.”

George snorted. “Really? What kind of a dumb ass fisherman would let his boat fill up with gas fumes. And on their own dock? Usually the fumes happen when they fill it up, ‘least as I can remember with a gas-powered boat.” He glanced back at his dock. “Mine’s solar powered. But anyway, if it did fill up with fumes and blew up, how come no one heard it?”

That was a good question. The lake was like an amplifier for sound. If there had been an explosion, someone would have heard, but Tony said none of the neighbors had heard a thing. The only other way to get a boat to burn that quickly was to douse it with something flammable … on purpose.

“It does seem rather suspicious. That’s why we’re investigating.” I gazed out over the blue lake. It was calm and quiet. “I know that sound travels over the lake and I was wondering if maybe you ever heard the Barrows fighting?”

George shook his head. “I never heard them fightin’. Not that night and not before. In fact, I'd say they were in very good spirits earlier that evening.”

“What do you mean? You saw them?”

“Yes. I’d say it was right around midnight. I like to take a nightly toot in the boat. You know, look at the stars and listen to nature. Knock back a beer or two. It gets me away from the missus’ infernal television programs.” George glanced uneasily at his house as if to make sure the wife hadn’t overheard him. “Anyway, I was coming back from the east end of the lake and making my way to the dock here when I heard the laughing.”

“So you saw Evangeline that night?”

“Sure. They were out in the back heading toward the boat. I have to tell you, they did look quite tipsy the way they were lurching along.”

“How do you know it was them? You said it was dark out, how do you know it was the two of them.”

“Oh, it weren’t the two of them. There were three of them.” George chuckled. “I know it was them because the moon came out and I could see them good enough. They were lurching and lunging … and I knew Nathan and Vangie enough to recognize them.”

“Who was the third person?”

“It was a woman. Not sure who she is, but I think I’ve seen her at their place before. She’s easy to recognize as she has one of those fancy new uneven haircuts.”

I
could hardly contain
myself with what I had learned from George. The third person had to be Jenny Sparks. This proved that Nathan and Jenny were in on it together. The fact that no one heard an explosion dismissed the police’s idea about the fumes building up and it being an accident. Why had the police not caught on to that? Or had they caught on and were keeping that information close to the vest?

It didn’t matter if the police had figured it out or not. I had figured it out and now I just needed something concrete to prove it. George was an eyewitness to seeing Nathan in his yard that night when he said he’d been at the cabin, but would that be good enough for the police? I’d had similar cases where an older witness swore to have seen one thing at night only to be proven wrong. It’s hard to see in the dark and when you are older, it’s even harder. Plus George said he liked to ‘knock back a beer or two’. A good lawyer would have a field day with George’s testimony in court. I needed something indisputable.

If I could get evidence about Nathan’s affair with Jenny, that might carry some weight, and if I could prove his nefarious business activities that would show his lack of character. Suzanne St. James worked at Barrows Investment and affairs were hardly ever secret at the office. Maybe she would have some insight.

I punched the communications button on the cockpit of my PTV.

“Yes?” Artemis’s voice filled the car.

“Can you text Suzanne St. James a message from me to ask her to meet for lunch tomorrow?” I’d already given him Suzanne’s card to scan, so I knew he had her contact information in his database.

“I can do that, too, you know.” Agatha’s voice cut in. She sounded put out.

“You can?”

“Yes. I’m more than just a bloody simple navigation system. I can do a lot of other tasks.” I frowned at the navigation display. She could barely get the car to the destinations that were programmed in, and she wanted to do other tasks? I eyed the ‘off’ button. The last thing I needed right now was another persnickety computerized device. I had enough trouble trying to handle Artemis.

“Okay. Well, I don’t care who does it—”

“
I
will do it,” Artemis cut in.

“Aren't you busy fixing the Meal-A-Tron so Cal can eat a decent meal?” Agatha asked. She knew about the Meal-A-Tron?

“Unlike some systems, I am programmed to multitask.” Artemis's tone was snippy.

“No need to be cheeky, Artemis. Some of us that focus all our computing power on one task do it well. When you focus on multiple tasks, you tend to bugger things up,” Agatha said.

I couldn’t believe my car and my domestic helper robot were having a fight like jealous siblings. “Cut it out, you two. Somebody just send the text. Artemis, you do it so Agatha can focus on driving.”

“But you’re driving the vehicle,” Agatha said. "There’s nothing for me to do when you take the wheel. It's boring.”

“Ummm, sorry, but I usually get there faster when
I’m
driving."

“Fine. I’ll just bugger off then, shall I?”

“No, no.” The last thing I wanted was for Agatha to be mad at me. God only knew where she'd take the car the next time I wanted to use the navigation. “I’m engaging the auto-navigation now. You can drive all the rest of the way home.”

“Very well, then. That's much more suitable.”

I spent the rest of the ride home on pins and needles, but there were no further issues and Agatha navigated the car straight to my parking lot. Artemis met me at the door of the condo, an unusual occurrence since he was usually sacked out on the couch.

“Suzanne will meet you tomorrow at noon at the Riverside Café." He relieved me of my tote bag and ushered me into the living room where he had a glass of wine waiting.

I eyed him suspiciously. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just doing my job. What did you find out from George Grindley?”

As I told him about my discussion with George, I became distracted by the smell of fresh baked bread and stewing vegetables wafting out from the kitchen.

“Did you fix the Meal-A-Tron?” I asked.

Artemis shrugged. “I tinkered with it again. Are you hungry?”

My stomach grumbled in response and we went into the kitchen.

“I still don’t understand why Evangeline didn’t tell you she was friends with Jenny. Clearly they must be friends if they were giggling and laughing with Nathan on their way to the boat,” Artemis said as he put utensils on the table in front of me. "And Gerta said she'd seen them together, too."

“I know. I knew she was lying to me that day in my office but what I can’t figure out is why? Why wouldn’t she just tell me she and Jenny were friends. Maybe she simply didn't mention it because it was too hurtful and embarrassing.”

Artemis slid the Meal-A-Tron door open and looked inside, his face puckering.

“Uh … oh. What is it?” I craned my neck to see the bowl he was pulling out. It looked like a chunky mess of gluey goop.

His face turned apologetic as he slid it on the table in front of me.

“It smells good,” I said, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

I took a tentative taste. It wasn’t too bad. I settled back in my chair and continued the conversation while working my way around the chunks to get the 'gravy' on my spoon. “I'm more certain than ever that Nathan and Jenny did this together. I wish we could find out where he really was that night.”

“That reminds me. I looked up the other cabin on that road. It belongs to Rhoda and Gil Harrison and they have a cell phone. Maybe you can get more information from them?”

"You think I should call them? What would I say to get them to talk?"

Artemis shrugged. “Just say that you’re investigating the case. That
is
what you are doing.”

He had a point. I didn't need to mention in what capacity. They'd probably think I was with the police just like I figured George had. “Okay, connect me up.”

Artemis's face contorted into a series of strange expressions and then a ringing sound came from him. It rang four times and I was about to tell him to hang up when I heard someone pick up.

“Hello? If this is one of them solicitors I don’t want to talk to you. Don’t call again.”

“Wait! Mrs. Harrison? Don't hang up! I'm investigating the death of your neighbor, Evangeline Barrows, and I have some questions."

"What? I already talked to you people. Can't you keep things straight down there … hold on." I heard the scratchy sound of a hand covering the phone and then her muffled voice. "It's the police again. Incompetent nincompoops. Sounds like they forgot they talked to me." She removed her hand, then barked into the phone. "I told you I didn't see anything."

“Sorry, ma’am. I’m just doing a double check. It's like a quality check to make sure everyone is doing their job.”

“Well, I'm glad to see you do that because my past experience with you people leaves a lot to be desired. So what you want to know? I already told the other officer that Nathan might’ve been up here, or he might not have. I don’t spend all my time watching the road for him.”

“Hmm … My information says that you were expecting a delivery so you
were
watching out in the road.”

“A delivery? Who told you that? I never told the officer that. See, you people are incompetent!”

“Actually, David Barrows was the one that told me that. You didn’t say that you were expecting a drone delivery?”

“Heck, no! I hate them dang things. I don't come way up country to be pestered with newfangled contraptions. Heck, I wouldn't even have this cell phone, but my kids made me take it for emergencies." She paused. "Wait, now, who did you say told you I said that?"

"David Barrows."

"David? I never talked to any David. The guy I talked to was named Heel."

"Hale," I corrected. "That was the police officer, but David Barrows, Nathan's brother, talked to you when you came down to give Nathan your condolences."

“You people are crazy. I didn’t go anywhere to give any condolences. I didn’t talk to any David and I don’t get any deliveries. I’m not gonna keep repeating myself to you people, so don’t call me again.”

And with that she hung up, leaving Artemis and me staring at each other in puzzlement.

“Are you sure that’s the right neighbor?” I asked Artemis. “David must have meant another neighbor.”

Artemis shook his head. “No. There’s only one other cabin on that road. It had to be the Harrisons. Maybe you are mistaken about what David said.”

"I'm not mistaken. That’s what he said.”

“Maybe he was just distraught and distracted at the wake and misspoke? You said he was worried about Nathan. Perhaps he became confused."

“I guess that’s a possibility. He did seem terribly worried about Nathan. Nathan really is putting on a good act, especially to fool his own brother like that. Maybe David did get confused about what the Harrisons told him or maybe he thought he was covering for Nathan somehow?"

Artemis nodded. "That must be it. Because otherwise, why would David lie?"