Firebreak: A Mystery (8 page)

She laughed. “No, I guess not.”

“’Cause I’ll tell you.”

She raised her hands, still smiling. “Nope. I don’t really want to know.” She had no doubt Sauly would tell her the truth. She assumed he’d trespassed, maybe slept in someone’s barn or business for the night to stay close to town.

“Have you seen your house today?” she asked, knowing that the road he lived on was still closed.

Sauly grinned. “Yep.”

“Did it make it through the fire?”

“Yep. Burned all around me. You see my plow job?”

Josie shook her head, having no idea what he meant.

“I been watching the fire since they first showed it on the news with the wind blowing our way. Night before last, I got my tractor out and I plowed up four acres of land, all around my house. Plowed up my garden and all my flowers. There wasn’t nothing to burn next to my house. Wasn’t a flame that touched me.”

Josie nodded. “You’re a smart man, Sauly. More people ought to think that way, but everybody figures the gamble’s worth it. I’m the same as everybody else.”

Josie waved at Hank, who was standing at the other end of the bar, pouring someone a draft beer. He put a finger in the air and grabbed his ringing cell phone by the cash register and answered it.

Josie faced Sauly again. “You heard anything about Billy or Brenda Nix? Where they might be?”

He screwed his face up in thought. “Can’t say I have. You might ask John Lummin, sitting over there.” Sauly pointed to a man with a smooth shave and a beer belly, laughing at the woman sitting across from him at one of the tables. “He and Billy are buddies.”

Hank walked quickly down the bar. “Sorry, Josie. What can I get you?”

“You mind if we talk in your office for just a minute?” she asked.

He paused, his face instantly tense, the universal look of dread that people got when the police unexpectedly asked for a conversation.

“You bet. Come on back.”

A waitress was wiping up tables and Hank waved a hand at her and motioned toward his office. She looked up and nodded.

Josie patted Sauly on the back and told him to stay safe.

Hank walked down to the end of the bar and led Josie back to where his office was located. He pulled a key out of his front pocket, unlocked the door, and flipped on the light switch. The office was decorated in classic cowboy style, with ropes and spurs and rodeo posters hanging on the wood-paneled walls. Hank’s rolltop desk was a mess of papers that he didn’t glance at. He motioned toward a small table and a pair of chairs next to the desk and they sat down.

Josie had known Hank for many years, but she still didn’t have a good sense of the person he was outside of the Hell-Bent. He wasn’t married and appeared to be devoted to his business and his customers, a nice guy who cared about the people and the town that he catered to. He was in his mid to late fifties, with thinning hair and a slight paunch that hung over his large cowboy belt buckle. Rumor had it that Hank had a fling with each new waitress he hired, but Josie doubted there was much truth to the stories. Rumors were all part of the high-profile job of running a honky-tonk.

“What can I do for you?”

“I have some questions I’d like to ask you, but I’d like to keep our conversation confidential. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure.”

“Have you talked to Billy or Brenda since the evacuation?”

He thought for a moment. “They stopped by on their way out of town yesterday.”

“Here?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“What time did they come by?”

His eyebrows drew together and he pursed his lips as if thinking. “Jeez, I don’t know. Maybe six o’clock? It’s hard to say. It was such a madhouse in here yesterday. People used it like an evacuation center. I had a few people bring sleeping bags and an air mattress and they slept on the dance floor last night.”

“Can you think back and try and give me your best estimate on the time? It’s important.”

“What’s this about?” he said.

“Let’s just think through the timing first.”

He looked worried now, obviously caught off guard by her response.

“Okay.” Hank sat forward and placed his forearms on the table, crossed his hands in front of him, and concentrated his stare on the table. “Well. They came in to get Billy’s guitar. Both of them came in together. We were serving food. It was in the middle of the dinner hour, but we’d been serving meals all day. People ordered just to sit down at the tables and talk to their neighbors and families. Trying to figure out where to stay through the evacuation. I had people crying, others calling the bar, trying to find out where people were.”

Josie listened quietly, allowing him to process everything.

“I was behind the bar.” He looked up at Josie, his eyes lost in thought for some time. Finally he shook his head slowly and said, “I just can’t say. I wasn’t paying any attention to the time. I talked to so many people, trying to connect family and friends. And, honestly, trying to keep up with orders. I called in all staff members who could make it.” His expression changed and he pointed a finger at Josie. “I’ll tell you who might know. Angela, one of our bartenders, had to get the keys from me to let Billy into the dressing room.”

“Is she here?”

“No, she worked about a fourteen-hour shift yesterday. She’s off today.”

“Doesn’t she live in the little brown adobe, along FM-170?”

“That’s it.”

“Do you know if Billy and Brenda stayed long?”

“I don’t think so. Seems like after Angela let Billy in, he came walking out not long after with his guitar. I think Brenda was sitting down at one of the tables talking to somebody. I don’t remember who though.”

“I was at their house this morning. I didn’t see any cars, just a pickup truck. Any guess where they might have spent the night?”

He gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Josie, I just don’t know. Hopefully Angela can give you better information.”

“We’ve tried to reach them via their cell phones, but they haven’t returned our calls. Any ideas on how we could track them down?”

“I’d check with one of the band members. Maybe they’ll know where they’re staying.”

*   *   *

Josie followed Hank back to the bar and saw that John Lummin was no longer in his seat. She asked Sauly about him and learned that John had just left. Josie said a quick thanks to Hank and left to try and catch up with John. She waved his truck down as he was backing out of his parking spot.

He rolled down his window. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m trying to track down Billy Nix. Sauly said he’s a friend of yours.”

“Is this about the fire?” he asked. “They didn’t lose their house, did they?”

“I’m just here to track the Nixes down so that I can speak with them. Any idea where Billy was headed when he left town yesterday?”

“Yes, ma’am. I talked to him yesterday in the bar.” John had a slow Southern drawl and a smooth-shaven face that reminded her of a young George Strait. “He and Brenda were going up north to Austin to see about booking some weekends. Brenda said she wanted to make use of the time. She told Billy, no sense laying around a hotel room for days when they could be booking dates.” He lifted an eyebrow at Josie.

“You don’t think Billy wanted to go?”

“I know he didn’t. Billy was worried about the house. He was worried about their friends, about people losing their homes. Brenda don’t think that way though. It’s all about the contract.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, getting Billy to Nashville. Signing with Gennett.”

“Signing him to a record label.”

“Yes, ma’am. Brenda used to live in Nashville. She thinks she’s got big connections. She forgets it’s Billy’s talent that’ll get that record contract.”

“Have you talked to them since they left?”

“No ma’am. I got their cell phone numbers if you need them.”

“We’ve already tried and left messages.”

He frowned. “That’s not like either one of them. They keep those cell phones on all the time. Don’t want to miss a gig.” He said the last statement in a falsetto, as if imitating Brenda.

Josie ignored the sarcasm. “Can you tell me what time they left the bar yesterday?”

He rested his hands on the steering wheel and looked out the front window for a moment. He finally looked back at her, shaking his head. “I don’t remember seeing them leave. There was so much commotion I didn’t pay any attention.”

“I appreciate your time.”

“I’ll let you know if I hear from him.”

Josie called Otto and told him about her conversations with Hank and John. He and the fire chief had just finished combing the living room for evidence. “Nothing of interest. Cowan’s just beginning his initial examination. The only thing he’s commented on is the position of the victim’s arms and hands, all curled up. We thought it looked like he was trying to defend himself. Cowan called it the boxer’s pose. He says when a body dies with intense heat present, the hand and arm muscles draw up. Makes them look like a boxer in the fighting position. Because of that, Cowan thinks the victim died either in the fire, or was killed just before the fire was started. If the body was experiencing rigor mortis it most likely wouldn’t have curled up like that.”

“Good. That narrows it a little more. I’ll drive by Angela’s place to see if we can get a specific time the Nixes stopped at the Hell-Bent.”

“Call me back in an hour. I should have more from Cowan.”

*   *   *

Otto stood just inside the living room with a clipboard and pencil, making a detailed diagram of the house, the furniture, the dimensions of the room, and the location of the body. Cowan stood in front of the body, dictating his observations into a microrecorder. He wore a white mask that made it difficult for Otto to hear what he was saying. Otto was anxious for him to check the victim’s backside in hopes a wallet was still intact since the couch wasn’t completely torched.

Cowan said, “Otto. Interesting find here. Come take a look.”

Otto was intentionally standing behind the couch so that he could construct the diagram without having to view the body. As a police officer, he felt that his weak stomach was an embarrassment, but it was something he had little control over. Earlier, he had looked at the grotesque mask of death that was on the victim’s face and had to turn away until his stomach settled.

Otto stepped carefully over the ash, still leery about walking on the burned floor. He was cautious by nature, and he was certain that his careful ways had maintained his safety through four decades of police work.

Otto stood next to Cowan and peered down at the blackened arm that he had lifted a few inches off the couch.

“Recognize this?” Cowan asked.

“An arm?”

Cowan turned his head to glance back at Otto and raised his eyebrows. “A bit more specific than that?”

Otto clenched his jaws. Cowan had the annoying habit of asking questions of the police officers he worked with instead of simply explaining what he was working on. Otto found it insulting. It made him feel like a student walking through rounds with a physician, being quizzed on his investigatory acumen.

“Why don’t you just tell me what you’ve found?” Otto said, barely concealing his irritation.

“Come closer,” Cowan said. He leaned out of Otto’s way so that he could get a better look. “His wrist?”

“Hmmm. I see the watch now. Let’s get pictures, and I’ll note it on the diagram. It’s located on his left wrist, the face of the watch on his outer wrist. Let’s get that off him and see about the time.”

Cowan didn’t respond. Otto assumed Cowan was annoyed that he hadn’t praised his discovery.

After Otto noted the location of the watch on the diagram of the body, Cowan handed Otto the watch, and he took it outside in the sun. The glass was black with soot and had been shattered from the heat of the fire, but Otto was hoping the face would still be intact. Cowan followed him outside and handed Otto a tiny screwdriver, which he used to pry the blackened pieces of glass away. The hands of the watch were melted into the white face at 7:38. Otto pulled his cell phone out of his shirt pocket.

Josie answered immediately.

“The victim was wearing a watch. The hands melted onto the face at seven thirty-eight.”

“Any identification?”

“Not yet. Haven’t gotten that far.”

“I’ll call Doug and tell him we need to speak with the firefighters who worked closest to this area immediately. If we know when the fire spread through this general location, we’ll know whether the two fires are connected. I’d love to have this timeline pieced together when we speak to the Nixes.”

“You sound optimistic it’s not Billy Nix lying on this couch.”

“Hank confirmed that Billy at least left with Brenda. I suppose he could have picked up his guitar and returned home while she drove to Austin. That seems unlikely.”

“Maybe that’s why the truck was parked at the house,” Otto said. “Maybe Billy went back home. Couldn’t bear to leave.”

“Or, Brenda dropped him off and set the house on fire,” she said. “The timing works. They made a public appearance at about six and she says they’re headed to Austin so Brenda can establish an alibi. Then she drops him off, maybe knocks him out, sets the house on fire to make it look like it was all part of the wildfire burning through Artemis. She assumed the fire would burn through the area after she left.”

“But, why? She managed his career. If he’s dead, she’s out of a job,” he said.

“Maybe Angela can help us get a better handle on their relationship. I’m on my way.”

“Good. I’ll keep you posted on the timeline.”

Otto put his phone away and Cowan called for him again. The inside of Otto’s nose burned from the sharp smell. He’d been in the house for several hours and could feel his patience beginning to wane. He had no doubt that Cowan wanted an assistant, but he had his own job to do. He’d not even begun to fingerprint and sift through the bedrooms and hallway.

“Help me take measurements,” Cowan said. “I’ll do it again on a flat table at the morgue to give you more precise numbers, but this will be close.”

Otto took the end of the measuring tape and held it at the top of the body’s head while Cowan stretched the tape to its feet.