Part 34 (1/2)
”We're going to have to question the baby-sitter. And your girls.”
”Like h.e.l.l.”
”It's a matter of routine that-”
”Ain't going to happen. You're not talking to my girls.”
”At least your baby-sitter,” said Shad, more irritated with me than ever.
”You'll have to see her and her mother about that.” As he gawked at Morgan's bare legs, a shriek came from that direction. Helen Neumann had just come out of her house and spotted her daughter. Why Helen had thought her daughter was in the fire when she hadn't yet returned her car was beyond me, but then, Helen had always been p.r.o.ne to panic.
”You want to know how we think this went down?” Shad asked.
”I do. Yeah.”
”You did it.”
”Here we go again.”
”No, bear with me. We got a telephone call from a woman. Maybe two hours ago. Said you were real depressed. That you guys weren't getting anywhere trying to find a cure for whatever it is you think you've got. That right?”
”We haven't found a cure. That part's right.”
”Said you were going to take yourself out. That you might want to take your family out at the same time.”
”Another anonymous caller?”
”A woman. I think she was the same one I spoke to after the trailer explosion. Only this time she called from a pay phone in Bellevue. You know anybody in Bellevue?”
”Who doesn't?”
”It fits your MO perfectly.”
”What does? Setting my house on fire? Give me a break.”
”No,” Shad said. ”Not setting the fire. Chickening out. You've done it once already. With the trailer. You set it up to kill yourself. And then at the last second you get the b.u.t.terflies and run away.”
”Look. Surely you can figure out who made the call.”
”Wish we could,” Stevenson said. ”It was a pay phone.”
”You got an explanation for all this?” Shad asked.
”Sure. Somebody's setting me up.”
”Why?”
”I don't know.”
”We're going to go through the rest of the house,” Stevenson said. ”And then we're going to come back and talk to you again.”
”He was with me,” Stephanie said. ”You're barking up the wrong tree.”
”You guys really got a call about me tonight?” I asked.
Shad tipped his head toward his taller partner. ”He did.”
”But you didn't do anything about it, did you?” I said. ”You didn't believe her, did you?”
”I believe her now. Stick around. We're coming back.”
”Anyone who knew two hours ago that my house was going to burn down was in on it.”
As I spoke, an evidence technician from the county approached, a young woman with short chestnut hair and heavy eyebrows. She wore the green-brown uniform of a King County deputy and held a partially burned driver's license by the edges.
”Anybody know this person?” she asked.
52. MISS SQUIGGLY HEADS FOR THE BEACH.
Without taking it from the technician's fingers, each of the three investigators leaned forward in turn and examined the license: Carpenter, Achara. s.e.x F. Height 5 Carpenter, Achara. s.e.x F. Height 50”. Weight 95 pounds. Eyes brn. Birth date 090969. Weight 95 pounds. Eyes brn. Birth date 090969. Along the right side of the license on a blue background was a picture of Achara. Along the right side of the license on a blue background was a picture of Achara.
A wave of nausea flooded my stomach. Things had made a horrible kind of sense when I thought the corpse belonged to Morgan, but what on earth had Achara been doing in my house?
Maybe Donovan was somewhere in the burned-out hulk, too. But if that were true, their black Suburban would have been outside. Besides, we'd seen Donovan minutes before the fire.
Carl Steding had told me the story of the daughter of one of the downed firefighters in Chattanooga, who'd coincidentally died in a house fire. They never caught the killer-arsonist. The a.s.sumption had been made that it had been unrelated to her investigation of the syndrome. Unrelated to the downed firefighters. But it hadn't been. This was too d.a.m.n similar. It was those two b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from Jane's we'd seen at the motel.
”You know her?” Shad said.
”Works as a chemist at Canyon View Systems. In Redmond.”
”You want to explain what she was doing on your living-room floor?”
”I have no idea. As far as I know, she didn't even know where I lived.”
”Somebody knew.”
Stevenson pulled out a toothpick and put it into his mouth. ”She have any reason to burn you out?”
”No, of course not.”
”What about that vehicle the neighbors saw?” Stevenson asked no one in particular.
”Talk to the neighbors.”
”What about the ladies?” Stevenson asked.
”What are you talking about?”