Firebreak: A Mystery (21 page)

“Under normal circumstances the Texas state fire marshal would assist, but the wildfires have every agent working overtime. The state marshal asked if I’d come down and offer a hand.”

“We appreciate you coming. I’m paranoid every time I walk inside that I’m destroying evidence. Everything is so fragile,” Josie said.

“That’s the right approach to have. It’ll be good to have you here with us. You might be able to fill in some holes for us.”

“Any thoughts on what you’ve seen so far?”

He pointed toward the hole in the front of the house. “It’s obvious an accelerant was used to start the fire. Accelerants burn hotter and faster.” He pointed at the couch. “I’m surprised the synthetic material on the couch wasn’t completely consumed.” He then pointed to the floor just inside the living room where the center of the hole was located. “Notice the tile floor here? That’s partly what kept this fire in place.” He bent down on his hands and knees in front of the tile and sniffed. He finally stood back up and pointed to where the front doorway had been located. “The accelerant, and by the smell of it, I’m guessing kerosene, was poured directly in front of this tile floor. It caused the fire to burn up into the rafters rather than directly out.”

Josie nodded, impressed with the information.

Ned stood on the porch facing the gaping hole into the house. “Look here. Fire typically burns in the shape of V so we can often trace back the exact origin. That’s what’s happened here. There’s about a three-foot area where accelerant was poured onto the outside of the house around the doorway and left to pool on the ground.”

“Makes sense,” Josie said.

“See the black mark on the concrete here where it started?”

She nodded.

Ned got down on his hands and knees again and pulled a tool that looked like a wide screwdriver out of his pocket. He pried up the aluminum flashing under the doorjamb. “Take a look. See the black charring?”

Josie bent down closer. “Yeah, I can see it.”

“The wildfire that whipped through here wouldn’t have burned underneath this metal flashing. The puddle from the accelerant burned and caused that wood underneath here to catch.” He used the tool to point to the concrete around the door. “This is called spalling, where the layers of concrete break away from the intense heat. Notice this is the only area on the patio where that happened?”

“That’s excellent,” she said, impressed with his knowledge.

“Doug already suspected this and collected evidence. I’ll get it to the lab and get you a report as soon as I can on the liquid that was used. Let’s move on inside and take a look where the body was found.”

Once inside the house Ned stood in front of the couch and crossed his arms over his chest, staring at the charred mess in front of him. “Here’s where I’d like your help, Chief Gray.”

She nodded.

“The fire was either arson with a specific motive, or it was set by an arsonist who may have a set of motivations that are more complicated than you would first think.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Can you explain the difference?”

“Arson is fire intentionally set to destroy property.”

She nodded.

“An arsonist is the person who commits arson. If the person fits the characteristics of a typical arsonist we’d be looking at a young male, under the age of twenty-five, who comes from a single-parent family with no father figure. Fire becomes a sense of pride and way to control situations.”

Josie nodded. “So you would approach the investigation differently if you thought the fire was set by an arsonist versus someone who burned the house down with a specific motive. Such as covering up a murder.”

“Exactly.”

Josie glanced at Doug and frowned. “Yesterday I would have told you that this fire was set with the sole purpose of covering up the murder of Ferris Sinclair. Today, I’m not so sure. The two suspects we thought might have had a motive for murder have a tight alibi. Ferris wasn’t well liked, but I’ve not found anyone yet with the motive to want to kill him and burn his body. This was brutal.”

Ned squatted down to get eye-level with the couch. He seemed to be surveying the fabric, inch by inch. After several minutes he stood and moved directly in front of the couch, performing the same visual scan.

He stood again. “Have you moved the couch?”

Doug shook his head. “We didn’t want to move anything until you came on scene.”

“Good. Get on the other side and let’s move this couch directly back.”

Doug and Ned lifted the couch up, moved it back about four feet, and set it down. All three looked down at the bare space under the couch, largely untouched by the fire. Sitting about five inches from where the bottom of the couch would have been was a plastic syringe. They all approached it at the same time and bent over to see that the needle was still attached.

Ned looked at Josie. “Were either of the Nixes IV drug users?”

“I don’t think so. Highly unlikely.”

“What about the victim?”

“I can’t answer that.”

“I have some pull with a toxicology lab up north,” Ned said. “I’m sorry you had such a wait getting a fire marshal out here. I’ll put a rush on the toxicology. I have a great lab I work with. They may be able to get us results in forty-eight hours if we’re lucky. We’ll hopefully know whether we’re looking at recreational drug use, or the method of death.”

*   *   *

When Josie arrived back at the office she found Otto just about to walk in. “You need a shower, Chief.”

Josie looked down and noticed the black smudges on her uniform pants and shirt. “Think that comes out in the wash?” she asked.

“Call Delores. No doubt she’ll have some vinegar remedy.”

They both stepped into the building and sighed. The air-conditioning felt like heaven. Josie washed her arms and hands as best she could in the bathroom sink upstairs and met Otto at the conference table.

“The fire marshal find anything new?”

Josie summarized the marshal’s confirmation that the fire was set intentionally by a liquid accelerant, and the discovery of the syringe under the couch.

Otto listened to Josie’s account and said, “We have two dead men, an arson, and a suicide that we’re not sure we believe.”

“Brenda claims Billy won’t even take aspirin for a headache. She basically admitted to searching his luggage when they go on trips. She swears he didn’t have any pills with him in the hotel.”

“Here’s another thing. While you were with the fire marshal today I tracked down the clerk at the liquor mart who was working the night Billy drank himself to death. He remembered Billy coming in at about eleven thirty and buying the whiskey.”

“What did he say about Billy’s demeanor that night?” she asked.

Otto shrugged. “He claimed Billy was normal. The clerk told me he was a fan of Billy’s so he asked him about the recording contract. Billy told him they were getting close to a deal. He even told the guy that if they got the deal he’d bring him a signed copy of the CD when it came out.”

Josie frowned. “Doesn’t sound like a guy getting ready to go drink himself to death.”

“I agree. Seems odd a guy would dash off a quick ‘I’ll be back’ note, leave his wife in a hotel room, then go buy enough whiskey and prescription drugs on the street corner to kill himself.”

“Who would want both Ferris and Billy dead? Brenda would want Ferris dead, but not Billy. If you go the jealousy route, other bands might want Billy dead, but couldn’t care less about Ferris,” Josie said.

Lou buzzed Josie on her desk phone. “Cowan’s on his way up to see you.”

Josie grinned at Otto. “Cross your fingers. He wouldn’t drive over here without significant news.”

They listened as Cowan slowly clumped his way up the wooden stairs to the office. He appeared in the doorway and took a deep breath before entering.

“Good morning. I trust I’m not disturbing you too terribly with an unannounced visit?”

“Come on in. Would you like coffee?” Josie asked.

“Yes, please. Half cup. Cream and heavy sugar.”

Cowan sat down with a sigh of relief and then got straight to the point.

“First, OxyContin and Ambien both were present in Billy Nix’s bloodstream. Amounts will come later.”

“Good,” Josie said. It was no surprise, but the confirmation was necessary.

“Now, on to Ferris Sinclair. Dental records confirmed the burn victim is indeed Ferris. I also initiated an HIV antibody test which came back positive. To confirm, I used the more reliable Western blot test, which also came back positive. Ferris Sinclair was without a doubt HIV positive.”

“Can you tell how much virus was in his body?” she asked, handing him his coffee.

Cowan gave her a look like he didn’t understand the question.

“I used to hear people refer to someone as having full-blown AIDS. Those people you could look at and know they had the virus. I want to know, can you tell if it would have been obvious to others that Ferris was HIV positive?”

“Ah, I see. HIV is the virus that attacks a person’s immune system,” Cowan said. “A person can have HIV and show no outward symptoms. AIDS occurs when your immune system is severely compromised and it can take years to develop. It’s the final stage of the disease after the immune system is too weak to deal with all of the other infections. I believe what you’re asking is, was Ferris Sinclair’s immune system compromised to the point that others would know that he had the disease.”

“That’s exactly what I want to know,” she said.

“With the body as severely burned as it was, there’s no way at this time for me to know what kind of infections he might have been fighting. In short, I can’t answer your question.”

Josie nodded, frustrated with the answer.

“I’ll run the same tests on Billy Nix and let you know ASAP.”

Otto seemed to be mulling the conversation over. He finally said, “Maybe Ferris came right out and told Billy. Maybe he thought it would buy him some sympathy. Get him more attention.”

“Would a diagnosis of HIV give Billy Nix the motive to kill Ferris?” Cowan asked.

“Maybe,” Josie said. “Trouble is, Billy was two hours away when the fire was started at his home. Billy didn’t kill Ferris, and neither did Brenda.”

“I’ll tell you what’s troubling me,” Otto said. “It’s not the idea that Billy would commit suicide, but rather how he did it. If Brenda is right, and he didn’t have the pills with him, who brought them to him? If someone brought him a deadly combination of prescription pills, knowing that he was already drunk, then did Billy Nix commit suicide, or was he murdered?”

“Ahhh.” Cowan took a sip of his coffee and smiled. “The conundrum. Is the gun seller who provides a man the gun that the man uses to murder his wife culpable?”

“He is if the gun seller
tells
the guy to go home and kill his wife,” Josie said.

“What about all the Internet sites that explain how to commit suicide? They provide instructions for how to end your life. If you follow those instructions and end your life, are the people on the Internet culpable in your murder?” Cowan smiled again, apparently enjoying the debate.

Otto looked annoyed. “So what are you getting at? If someone gave Billy those pills and said take these, they’re culpable in his murder?”

“I’m saying no such thing. I’m simply suggesting that you have a mess on your hands.”

Otto stood and said, “Okay. Thanks for bringing the information, Cowan. It was much appreciated. We’re headed back to the crime scene.”

Cowan took the cue and stood himself, taking several gulps to finish his coffee. Once he had left the office Josie gave Otto a look. “We’re going to the crime scene?”

“I couldn’t take any more theorizing. We have a murder to solve. I just said that to get him out of here.”

Josie grinned and walked to the whiteboard at the front of the office. “I don’t know why you have to give him such a hard time.”

Otto ignored her comment. “What if we have two suicides? Ferris confesses to Billy and Brenda he’s HIV positive. Billy shuns him so he stays at their house and commits suicide.”

“Who used the stun gun on him then?”

“Damn.”

“Susan, the deputy from Presidio County, called Ferris promiscuous. Juan called him a whore dog, and Dave agreed. Maybe someone else found out Ferris had HIV and feared he infected them. That person could have killed him too.”

Otto nodded. “But it had to be somebody who knew Billy and Brenda were leaving. Their house would have been the perfect place to commit murder. The murderer would have assumed it was in the line of fire so it would cover up any evidence. They lure Ferris to Billy’s place, stun him, and kill him.”

“That means we’ve narrowed the killer down to someone who knew the Nixes. Who knew the inside of their house well enough to know there was a stun gun in a box in the bedroom.” Josie pointed a finger at Otto. “Know who was in their house just a few months ago? And told me he was at the Hell-Bent during the evacuation, so he knew when the Nixes left town?”

Otto looked at her.

“Mick Sinner.”

*   *   *

Josie and Otto hit the jackpot. In calling around to track down Mick, they discovered from Vicki that he was at the Hell-Bent practicing with the band for a performance later that night. Josie drove and Otto rode passenger. She followed two other cars down the road, both of which turned down the lane for the Hell-Bent. The parking lot was packed.

“I bet there’s a hundred cars,” she said.

“Since when does the Hell-Bent draw a crowd at ten on a Friday morning?” Otto said.

They stepped inside and found a mass of people milling around the dance floor. Josie noticed pockets of people crying and hugging.

“Oh, hell,” Josie said. “You know what this is? These people are here for Billy.”

Most of the crowd was wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots but a few women wore dresses. Josie noticed Angela carrying a tray full of Budweiser over to a table surrounded by a dozen people. Grieving or not, she thought ten was a little early for a Bud.

Above the low rumble of conversation they heard raised voices coming from the stage, where they could see Slim Jim and Mick Sinner facing each other in heated conversation. Otto motioned his head that way and Josie followed him.