Into the Inferno - Earl Emerson [125]
“I didn’t. I went in after my daughters.”
Ron Holgate straightened his rep tie with one hand. “Where was the note found?”
“On the front door of the firehouse,” Karrie replied.
“Logical place to put it if it was legit,” Holgate said.
“Logical place to put it if it was a frame-up,” I said.
The three investigators stared at me with various degrees of indictment clouding their eyes. “It’s pretty obvious,” Shad said. “You wrote the note, set the fire, and then got out of the house at the last minute.” Stevenson nodded. Holgate pursed his lips and looked at his feet.
“Wouldn’t be the first time somebody backed out of a murder-suicide after the murder part,” said Stevenson. “You probably did the same thing two days ago with the trailer.”
“What are you talking about?” Stephanie said. “He was with me all night.”
“You got any independent proof of that?” Stevenson asked.
“The Sunset Motel,” Stephanie said. “Go check their records.”
Shad looked Stephanie up and down. I wished she hadn’t been wearing one of my ex-wife’s summer dresses, the material thin enough that lights behind her worked as X rays.
“You got a phone number for the motel?” Holgate asked. Stephanie dug through her wallet and pulled out a receipt, while Holgate pulled a cell phone off his belt.
Meanwhile, the two fire investigators stared me down. From the moment they met me at Caputo’s, neither of these guys had liked me.
Holgate rejoined the group. “They checked in all right. At least she did. Nobody saw him.”
“My in-laws saw me leaving a few minutes before we got here.”
“Your in-laws?” Shad said. “Cute.”
“They with you the whole time?” Stevenson smirked.
“Of course not.”
“I was,” said Stephanie. “Up until he went into the fire.”
“You’ll swear to that?” Holgate asked.
“Absolutely.”
“Not good enough,” Shad said, squinting at Stevenson. “Not with everything else that’s been going on.”
“Are you calling me a liar?” Stephanie asked.
Stevenson said, “We expect you to lie for him.”
“I just met Achara yesterday,” I said. “I don’t have a motive. Are you guys even listening?”
“When did you meet the good doctor?” Shad asked.
He had me on that.
“Other thing we’re thinking about, King County just told us a woman matching the description of Achara Carpenter filled up a five-gallon can at the Texaco station a couple of hours ago. She was with a man, but nobody could give a description. That wouldn’t be you, would it?”
“How many times do I have to tell you?”
“I think we’re going to have to take you in for questioning,” Stevenson said.
“Without finishing the house?”
“Just go over there and sit in the back of our vehicle until we’re through.”
“Not bloody likely.”
“You want me to arrest you? Is that it?” Shad asked. “Consider yourself under arrest.”
“On what charge?” Stephanie asked.
“Suspicion of arson.”
“It’s not going to stick,” I said.
“Then we’ll hold you as a material witness. You’ve been disappearing on us all week. This way at least we’ll know where you are. Maybe this will encourage you to answer a few questions.”
“I answered your questions.”
“Yeah?” Shad said. “Why was this Achara person in your house at midnight?”
“I told you, I don’t know. You guys really get paid for this?”
Before I could stop him, Shad slapped handcuffs around one of my wrists. As he reached for my other wrist, Stephanie said, “What the hell is wrong with you? Can’t you see he’s burned?”
Shad examined my left wrist. There were more burns on my right wrist. Removing the handcuffs, he began walking me toward the King County deputy’s car, his intent to lock me in the cage in the backseat. Britney ran in front of us. “Where are you going, Daddy?”
Bending low, I spoke softly. “Tell Stephanie to look for me at Miss Squiggly’s favorite spot.”
“But why, Daddy?”
“Shhhh. Tell you later.” I winked, gave her a kiss, and walked to the squad car with Shad.
He opened the back door, then reached up to force my head inside. Instead of moving with him, I grabbed his wrist, threw a quick elbow