The Happy Housekeeper's Guide to Arson (A Barbara Hollis Murder Mystery Book 2) by Blythe Baker

Author:Blythe Baker [Baker, Blythe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

“What are you doing here – ” Craig asked as I made my way back into his office less than ten minutes later. His words caught in his throat when he spotted the gas canister in my hands. “Did you run out of gas in the truck? I thought I just filled that up for you – ”

“I found this at the old Peterson house,” I said, setting it down on the desk.

He looked down at the canister, his brow furrowing as he then looked up at me. “What were you doing over there?”

I ignored his question. “I found this in the hedgerow around the house, on the east side. There was what looked like a charred stack of firewood, and this strange noodling pattern in the grass, so I thought it had to have been caused by something that had been poured there. Gasoline, of course, is something that can both be poured and lit on fire – ”

Craig picked up the canister at the same time that he waved off the rest of my words. “Just hold on a second. Catch your breath and start at the beginning.”

I did, telling him that I had stopped by on my way home and how I had stumbled on the strange markings in the grass.

“There’s no way the firemen would have missed something like that,” he said. “They would have found it as suspicious as you did.”

“Unless they were more worried about looking inside the house,” said Elwood from the door. He must have come in when he spotted me hurrying to Craig’s office.

“You’re telling me they wouldn’t have spotted something so obvious?” Craig asked.

“Did you?” Elwood asked.

I glanced at him, surprised. Was he actually taking my side in this?

“Well…no,” said Craig. “I didn’t.”

“Neither did I,” Elwood said. “And we obviously can’t deny that she found it there. Unless she’s lying about where she got it from.”

I glared at him. There was the sarcasm I had expected.

“Where did you say you found it?” Craig asked, looking a little exasperated.

“In the hedges at the edge of the property,” I said. “On the same side of the house where those strange markings in the grass were.” I frowned at the both of them. “I could drive you over there right now and point it out – ”

“That’s not necessary,” Craig said, and he looked up at Elwood with a look of concern. “This means we’re going to have to examine this again, I think.”

Elwood let out a heavy sigh. “I think you might be right. The boys down at the fire station are going to be mad at themselves for not looking a little harder.”

“They can’t blame themselves,” Craig said. He then turned back to me. “We’ll look into this, all right? But I don’t want you wandering around back there anymore. It’s not safe. That house could collapse any minute. I would never forgive myself if something happened while you were…”

“Snooping around?” Elwood suggested.

“Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I won’t go back there.

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