When All Light Fails by Randall Silvis

Author:Randall Silvis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2021-05-22T00:00:00+00:00

Fifty-One

And the sun be damned

In the city hall on Main Street, a two-story redbrick building that took up half a block, they introduced themselves to Chief Gary and Patrol Officer Dawn Stiple. Gary was approximately five foot six, 190 pounds, his head shaved bald, and Stiple his physical opposite, approximately five foot ten, maybe 125 pounds, her flame-red hair gathered into a tight updo.

After a shaking of hands, Gary sat on the front corner of his desk, Stiple standing near the opposite corner, nearest Jayme. In fewer than five minutes, Chief Gary and Stiple summed up everything they knew about the Barries’ deaths.

“The grandmother’s BAC registered .29. The thermostat in the trailer was set at sixty-six, so, given the outside temperature that night, the furnace would have kicked on around ten, no more than a half hour or so before the two of them left the Bear Claw.”

“So what you’re saying,” DeMarco asked, “is that they came home tired, the grandmother under the influence, they probably climbed into bed and fell asleep? And never woke up?”

The chief nodded. “CO levels in the place were high enough to kill a moose by the time the bodies were discovered. It wouldn’t have taken much to kill the girl. The old lady went to bed significantly impaired.”

Stiple said, “Even if she woke up at some point dizzy or nauseous or with a monster headache, she probably wouldn’t have attributed it to CO poisoning.”

Chief Gary continued. “No signs of struggle whatsoever. No signs of forced entry. There was one CO detector in the kitchen but the battery was dead, so either the guy who stuffed the vent got lucky or he knew about the dead battery. So far we’ve come up with nobody who had a grudge against either one of them.”

“Everybody loved Emma,” Officer Stiple added. “As for the old lady, hardly anybody in town ever met her.”

“Who found the bodies?” DeMarco asked.

“One of the barmaids. Named Lisa.”

“Alyssa,” Stiple corrected.

The chief continued. “Emma left her sketch pad at the bar the previous night, so the bar maid was returning it. Alyssa. When nobody answered the door, she got the key from underneath a stone by the steps where Jennifer kept it, let herself in and found them.”

“So maybe somebody else knew about the key too,” Jayme suggested.

“We already talked to three of them who did,” Gary said. “All females, all Bear Claw employees.”

“And all of them were at the Bear Claw the whole time during the memorial?” DeMarco asked.

“Unfortunately,” said the chief.

DeMarco said, “That doesn’t rule them out, though. They could have passed the information along to somebody.”

The chief shrugged, yeah, maybe.

“Boyfriends?” Jayme asked.

“According to her friends,” said Stiple, “Jen hadn’t dated anybody in months. And even if somebody had it out for her, why kill the daughter and grandmother after Jen is already gone? It makes no sense whatsoever.”

DeMarco asked, “Who’s taking care of the funeral arrangements?”

“A couple of folks from the Bear Claw volunteered,” Stiple said. “We contacted Jen’s sister and she said for us to go ahead and do it.

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