Firebreak (Josie Gray Mysteries #4)(38)

The kid hadn’t responded fast enough and she’d jabbed her forefinger into his chest and stood on tiptoes to get her face within inches of his own. “Do you understand me?”

He had backed away and said, “Yes, ma’am,” and followed her back into the courtroom looking like a scolded child.

Josie wished she could have watched Turner dish out the rules to Brenda. She couldn’t imagine Brenda taking a scolding sitting down, especially from another female.

The local law enforcement community referred to the attorney simply as Turner, no first name necessary. Sitting in a bar on the weekend, buying a round for a group of off-duty cops to say thanks for a job well done, she was both liked and respected. But in the courtroom, she could slice up a state’s witness as finely as a paper shredder. Josie had been at several social functions with her and found her to be a great deal of fun; she just didn’t want her stalling out the interview.

In her midforties, with short ash-blond hair, Turner wore a pair of black slacks and a classy cream-colored top with low heels and minimal jewelry. She carried a leather briefcase that looked near to exploding. She smiled grimly and put a hand out. “Chief.”

“Good to see you, Turner.” Josie turned to the Nixes. “Thank you for coming in this morning. Let’s all get situated upstairs.”

In the office, they sat down at the conference table and Otto joined them. Billy, Brenda, and Turner sat across from Josie and Otto. Josie faced Turner. “How familiar are you with the basics of the investigation?”

“The Nixes have shared the basics, but I’d like to hear it from you.”

Josie nodded and sat with her hands folded on the table in front of her. “We discovered a male, thought to be somewhere between twenty-five and fifty years of age, dead on the Nixes’ couch in their living room. Their house was severely burned the same night as the wildfire. The body was burned too severely to identify. The body was discovered the next morning by Officer Podowski and myself. I tried calling the Nixes at that time to notify them of the body but they did not return my calls or messages.”

Turner looked shocked at the last statement. “I beg to differ! Ms. Nix absolutely returned your call! The same day you called her, she returned your call.”

“There were six hours between the time I called and the time Ms. Nix returned my call.”

Turner smirked. “Really? Are we doing this? Disparaging remarks thirty seconds into your summary statement?”

Josie let it go. “The first piece of troubling news, from our standpoint, was that the fire that spread through the western part of the county, where the Nixes’ home is located, had moved through that area almost two hours past the time the body was burned on the couch. The wildfire had not reached the Nixes’ home at the time it burned.”

“How do you know?”

“The hands of the watch on the victim’s hand were melted into the face at seven thirty-eight p.m. According to spotter records, the fire didn’t roll through there until after nine thirty.”

“How do you know his watch wasn’t dead?”

Josie raised her eyebrows.

“His watch could have quit at seven thirty-eight, and the fire melted the face of the watch at nine thirty.”

“We found a clock in the kitchen that was stopped at seven forty p.m.” Josie paused and looked directly at Brenda. “The coroner also provided additional information today after the autopsy. He’s confirmed that the victim was dead before the fire that was intentionally set burned his body.”

“And he knows this how?” Turner asked.

“There was no smoke damage to the lungs as there would have been if he had asphyxiated during the fire.”

“My clients were out of town. I’m still not sure what this has to do with Brenda or Billy,” Turner said.

“Yesterday, after searching the house again, we found evidence that a Zaner stun gun was discharged in the house before the victim was burned in the fire.”

“And?”

“And the Zaner is registered to Brenda Nix.”

Brenda looked from her attorney to Josie, her expression confused. “What do you mean my Zaner was discharged? I haven’t even had it out of the box in months.”

“Out of what box?” Josie asked.

“I keep it in a box in the bedroom. Go look for it. It’s a wooden box with a carved lid. Sitting on top of my bureau drawers.”

Turner raised her hands in the air and dropped them on her lap. “Well, there you go. Anyone who knows the Nixes could have gotten into the box, used the Zaner to disable the victim, and then killed and staged the body. Again, no clear connection to the Nixes.”

“The body was lying on their couch.”

“They weren’t home at seven forty when you just stated the man died!”

“That’s not what I said. He died sometime before seven forty. This is premeditated murder. He was disabled with a stun gun, murdered, then staged on the couch. His body was burned so severely at that time that the hands of the watch melted,” Josie said.

Turner rolled her eyes. “Please spare us the melodrama.”

“Here’s the timeline as we know it,” Josie continued. “The Nixes left home at about five, arrived at the Hell-Bent at five thirty. After picking up Billy’s guitar out of the dressing room they both left a little before six.”