Firebreak (Josie Gray Mysteries #4)(46)

“You bet. I’ll give you a call back before lunch.”

Josie hung up and told Otto about her conversation with Susan. “I’ll follow up on Ferris as soon as I hear back from her.”

Otto nodded and pointed toward the conference table. “You see the note Marta left you?”

Sitting on top of the Nixes’ laptop was a note that said, “Still need to check the e-mail. I didn’t get that far. Too busy. Took a car full of drunks to jail. What a night.”

After logging in to the Nixes’ computer, Josie scrolled through e-mails and discovered it was almost all to and from Brenda and dealt primarily with band business. There were several old e-mails from a woman named Patty who seemed to be her sister or family of some kind, filling Brenda in on her father’s liver cancer. Brenda’s responses were curt, obviously wanting the facts, not the emotions.

Almost two hours later Josie had skimmed through every e-mail in the system and found nothing of consequence. She did, however, figure Brenda earned her money as manager for the band. She spent an enormous amount of time cultivating contacts, setting up shows, and pitching different executives at several big houses for interviews and demos. Josie also discovered that the rumors were true: the Gennett deal looked as if it might come through, and not just for Billy but for the whole band.

Josie opened Internet Explorer and found that the search history had been cleared just two weeks ago, which led her to believe that either Brenda or Billy was hiding something from the other. It obviously wasn’t a public computer, so why go to the trouble? Josie checked the sites that the Nixes had left opened in tabs: an online music store, a blog for country bands, a forum for guitar players where Billy was a member but had never posted anything, and a Budweiser site that explained the rules for a “Battle of the Bands” playoff in Los Angeles next month.

Next, she checked out searches that had been performed on Google. The first site to catch her attention was searched less than twenty-four hours before the Nixes had evacuated: mayoclinic.org. She clicked on the link in the recently searched history and was taken to a page titled DISEASES AND CONDITIONS: HIV/AIDS. Another twelve Google searches led to similar sites; three searches led to links that dealt specifically with symptoms. Josie turned her chair to Otto. “Come check this out.”

Josie clicked through the links in the order that they had been searched. She learned that someone started with a vague search about HIV, then progressed specifically to symptoms, testing, and life expectancy. The searches were conducted between the hours of 10:45 p.m. and 11:57 p.m., on Saturday, the night before the evacuation.

Otto rolled his chair back from Josie’s desk. “One of the Nixes has a healthy curiosity about a disease, or maybe Billy’s worried he has HIV?”

“Might give Billy a motive for murder,” she said. “He found out somebody gave him HIV and decided to get even.”

Otto frowned. “Strange coincidence that Susan said Ferris wanted her to press charges against the guys that called him gay at the bar.”

“Hmm. Maybe Billy and Ferris had a secret affair going on and one of them passed along HIV to the other one.”

Otto narrowed his eyes at her like he was trying to follow her logic. “I don’t know. Hard-core country singer, married, having an affair with a guy Susan described as looking like a weasel?”

Josie shrugged. “Just because you’re hard-core country doesn’t mean you can’t be gay.”

Otto gave her skeptical look.

Josie studied Otto for a moment. “The relationship and HIV diagnosis might give Brenda a motive too.”

“How so?”

“If you found out your wife was HIV positive, you’d probably want to kill the person who gave it to her too,” she said. “Hypothetically speaking.”

Otto cocked his head and smirked. “Hard to imagine Delores with HIV.”

“Okay, you get my point.”

“I do,” he said. “The interview with Ferris Sinclair should be a doozy.”

*

Susan called Josie back on her cell phone just before lunch. “I drove by Ferris’s house. I don’t think he’s been there in a couple days. I found mail in his box postmarked back to Monday.”

“Thanks, Susan. I appreciate you looking. One more question. You ever hear any gossip about Ferris being HIV positive?”

“Oh, that’s not good. From the bar-scene gossip around town, I hear he’s pretty promiscuous. I haven’t heard anything about HIV though. Want me to check around?”

“I’d appreciate it. He may be a homicide victim in a fire that took place at the Nixes’ home during the evacuation. The fire that came through Sunday night. That’s premature on my part, but let me know if you hear anything.”

“Wow. Homicide. Burned in the fire? Or killed by other means?”

“Both. The victim was killed first, then intentionally burned. Ferris is a pretty big leap though.”

“I’ll ask around and get back with you.”

As Josie hung up the phone Lou buzzed her from downstairs. “Pete Beckett is here to see you.”

Otto raised his eyebrows. “Who’s Pete?”

Her face grew red. “He’s my friend from high school. The smoke jumper.”

“Why the funny look?” he asked.