Firebreak (Josie Gray Mysteries #4)(53)
Otto shook his head, obviously hoping for something a bit more positive than that.
“Also, Turner stopped by this morning on her way to court. This case gets stranger by the day,” she said.
“What did she want?”
“She showed me a convenience store video of Brenda and Billy entering the store in Sonora at nine thirty p.m. That means Billy and Brenda left the Hell-Bent by six, exactly when they said they left. They’re off the hook.”
He looked at Josie for a moment, obviously wrestling with something.
“What is it?” she asked.
“What if they killed him earlier in the day, before they went to the Hell-Bent?”
“Doesn’t make sense. That would mean two different killers. If they killed him earlier in the afternoon, then someone else would have had to have driven to their home to start the fire later that evening. And why would they kill Ferris, and then have someone else come set their house on fire? Doesn’t work.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. I thought for sure they were connected to Ferris’s death.”
“Yep. We’re back to motive,” she said. “Do me a favor and check on the subpoena for Billy’s phone records. We need to know who he talked with the night he died. I’ll be back, hopefully before lunch.”
*
By the time Josie pulled into the Nixes’ driveway, Ned Franklin was walking around the outside of the house, surveying the damage. He wore navy pants and a white short-sleeved shirt with the gold fire marshal shield above his breast pocket, gold corner pins over his collar tips, and a red and black insignia patch over his arm. He was a trim man in his fifties who walked through the blackened surroundings as if the territory were familiar to him. Josie watched his eyes travel over the house and grounds, surveying everything, cataloging the details as he listened to Doug summarize the time frame for when events took place. Josie overheard Doug explaining the spotter logs and the flyover in the helicopter as they walked around the side of the house.
“I feel very confident that the wildfire and the Nixes’ fire were two separate events,” Doug said.
“I would agree completely at this point,” Ned said.
After the two had circled the home and arrived back at the front yard, Doug introduced Ned to Josie. He had silver hair, neatly trimmed, with deep lines across his forehead that signaled a life spent outside in the bright Texas sunshine. He smiled openly and shook Josie’s hand.
“Under normal circumstances the Texas state fire marshal would assist, but the wildfires have every agent working overtime. The state marshal asked if I’d come down and offer a hand.”
“We appreciate you coming. I’m paranoid every time I walk inside that I’m destroying evidence. Everything is so fragile,” Josie said.
“That’s the right approach to have. It’ll be good to have you here with us. You might be able to fill in some holes for us.”
“Any thoughts on what you’ve seen so far?”
He pointed toward the hole in the front of the house. “It’s obvious an accelerant was used to start the fire. Accelerants burn hotter and faster.” He pointed at the couch. “I’m surprised the synthetic material on the couch wasn’t completely consumed.” He then pointed to the floor just inside the living room where the center of the hole was located. “Notice the tile floor here? That’s partly what kept this fire in place.” He bent down on his hands and knees in front of the tile and sniffed. He finally stood back up and pointed to where the front doorway had been located. “The accelerant, and by the smell of it, I’m guessing kerosene, was poured directly in front of this tile floor. It caused the fire to burn up into the rafters rather than directly out.”
Josie nodded, impressed with the information.
Ned stood on the porch facing the gaping hole into the house. “Look here. Fire typically burns in the shape of V so we can often trace back the exact origin. That’s what’s happened here. There’s about a three-foot area where accelerant was poured onto the outside of the house around the doorway and left to pool on the ground.”
“Makes sense,” Josie said.
“See the black mark on the concrete here where it started?”
She nodded.
Ned got down on his hands and knees again and pulled a tool that looked like a wide screwdriver out of his pocket. He pried up the aluminum flashing under the doorjamb. “Take a look. See the black charring?”
Josie bent down closer. “Yeah, I can see it.”
“The wildfire that whipped through here wouldn’t have burned underneath this metal flashing. The puddle from the accelerant burned and caused that wood underneath here to catch.” He used the tool to point to the concrete around the door. “This is called spalling, where the layers of concrete break away from the intense heat. Notice this is the only area on the patio where that happened?”
“That’s excellent,” she said, impressed with his knowledge.
“Doug already suspected this and collected evidence. I’ll get it to the lab and get you a report as soon as I can on the liquid that was used. Let’s move on inside and take a look where the body was found.”
Once inside the house Ned stood in front of the couch and crossed his arms over his chest, staring at the charred mess in front of him. “Here’s where I’d like your help, Chief Gray.”