Firebreak (Josie Gray Mysteries #4)(77)
“Where did Brenda go?”
“Billy said she drove to town and went to the bank and stopped at the Hot Tamale for a drink before she went back home and picked him up.”
“And when she left the house, what happened?” Josie asked.
Hank frowned. “They got into a fight. Billy told Ferris he couldn’t stay at the house anymore. He said they were through, that Ferris needed to stop coming to hear the band play. Billy said Ferris started yelling at him, calling him names and throwing punches. Ferris told Billy he was going to tell everyone that he was gay.” Hank stopped, as if the rest of the story was too hard.
“What happened?” Josie asked.
Hank absently rubbed a hand across his forehead. Josie could smell the sweat coming from his body. “Ferris showed Billy a video off his phone that he had taken of the two of them together at Ferris’s house. Ferris threatened to send the video to Gennett Records, to the band members, and to Brenda.”
Josie stopped him. “A compromising video?”
Hank nodded but didn’t elaborate. “Ferris said he was going to the Hell-Bent to tell everyone what a fake Billy was. They were in the bedroom, fighting at that point. Ferris walked down the hallway to leave, and Billy grabbed a stun gun Brenda kept in the bedroom. He stunned Ferris with it, and then—” Hank stared at Josie, as if he couldn’t continue.
“Tell us what happened,” said Josie.
Hank took a moment and then struggled through the explanation as if the thought of it made him ill. “Billy said he sat on Ferris’s chest and pinned his arms down. Then he covered his mouth and nose and suffocated him.”
“You’re telling me that Billy admitted to you that he killed Ferris?” Josie asked.
“You have to understand that Ferris had ruined Billy’s life. He never wanted any of this to happen.”
Josie and Otto both sat quietly, waiting for him to continue.
Hank sighed and finally went on. “About three months ago Ferris tested positive for HIV. Billy got totally unstrung. He got himself tested and was negative, but they told him he needed to test again, that he could still have it. In his own mind, he was convinced he had HIV and that he’d passed it on to Brenda. He claimed he was showing signs. And, for a country star with a reputation like Billy’s? The band name is Billy and the Outlaws. You know what I’m saying?”
“You’re saying Billy couldn’t be an outlaw country singer with HIV.”
“That’s exactly right. Keep in mind, Billy hadn’t made it big yet. It’d be one thing if he was Magic Johnson making an announcement, but he didn’t even have a signed contract yet.”
“Nobody’s going to sign an unknown country singer if the word gets out he has HIV,” Josie said.
Hank nodded. “Billy knew Brenda would be devastated. Not only would Brenda’s dream of making it in Nashville be destroyed, but her fears about Billy having an affair with Ferris would take on a whole new meaning. He was just coming apart at the seams.”
“Did he tell Brenda about Ferris having HIV?”
“I don’t know.” Hank gave Josie an imploring look, as if she wasn’t understanding him. “It was even bigger than that. Ferris was ready to tell the world everything! Send out videos that showed who knows what. You think he wouldn’t work Billy and Brenda over? You think Ferris wouldn’t out Billy in a heartbeat if he thought he could benefit from it? Extort money?”
Josie thought about Hank’s assessment of Ferris compared to his sister Julia’s kinder description. Did Hank just dislike him, or had sibling love clouded Julia’s view of him?
“Do you think Billy saw that side of Ferris?” Josie asked.
“By this point, Billy had figured Ferris out. He knew Ferris was a time bomb. Billy had wanted to end things for a while, but he knew Ferris would go off the deep end. Then Brenda got in the middle of it and forced him to end it. And Ferris took it just like Billy figured he would.”
Josie shook her head. “So Billy killed Ferris and laid him on the couch. When Brenda came home and picked Billy up, didn’t she see the dead body?”
Hank’s expression hardened. “No. Billy made it clear—Brenda had no idea what happened. When she came back from town, Billy met her at the door with the rest of their bags and they drove to the Hell-Bent to get Billy’s guitars.”
“But the fire wasn’t set until seven. They got to the Hell-Bent at five thirty, left at six. The timing doesn’t work.”
“Billy told Brenda he needed to run back to the house and pick up something. He said he left her at the Hell-Bent and went back with kerosene and doused the house to make sure it burned. He drove back to the Hell-Bent at six thirty and they left town.”
Josie thought through the timing with what Turner had given her from the surveillance tapes. The tape showed them entering the convenience store at nine thirty that night. If they left from the Hell-Bent at six thirty, they could have made the drive in three hours. Then she remembered the watch face that established his time of death.
“It still doesn’t work,” she said. “Ferris Sinclair’s body was burned at seven thirty-eight. It wouldn’t take that long for the house to burn if Billy started the fire at six.”
Hank shut his eyes briefly, as if not wanting to go on. “Billy said he moved the clocks forward in the house, as well as the watch on Ferris. He got the idea from some cop show he saw on TV.”