“Chief Martin told us you might need help,” one of the officers said.

River was about to thank him when the man who’d been shot struggled to his feet and turned toward the police. Before they could stop him, he held up the object he’d taken from the bag and lit it. Exactly what River had suspected. A Molotov cocktail. He drew his arm back to throw it when both officers fired again. River yelled at them to stop, but she wasn’t fast enough. The man fell again, and the bottle exploded. In only seconds, he was engulfed in fire. River prayed he was already dead. She wouldn’t want her worst enemy to die by burning alive.

His body writhed on the yard, but it was probably involuntary spasms caused by the intense heat. One of the officers came up to them, while two others ran over to the man lying in the yard and tried to put out the flames.

“You need to tell them that he might have another bottle filled with gasoline in his bag,” River said. “They need to stay back. He’s already gone.”

The officer yelled for the other officers to get back. They immediately put distance between them and the man who was still burning.

It suddenly began to snow. It was as if God was putting out the fire Himself. Unfortunately, it would take a lot of snow to accomplish that. Just then a fire truck pulled up behind the police cars. Firefighters jumped out and pulled out a long hose. Instead of using water, they began to spray foam over the fire and the body. It was the best way to fight a gasoline fire. Water could have actually spread the flames.

Tony put his arm around River and led her back inside the house. “I have a feeling you owe me an explanation,” he said.

She smiled up at him. “I’m absolutely certain I do.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-THREE

Tony sat at the kitchen table with River. Mrs. Weyland had finally gotten Rose back to bed. She’d heard the sirens and woke up confused, afraid someone was breaking into the house. Once she was settled, Mrs. Weyland went to her room. Now that the house was quiet, Tony wanted answers. He was still upset that River had left the house alone, but he was even more confused as to what had just happened outside. Did River’s errand have anything to do with the death of the man in her front yard?

“First of all, as I’m sure you know, the incident outside had nothing to do with the Strangler,” River said. “I’m convinced it was the person who killed Kevin. He may have set the fire at your apartment, but I’m not sure about that yet. He might have copied what happened to you to throw suspicion on someone else. That’s just a guess. We may not ever know the truth about that.”

“And how do you know all of this?” Tony asked.

River took a deep breath. “Okay, let me start from the beginning. I know you’re angry with me for leaving, but I hope you’ll understand once I explain.”

“It would take the explanation of a lifetime for me to understand that.”

“One thing you need to realize is that if I’d gone to bed earlier, I wouldn’t have seen that SUV outside. And I might not have heard his car door slam. This could have turned out much worse. Can you see that?”

“You’re trying to handle me,” Tony said. “Knock it off.”

“What I’m saying is true, Tony. But let’s move past that.” She leaned forward in her chair. “We were having supper and my brother said something about almost hitting a deer on the way here, do you remember?”

“No, not really,” Tony said.

“Anyway . . . I was doing the dishes when I kept going back to our conversation. I knew there was something bothering me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. That’s when I remembered what Dan said. And then I recalled something else. I just wasn’t certain where I’d heard it. I started wondering if it was on April’s podcasts or in her notebook. I also wondered if I’d made a note about it in my own notebook. But I’d left it, along with my laptop, at the office. I had to have them, Tony. Because if I was right, it would reveal the person who killed the hitchhiker, Cheryl Armitage. I do have to add that he had help. At this point, I’m not sure who did what, although they’re both to blame.”

“I’m not following, but keep going,” he said.

“As I was saying, I needed to prove that he’d said it.” She held her hand up before he could say anything else. “Just listen. Anyway, he’d mentioned something I should have picked up on right away. To be honest, I have no idea why he even brought it up. I’m sure he didn’t mean to. I think he probably used it as an excuse back then to cover his tracks and he repeated it to me without thinking. Because of who he was, no one thought to challenge him. Or if anyone was suspicious, they were too afraid of him to say anything. I have no idea if he realized later what he’d revealed. He might not have. I just can’t be sure. Then last night, while I was at the office, I did a quick search under his name. I wanted to know if he’d crossed the line before. You know, done something that would make my suspicions look credible. It was then that I noticed it. The nail in his coffin, so to speak. Although right now, that might be a little too literal.”

River turned her laptop toward Tony. He gasped when he saw the photo. “You’ve got to be kidding. How could it be him?”

“Two reasons. On the night that Cheryl Armitage died, Detective Vincent Porter said that he’d hit a deer on the way to the crime scene.”

“That’s not really enough to make you think he ran over Cheryl. People hit deer quite a bit in Missouri—although it does give me pause.”

“That’s only the first thing that turned me on to him. Now look at his ring.”

Tony looked closer at the photo. Porter was wearing some kind of signet ring. It looked very familiar. Where had he seen it before? That’s when it hit him. “It’s the same ring Jeffrey Bailey wears.”

“Right. I looked it up. It’s some kind of Masonic thing. I can’t prove it, but I’m sure Detective Armbruster will be able to track it down. It made me suspect that Jeffrey and Porter knew each other.”

“Which leads me to my next question,” Tony said. “How did the police show up so quickly tonight?”

“I found Arnie’s number in your address book. By the way, most people keep their phone numbers on their phone, Grandpa.”

“He’s called you. His number is on your cell phone.”

River didn’t say anything, but her cheeks turned slightly pink.

Tony shook his head. “You left this house alone, unprotected. And you forgot your cell phone?”

River looked sheepish. “Let’s not focus on the negative, all right?” She frowned at him. “That vein in your neck is throbbing.”

“You think? We’re going to have a long talk later about the chances you took tonight. And don’t tell me again how everything turned out okay because you weren’t in your room when Porter showed up.”

River didn’t say anything for a moment. She must have realized he was upset and decided to back off.

“Anyway, I called Arnie from the office. I guess he decided we might be in danger. I thank God he sent two patrol cars and the fire department over here. If he hadn’t . . .”

Tony reached down and patted Watson’s head. “I don’t want to think about that. I take it that burning pile of . . . whatever . . . outside is Porter?”

River nodded.

“So, now Porter’s dead. We need to find Jeffrey and look for answers.”

“I’ve tried calling him, Tony. He’s not answering his phone.”

“It’s really late. He’s probably asleep.”

“Maybe,” River said slowly, “but I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“You’re thinking Jeffrey Bailey and a crooked cop were working together? Why? Just because of the ring? So where’s April?”

River shrugged. “I can’t be sure, but I can guess. I have to wonder if they were covering for each other. Jeffrey knew what Porter had done, maybe he told him, I’m not sure. I think Jeffrey had a secret too. I’m guessing it has something to do with April’s trust fund. My guess is that Jeffrey’s been helping himself to it. So, they keep each other’s secrets as brothers or whatever, because of their secret club.”

“I know people who are Masons. They don’t act like that.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” River said. “These two seem to have taken it to extremes.”

“Okay, how does April fit into your hypothesis?”

“Well, Porter was afraid April was going to uncover his secret through her podcast. Maybe he told Jeffrey he needed to get rid of her. But then Jeffrey made a deal. I think he promised he could keep her quiet so Porter wouldn’t kill her.” She sighed. “It’s all conjecture at this point, and I don’t know if we’ll ever learn the entire truth. I doubt either one of them wrote anything down. They were probably both too paranoid. Oh, and one other thing. Jeffrey lied when he said he didn’t hear Nathan’s voicemail telling him he’d visited us. He heard it. That’s why he started sending us those warnings. He had to lie, or we would have realized it had to be him.” She shook her head. “We should have picked up on that.”

Tony took a deep breath and let it out. “I need some sleep. This has been a very busy night.”