Page 60 of Code Violation

A buzzer sounded and Forrest stepped back outside with dinner plates in his hand. Nero was so hungry that his stomach was practically inside out.

“When I learned about those remains, and the fact that they were found only a short distance from where Donny was snatched, I thought Cooper Springs could be a possibility to make headway on his disappearance. Now that I’ve been here for a while, I don’t really think it is. Donny’s abductor probably hopped on I-5 and drove north or south, which is what police thought at the time. Anyway, I discovered that the Cooper Springs newspaper wasn’t saved onto microfiche. After that, I wrongly assumed there might be hard copies at the library. But no, the documents I wanted to look at were stored in the basement of Cooper Mansion. Unfortunately, I did not get access to the archive before the mansion burned,” Nero concluded. “It’s my hope that some handy-dandy archivist will want to salvage what’s left, if there’s anything, but one never knows. Oh, um, right. When I mentioned that to Rufus the night of the fire, he told me he had old copies of the Sentinel and I could come over and go through them.”

Forrest returned with the steaks, setting the plates down on the kitchen counter. They smelled incredible, and Nero’s mouth started to water.

“It seems too much of a coincidence that the mansion had a fire after you asked for access.”

“Yeah, it does to me too.” Nero shrugged. It’s not like it couldn’t have been chance.

“Our dinner’s ready,” Forrest grumbled. “Do I need to cut these in half?”

He so obviously wanted his sister and the chief to leave that it was almost funny.

“Dante’s keeping dinner warm for me,” Dear told them.

“Lani?” Forrest said.

“I want to say yes, just to irritate you that much more. But as luck would have it, I called in an order for a calzone at PizzaMart, so you don’t have to feed me.”

“I appreciate you both talking with us. We’ll head out in a second,” said Dear. “It’s important to get what you’ve told us straight in my head. It feels like a lot is happening. Too much. How likely is it, Nero, that you’ve upset someone who, quite literally, thought they’d gotten away with murder? How would Rufus fit into that scenario? I’d like to know why he was so concerned yesterday. I know he’s a national treasure, but what if he had something to do with the disappearances?”

Nero had been wondering who would bring up the possibility that Rufus Ferguson might be a perpetrator and not just a bystander.

“I don’t see him as a killer, sir. Chief,” offered Lani. “I know I have a personal connection but… Rufus Ferguson is not our man.”

“People can hide their true selves,” Dear countered, but he clearly didn’t believe Rufus had anything to do with the dead girls, either. “They do it all the time.”

“He was genuinely upset yesterday. He said it changed everything, that he’d been wrong for all these years about what had happened to the girls. He’s not our killer,” Forrest said defiantly while plating the steaks and roasted vegetables.

If Lani and Chief Dear didn’t leave soon, Nero was going to grab one of the plates and start eating in front of them. Only his mother’s voice in his head kept him from being rude.

“Almost as soon as the announcement about the identity of the remains is made, a member of our community seems to have disappeared. I say seems because it hasn’t been long enough to declare Rufus missing, and he is an adult of sound mind and body. But the fact that no one has seen or talked to him since right after the town meeting bothers me. If we don’t hear something from him by morning, I’ll see about sending out a Silver Alert. It could be that he had some kind of event, cardiac or a stroke, and is confused.”

Dear’s phone chimed, interrupting him.

“Probably Dante wondering where I am.” He glanced at it. “Nope, let me take this.”

Lifting his phone to his ear, the Chief stepped out of the kitchen. Lani stood up from her seat and Forrest moved to set their loaded plates down on the table. When Dear returned, his expression was grim. More grim? Grimmer. By now, Nero was so hungry that he couldn’t put real words together.

“That was the county fire investigator. They found evidence that gasoline was used as an accelerant for the mansion fire.”

“Dammit,” Forrest muttered.

“We suspected arson right away, but it took them a little while to confirm it. The investigator wanted to be one hundred percent certain before we made an announcement.”

Dear moved away again, heading to the front door.

“We’ll be in touch,” Lani told them, following Chief Dear. “Maybe try not to get yourselves killed between now and then. I really don’t like that Rufus seems to be missing, so call if you hear anything from Magnus or Wanda.” She pointed a finger Nero’s direction. “You need to know that Forrest is a natural danger magnet. Both of you stay here. Stay out of trouble and call us if you think of anything else or if something else out of the ordinary happens.”

“I get the message. I will call,” Forrest grumbled.

The front door closed behind the officers and the house was quiet again.

“I love that she thinks she can boss me around.”

“Seems like she does a pretty good job of it,” Nero said before popping a crisp Brussels sprout into his mouth.

TWENTY-ONE

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