Page 77 of Jon's Helter Skelter Cold Case

Stupid bastard. Sounded about right, though.

“Annnnnd,”Mom intoned with the sound of a drumroll somehow mixed in, “the house burned to the ground last night.”

We all just kind of stared at the phone for a second before people busted out with either exclamations or questions. I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. The house burned?! I wasn’t super attached to my childhood home, as it was the source of a lot of bad memories for me, but still…it’d been a perfectly nice house. I kind of felt bad for it.

“Was it on purpose, stupidity, or…?”

“Stupidity, I think. Official report said the dryer vent was too plugged. He’d set the laundry to go before stepping out to get dinner. By the time a neighbor called the fire in, there wasn’t much to save. If he’d been home, he’d likely have been able to stop it, but...” Mom cackled again. “It gets better. Because the house is a total loss, including everything inside, I get the full insurance check. The insurance company doesn’t care if the house is technically in his name only. I’m the one with the policy, I’ve had that policy in place for years, so they’re paying me. Jon. They’re writing me a check for six hundred thousand dollars.”

Excuse me a second, I had to pick myself up off the floor. “Oh. My. God.”

Mom cackled again. “Everything I lost out of my 401(k) I can replace, PLUS I can pay off my car in one shot. Ohhh, karma. I do love you, you sassy bitch.”

It didn’t make up for everything Rodger had done to Mom over the years, but I admit, the karma was beautiful. “Welp. Guess he’s going to have to find a new place to live.”

“It won’t be anywhere near Nashville,” Mom stated plainly. “Rodger never made enough to afford a house here. Frankly, if he’s careful, he might be able to find a room to rent somewhere. Or an RV. But even an apartment is out of the question.”

The full beauty of karma’s actions was becoming clearer now. Evil delight spread through me. I was, after all, my mother’s child.

“Mom. That’s beautiful.”

She laughed again. There would be no living with her after this, I could see it now.

Alan shifted out of his chair to come in closer. “Lauren. He’ll likely sue you for the insurance payout.”

“Oh, I’m sure. He’s already threatening to do so if I don’t hand it over.”

“Just to err on the side of caution, why don’t you contact Craig? If he can’t help you, he can at least help you get a good lawyer. The last one you had was a piece of shit.”

“I can’t argue there. The man didn’t get nearly anything I wanted in the divorce. That’s good advice, Alan. I’ll take it. All right, I’ll let everyone go. I just wanted to share my fun news.”

“And we thank you for it,” Donovan said, also grinning. “Any time Rodger gets a smack from the universe, we prefer having a ringside seat.”

“Me too!Okay, night, everyone.”

“Karma really is a bitch,” I observed as Donovan put the phone back in the case. “And I hope it visits Rodger more often.”

“Absolutely agreed—” Donovan cut himself off as the phone rang in his hand. “Well, we’re hopping tonight. This time it’s Sho. Hey, Sho, tell me something good.”

“I’ve got two updates for you.”

I went from gleeful to completely focused on Sho’s voice in a second flat. “Do tell.”

“I had a hunch and showed Chad’s picture to Dwayne. Dwayne recognized him and not in a good way. Said the guy was pushy about dating Tye, didn’t want to take a no, and Dwayne had to step in and shut the guy completely down. Chad didn’t take it well and kept signing up for classes Tylesia was in.”

“Motive,” Gonzalez purred, a happy man. “I do love motive, and rejected males are dangerous, dangerous creatures.”

Speaking as someone who dealt with insecure, rejected males, I knew very well how the type was. “Sounds like we definitely have our guy. What’s the second piece of news, Sho?”

“Got another hit via my web crawlers. I narrowed the search to the greater Atlanta area, and not ten minutes ago, some amateur ghostbusters were going through the Atlanta Prison Farm. It’s very, very abandoned and only birds and weeds live in it. Great hunting grounds for ghosts, I guess, as there was a group of four kids that went in. But they were quickly chased out by a guy claiming to be a groundskeeper. They’re calling bullshit and posting the whole story online. In this case, they’re right—it’s our guy.”

We all just looked at each other.

I personally didn’t quite know how to feel about this, but excitement raced to the fore and claimed first place. “Let’s go check this out.”

“I’m all for it.” Marc rolled off the bed smoothly, feet hitting at the same time on the carpet. “Not like I’m getting through. Sho, you sure?”

“He wasn’t good at hiding his face from the camera. Too mad. I got a full-on clear shot. I’ll shoot you guys the address. It is rather hidden behind a lot of trees, so if it gives you murdery vibes, you’re likely in the right place.”

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