Page 71 of Puzzle for Two

“That could all be true.”

“It could. I did learn something interesting though. She and Ransford were pals before she ever met Alton.”

“Were they? Ransford’s quite a bit younger than her, I know.”

“He worked for her at Haunted Hollow.”

“The theme park? Doing what?”

“He worked there for a couple of summers. It turns out Zora was in charge of the crew responsible for maintaining and repairing the rides.”

“You mean she was an administrator or a mechanic? I can’t picture her in overalls, wrench in hand—”

“Then you’d be wrong,” Flint cut in. “Zora’s very proud of the grease beneath her nails, metamorphically speaking.”

“Metaphoricallyspeaking?”

“Whatever,” Flint said shortly. “In my opinion, she went out of her way to point out that she’s more than capable of tampering with a car engine or brakes.”

“Why would she do that?”

Flint shrugged.

“Could she be trying to draw attention from Ransford?”

“Like I said, she was sedated. I don’t think there was a lot of calculation going on there.”

Zach thought that over.

“How does someone go from working in a theme park to being an agoraphobe?”

“Working in a theme park would turn anyone into a recluse.” Flint was probably kidding, but his expression remained hard to read. Some instinct made Zach ask, “Was that Detective Schneider on the phone?”

“Yep.”

“Did he—”

Flint cut him off with a crisp, “He’s fine.”

Not what Zach had been wondering, but okay. Did Schneider’s call explain things or no? Because something was definitely up with Flint. Presumably, he regretted what had happened with Zach. Which hurt. A bit. Maybe more than a bit. But Zach was not going to complicate either of their lives by being difficult.

He said, “Does the fact that Ransford was brought in for questioning mean I’m off the hook?”

Flint gave a funny laugh. “Wellll…”

“Wellllwhat? I explained everything!”

“I know. But they have to verify. They can’t take your word. You know how it works.”

Zach nodded curtly. He knew how a lot of things worked.

Flint considered him for a moment, said, “I don’t think you’re the sole focus of the sheriff’s office investigation, but you won’t actually be cleared until they get the mobile forensics. As far as Ransford’s concerned, I guess they’ll wait and see what EDS comes up with.”

Zach considered the implications of that.

“I don’t understand how the police and the sheriffs are both still claiming jurisdiction.”

“I do. This is the biggest case to come along in two decades. In fact, the sheriffs may have a stronger claim. The Kaschak estate is outside city limits and the accident took place on a county road. But the DA favors the case going to EDS PD for a lot of reasons, including the fact Beacher initiated the investigation by coming to you.”

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