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“Can I help you?” An elderly woman peered around the door.
“Mornin
’, ma’am. I’m Special Agent Carter and this is Dave Kane, we are looking for John, is he home?”
“He’s asleep. He worked last night.” The woman frowned. “What is this about?”
Kane smiled to calm the old woman. “He posted a video clip of an explosion on social media. We’d like to know what time the explosion happened and if he saw anyone leaving the area.” He met her watery blue eyes. “A young girl went missing after the explosion and we need as much information as possible to find her.”
“Oh, I see.” She stared at Kane for a beat as if trying to make up her mind what to do. “He gets a mite angry when I wake him but I guess he’ll understand. You being the FBI and all.” She shut the door in their faces and through the side window Kane could see her shuffling away.
“Is that his mom?” Carter raised his eyebrows. “She looks way into her nineties.”
Kane shrugged. “Grandma maybe.” He flicked through the files Kalo had updated. “He’s not married and lives with his grandma.”
Raised voices and footsteps came from inside and the door flew open. A tall rugged man, his dark hair tussled and eyes bleary from sleep, glared at them. “What do you want?” He took a holster carrying a pistol from a hook by the door and strapped it on. “I know my rights. You can’t just walk into a man’s yard and demand to see him.”
“The FBI has many rights and one of them is walking onto an unposted property to speak to the occupier.” Carter held up his cred pack. “Are you impeding an investigation, Mr. Cleaves?”
“I guess not.” Cleaves’ eyes flashed with simmering anger.
Kane was keeping one eye on the man’s hands. He straightened. “Remove your weapon, sir. We wouldn’t like any misunderstandings, now would we?”
“Give up my weapon?” Cleaves shook his head. “No way.” His fingers twitched.
Kane drew fast and aimed at Cleaves. “You see how easily things get out of hand? Now remove the weapon from the holster and hand it to me grip first.”
When the man complied, Kane smiled and holstered his weapon. “See that wasn’t so bad, was it?” He removed the clip and pocketed the weapon.
“Ask them to come inside.” The old woman was standing in the hallway. “You’ll have the neighbors’ tongues wagging again with all this arguing.”
“They have dogs with them, Gran.” Cleaves looked belligerently at Kane. “They can stay outside.”
“No, they’re coming in too.” Carter moved his toothpick over his lips. “They are FBI, same as us. Where we go, they go. Don’t worry they won’t mess on your floor.” He pushed past the man and followed the old lady into the family room.
Kane followed, keeping the man between them but when Zorro stopped and sat down at the door to what resembled a broom closet, he hung back. The Doberman had given a positive sign for explosives. He waited for everyone to move inside the room and then pulled the plastic evidence bag from his pocket and waved the contents under Duke’s nose. He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Seek.”
Duke would alert him if he found anything. Kane walked into the room and stood with his back to the fireplace. The house had a strange odor, like boiled soup bones and lavender. As Cleaves sat down beside his grandmother, he waved Carter into an overstuffed chair. The fact both dogs had suddenly gone missing hadn’t been noticed by Cleaves. When Carter pulled out his notepad, it was obvious he’d decided to take the lead in the questioning. Kane had some questions of his own. He’d noticed a pair of muddy boots outside the front door, which seemed unusual when the gardens were pristine, but he recalled seeing recently turned soil in a garden bed adjacent to the backdoor of the Woods’ house. He’d made a note of it in the case file but as the firefighters had washed away any evidence of footprints, until now it hadn’t been relevant.
“We noticed your video of the recent explosion out at Aspen Grove last Tuesday. You called it in and we need to know all the details you can remember.” Carter looked at Cleaves expectantly. “First oblige me with a timeline. Where were you coming from at nine-forty at night?”
“From home.” Cleaves frowned. “I was heading to work in Black Rock Falls when the explosion happened slap bang in front of me. I called 911 and then called my boss and explained why I’d be late, helping the sheriff and all. They told me to take the night off, so after waiting for the sheriff and his boys to arrive, I came home and uploaded the video to my page. I called the local news channel but they didn’t want my footage, they’d already taken another from some woman.” He snorted. “I missed out on some fast cash.”
“In the footage we noticed an older model blue Ford sedan.” Carter looked at him. “Did you notice where it came from or where it went?”
“That wasn’t a blue Ford, it was gray and belongs to Simon Dexter. He lives here in town.” Cleaves stared into space. “Yeah, he went by and then stopped to watch the fire. He walked down to speak to me.”
“How was he acting? Ah… just a second.” Carter glanced at Kane. “Is Dexter on our list of witnesses?”
Kane recalled Dexter was also a firebug. He nodded. “Yeah, and he’s on Kalo’s list as well.”
“How was he acting?” Cleaves frowned. “Excited, I guess. He couldn’t stand still and once he’d given his name to the sheriff, he headed out toward Black Rock Falls.” He thought for a beat. “He asked me for a copy of the footage. I emailed him one when I’d gotten home.”
“Did you see anyone else in his vehicle?” Carter made a few notes.
Kane watched the man’s eyes flick from side to side and his posture stiffened. What could he be hiding? He caught sight of Duke peering through the door and patted his leg. No sign of the girl in the house but Zorro hadn’t moved from his position outside the closet door.
“I didn’t see anyone in the vehicle. He went by so fast.” Cleaves looked at Duke and then up at Kane. “Where’s the other one?”
