Firebreak: A Mystery

by Tricia Fields

  Josie raised her eyebrows in recognition. “Good! We can check the fire victim’s teeth for identification.”

  “Better than good. Remember I said Cowan checked out the victim’s teeth to get a basic estimate on his age?”

  “We may have just identified our victim,” she said.

  Otto rolled his chair around to face his desk and called Cowan. After a brief conversation he hung up and turned back to Josie with a smile. “Get this. I asked him if there was anything unusual he noticed when he examined the victim’s teeth. Cowan said, ‘Somebody butchered the guy’s mouth. He’s got five crowns.’”

  “Excellent. Will you follow up with Susan to get contact information for Ferris’s family? And can you get started on a full search warrant for his house and a subpoena for his medical records?”

  “We could confirm his identity by tomorrow with dental records,” he said.

  Josie pointed to the laptop sitting on the table. “Okay. Walk through this with me. Let’s suppose Ferris is HIV positive. He’s staying the night at the Nixes’ house. Maybe one of them sees his medication. Brenda hates him. She’s searching through his bag for something to convince Billy that Ferris is bad news. Instead, she finds drugs she’s never heard of. She goes on the Internet and discovers Ferris is being treated for HIV and reads up on it. She starts thinking about the band’s big recording contract and decides this kid is trouble. He’s terrible for the band’s image.”

  “Let’s go back to the idea that Billy and Ferris are having an affair. We’ve heard from several sources that Ferris is infatuated with Billy. Maybe Billy was infatuated too. Maybe Brenda began to suspect that Billy and Ferris had something going on. She wanted Ferris out of the equation before he ruined their marriage.”

  Otto said, “There’s a fire raging through West Texas and she thinks, This is my chance. She convinces Billy to go get his guitar at the Hell-Bent to set their alibi. They go back to the house where they’ve told Ferris to wait. Maybe they told him to wait there and they’d come back and pick him up after they ran their errands.”

  Josie took the story back up. “Brenda convinces Billy that Ferris has to die before he ruins their marriage and Billy’s plan for becoming a star. They get into the house and Brenda uses the stun gun on him. He drops to the floor and Billy kills him. Strangles him? He’s big enough to choke a man out. Then they lay him on the couch, start the fire, and take off for Austin. Let him burn to death to make it look accidental.”

  “That works. There’s motive, means, and opportunity,” he said, ticking each word off on his fingers. “I’m not sure how plausible it is, but it works.”

  “We need the dental records. We need to know for sure how he was killed. And we need to know how the fire was started.” Josie sat down at her desk. “I’d sure like to talk to the Nixes. Think there’s any chance we could get them in here again?”

  Otto looked doubtful. “Unless you’re ready to file charges, I can’t imagine Turner would allow it.”

  “I think our best bet is through Billy.” She pulled her cell phone out of her shirt pocket and found Billy’s number. She dialed and received no answer. She tried Brenda, who answered on the first ring.

  “Brenda, this is Chief Gray.”

  “Yes?”

  “We have some troubling news, Brenda. We’d like for you and Billy to come in and talk with us.”

  “I have to…” Her voice faded off and she paused for a moment. “I have to call our attorney. She said we need to take all this through her now.”

  “I understand. That’s typical with the attorneys. I want you to let her know we believe we have the identity of the person who was killed in your home. We’d like to talk with you about it.”

  “Who was it?”

  “I need to talk about that in person. I can tell you that it’s someone you know. I’d like to give you an opportunity to explain things to us before we look at filing any charges.”

  “File charges? Against Billy and me?”

  Josie knew she had to draw her in carefully and repeated her statement. “I’d like to give you the opportunity to come in to the department of your own volition to talk with us. I’ll be honest, Brenda. I don’t believe you and Billy committed murder. But right now every bit of evidence we have points your way. Come in and help us make sense of this. If someone is setting you up, then help us figure out who and why.”

  She hesitated for several seconds. “We’ll be there at three.” And she hung up the phone.

  Josie grinned. “We got ’em.”

  * * *

  Josie and Otto walked to the Hot Tamale, the local diner and their favorite lunch spot, to eat and plan their strategy. Lucy Ramone, owner, stood on a ladder outside the restaurant, retouching the sign that hung outside the diner: THE HOT TAMALE: QUICK SERVICE, AUTHENTIC RECIPES, AND THE MOST ACCURATE GOSSIP IN TEXAS.

  “How’s my favorite police officers?” She spoke with a paintbrush clenched between her teeth while she cleaned a smudge off the edge of a letter with a towel.

  “We’re better now that food is on the horizon,” Otto said.

  She took the paintbrush from between her teeth and climbed down. “One minute!” She opened the diner door and yelled, “Nina! For Otto, fresh bologna just came in this morning. Add some kraut and make him up a master sandwich. Give Josie a cold tamale with extra hot sauce.”

  Otto patted her on the back and called her a saint. She laughed and went back to her task.

  Fortunately, they’d missed the lunch crowd and sat down at the front of the restaurant to plan their afternoon. It was decided that Josie would question Billy, and Otto would take Brenda. They had just begun to generate their list of questions when Josie’s cell phone rang.

  “Josie Gray.”

  “It’s Lou. You better get back here. Now.”

  * * *

  Josie and Otto ran back to the department and entered to find Brenda Nix standing inside, her face in torment. It was 2:10 p.m., almost an hour before she and Billy were supposed to arrive for their interview, yet here she was without her husband. Her attorney wasn’t with her either.

  “What can we do for you?” Josie asked.

  “I can’t find Billy.” Her face puckered up as if she might cry. Her eyes were already red and swollen.

  Josie pointed toward the stairs at the back of the department. “Let’s go upstairs and sit down. We’ll talk this through. Would that be okay?”

  Brenda nodded and put her hand over her mouth to stifle a sob.

  Once they were upstairs and seated around the conference table, Brenda started talking with no mention of her attorney and no prompting from Josie.

  “Billy left the motel room last night at around midnight. I heard him get up and get dressed. I figured he was going out to get a drink. He can’t sleep when we’re away from home. He’ll get up and find a bar to have a drink or two and then come back to bed.”

  Josie interrupted her. She turned on the digital recorder and asked Brenda if she wanted to call her attorney before speaking with them.

  “I don’t need an attorney right now. I just need Billy.”

  “Did he tell you he was leaving?” Josie asked.

  “No. He left me a note though.” She passed the note across the desk and Josie read it.

  “Is that typical?”

  She tilted her head and shrugged. “I guess. Sometimes he’ll sneak out without waking me. Especially if there’s a bar at the hotel. Maybe since there was no bar to go to he thought he should leave a note. I don’t know.”

  Josie saw her face starting to crumple and wanted her to keep it together. She changed course. “Has he ever stayed out all night?”

  Brenda’s eyes grew wide in what appeared to be an attempt to look sincere. “Never. He has never been gone more than a couple of hours. This is just not like him.”

  “Is your vehicle missing?”

  “No. It’s parked down the street in front of the motel.”

  “Could he be with a
friend? Maybe he called a friend last night and they came and got him?”

  Brenda teared up again. “Hank called me this morning. From the Hell-Bent?”

  “Sure.”

  “He said Billy called him last night at about two in the morning. He said Billy was drunk and talking stupid. Hank told him to go back to the room and sleep it off. Billy said he would and hung up. Hank called me this morning to check on him. I was still asleep. That’s when I realized Billy wasn’t in bed.”

  “What time was that?”

  “Nine.”

  Otto spoke up, his expression skeptical. “You slept until nine without realizing Billy wasn’t in bed with you? You hadn’t gotten up to go to the bathroom or anything earlier and realized he was missing?”

  Tears now fell from her face and Josie pushed a box of tissues toward her.

  “When Billy left I got up and took two sleeping pills. I couldn’t sleep. This has all been so stressful on both of us. I was sound asleep when Hank called.”

  “Have you called your other friends, the band members, to see if he called them last night?” Josie asked.

  “I’ve called everyone I can think of. Billy called Slim Jim last night too. He had the same conversation as Hank had with Billy.”

  “What time was this?”

  “Slim said he called at about two. Slim told him to quit drinking and get to bed. He offered to come in to town and Billy told him no, that he was going to bed. No one else has heard from him.”

  “Have you searched anywhere?”

  “No. I told Manny before I left and he was going to check all the rooms to make sure Billy didn’t enter the wrong one last night.” Brenda glanced sideways at Josie, as if ashamed that it could actually be an option.

  “Mickey’s Bar and Grill is the only place in town open after midnight. Did you try there?”

  “I called Mickey this morning. He worked last night and said Billy never came in.”

  Josie was running out of options. She looked at Otto. He knew where she was headed. He nodded once in agreement for her to proceed.

  “Brenda, I need to tell you why we wanted you and Billy to come to the department today. It may have something to do with Billy not coming home. Okay?”

  She nodded, her face expectant.

  “Do you know a man named Ferris Sinclair?”

  She closed her eyes and sighed heavily as if even the name was a burden. “Yes. I know him.”

  “We have good reason to believe he is the man who died in your house. Who was burned on your couch.”

  Her mouth fell open and then she shut it suddenly, apparently stunned by the news. “Why on earth would someone kill Ferris in our home?”

  “We’re wondering the same thing. We’ve heard that you don’t like Ferris. In fact, we heard that you hate him,” Josie said.

  “Well, I won’t pretend that I like him. You’re sure that it’s Ferris?” she said.

  Josie nodded. “We believe so, but we’re waiting for a positive identification.”

  Brenda shuddered.

  “What kind of a relationship do you have with Ferris?” Otto asked.

  “Relationship? That’s a bit too strong. He’s a fame seeker. He sees Billy as someone who’s going to make it big in Nashville, and he wants to ride his coattails.”

  “So you don’t like him?” Otto asked.

  Brenda stared across the table at Otto for a moment before speaking. “I always imagined him as one of those guys who marries some older woman and takes all of her money before leaving her or killing her off for insurance. That’s the kind of person I think he is. So no, I don’t like him. Billy doesn’t have money for Ferris to take, but I believe he’s after something. He’s after his fame.”

  “I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to think about it before getting angry and responding,” Josie said. “This is a terrible thing that’s happened to you. I’m not here to point fingers or accuse you or Billy of anything. I’m here to solve a murder.”

  She nodded once.

  “Could Billy have gotten frightened and left town? Maybe he figured out the body was Ferris and panicked for some reason and left.”

  To her credit, Brenda didn’t answer immediately. She was quiet, her mouth pulled in a grim flat line. She finally said, “Billy getting frightened and leaving would not completely surprise me. He is not a strong person. But when he left the motel room last night I watched him stand outside the window and smoke a cigarette before walking off. And the note he left me wasn’t written by someone who was panicked.” She leaned across the table and pointed to his signature on the note, “Love you—Billy.” “That’s not Billy in panic mode. I’ve seen that side of him. That wasn’t him last night.”

  Josie nodded and looked at Otto. “Okay. Let’s get some officers to scout out downtown. Without a car he couldn’t have walked too far unless someone picked him up. I’d like for you to go back to the motel room and wait there for further instruction. You call my cell the minute you hear from him.”

  SIXTEEN

  The search team that Josie assembled met at the courthouse at 4:00 p.m. and included Otto, Marta, and two sheriff’s deputies, Dave Phillips and Juan Jiménez. Dave and Juan both wore brown-and-beige sheriff’s uniforms with silver stars pinned over their breast pockets. Their heavy belts were weighted down with a gun, extra ammo clips, a nightstick, a flashlight, and assorted handcuff gear. Dave was in his midtwenties with an easy smile and the trim build of a lifetime athlete. Juan was a decade older, a foot shorter, and built like a linebacker with a scowl to go with it. The rough exterior paired well with a profane sense of humor that occasionally got him in trouble with the sheriff.

  “What’s the word, boss lady?” Juan asked.

  “A missing person. But it’s a little more complicated than that.”

  “Ah.” He rubbed his hands together and gave her a grin. “Fill us in.”

  Otto pointed to the live oak tree on the courthouse lawn. “Let’s get out of the sun here first.”

  The five officers moved into the shade and Josie filled them in on the homicide and the probable identity of the victim.

  “You guys know anything about Ferris?” Josie looked at Juan and Dave.

  Juan smirked. “Ferris is a whore dog. Man, woman, or beast.”

  “Come on, surely he’s not that bad.”

  Dave laughed. “Yeah. He’s that bad.”

  “How do you know?” she asked.

  “’Cause I’ve seen him at Mickey’s. If nothing’s going on at the Hell-Bent he’ll go down to Mickey’s to find somebody to buy him drinks. If it’s a lucky night he follows somebody home.” Dave made a face as if he were gagging. “Let’s just say he’s not too discerning.”

  “You ever hear anything about Billy hooking up with Ferris?” Josie asked.

  Dave made a face like he thought she was crazy. “What? As in Billy and Ferris together?”

  “Hey, if I had to go home to that sourpuss wife every night I might look for another option too,” Juan said.

  “I don’t know,” Dave said. “I can’t see it.”

  “Hey, I’ve known Billy for a lot of years,” Juan said, “and he’s not exactly Mr. Motivation. You know what I mean? If he didn’t have his wife barking at his backside he’d still be pulling grunt work at the sanitation department. That’s what Billy was doing when Brenda convinced him he could be a megastar. But she’s a drill sergeant. She cuts that guy no slack. Maybe he liked Ferris saying nice things to him on the side.” He raised his eyebrows as if to say, You never know about people.

  Josie let the innuendo slide. “Is he known for taking off when things get rough?” she asked.

  The two officers glanced at each other and shrugged.

  “Brenda said Billy took off in the middle of the night to go get a drink and never came home. The car’s still parked in front of the motel. None of their friends or bar owners have seen him. He called two friends last night while he was out drinking somewhere. Hank and
Slim Jim. That was at about two this morning. Both guys told him to go back to the motel and he told them he would. But he’s not shown up yet. I wouldn’t think much of it, except we found a dead person in Billy’s house.”

  “Still no ID on the body?” Juan asked.

  “Not yet,” she said.

  “So we’re doing a walking sweep of downtown?” Dave asked.

  “We’ll each take an area within a few blocks of his motel. Think like a drunk.”

  Juan socked Dave in the arm. “Ain’t no problem, is it, buddy?”

  The officers split up, focusing on dumpsters, alleyways, and corners where Billy might be sleeping off a bad drunk. Josie walked north of the courthouse, behind the police department and into the nearby neighborhood. Drunks had wandered into this neighborhood before, searching aimlessly for their homes, wanting nothing more than a bed, and waking the next morning having no idea how they ended up passed out beside some kid’s swing set.

  Josie walked down the alley that ran behind a row of homes, searching beside and behind garages and toolsheds. With the sun as hot as it was, she couldn’t imagine Billy would still be passed out. She imagined he had most likely called another friend last night, too ashamed to call Brenda, and was sleeping off a massive hangover in someone’s spare bedroom. Billy’s life was spiraling out of control and Josie predicted that Ferris Sinclair was probably linked to whatever mess Billy was currently in.

  Marta, who had taken the street south of Manny’s Motel, called Josie.

  “It’s not good.”

  “Did you find him?”

  “I think so. I’m not sure yet.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m in the little park area behind the trauma center.” Josie could hear scratching sounds in the background and then Marta’s intake of breath. “I found him, Josie. It’s him. Oh, dear God. I think he’s dead.”

  “I’ll be right there. I’ll call the trauma center and get a doctor out there.”

  Josie and the other officers reached the trauma center within a few minutes. A nurse and the ER doctor, Mike Begley, were bent over Billy, who lay on his side underneath a bench covered by an arbor and shaded by trees.