As they entered the living room, Eve held her hand. Gatsby – suspicious or curious as usual – trailed after them. ‘Miss March, Miss Daley,’ Detective Pike said as he stood.
‘Hello. Please sit. And we agreed that you’d call me Kelsey.’
Pike smiled. ‘Yes, we did.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I’m with Louisville Metro Homicide Division, as you know. I’m in charge of your sister’s case. The detective in charge of the murder case is required to look into an incident like this one that has resulted in another death. I know you were questioned at length this morning, but I’m afraid I need to ask just a few more things.’
‘I understand. Where’s my father?’
‘He’s worn out, Kelsey. We were talking and he got pale and a bit dizzy. I thought we should call a doctor but he wouldn’t hear of it. Your housekeeper—’
‘Miss Norris.’
‘Yes, Miss Norris insisted he go into the kitchen and have coffee and something to eat. But he said if you need him—’
‘I don’t,’ Kelsey lied. She didn’t want to answer a barrage of questions without the support of her father’s loving strength, but it seemed as if his strength was waning. ‘I just wondered why Dad’s not here. I’ll be as helpful as possible.’ Eve, still holding Kelsey’s hand, gave it a squeeze as they headed to the couch. They sat down, the brilliance of the beautiful sunny day shining behind them. Gatsby jumped up, settled on Kelsey’s lap, and stared at Pike. ‘What do you want to know?’ she asked bluntly.
‘Your father was the first to see the fire?’
‘Yes. At least he saw it before I did. When I realized something was wrong, I looked out my window and—’
‘What time was that?’
‘I didn’t look at my bedside clock, but I heard the grandfather clock downstairs chiming two o’clock.’
Pike made notes. ‘So, you looked out your window. Did you see anyone around the barn? Anyone running from it?’
‘No. I saw only the fire.’
‘What did you do then?’
‘I went to my father’s room. He wasn’t there. And my grandfather’s room was empty, too. I ran outside. The barn was half gone but the horses were in the pasture. They’re always shut in their stalls. They couldn’t possibly have kicked the stall doors open.’
‘The doors are kept locked?’
‘Each stall door has bars at the top for ventilation. The lower half is pine, and the entire door is latched shut from the outside. We’ve never had a horse get a stall door open.’
‘I see.’ Pike made more notes. ‘Go on.’
‘When my father saw me, he told me to go back in the house, but I said Grandfather was missing. Then we heard … screaming. Human screaming. And someone ran out of the barn … someone on fire.’
Pike nodded slowly. ‘Does your grandfather go to the barn often?’
‘Yes. He loves the horses. He doesn’t go in the middle of the night, though.’
‘But I understand that he has been wandering at night.’
‘Yes, but only recently … Since he returned after Lori’s murder, he hasn’t been himself.’
‘That’s certainly understandable,’ Pike said sympathetically. He looked at Kelsey. ‘Investigators have agreed that the fire accelerant was kerosene. Your father says that kerosene for heaters and lamps is kept in a small metal building near the barn, along with equipment such as lawn mowers and the like.’
Kelsey nodded.
‘Can you think of any reason why your grandfather would have gotten some kerosene from that building and taken it to the barn? Maybe he wanted to use some of those lamps?’
‘The barn has electric lighting and heating. The kerosene lamps are only kept in case we lose electric power. We didn’t last night. There wouldn’t have been any reason for him to use kerosene.’
‘Could he have forgotten that you have electric lighting in the barn?’
‘I can’t know what he did and didn’t remember. But the kerosene is in a locked building. My grandfather didn’t have a key.’
‘That you know of.’
‘Well … no.’
‘But there is a key around here somewhere.’
‘Yes, but even I don’t know where it is.’
‘Maybe your grandfather found it.’
‘I doubt it.’
At last Pike’s manner became less formal, his voice warmer. ‘I’m asking these questions again because this morning fire investigators thought perhaps Mr Vaden had accidentally set fire to the barn.’
‘And they don’t think so now?’
‘No.’
‘No?’ Truman walked into the living room looking gray and wounded. To Kelsey, it seemed as if the fire had burned to his soul, leaving it singed and damaged. Still, he stood tall, sending a faint smile to Kelsey, Eve and Detective Pike. ‘Do you have any information about the fire?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Pike answered as Truman sat down on a chair across from him. ‘I’ve spoken with the Fire Chief, and he’ll be talking to you later with much more precise details than mine. Kerosene was the accelerant and you keep kerosene here. However, the fire didn’t start in one place, as it would have if Mr Vaden had been trying to light a lamp and spilled it. The fire started in five places. Which means this was arson.’
Helen appeared with a tray holding four glasses of iced tea. Dear Helen, Kelsey thought. In the summer, iced tea was Helen’s panacea for everything, even death. She served everyone and was leaving the room when Truman said, ‘Helen, please don’t leave. You’re part of this family. Sit down and listen to Detective Pike. You deserve to hear the details of the fire first hand.’
Helen, with her long, thick gray-streaked brown hair loose around her ashen face, looked flustered. Kelsey thought she was going to dash from the room anyway, but she never said ‘no’ to Truman. She hurried to the couch and sat down beside Kelsey, holding the serving tray on her lap.
‘Then the Fire Chief doesn’t think my father-in-law accidentally set the barn on fire?’ Truman asked anxiously.
‘He certainly doesn’t,’ Pike said, ‘even though he knows Mr Vaden was wandering at night.’
‘Helen told me and I told Detective Pike,’ Truman said to Kelsey. ‘I was afraid we would have press people creeping in at night and I hired extra security, but I didn’t want them to mistake Pieter for an outsider. I also thought it was a good idea to tell Pike.’ He shook his head. ‘I let them go yesterday. If they’d just been here last night …’
‘We can drive ourselves crazy with “if’s,”’ Pike said with feeling. ‘It doesn’t do you or anyone else any good, sir. We simply must accept what life dishes out to us, no matter how much it hurts.’
You’re speaking from experience, Kelsey thought. Recent experience. She remembered him talking about how his wife had loved flowers and had a gift for growing them. Had his wife died recently? Is that why he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, from Maine?
‘When I arrived, Mr March had already told the firefighters about Mr Vaden’s night wandering,’ Pike went on. ‘They might have thought he accidentally set fire to the barn – except that wouldn’t explain why he should have kerosene and why he should pour some in the tack room, the feed rooms, the foaling stall, and the hay and bedding storage area. All five spots are at the back of the barn. And kerosene burns slower than gasoline. It’s as if the arsonist wanted the horses to panic for as long as possible before the fire reached them.’
‘But it didn’t reach them,’ Truman said. ‘He set the horses free?’
‘The Fire Chief seems certain that the arsonist didn’t let the horses out of the barn.’ Pike’s gaze swept over all of them. ‘It seems that Mr Vaden saved the horses. The firefighters found the remains of a watch at the door of a stall,’ Pike said. He looked at his notes. ‘A stainless-steel Citizen Eco-Drive Satellite Wave watch.’
‘I gave Pieter that watch for Christmas,’ Truman said. ‘He wore it all of the time, even when he slept.’
Pike made a note. ‘Th
e Fire Chief’s theory is that someone meant to burn the barn and the horses. We know Mr Vaden took walks at night, and the Fire Chief believes Mr Vaden was outside on one of his walks and saw that something was wrong at the barn. He went inside and managed to open the three stall doors to free the horses. He got his watch caught in a steel stall-door hook and it was wrenched off. Then …’ Pike hesitated. ‘The medical examiner hasn’t had time to do a thorough investigation, which would include a complete battery of tests, but he’s certain kerosene was on the remains of Mr Vaden’s clothes. We believe the arsonist threw kerosene over him.’
‘Oh my God! Someone deliberately set Grandfather, an old man, on fire?’ Kelsey cried in horror. ‘Who could do such a thing?’
‘Someone who didn’t want to be identified by your grandfather.’
Kelsey felt as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. Physical pain nearly doubled her over as she muttered, ‘Poor Grandfather. I can’t stand it … I just can’t stand it.’
She felt Eve’s arms close around her. ‘You can stand it. You can stand anything, Kelsey.’
‘I’ve delivered devastating news. I’m so, so sorry.’ Pike’s voice held deep regret and sympathy. ‘Mr Vaden was a fine man. An extraordinary man.’
‘Yes, he was,’ Truman said faintly. He swallowed hard, then said ‘He and my father were the finest men I’ve ever known.’
Helen grasped Kelsey’s hand and squeezed it. Then she said, ‘So there won’t be any terrible news stories saying Mr Vaden was an old man suffering from dementia who burned down the barn?’
Pike looked at Helen. ‘Not with information from the Fire Chief’s office, Miss Norris. The firefighters are absolutely certain Mr Vaden didn’t set the fire. The building where your kerosene is stored is locked, the lock is intact and, per Mr March’s instructions, the kerosene used here is kept in steel cans rather than plastic.’ Pike glanced at Truman, who nodded. ‘The firefighters tell me steel melts at 2,500 degrees. Which is why they found remains of your grandfather’s steel watch. If Mr Vaden had started the fire by accident, he would have dropped the container in the barn – but there are no remains of a steel kerosene can in the barn. Whoever brought the kerosene either used a plastic can which burned or took a plastic can or empty steel kerosene can away with him.’ He paused and looked at each of them. ‘So far, we have no idea who the arsonist is. It’s important that you try very hard to remember last night and anyone you saw, even if you thought that person was one of the security people Mr March hired.’
‘Or someone we know,’ Kelsey said emotionlessly. ‘Actually, we’re all suspects.’
Pike looked at her intently. ‘Technically, yes – my feelings aside. Until we find the arsonist, the Louisville Metro Homicide Division will consider everyone a suspect.’
‘I guess it’s to be expected,’ Kelsey muttered.
No one else had anything to say. Everyone drank their iced tea and Pike stood up. ‘I really must go. I’ll check in at the fire site to see if they’ve found anything new, then I’ll be heading back to Louisville.’
They all stood up as if to walk Pike to the door. Kelsey was conscious that no one knew what to do. The detective smiled uncomfortably at them then looked at Kelsey. ‘Miss March – I mean Kelsey – may I speak to you for a moment?’
Truman looked surprised and Eve kept her arm around Kelsey as if protecting her from more bad news. Kelsey managed to compose herself and said, ‘Fine. I’ll walk you outside.’
The afternoon air was mild and a soft breeze blew, ruffling Kelsey’s hair. In the bright sunlight, she suddenly realized she was still wearing the goofy rabbit slippers she’d bought when she was fifteen and had found this morning in the back of her closet. Today she didn’t care how she looked.
They’d walked away from the house and stopped beside a lush pink flowering dogwood. ‘I don’t know the extent of your sister’s involvement with Cole Harrington,’ he said bluntly. ‘However, he’s married to a rich woman – a woman who has the reputation of being extremely possessive. If Vernon Nott was hired to kill Lorelei, we can’t rule out Harrington’s wife Delphina as the person who paid Nott.’ He paused. ‘We also can’t rule out Harrington. If Lorelei was threatening a marriage he didn’t want to end, that could be a motive for murder.’
‘I know,’ Kelsey said gloomily. ‘I appreciate you not saying that in front of my father. He doesn’t know anything about Cole and Lori. He’d be heartbroken. Or, rather, more heartbroken than he is now if that’s possible.’ She frowned. ‘But if Cole wanted to distance himself from Lorelei, why did he come to her funeral? And then come to the reception afterward? He didn’t seem nervous. Just watchful. I felt like he was sizing up all of us. I don’t understand it. I also don’t understand why he didn’t know things I’m sure Lori would have told the man she loved.’
‘That’s because he wasn’t the man she loved. Kelsey, the man who passed himself off as Cole Harrington is really Declan Adair, a private investigator from New York.’
‘He wasn’t Cole Harrington? He’s a private eye?’ Kelsey repeated in shock.
‘Yes. I haven’t been able to find him – he’s done a good job of hiding in Louisville. I’ve checked him out, but so far I haven’t been able to discover much except that he’s extremely intelligent and very good at his job.’ Pike hesitated. ‘He’s respected in his field and has a reputation for being ethical.’
‘Oh? He’s so ethical he let us believe he was Cole Harrington?’
‘I think he let us believe that because he wanted a chance to talk to you. Anyway, Cole Harrington and his wife were supposed to attend the Kentucky Derby. Instead, they returned to New York City less than twenty-four hours after Lorelei’s murder and Adair arrived the next day.’
He took a step closer to her. ‘Kelsey, Declan Adair is Cole Harrington’s half-brother. I don’t know what scared Harrington enough to make him flee the city and send Adair here to worm his way into Lorelei’s home, but the possibilities alarm me. You need to be very careful, because not only was your sister murdered but your grandfather was killed in a fire set the day Declan Adair entered your life and your home.’
EIGHT
For the first time in her twenty-seven years, Kelsey missed the Kentucky Derby. Her proud, doting parents had taken her even when she was a baby. And she’d particularly looked forward to this one because Lorelei, Grandfather and Helen were planning to go with her and Truman.
But she hadn’t put on a beautiful hat, or experienced the heady atmosphere at Churchill Downs, or watched what was often described as ‘the most exciting two minutes in sports.’ Nor watched the winning horse being draped with a glorious garland of more than four hundred roses. Instead, she’d been at her grandfather’s funeral while the horses ran the Race for the Roses.
Before the service, her father had taken a tranquilizer that left him detached and foggy. She stood very straight and still beside him, feeling entirely alone.
Pieter’s casket, draped with white flowers, lay beside the monument labeled VADEN. Throughout the simple service, Kelsey couldn’t take her eyes off her grandmother’s name, INGRID, which had been carved into a new rose-granite headstone three years ago. When grief had threatened to overtake her, she’d comforted herself with the thought that tonight her grandfather would once again lie beside his adored wife.
I’ll concentrate on that, Kelsey had told herself, her eyes hurting with unshed tears, her chest so tight that breathing was uncomfortable. I must stop replaying the horrendous vision of Grandfather burning to death. I can never think about it again. Never.
Besides, she needed to think about something else – about the man named Declan Adair who’d come to Lorelei’s funeral and pretended to be Cole Harrington. He was a private detective. He was Cole Harrington’s half-brother. That explained why he didn’t seem to know about the horses, though he had known about the African shoot. How much had Cole told him about Lori? Had he met her? She remembered what Lorelei had said about knowing a great
private investigator in New York. Adair? Had he come to the funeral to find out if anyone suspected Cole or Delphina of being responsible for Lorelei’s murder? Or had Cole really loved Lorelei and simply dispatched Declan as a replacement for himself? But if he’d loved her, why not come himself? Kelsey had no answers – but, she thought with determination, she would get them. She would find out what Declan Adair’s purpose had been in attending Lori’s funeral, and she knew she could count on Pike’s help. Then she remembered his warning to be careful where Adair was concerned.
Kelsey returned to Louisville on Tuesday. MG Interiors was now open. Stuart and Eve had attended Pieter’s funeral on Sunday, then Kelsey insisted they return to the city and their normal lives. ‘If you don’t keep the store going, we’ll all be out of a job,’ she’d told them lightly, although she hadn’t spent a minute stressing about MG Interiors since Lori’s death. In light of losing both her sister and her grandfather in less than a week, whether or not her interior design store flourished or failed didn’t seem important anymore.
Kelsey turned into the alley beside MG Interiors and stopped in front of her metal one-car garage, then flicked the automatic door opener and watched the door rise. Her father always complained about her garage being separate from her apartment. He seemed certain someone would attack her as she walked the twenty feet from the garage to the steps leading up to her loft. But no one would dare attack her now, she thought with a trace of humor. Gatsby crouched resentfully in his carrier on the passenger’s seat. He, with his bad temper, was her protector.
‘We’re home, fellow,’ she said as she pulled into the garage. ‘You’ve been gone so long you probably don’t remember your real home. It isn’t nearly as grand as Dad’s house.’
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