“That man must have holes in his condoms,” Linx said, before a cold sliver of fear slithered down her spine. “What do you think he said toher?”
Todd’s eyes darkened. “Maybe he accused her of lying. Maybe he said he wasn’t taking responsibility. In any case, it messed up Salem’s concentration and she ended up drifting into thefire.”
Linx crumpled a napkin in her fist. “That’s horrible. PoorSalem.”
“Right. He has to be stopped,” Todd said. “I don’t care if he knocks up all the women in California, he’s not touching my town and my sisters. You call me anytime if he gives you any trouble. Youhear?”
“He’s not giving me trouble,” Linx said. “Besides, he’ll roll his stone out of here soon. The less attention we pay him, the sooner he’ll begone.”
“I’m not so sure.” Todd scratched his five o’clock stubble. “I did some patrolling and he’s cleared the mess from his plot of land. Ordered buildingmaterials.”
“He’s rebuilding?” Linx felt a mixture of hope and despair war inside ofher.
“Maybe he’s flipping it to sell, you know, increase the value and sell it to one of those San Francisco millionaires.” Todd shrugged as he stuffed another filet in his wide mouth. “Yesterday he called Scott and had him inspect the burnt foundation. Claims the fire started on the backporch.”
“Back porch? How? It usually starts on the roof—you know where a burning ember lands.” Linx’s mouth went dry. “Are you saying it wasarson?”
“Scott thinks it was. It’s been years and many rainstorms have gone by, but he remembers inspecting the ruins and thinking it could have beenarson.”
“Why didn’t you do anything aboutit?”
“Grady was out of the country, and no one filed a complaint.” Todd shrugged. “We had a rash of fires back then, so it kind of got lost in theshuffle.”
“It’s happening again.” Joey looked up from her phone, her face ashen. “Scott just texted. The Hart cabin up near the creek is onfire.”
