“Brought a peace offering.” Marc held an energy drink out to Chase. “I remember you don’t care for coffee.”
“Thanks. But what’s this for?”
“For one of my sisters trying to win an Oscar for most dramatic performance last night. For me being a jerk and treating you unfairly for years when I didn’t have all the facts. Take your pick.” Marc sat on the edge of Bauer’s metal desk and folded his arms. “She hasn’t signed the papers yet, but she’s going to soon.”
Chase’s heart did a funny flip-flop at the news, which only irritated him. “I never meant to hurt her,” he said to Marc. “I just—”
“I know.” Marc stared off at the board for several seconds before he returned his gaze to Chase. “Look, I’m not here to tell you what to do about Laurel. You two have to figure that out on your own. You’re both adults. But I do have something you need to hear. About your cases.”
“What’s that?” He welcomed the change of subject, but didn’t dare get his hopes up. That’s what had gotten him into this mess in the first place.
“Stopped by to check on Arnie Powers this morning. You know, being neighborly and all since he got burned trying to put out that fire. Brought him a bottle of wine. No one in the Evans household drinks white zinfandel, by the way.” Marc crossed his legs at the ankles. “Arnie had some curious things to say about that garage fire.”
“Did he?” Chase couldn’t help it; his heart beater faster of its own accord. Could this be the break he desperately needed in these final hours? It felt too good to be true.Too easy.
“That kerosene heater of Henry’s was an older model. One of those that sounds like a Cessna engine when it’s running, according to Arnie. Says he can always tell when Henry’s running it, because he can hear it from his kitchen with the window closed.”
Chase thought he knew where Marc was headed with this, and tried not to let his disappointment show. “The burn marks were consistent with that heater being the origin of the fire.” He’d examined everything dozens of times the night of the fire, just to be certain. “You saw the burn patterns yourself.”
“Itdidcause the fire,” Marc agreed, pushing off the desk and approaching the whiteboard with interest. “But Henry didn’t use it, just like he said he didn’t. Arnie was home all evening. Claims he didn’t hear the heater fire up until well after eight. An hour after Henry showed him the spice rack he’d finished building.”
“If Henry didn’t use the heater, who did?”
“Arnie says he saw Crissy working in the garden shortly after it fired up, but she was nowhere to be found when he saw the black smoke above the garage. Need me to draw a dotted line with one of your markers?”
“Don’t suppose Arnie put any of this in an official statement?”
Marc shook his head. “He said Ryder asked him to come down to the station tomorrow. Guess the chief had to make a day trip to Anchorage for something.”
Chase cracked open the energy drink and took a long swig. He hoped Ryder was in Anchorage keeping his promise to get Chase that claim figure and not for some unrelated errand. He checked his phone for any missed calls or texts, but for once, there was nothing. Why Arnie couldn’t simply give his statement to Murph or any of the other officers only reminded him that his best friend thought he was overboard obsessed with this case.
“Thanks, Marc. This helps in more ways than you know.”
“Don’t thank me. Laurel strong-armed me into stopping by Arnie’s this morning. Fired off questions like she was that woman inMurder She Wrote. I think she’s in the wrong career field.” He headed for the door, stopping with his hand on the knob. “It’s not too late.” He left before Chase could ask him if he meant Laurel or the case.
Chapter Fourteen
Laurel
Laurel sat on the edge of her bed, wedding ring cupped in her hand, and stared at the empty window. Was it strange that she wished Ed were peering in at her now? Hadn’t that crazy moose been there for her best friends in their moments of need? “Where are you now, you big lug?”
Jenkins Law Office opened earlier that morning, but she hadn’t traveled any farther than the two blocks to Arnie Powers’ place and back. Turning down Marc’s offer for a white chocolate mocha afterward, she’d sent her brother on his way with the information she hoped would help Chase with his investigation. It was the least she could do for him after all the harm keeping secrets had caused. No one could threaten her report or her job for being a concerned neighbor.
All week, she’d been dead set on signing the papers to take care of atechnicality. But it was Chase’s haunting words from last night that stuck with her now.Sign the papers. One signature and they could go their separate ways. Selfishly, she didn’t want him to want that. Why hadn’t she figured that out sooner?
“Stupid secrets,” she muttered.
Unclasping her fist, she studied the gorgeous ring, unable to stop the flood of emotion from the memories it conjured. Chase wasn’t known for big romantic gestures, but he’d certainly pulled one off that day. Popping the question at a cliffside point a few miles from town with a dramatic view of the sunset.
“One last time,” she said to the ring, slipping it onto her finger. She held up her hand, admiring the way it looked, giving in to the memory of Chase almost dropping it over the side of the cliff when he tried to put it on her. They’d laughed all the way back down the trail, so happy and carefree. So in love. No idea that their lives would be torn apart hardly a year later.
Rapid knocking at the door caused her panic. She tugged at the ring. “Just a minute.” The more desperate she grew to remove the ring, the more resistant it became. “You can’t be stuck,” she muttered. “Why are you stuck?”
“Laurel?”
Mom’s voice sounded through the crack in the door half a second before she pushed it the rest of the way open. Laurel barely had time to fold her hands and hide the ring. “What’s up?”
“Sadie left.”
