“Harvey, did your cousin say where or who they were meeting that day?” June asked. “Did he leave any indication?”
“No,” Harvey told her. “Before Nigel turned into a turncoat, he went through Basil’s apartment with a fine-tooth comb. He even brought me in to help him, as I knew Basil better than anyone, to see if he’d missed anything. But there was nothing.”
“There was nothing in our house, or Shaun’s office either,” Willa told Holt.
“Nigel didn’t find anything in Travis’s or Dylon’s apartment,” Margo added. “Dylon and Travis shared an apartment at the time.”
“Nothing was found?” June questioned. “Not on their phones, laptops, tablets, in their vehicles?”
“We went through everything,” Willa told her mother. “I even went through every pocket in all Shaun’s clothing.”
“I did the same for Travis’s, and then Willa and I volunteered to clear out Dylon’s and Basil’s clothes just so we could secretly go through their pockets as well,” Margo explained. “Heck, we even went through their shoes.”
“They had no post boxes or lockers at a gym?” Holt couldn’t believe that there was no note or record of anything.
“Nothing,” Ace repeated. “I even went through all the firetrucks, ambulances, and whatever space I could find at the fire station.”
Holt frowned. That was a little too convenient. Maybe Nigel Frost had found something and buried it. He seemed to have done a complete U-turn on the case. Going from trying to prove his mother’s accident was not an accident and that the tragic fire of ten years ago was tied to it, to just closing off both cases. He concluded his mother’s car crash was an accident after all, and that Gilbert Fry was responsible for his own death and thatof four firefighters. Firefighters who were all investigating what Holt believed was Cynthia Frost's car accident. Which meant this tied back to Cynthia and not the cat burglar. He gave himself a mental shake. Then how did the bracelet fit into this, or was that a completely separate mystery altogether?
“So what we have is nothing?” Holt glanced around the table. “And everyone who could give us answers is in the hospital and can’t help, or has disappeared, or is not answering calls.”
“While people are getting hurt, property is being damaged, and we’re all being threatened,” June added. “Did you find anything out at all?”
“To be honest, we’d just started investigating properly when the incidents to warn us off started,” Margo confessed. “When Rad found that there was conflicting information in the police files, we decided to talk to people who’d been interviewed from town about the fire. We used the guise of writing an article in memory of the four brave men for the tenth memorial.”
“That seems clever enough,” Holt admitted. “When did the first threats start?” He glanced around the table. “Do you remember who the last people were that you interviewed right before the first incident started?”
“I spoke to Mr. Grundy at the green grocer,” Willa said.
“I spoke to Penny at the flower shop,” Margo added.
“I spoke to Mina,” Ace said.
Mina looked at him in surprise. “Is that why you asked me all those questions?”
Ace nodded.
“Rad?” Holt’s gaze fixed on his son, noticing how he’d not been as forthcoming to answer the question. “Who had you spoken to?”
“Chief Morrison.” Rad’s jaw clenched. “It was the chief.”
The room went deathly quiet, and Holt turned to catch June’s look, and he knew what she was thinking. They’d had a conversation about Tom the previous night. He could see in her eyes that she still didn’t believe this had anything to do with their old friend. Holt wanted to believe it too, but again, everything was pointing that way.
“Uh…” Harvey cleared his throat and raised a hand. “I kind of asked Clive and Sienna about it.”
“What?” the entire table breathed, with the exception of Mina, who only raised one brow.
Harvey looked properly defensive now. “You all told me to find out whatever I could about ten years ago. I know they were right in the middle of it, too. And remember how worried the chief was when the cabin fire jumped and started heading toward the houses backing onto the forest. I thought they may have seen someone or heard something.” No one interrupted him as they all stared at him, and Holt knew that this was the first time Harvey had told them this. “And I remember Nigel saying once that if somebody other than Gilbert had started that fire, their perfect escape route would be…”
“To go through the back of the forest and out through Point Drive,” Holt finished, his heart dropping even more.
Then he turned to June, knowing she would not like what he was about to say. “It’s time to get Chief Morrison and his family into individual interrogation rooms.”
“Holt,” Mina said sharply. “What are you saying?”
“Mother, there were only so many people at our house that day,” Holt said. “Then there’s the evidence. That doesn’t just go missing without anyone seeing anything.” He swallowed. “I can’t ignore where this is leading, Mother. Do you think I like it? Tom is not only a friend but a fellow law enforcer.”
“What day?” Margo asked before anyone else could. “What do you mean there were only so many people in your house that day?”
