ran back along the hose looking for the faucet, and when I found it, I turned it on and raced back to the fire.
It was too late, though. The wood in the barrel was still burning brightly, but the papers on top had been burned beyond any hope of recognition.
Whatever Susan had really been burning was now gone forever.
Once Elizabeth arrived, we were quickly ushered out of the house.
Moose looked hopefully at me as he asked, “Were you able to save anything?”
“The papers were all burned completely by the time I got the faucet turned on,” I admitted.
“It wasn’t already turned on?” he asked me. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. Why is that important?”
“Victoria, you’ve had enough fires yourself to know that you always make sure you have a ready source of water handy in case things get out of control. She had the hose nearby, but it was anything but ready. What was she burning?”
“Maybe that’s not what was so important about the fire after all,” I said as I got a sudden idea.
“What do you mean?”
“Moose, what if her having that fire was just an excuse?”
“I don’t follow you,” my grandfather said.
“Hear me out. If she started the fire at the bakery earlier, she most likely would still smell of smoke, and trust me, it’s a tough scent to get out of your hair. Susan might have purposely set this fire to cover any traces of the smell from the earlier fire.”
Moose thought about it, and then he nodded. “That’s good thinking, Victoria.”
“So, where does that leave us?”
“It’s still way too early to say,” he said as he reached for his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“After my conversation with Edgar Croft earlier, I’m letting him know what happened with Susan right away.”
“Is that how it’s going to go from here on out?” I asked my grandfather.
“Maybe it should be,” Moose said. “Victoria, I have to tell him about this.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Does that mean that you’re going to tell him about what we found hidden in Barry’s outdoor office, too?”
My grandfather paused, and then he nodded. “You’re right. I should have told him about that earlier. To be honest with you, I’m kind of surprised that he hasn’t found it yet without our help.”
Moose made the call, and after an awfully brief conversation, he hung up.
“What did he say about Susan?” I asked. “I noticed that you didn’t tell him anything about the clues that we found earlier at Barry’s.”
“He’s on his way, and he even thanked me for the tip, if you can believe that. You’re right; I didn’t say anything about Barry’s shed. Maybe we can tell him together.”
“Do you think we should hang around here and wait for him?” I asked.
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” Moose looked down into the barrel, and then he added, “Who knows? Maybe his crack team will be able to find something in this mess. All I know for sure is that we won’t be able to.”
“So, what should we do now if we’re not going to hang around?” I asked.
Moose sniffed the air, and then he smelled his shirt. “I’ll tell you one thing. We’ve got to do something about the way we both smell.”
I smelled my shirt as well, and the distinct aroma of the fire hit me. “You’re right. We can’t go around investigating an arson case when we both smell like smoke. Why don’t you drop me off at my place so I can shower and change clothes, and then you can go home and do the same?”
He frowned as he nodded. “We probably need to, though we can’t really spare the time.”
“I don’t think we have much choice,” I said. “I know we’re losing the element of surprise the longer we wait to talk to all of our suspects, but there’s really nothing that we can do about that.”
Moose shrugged. “I guess that it was bound to happen sooner or later. The sheriff’s going to be tracking the rest of our suspects down before we can get to them, so
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