A THIEF OF ANY MAN (Food Truck Mysteries Book 6) by Chloe Kendrick

the consequences. I wasn’t sure that Detective Danvers would like me to have that much time on my hands, but that would be his consequence for taking the food truck.
     

Chapter 7
     
    With Dogs on the Roll out of commission for a few days, I felt like a new person. I could actually stay up past 9pm if I wanted to – and I did. When Land and I got back to the car, I suggested that we take an outing. I didn’t know if he was thinking about a nice dinner or a club or even a movie, but I suggested another look at Emma Creech’s home.
    When I’d stopped by before to look at her house, I’d not been sure that she was dead. I’d been concerned that she might catch me and have words for me. However, the facts were different now, and I wanted to see what the home looked like without the possibility for interruption. I didn’t think that we’d find anything, but I wanted to be sure.
    Land consented, and in about twenty minutes, we were at the house. His sports car rolled to a stop, but he might as well have just driven by. A warm red glow was coming from the upstairs, which would have been cozy except that the home had no chimney. I dialed 911 and explained the situation to them. I wondered what the record was for reporting the most crimes in a single evening. I had to be coming close.
    The firetrucks pulled up in ten minutes, but that time had been long enough for the fire to lick its way onto the roof and out of the upstairs windows. We could see the now bright red lights showing from the downstairs windows as well. The fire would consume the house and everything in it, which is presumably what the killer/arsonist had wanted.
    We moved Land’s car from the scene just as Detective Danvers pulled up. He spotted the car. Let’s face it. Land’s car is hard to miss. Danvers flashed his lights for us, and Land rolled around the corner. We got out of the car and headed back to the scene.
    “Another one? Really?” Danvers starts. “The operator called me directly, since the same number had reported a murder a couple of hours ago. Is this like a contest with you?” His face appeared red in the glow from the house, but I suspected it would have been red even in the sunlight.
    I explained that I’d wanted to look around the house to see if I could spot anything that could be helpful in learning about the murder, when we’d seen the flames from inside.
    “This would have been a location of interest in an open case. You shouldn’t have come here at all, and we all know that this was a pretense to break in.”
    Land didn’t speak, but he watched the firetruck move into position and begin to spray down the house. The team had already moved the people out of the house next door, so I was assuming that the firemen were more concerned about the blaze spreading than saving something from this conflagration.
    “There would have been nothing left if we hadn’t,” I pointed out. “This entire property would have been ashes before anyone else got here.”
    Danvers didn’t have anything to say after that. He watched the fire as well, until I asked, “So what do you think is in there that the killer had to burn the place down for?”
    Danvers looked at me, but didn’t speak for a moment. Finally, he said, “What worries me more is who knew so quickly that we’d found the body. The only ones who knew were you, Land, and the two lot attendants, Kristoff and Sabine. She’s still at work, and you two came here – and immediately called for assistance because the place was in flames. Do you know how that looks?”
    I tried to follow his logic, but I couldn’t. “Are you really saying that you think we set the place on fire and then called you to tell you that it was burning? Come on.”
    Danvers looked aggrieved, but he shrugged. “It’s a lame theory, but it’s all I have at the moment. You can’t really tell me that this fire is a coincidence. Whoever killed Emma Creech burned the place tonight because the body was