Prime Catch by Ilona Fridl Page B

that day?”
    “Well, when I got home from my shift, all he was doing was burning spring brush.”
    “Burning spring brush,” Sarah repeated. Then an alarm sounded in her head. “Where is your burn pile? And do you have a shovel?”
    Sally hurried to a small shed and came back with a garden shovel. “Our burn pile is this way.”
    In the rear of the property, a circle of stones marked the fireplace, and an ash hill rose like a small volcano in the middle. Sarah carefully scooped a layer at a time and sifted through it.
    Sally raised her eyebrows. “What are you looking for?”
    “Anything suspicious,” Sarah shot back.
    Most of the layers on top held charred bits of twigs. Sarah continued working her way down to the base of the soot, when she spotted a burnt disk and picked it up. Wiping it off on her sleeve, she noticed it had four small holes in the center. “This is a button! Maybe a coat button.” Digging further, she found some fragments of material and the broken blade of a saw. She collected as much of the material as she could find and deposited it in her jacket pocket. “Thank you, Sally. You’ve been a great help.”
    Sally’s eyes overflowed. “I don’t want to believe my brother is mixed up in this.”
    Sarah put her hand on Sally’s shoulder. “We can’t jump to conclusions, but we have to check everything.”
    As Sarah strode into town, she knocked as much of the soot off her clothes as she could. I must seem like a cloud going down Front Street. She chuckled to herself. Sam glanced up as she banged through the door.
    He laughed. “Look who the cat dragged in!”
    “At least someone’s working around here,” she retorted.
    She laid the side of her fist to the sheriff’s door. “I’ve got something!”
    “Come in.”
    Sarah went like a shot to the desk and emptied her pocket onto Amos’ desk, ashes and all. “This is what I discovered in the Cusnoos’ fire pit.”
    Amos picked up the button and bits of burnt material. “What―?”
    “Sally said he went to work that day and that he was burning spring brush when she got off her shift later.”
    “Hmm.” Amos opened one of the desk drawers, pulled out a magnifying glass, and studied some of the cloth under his desk lamp. “Ha! Take a look at this.” He gave her one of the scraps with the glass. He set aside the saw blade. “This could be what he used to saw through the rail board.”
    Sarah peered at the cloth scrap, then saw it. “There’s a stain that looks like blood.”
    Amos nodded. “I’ll send this over to Elmer, so he can test it. If it is, we have Bobby. Good work, Lakat!” He paused a moment. “Did you say he went to work that day?”
    “That’s what Sally believed. She became concerned when I told her about the personnel list.”
    Amos handed her the telegram. “This came in while you were out.”
    Sarah shook her head. “Oh, no. Not another one. I hope Sheriff Mahoney can keep anything from happening.”
    As he put the scrap of material and note to the coroner into a sealed envelope, Amos called to Sam.
    “Yes, Sheriff?”
    “Get this next door to Elmer, and tell him to give me a written report on it.”
    Sam took the envelope. “Right away.” He hurried out.
    Amos scraped together the bits and pieces Sarah had deposited on his desk and put them in a separate envelope. “This is the most important evidence we’ve had so far.” He put it in a bag next to the broken bat.
    Sarah sighed. “It’s too bad we can’t get fingerprints off wood.”
    “Yes, but this should work.”
    “You seem in a better mood than you were earlier.”
    Amos gave her a contrite expression. “Sorry for barking at you. That wasn’t your fault. Just let your suitor know to send flowers to your home.”
    “I don’t have a suitor. It’s someone who’s trying to make up for a wrong he did me. I’m not interested.”
    A look of relief came over Amos’ face. “Well, I’m glad. You don’t have time for such