Page 78 of Fire and Bones
We were returning our glassware to the tabletop when Zanetti’s phone rang. After glancing at the screen, his face went contrite.
“Babe.” Uber apologetic. “I really should answer this.”
“Of course,” Doyle said.
Holding the phone to his chest, Zanetti rose, circled to his fiancée, and kissed the top of her head.
“Back in five,” he said.
Doyle and I chatted for a while. Katy. The weather. A new wrinkle cream she was trying. I admit, I noted the brand.
Doyle described a pair of blue satin Manolo Blahniks she’d ordered from Bergdorf Goodman. I wasn’t sure, but figured she meant shoes.
I considered mentioning the Spanx ad. Decided against it.
Doyle reported that she and Chuck were forming a meaningful relationship. I asked how Zanetti was dealing with the chinchilla. Answer: Claritin.
A short silence, not awkward, just there. Then,
“What are these files you’re reviewing?”
I explained the deal I’d struck with Thacker.
“You really are committed to that subcellar vic,” she said.
I shrugged.
Doyle leaned back and pulled off the elastic binding her hair into a pony at the nape of her neck.
“Discover anything astonishing?”
I debated what to share and what to hold back.
“This is strictly between us, right? No ‘breaking news’?” Hooking finger quotes around the hackneyed phrase.
“Jesus, Tempe. Of course not.”
“One case is that of an old lady who died suspiciously. Are you aware of how kitty litter and gasoline can be used to start a fire?”
She shook her head and the ginger curls danced wildly. Joyful at last to be free?
“It’s an old Boy Scout trick.”
“Part of being prepared?”
“I’ll summarize. An elderly woman was found in the charred remains of an annex behind her house, a room where she did laundry. At first her death was thought to be accidental. She was a smoker, the cat pan was there, the washer and dryer, the gasoline container. Turned out the fifteen-year-old grandson killed her.”
“How?”
“After bludgeoning the old lady to death, the little creep dragged her body into the laundry room. Then he went outside and disconnected a supply line running from a propane tank into the dryer. Next, he disconnected the dryer end of that line.”
“Inside the house.”
“Yes. Then, he soaked the cat pan with gasoline and tossed in a match. When the litter was burning, he went back outside, reconnected the gas line, and opened the valve. The fire exploded and burned the annex to the ground.”
“Holy moly. How did the investigators unravel that one?”
“I’m not an expert. But it had to do with the lack of stripping and the presence of oxidation on the gas line’s threads at its point of connection to the dryer.”