The Mysteries of Max: Books 31-33 by Nic Saint (interesting novels in english txt) 📕

be gone, and I think there’s still people inside.’ Click. The call ended before the operator could ask the person for his or her identity.

“So I talked to the Dibbles again,” said Odelia, “and this time Vanda Dibble admitted that she saw a person crawling out from behind the fence next to Parker Street fifty-one, hurry to their vehicle, and take off. Isn’t it possible that this third person is our mystery caller?”

“Could be,” Chase admitted. “But so what? Could have been a person walking their dog and seeing the fire, or someone driving past the house and doing their civic duty by calling it in.”

“I don’t think so. Like I said, this person came from behind that fence. There’s a vacant lot that leads straight to the back door of number fifty-one. So they could have come from the house.”

“Or they could have stopped to take a leak.”

“Or it could be the arsonist—and our mystery caller.”

Chase thought for a moment, then said, “There’s no traffic cameras set up on Parker Street, but there is a traffic camera at the nearest intersection. So if you’re coming from outside the neighborhood, and want to get out again, you’d have to pass that particular intersection.”

“Can you access that footage?”

Chase nodded, and messed around on his computer some. Finally the screen showed some grainy black-and-white footage of the intersection in question, and so for the next fifteen minutes we all watched… nothing. No cars passing by at that time of night. And then, suddenly, a car did pass. It crossed the intersection and then in a flash was gone.

“Is that the right direction?” asked Odelia.

“Yeah, it is. They’re coming from the neighborhood and driving away from town.”

“Can you see the license plate?”

Chase paused the footage, then selected the part containing the license plate and blew it up and jotted down the number. He typed it into another application, looking it up in the registry. And when the name popped up on the screen, they both gasped.

“Ruth Harrison!” Odelia cried.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Chase said.

“What was Franklin’s mother doing out there? And, more importantly, could she be our mystery caller?”

“Why don’t we go and ask her?” Chase suggested, and grabbed his coat.

Arriving back at the house, this time with Chase behind the wheel of his squad car and Odelia riding shotgun, Odelia had that excited sensation that she was close to solving a baffling mystery.

“There’s probably a perfectly good explanation,” said Chase as they got out of the car and walked up to the house. “So don’t get your hopes up, all right?”

When he rang the doorbell, this time it was Ruth Harrison herself who opened the door. When Chase flashed his badge, a look of fear briefly flashed across the woman’s face.

“Chase Kingsley, Hampton Cove police department,” he introduced himself. “And you’ve met Odelia Poole, my civilian consultant.”

“And also your wife, or so I’ve been told,” said the woman, quickly regaining her poise.

“Yeah, we got married last week,” said Chase with a slight grin.

“Congratulations,” said Mrs. Harrison as she stepped back to let them in. Once more they passed through to the sitting groom. “If you’ve come to talk to Marvin, I’m afraid you just missed him. He drove back into town to attend to some business.”

“It’s actually you we want to talk to,” said Chase, not beating about the bush.

“Me?”

“Yeah, something has come to our attention that we’d like to run by you.”

Odelia and Chase took a seat on the davenport, with Ruth Harrison opting for a chair.

“What were you doing outside the house where your son Franklin lived on the night of the fire, Mrs. Harrison?” asked Chase.

“What do you mean? I was never there, at that filthy place.”

“If you weren’t there, then how do you know it was filthy?” asked Odelia.

“People have told me these things, Miss Poole. They knew how concerned I was for the wellbeing of my son, and so they reported back to me what was going on in his life.”

Chase had taken out his phone and now showed it to Mrs. Harrison. “This is a picture taken with a traffic camera at the intersection close to Parker Street 51, Mrs. Harrison. You will note the timestamp, and also the license plate, which is clearly visible. A license plate, I might add, which is registered in your name. So I’ll ask you again: what was your car doing out there, five minutes after a person using a voice changing app called 911?”

The woman stared at the picture for a moment, then finally relented. “Yes,” she said. “I was driving that car. I–I didn’t want to be associated with this mess, so I used a voice changer on my phone when I called in the fire. I’m sorry for lying to you, Miss Poole, but…”

“Yes, why did you lie?” asked Chase.

She folded her hands in her lap. “You must understand: even though Franklin had gone down a dark road, he was still my son, and I still loved him and wanted him to turn things around and get on his feet again. So that night I decided to pay him a visit. I’d heard he’d been kicked out of the apartment where he lived and had shacked up with a couple of his notorious friends in some squat place, so I wanted to talk to him and plead with him to change his ways. And to reconcile with his father before it was too late.”

“Did you go in through the back?” asked Odelia.

“I did,” said Ruth after a pause. “I thought if only I could talk to Franklin… But when I got there it was obvious there was nothing I could do. The building was on fire, so I turned back and called the police, then drove off, hoping they’d be able to save my son.”

“You didn’t go in?”

“N-no I didn’t. There was a lot of smoke and flames. There was simply no way…”

“You didn’t think to stick around until the fire department got there?”

“No. Like I