Marjorie Thelen - Designer Detective

“No, the other one.”

“I can’t remember.”

He went to sit up then lifted the covers and frowned. “I could really use a bath room but someone has stolen my clothes.”

“Bath is in there,” I said with the point of a finger. “I’ll get coffee going.”

“Thanks. Do you know the time?”

I checked the clock on the nightstand beside him. “Almost seven A.M.”

“What day?”

“That I can’t be sure of.”

I turned to leave.

“Fiona. How did I get here?”

“Long story. I’ll make coffee. Your clothes are on the table and chair. They might be dry. You’re welcome to a shower. Towels in the cupboard.”

I left and made my way to the kitchen, checking on Opal along the way. She was still abed and appeared to be sleeping. Jake was stretched out on the couch with my favorite afghan in primary colors covering the top part of him. I tried to be quiet as I made coffee. I searched the refrigerator for the quart of orange juice I thought I saw there recently. It was behind the twelve pack of beer and was past the date stamp but Cody would never know. I opened the carton and sniffed. Smelled okay to me. I filled a glass, took it back to the guest room and set it on the nightstand. The shower was going in the bathroom.

I performed my own toilet, pulled on a pair of clean pressed Levis and a black turtleneck, and light footed it back to the kitchen. Jake sat up on the couch as I went by.

“Good morning,” I said. “I’ll get you some coffee.”

“Thanks,” he said, barely above a whisper.

I returned with a mug and placed it on the coffee table. He had gone somewhere to use a bathroom, so I sat down with my legs curled underneath me and flipped on the television. The local news went over the same sad stories that never seemed to change. The weather forecast was for rain all day. Roderick Smart came on with breaking news. Firefighters were on their way to a fire in McLean. A second unit had been called. A picture flashed on screen, and Roderick explained it appeared to be a large McLean estate. The camera focused on flames shooting from the roof of Albert Lodge’s lovely mansion.

“This can’t be possible,” I said, trying hard to believe my eyes.

The reporter was saying the second fire truck had just arrived. The roof was on fire. Leaping flames. Plumes of black smoke.

“It is not clear if anyone was at home when the fire started,” said the reporter in a yellow rain slicker.

“Hudson,” I said. “I wonder if he made it out.”

“Made it out of where? Who?” Jake said, coming into the room and reaching for the mug of coffee.

“Albert’s estate is on fire. I hope Hudson made it out.” I jumped up and stood inches from the screen like that would help me believe what was happening better.

“You’re kidding,” Jake said, watching the report. More photo footage flashed across the screen. “You’re not kidding.”

“Because of the isolated setting,” the reporter said, “the house may have been on fire for some time before a neighbor saw the smoke and called it in. No one was found in the house. Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of the family should contact local police.”

I gnawed on my thumbnail. “Do you think Hudson set it? He wanted Opal out of there awfully bad.”

Jake said, “I hope not. I hope he made it out. Maybe he had this planned.”

“It’s a brilliant idea to set fire to a house you inherited, and you couldn’t keep up. Collect the cash and retire. Fire would be a perfect way to settle the whole messy estate. I wonder what the real estate was insured for.”

Then something that Hudson had said came back to me and gave me pause.

“Jake, when I asked Hudson if he was now master of the house, he said, ‘in a manner of speaking’. What if he didn’t inherit the house?”

Jake shrugged. “Fiona, I can’t make heads or tails of the inheritance thing. I never saw any documents. I only know what Opal and Cody told me, that Hudson got the house. We better tell them.”

I hurried back the hallway. Cody’s door was closed. I rapped.

“Cody, Albert’s house is on fire. Come quick.”

He cracked the door and stuck his head through. “What?”

“The house is on fire. I hope none of your buddies is responsible for it. There were four there last evening, and they took out a load of rifles. That was before you arrived.”

“I’ll be right out. I need to dress. You don’t have any guy clothes lying around, do you? Mine are still damp.”

Cody was about as tall as I and slim. “I might have a sweat suit.”

I ran to my room and found a pink sweat suit that was too big for me that I thought would fit him. It might be a bit small but it beat damp clothes. I dropped it by his room then ran to Opal’s room. “Opal,” I said softly and touched her shoulder. “Wake up.”

She started awake, eyes wide. She gazed at me like she didn’t recognize me.

“Fiona?” she said. She gave owl like blinks.

“Albert’s house is on fire. It’s on TV breaking news. Get up and come out to the living room. The authorities are looking for family. We don’t know where Hudson is.”

I rushed back to the living room, forgetting to help Opal out of bed. Jake was still watching the news.

“Any new developments?”

“No, they keep repeating the same stuff.”

“Opal and Cody are dressing. Tell them what happened and have them call the police. I’ll take you to a car rental place on my way to the airport. You can run them to the mansion.”

“On your way to the airport?”

“Yes, I’m leaving town. I’ve resigned my commission.”

“You’d desert me?”

I paused to gaze upon Jake’s rugged face. He was starting to look good to me. That was added incentive to leave.

“Yes, I’m deserting you. You are a big boy. You can take care of these folks. I’m not sure about Cody’s game, but I bet you can straighten him out.”

Cody came striding into the room in the pink sweat suit. That was a real conversation stopper. The legs were Capri length on him and the sleeves about three inches too short. He was taller than I thought.

“I hate pink,” Cody said, his cheeks coloring to match the outfit. “What’s going on? What’s this about a fire?”

“Albert’s house is burning. It’s on TV,” Jake said. “They’re looking for family. It isn’t clear who was in the house.”

Cody sat on the couch and buried his head in his hands. “This is a mess.”

“Funny,” I said, “I’ve been using the same word to describe the situation.”

Cody’s mouth twisted in agony. Or was it irony? “Who was in the house when you left?”

Jake said, “As far as we know only Hudson. He made dinner for us. He thought the situation at the house was not good for Opal and asked us to take her back to Oregon.”

“Good old, Hudson,” said Cody. “He never commented on the crazy family doings, the men in and out, the rifles in the basement. When Albert left him the house, we thought we’d be able to fight it.” He gestured toward the TV. “We never reckoned on how clever he is. What a way to get a lump sum cash payment.”

“We are assuming the house is insured,” I said.

“I’m sure it was,” he said.

The report came on again. The three of us watched standing guard around the screen, the house in flames, the same footage from the earlier report.

Opal hurried into the room garbed in my vintage chartreuse green silk robe with white boa feather trim. It was a little item I kept around for fun. She clutched the feathers close to the chin. Her face dropped as she watched the report with us.

“My goodness, it’s true. Albert’s home is on fire. There won’t be any fight over the house. Now it will be over the insurance money.”

How calm they both are, I thought. They didn’t seem overly concerned about Hudson. Unless, and here we needed a drum roll — unless they were in on the house fire for whatever devious reason.

I said, “Shouldn’t you rush out there to see what is going on or at least call the police?”

Cody roused himself from a TV stare. “We should go. We should call the insurance people and talk to the police. Opal, what do you want to do?”

She was quiet. “I can’t think so good. Those pills you give me make me loopy.”

Some understanding seemed to be just out of her grasp. Was she hiding behind the drugs? Maybe she had an inkling of what was going on in the strange mansion, but she didn’t want to face it. If the house burned until nothing was left but ashes, there would be more insurance money.

Cody said, “Stop taking the pills, if they bother you. I wanted you to sleep better.”

I watched the interplay of body language between the two of them. Opal kept her eyes down, staring at the floor. Cody kept his eyes averted. They did not look at one another.

“Want to tell us what’s going on, Cody?” Jake said. “Are you afraid of what the police will find in the house? Was it arson?”

Cody walked to Jake, stood toe to toe with him, and shoved his face in Jake’s. “I didn’t do anything. Albert and I had a legitimate arms business that Albert started. He asked me to help when he got too old, and it got to be too much for him.”

“If it was too much for him, why didn’t he sell the business?”

Cody went up on his toes, beating his chest. “Because I wanted the business. I like guns. Remember I collect guns. It seemed like a fun thing to do. Something different from ranching. It was lucrative. So I helped him out. Then he up and died on me. But there were some things about the arms business he didn’t tell me, like who some of the customers were.”