Brody (Texas Boudreau Brotherhood Book 3)

there.”
Greg’s head hung low, shoulders slumped. “I don’t understand, Brody. Who would do this?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out. But you can’t be here, Greg. I’m going to call one of my brothers, get you a ride. I’ll need to ask you some questions, go over what we know thus far.”
“Okay. Do what you need to do, find out who did this. Why they did this.” He paused and stared into the distance, and Brody wondered what he saw. It had to be hard; this was Greg’s childhood home. “I need to call Dad.”
“I’ll handle it. I’m going to have them take you to the sheriff’s office, where we can talk without interruptions, okay?”
“Whatever.” Greg shook his head, staring at the charred remains of his family’s barn. “I can’t believe this. I’ve wracked my brain trying to figure out why somebody burned the barn down in the first place. I figured maybe it was teens messing around, you know? Hiding out from their parents like we did when we were kids. Smoking a little pot. Maybe sneaking out here to meet with their girlfriends. But this? I don’t get it.”
“We’ll figure it out, Greg. Now give me a second, and I’ll call someone for that ride.”
It didn’t take long before he got hold of Chance. Since it was the weekend, his brother wasn’t in court, and agreed to pick Greg up and stay with him at Rafe’s office until Brody could get there. Within fifteen minutes, Greg was handled, and Brody called the fire station, and had Jeff Barnes meet him at the Summers’ barn.
“Tell me what you see.”
Jeff wrapped his hands in gloves and pointed toward the burned rubble. “Looks like accelerant use here and here.” He delineated the pattern Brody spotted earlier, confirming his suspicions. “New marks attempting to obscure the old burn pattern.” His eyes met Brody’s. “Somebody trying to cover their tracks maybe?”
“That’s my thinking.”
Jeff shook his head. “What’s so important about this place it merits not one, but two blazes? There’s something I’m not seeing here.”
“I haven’t wrapped my head around that yet. But adding it to the two previous fires, and we’ve got a pattern emerging. One I don’t like.”
“Me either, boss. You hear anything back from the lab yet?”
Brody shook his head. “I put a rush on it, and left another message on their machine. Hoping they’ll call back before I question Greg.”
“Greg? Greg Summers? What’s he doing in Shiloh Springs?”
“He showed up this morning, wanting to see the place. That’s how we found out about the second burn.”
“Gotcha. Guess it makes sense, seeing his family’s owned the property for decades. Bit of a coincidence though, him showing up without calling.”
“Maybe. Can’t read too much into it, since his parents live in Florida now, and it would be difficult for them to come back to Texas. San Antonio’s not far, couple hours’ drive. It’s what I’d do, if it was me.”
“I guess.” Jeff walked gingerly between the fallen debris, careful with each step not to disturb any evidence. Brody continued to be amazed at how far Jeff had progressed during his time with the fire station. Former military brat, he’d moved to Shiloh Springs a few years previous. He’d joined the fire department after six months or so. His father was a friend of Douglas’, having served together in the Army.
“Gimme your gut instinct. Why this place? What makes it different than the other fires?”
“Similarities, all abandoned properties. Hadn’t been lived in for several years. Out of the way locations for the most part, not on main roads or highways. No witnesses. But this one? It seems more—personal—for lack of a better word. I’m thinking gasoline for the accelerant, because that’d be easy to obtain. Whoever did this didn’t want anything left of the old place. Since the first fire didn’t destroy everything, they came back to finish the job. But, and here’s my question. Was it to destroy every square inch of the place, make it disappear for whatever personal reason the fire starter had? Or was this second fire done to try and cover up any trace and contaminate the findings of the first fire?”
Brody shrugged, because he’d had the same questions, even if his gut was telling him it wasn’t an either/or question, more a how much of each reason contributed to the second blaze. They finished gathering up, packaging, and labeling evidence they could, and took numerous photos of the scene. Brody knew they’d be useful in comparing them to the first set of pics.
“Can you load everything on the floor of my truck? I need to make some calls, see if I can gain some insight into this second attempt to destroy the site.” He wished he could catch a break, because he needed to catch this firebug before he set any more fires. Last thing Shiloh Springs needed was to get the citizenry up in arms about a serial arsonist roaming their streets.
“Sure thing, boss.”
Pulling out his phone, he started to call Ben Summers, but stopped before he hit dial. Instead, he tapped the speed-dial for Beth.
“Good morning, Brody.”
“Did you get any sleep? How’re you doing this morning?”
Beth chuckled and the sound did funny things to his insides. “Yes, I got some sleep, and I’m fine. Jamie’s gone out to the barn with Nica to see the horses, and I’m sitting here talking to your mother.”
“She’ll take good care of you. Bet she’s already stuffed you full of breakfast and asked what you want for lunch.”
“Absolutely. Did you get any sleep?” The emphasis on you made him smile.
“I got enough. Sorry I didn’t get to see you this morning, but I had to head with an old friend to look at his property.”
“The one you’ve been worrying about? And don’t tell me you haven’t been worrying, because I can tell when you’re thinking about your job.”
“Paid that much attention to me, have you?” At her indignant squawk, he rushed on. “You’re right. There’s been some stuff