🔥Wow. That’s a bad day.🔥 I smiled and looked toward the home. Someone had stacked firewood at the base of the home and lit it ablaze. The fire, then, had climbed up the side of the house, melting the vinyl but not catching the home’s internals on fire. It’d take a contractor a weekend to fix the damage, but the home looked livable. “So what have we got?” “Attempted arson,” he said, putting on some blue gloves and kneeling next to the home to sift through the debris on the ground. I knelt beside him and caught a whiff of gasoline. “It looks like our arsonist stacked firewood against the house like a teepee, then poured gasoline over the top of it. He might have put some firewood on the ground, too, but I don’t know. He then poured gas on the grass around the wood to create a trail. Then he lit it up. “Fortunately, gasoline burns so quickly it didn’t have time to heat the home’s construction timbers to their ignition point. We hosed it down, but it mostly fizzled out on its own.” I stepped back and snapped pictures with my cell phone. “And you think the accelerant was gasoline?” “Yep,” he said. “We’ll run some tests, but you can still smell it.” “Did you find a gas can?” “Yep,” he repeated. “In the garage. It was empty, but it still had fumes inside. Your officer has it near his car.” “We’ll dust it for prints and see what we can find,” I said. “Is the homeowner inside?” “Last I checked,” said Cluney. “His name is Jason Kaufman, and he’s cantankerous. Maybe he’ll be nicer to you than he was to me, though.” I looked toward the house. “Okay. I’ll talk to him and forward my findings to your office.” “And I’ll do the same, Detective,” he said. “Good luck.” I thanked him and walked toward the front of the home. The roof overhung the patio in front, providing shade on sunny afternoons and protection from the rain on rainy days. Today, it just made the area gloomy. I knocked on the door and waved over Dave Skelton. He joined me on the porch just as Mr. Kaufman opened the door. He was in his late twenties to early thirties and had an earring and enormous sideburns. If I had to guess, I’d say he spent a lot of time in a tanning booth. The moment he saw me, his eyes flicked down to my chest. “Hey,” I said. “Thanks for coming out. My eyes are just below my forehead, by the way.” 👉FROM: The Man in the River, the ninth book in the Joe Court series. 😋 WHAT’S THE JOE COURT SERIES ABOUT? Joe Court is a young detective in fictional tourist town and county of St Augustine, Missouri. The streets are well-swept, the surroundings are gorgeous, and the people are friendly—except for the murderers, of course. Beneath its beautiful exterior, St. Augustine is a county built on poison and lies. Its murder rate is astronomical, its government is corrupt, and drug use is out of control. Joe’s there to clean the place up. It’s not going to be easy, but she’s exactly the right person or the job. The books are gripping, gritty murder mysteries. In each book, Joe Court investigates a crime—usually a murder, but not always—and takes that crime to a thrilling conclusion. I don’t like cliffhangers. The main story is resolved in each book. You’re going to find out what happened to the bad guys in each story. That said, there are side stories that continue from one book to another. A rumor in one book might turn out to be a far bigger deal than anyone anticipated in later books. Because of that, it’s best to read the story in order. HOW DO YOU READ THESE EBOOKS? Upon purchasing, you’ll receive an email from BookFunnel, my eBook distributor. You’ll open that email and find links to book download pages. You’ll go to a download page, click a button that says “get my book” and follow the onscreen instructions to place the book on your tablet, phone, Kindle, Nook, etc. The process is pretty easy for most folks, and BookFunnel’s dedicated customer support staff is available to help you along the way.
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