Page 51 of Head Room

Next, I told them about my encounter with Hannah and what she’d said.They all remembered her from our previous inquiry.

That brought me to the manuscript, confirming that Dale finished taking page-by-page photos, Mike would pick up the original and take it back with him to Illinois tonight, then Jennifer would pick it up and work magic to preserve the actual pages.

“...lucky it was in a metal box, along with other mementos, because that preserved them and—”

My own words pushed me off a cliff into silence.

But it was filled.

“Why a metal box, why not a fire-safe?”Diana asked.“If he was trying to preserve those items, the metal box seems riskier that everything would burn, including his wife’s manuscript.”

“If he had a safe that would make sense,” Mike said, “but if he didn’t and he planned the fire, going out to buy one would be suspicious.When the cabin burned down, everybody would wonder why he bought it right then.Well, not everybody, but we would have and—”

Jennifer interrupted.“Hold up.That’s what Elizabeth said.”

“Huh?”

“She said,And—” They looked at me.

When I didn’t respond, Jennifer elaborated, “She said something about the box, thenand, then quit talking.C’mon, Elizabeth.What were you going to say?Andwhat?”

“Actually, I wasn’t going to say anything, because I’d been at that exact same spot in my thinking at the cabin when Diana interrupted me.”

“Sure, blame it on me.So, what would you have thought if I hadn’t interrupted the genius?”

“The important things to him — his medals, his wife’s manuscript, photos—”

“Were all in the metal box.We know.”

“And...” I drew it out.“Placed where there was no trail of what we believe was accelerant.”

“Huh.”I took that as admiration from Jennifer.

“And...” I repeated, “that box was right next to the body’s boot-wearing feet, which also were free of accelerant.”

Mike took one hand off his steering wheel long enough to snap his fingers.“The boots connected to Frank Jardos, backing up the belief that the dead man was the sergeant.”

“Backing up?”Diana interjected mildly.“We don’t know it’s not him.”

“Huh,” Jennifer repeated.“You’re saying he knew that area would not burn.”

Mike peered at the screen in a way that said he’d toggled away from our faces to something else.Presumably what Diana had sent.I prayed he never forgot he wasn’t in Wyoming when he drove in Chicago.

“Not only no accelerant, but you notice what else was right there?”He can be nicer than I am, so he didn’t make us guess.“Solid metal log holder — with no evidence of logs.And the metal base of a table — with no evidence of a wood top.And, yeah, the destruction of the fire could have knocked them around to that spot.Or they could have been placed there as further protection.”

“Okay,” Diana said, “I officially apologize for interrupting the genius.”

I ignored that, because before we tossed this around further, I had more to report.

Sticking to my chronological theme, I gave a sketch of what I’d read of the manuscript and promised to send them each a copy of the file.

“No need.Dale sent it to me last night,” Jennifer said.“I’ll share.”

Should have known.

That brought me to this morning’s short encounter with Penny and longer one with Connie.

“Told you he was friends with Hiram,” Diana said.