Darkness Exposed by Terri Reid Page A

floated a few feet behind him. Within a few minutes, they heard the screen door on the nearby farmhouse close. Bradley looked up and saw the farmer, Leroy Johnson, heading toward him.
    “Morning,” Leroy said, extending his hand for a shake. “What brings you out here again?”
    Bradley shrugged. “Just wanted to take another look around,” he said. “Make sure I didn’t miss anything,”
    Leroy turned toward the barn and tipped back the brim of his baseball cap. “In all my years I never saw a barn go up like that. Strangest thing.”
    “What was strange?” Mike asked.
    “What was strange?” Bradley repeated to Leroy.
    “Barn door was open when I got out here,” he said. “All the livestock were already in the pasture. Didn’t lose any animals, not a one.”
    “That’s strange for an arsonist,” Mike said to Bradley. “They like to see things burn.”
    “The other farms that lost barns, did the same thing happen to them?” Bradley asked.
    Leroy scratched the side of his head. “You know, now that you mention it, I think I remember some of them saying the same thing,” he replied slowly. “That’s a strange coincidence.”
    “That’s not a coincidence,” Mike said. “Something stinks here. Might be insurance fraud, might be something else. When there’s fire, animals hide, they don’t try to escape. That livestock was let out before the fires were started.”
    “So, in your experience, when there’s a fire, do livestock try to escape?” Bradley asked Leroy.
    Leroy shook his head. “Naw, they ain’t smart enough to escape,” he said. “They try to hide. Most livestock dies of smoke inhalation in barn fires. If they had tried to escape, they would have made it.”
    “So, do you think they’re breeding smarter livestock?” Bradley asked.
    Leroy laughed. “Only if they’ve graduated from damn stupid to just plain stupid,” he said.
    Bradley chuckled. “Thanks, Leroy. Hey, you don’t mind if I walk around a little?”
    “Naw, enjoy yourself, take your time,” he said. “If you need something, I’ll be in the machine shed.”
    Once Leroy was out of hearing distance, Bradley turned to Mike. “What do you think?”
    Mike was already walking through the remains of the barn, examining the scorched pieces of wood and the debris on the ground. “The fire started here,” he said, “In the center of the barn. Where did you find the body?”
    Bradley picked his way through the rubble and joined him. “Back here,” he said, pointing to an area a few yards away from them. “He was covered by an old metal trough. It was the only thing that kept him from being cremated.”
    “Did you ask where that trough used to be?” Mike asked.
    Bradley nodded. “Yeah, Leroy had it up in the loft,” he said. “Didn’t use it anymore, but didn’t want to throw it away in case he needed it.”
    Mike studied what remained of the support beams and loft of the barn. “My guess would be the fire spread up first, instead of out,” he said slowly, pointing to the scorch lines on the beams. “The loft caught and the floor panels were weakened, so the trough fell through the floor on top of the body. But whoever was there was dead before the fire started.”
    “So, you think the fire was set to cover up a murder?” Bradley asked.
    Mike nodded. “Yeah, I’d put a month’s salary on that one.”
    Bradley looked around the area. “You see any ghosts walking around out here?”
    Mike shook his head. “Nope, and that makes my theory even stronger. That body wasn’t killed here, he was brought here.”
    “Perfect crime, except the trough got in the way.”
    “Yep, pretty much how I see it.”
    “You wouldn’t consider staying on this case with me?” Bradley asked as they made their way out of the wreckage and walked to the cruiser.
    “Just try and take me off this case,” Mike said.
    “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Chapter Seventeen

    “Ian, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”