The Bogus Biker by Judy Nickles Page A

on the veranda, but it was quiet.” She frowned. “Then I heard the explosion. The whole gin went up like tissue in a bonfire.”
    Sam sat back. “Ah. Go on.”
    And then I saw somebody moving around toward the back of the house…”
    “Just one person?”
    “Two, I think. I ran back inside to call the police and the fire department, but they must’ve followed me. I guess I panicked. I ran out the back door and wound up in the woods. I can’t explain why. I heard the sirens and remember thinking that everything would be all right, but…” Her face twisted as if she were in pain. “Maybe I could’ve gotten him out if I hadn’t run away…oh, God, what a horrible way to die!”
    Penelope patted her. “Don’t think about it, Shana. Hopefully it was quick.”
    “And you didn’t recognize the man with Travis?” Sam asked.
    “No, but…but a few nights earlier when I was watching the news, I recognized the man the police picked up in Ft. Smith.”
    “The one with the ponytail?” Penelope asked, ignoring Sam’s warning look.
    Shana nodded. “That’s the one. He’d been at the Point two or three times in the last month. Travis seemed to know him, but he never introduced us.”
    “Miss Bayliss, at the risk of sounding cliché, did you ever see anything going on you considered suspicious?”
    She hesitated.
    “I need to know.”
    “About the time Travis started losing interest in me…” She swallowed and licked her lips. “About that time, he let the housekeeper go and closed up all the house except the kitchen, his office, and the two bedrooms upstairs.”
    “How do you mean, closed up?”
    “Shut off the heating and cooling vents. Drew the drapes. He always liked them open before. He said there wasn’t anyone around to peek in the windows, and he liked the light.”
    “What reason did he give for letting the housekeeper go?”
    “I don’t know, but he gave her six months’ salary in cash.”
    “So it wasn’t a money thing?”
    “No. He’d given me half a dozen charge cards I never used but once or twice, and he mentioned his profits had gone up in the last couple of years.” She chewed her lip.  “I like to cook, so I didn’t mind fixing meals, but he was gone a lot, so there was just me.”
    Penelope watched Sam digesting the information, eyes closed, chin in hand, elbows propped on knees. Are you a good guy or a bad guy? Did you sucker me? Sucker Daddy? Are you really holding him hostage somewhere? What are you going to do to Shana when you milk her for everything she knows? What are you going to do to me? Her nails bit into her palms, and she felt sweat trickling from beneath her arms.
    Sam stood up. “Miss Bayliss, you’re going to have to stay down here, at least through the weekend. Mrs. Pembroke will check on you and bring you meals, but you can’t come upstairs, not even once.”
    Shana hunched her shoulders and nodded without looking at him.
    “Get some sleep, Shana,” Penelope said. “I’ll look in on you before I go to bed.”
    Upstairs, Sam checked all the doors before he joined Penelope in the kitchen. “Are you hungry?” she asked.
    “I could eat.”
    In silence, she warmed over the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and baked beans. “Should I be scared ?,” she asked when she brought his plate.
    He picked up a fork. “That’s not a bad thing. It might keep you alive.”
    “I don’t understand how I’m mixed up in whatever’s going on.”
    “You don’t need to.”
    “Bradley came by again this afternoon. He’s really hurting over his father.”
    “I didn’t get the idea they were close.”
    “That’s why he’s hurting. He never gave up hope they would be someday.”
    “It’s too bad. I’m sorry.”
    “He said the medical examiner wasn’t promising an ID anytime soon, so that means the bodies were pretty well charred. I’m thinking the fire was awfully hot.”
    Sam didn’t reply.
    “I know gins catch fire, spontaneous combustion and all, but Travis