Cody came striding into the room in the pink sweat suit. That was a real conversation stopper. The legs were Capri length on him and the sleeves about three inches too short. He was taller than I thought.
“I hate pink,” Cody said, his cheeks coloring to match the outfit. “What’s going on? What’s this about a fire?”
“Albert’s house is burning. It’s on TV,” Jake said. “They’re looking for family. It isn’t clear who was in the house.”
Cody sat on the couch and buried his head in his hands. “This is a mess.”
“Funny,” I said, “I’ve been using the same word to describe the situation.”
Cody’s mouth twisted in agony. Or was it irony? “Who was in the house when you left?”
Jake said, “As far as we know only Hudson. He made dinner for us. He thought the situation at the house was not good for Opal and asked us to take her back to Oregon.”
“Good old, Hudson,” said Cody. “He never commented on the crazy family doings, the men in and out, the rifles in the basement. When Albert left him the house, we thought we’d be able to fight it.” He gestured toward the TV. “We never reckoned on how clever he is. What a way to get a lump sum cash payment.”
“We are assuming the house is insured,” I said.
“I’m sure it was,” he said.
The report came on again. The three of us watched standing guard around the screen, the house in flames, the same footage from the earlier report.
Opal hurried into the room garbed in my vintage chartreuse green silk robe with white boa feather trim. It was a little item I kept around for fun. She clutched the feathers close to the chin. Her face dropped as she watched the report with us.
“My goodness, it’s true. Albert’s home is on fire. There won’t be any fight over the house. Now it will be over the insurance money.”
How calm they both are, I thought. They didn’t seem overly concerned about Hudson. Unless, and here we needed a drum roll — unless they were in on the house fire for whatever devious reason.
I said, “Shouldn’t you rush out there to see what is going on or at least call the police?”
Cody roused himself from a TV stare. “We should go. We should call the insurance people and talk to the police. Opal, what do you want to do?”
She was quiet. “I can’t think so good. Those pills you give me make me loopy.”
Some understanding seemed to be just out of her grasp. Was she hiding behind the drugs? Maybe she had an inkling of what was going on in the strange mansion, but she didn’t want to face it. If the house burned until nothing was left but ashes, there would be more insurance money.
Cody said, “Stop taking the pills, if they bother you. I wanted you to sleep better.”
I watched the interplay of body language between the two of them. Opal kept her eyes down, staring at the floor. Cody kept his eyes averted. They did not look at one another.
“Want to tell us what’s going on, Cody?” Jake said. “Are you afraid of what the police will find in the house? Was it arson?”
Cody walked to Jake, stood toe to toe with him, and shoved his face in Jake’s. “I didn’t do anything. Albert and I had a legitimate arms business that Albert started. He asked me to help when he got too old, and it got to be too much for him.”
“If it was too much for him, why didn’t he sell the business?”
Cody went up on his toes, beating his chest. “Because I wanted the business. I like guns. Remember I collect guns. It seemed like a fun thing to do. Something different from ranching. It was lucrative. So I helped him out. Then he up and died on me. But there were some things about the arms business he didn’t tell me, like who some of the customers were.”
Jake didn’t back down. “Are things that bad at the ranch?”
Cody’s shoulders slumped. “I stand to lose everything if I don’t cover the bank loans.”
“You might lose your life. If your customers don’t get you, the authorities will.”
Cody looked Jake in the eye. “No they won’t, because you’re going to help me.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because Opal’s in this, too. You wouldn’t want an old woman to end up spending her final years in jail, would you?”
Opal, all five feet of her, came alive and pushed in between the two of them. “Now you boys listen to me. I’m not going to jail and neither are you, Cody. Such talk.”
Cody put his hand on his aunt’s shoulder. “Dearest Aunt Opal, you don’t understand what has been going on under old Uncle Albert’s roof.”
“You better tell me then. I may know more than you think. I may be a little forgetful but I’m not deaf, dumb, and blind.”
Cody put his hand to his forehead and blew out a breath. “My head feels awful. Is there any coffee?”
“Sure,” I said, thinking what a clever stalling tactic that was. At least he wasn’t holding a gun on us. “How about you, Opal?”
She nodded and said, “I’ll get it.”
“Call the police,” I said to her while we were banging around in the kitchen. I could hear Jake and Cody talking but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. “It will look better if you come forward and talk to the police.”
“I don’t trust Cody,” said Opal. “He’s not himself. I don’t know what’s got into him.”
“That’s not the point, Opal.”
“I don’t know where the rest of my nieces and nephews are.”
“Who cares? Call the police.” I almost shouted it. What was it going to take to get through to her?
“Do you think they’ll put me in jail?”
I stopped my frenetic hustle around the kitchen and faced her. “I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. What do you know about Albert and Cody’s weapons dealing?”
She shook her head, looking as fragile as the boa feathers in her outfit, and chartreuse wasn’t her color. “My brothers have always been trouble.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted a family history.
“Opal, you need help. You aren’t getting it from your relatives, go to the police.”
She shook her head. “Could you put me on a plane to Oregon?”
“I could, if that’s what you want.” That would at least get her away from Cody. “Go get dressed. I’ll take you to the airport with me.”
“Are you leaving?”
I nodded, but not wanting to give her any more information than necessary.
“Is Jake going with you?”
I shook my head. “I’m going to get ready. You have fifteen minutes, Opal.”
I hustled down the hall without a backward glance.
In my room I closed the door and dialed Olympia’s number.
The phone rang and rang. The answering machine didn’t come on, and I was about to hang up when I heard a groggy grump.
“What?” It was Olympia’s husky voice.
“Olympia, sorry to wake you, dear, but I’m leaving for the airport. I found my passport. I’m going to board the next flight to Los Angeles, then on to Sydney. Have you packed? I can pick you up.”
“Fiona, darling, have your senses left you? Of course, I’m not packed. I was up till all hours writing after you failed to show for dinner. The muse was hot last night.”
“You won’t believe what happened. I’ll fill you in over margaritas on the beach in Australia.”
“I love that image. What happened to the rest of your co-padres, especially the hunky guy?”
“Hunky? You never saw him.”
“But I have an imagination.”
“You surely do. I’m through with the case. I’ve resigned my detective job. Did you see the news? The house is on fire.”
“No, I didn’t see the news, you just woke me up. What house?”
“The house where I was doing the library.”