Page 78 of Fear of Flames
“And I’m Ali. We can’t wait to tell our listeners what we learned over the weekend.”
“First,” Kenzi said, “we need to pay the bills. We’ll be back in sixty seconds.” She looked through the glass at Greta who motioned they were off the air.
Ali removed her earphones. “Shit, I know we planned to throw Sheriff chauvinistic asshole under the bus.” She scrunched her nose. “But now he’s dead.”
“That doesn’t refute anything we planned to say.”
“It just seems like…”
Greta’s voice came through Kenzi’s earphones. “In ten seconds.” Kenzi tapped the earphones.
Ali put hers back over her ears as Greta’s countdown continued.
“Live.”
“We’re back,” Ali said. “And if you’ve been following along with the Michelle Holdcraft?—”
“D. Valentine,” Kenzi interjected.
“That case has blown up. Literally.”
Kenzi scoffed. “If you listened to our podcast last Thursday, you know about the explosion. We also have news about Timothy Wells. Let me recap. Last Wednesday morning the home of Ms. Holdcraft exploded.”
“And a few days before, her father’s house caught fire. His remains were found in the rubble.”
“Yes, Ali, and eight years before, her family’s home exploded. Her mother perished in that fire.”
“That’s what we knew last Thursday. Oh boy, have things progressed rapidly,” Kenzi said. “Let’s start with information about eight-year-old Timothy Wells that may or may not be connected to the Holdcraft case.”
“Timothy is home with his family. The details of his ordeal haven’t been released. What we know is that he was transported from Boston to Nova Scotia via yacht.”
“Yacht? I’m assuming he wasn’t a guest.”
“I agree, not a willing one, Ali. Timothy was checked by medical personnel in Nova Scotia and flown back to the US. When we know more, we’ll share.”
“It isn’t often we have good news.”
“You’re right. We’re happy for Timothy and his family. Let’s tell our listeners about our visit to Iron Falls.”
“Friday morning, we arrived in Iron Falls, Massachusetts, to a warm reception?—”
Kenzi interrupted, “From Deputy McBride of the Iron Falls Sheriff’s Department.”
“Deputy McBride may be listening. If she is, we want you to know your kindness was appreciated. Because…”
“Because the reception was less warm from the sheriff himself. As a matter of fact, Sheriff Perkins was less than informative. He did say one interesting thing, though, didn’t he, Ali?”
“He did. On Saturday morning, the sheriff insinuated that Dennis Holdcraft had been depressed, never fully recovering from his wife’s passing.”
“Please,” Kenzi said, “if anyone listening has similar thoughts, seek help. We have a suicide prevention hotline on our website.”
“The sheriff insinuated that perhaps Dennis Holdcraft committed suicide.”
“So, we know that was his original hunch.”
“The thing is,” Ali went on, “there’s a lot that the sheriff didn’t tell us. Dennis Holdcraft had an outbuilding on his property. The sheriff acted as though that wasn’t unusual. I could agree if the shed contained gardening tools.”
“Or even tools for home repair or fishing and hunting gear,” Kenzi added. “That’s what most people we spoke to in the Iron Falls area said they keep in their sheds or outbuildings.”
