Free Royce by Kathi S. Barton Page B

said, gasoline had been poured over every floor and the place had gone up like dry tinder.
    “You have any idea who would do something like this, Mr. Hunter?” the inspector had asked when it was clear it was intentional. “This kind of fire could have been a lot worse than it was.”
    “Yes, sir. Your men did a fine job keeping it contained. Who set it? I’m not positive. I have a few ideas, but nothing I can prove. And don’t ask me. I won’t tell you.”
    “Didn’t think you would. You’re brother, the lawyer, he said you and the previous owner had had words over what you had planned for the building. Thinking maybe it could have been him?”
    Royce knew it was him, but didn’t say anything. The inspector moved away after a few seconds. Royce had watched him stop and talk to his mom, but knew he’d get nothing from her either. Charles Benton had a lot to answer for and Royce was just in the mood to ask him.
    When Royce stepped out of his bedroom after taking a long, hot shower, he tied off the trash bag he’d put his clothes in and took it to the trash can just outside the kitchen. The smell was as much a part of the material as anything and he knew he’d never get them clean. He was putting the lid back on the top when his mom pulled up.
    “Hello, son.” She sounded as tired as he did. “Got anything to eat in that monster kitchen of yours?”
    He invited her inside and, while she started the pot of coffee, he gathered things to put together a nice lunch for them. He wasn’t surprised when both his brothers showed up before the first pot was finished brewing.
    “Do you think Charles was stupid enough to set the fire?” their mother asked as she bit into the large sub he’d made for them all.
    “He probably didn’t set it himself, but I’d bet any amount of money he was a part of it.” Daniel got up and got them all a beer as he continued. “I have a few things to look into, one of which is the security cameras that I had installed. If they were up and operational before the fire we might have caught someone.”
    Royce nodded. “They’re running. I got the okay to have them turned on the day before yesterday. I told them to run them now just in case.”
    Jesse looked up. “You thought he’d try something? Damn it, Royce, you should have said something. I would have had some of the security team out there.”
    “No, I didn’t think he’d be that stupid. I was running it so we could see if we’d put the cameras in proper position. The company that installed them said they could come out and move the ones we wanted. I never thought of them until just now.”
    Royce hadn’t thought of much anything the past few weeks and was beginning to think maybe he might have missed more than that. He looked up when Curtis’ phone went off. He got up and left the room when he answered.
    “I, for one, am exhausted, but I want to make sure that we are looking into this thing with Charles.” His mom yawned for the second time in as many minutes. “Why don’t we meet in the office—”
    Curtis came back in and cleared his throat. “That was a guy I have looking into some things. Charles Benton was admitted to the hospital for smoke inhalation. He’s on life support. It doesn’t look that bad, but they don’t want to take any chances.”
    Royce looked over at his mom when she started crying. “I never meant for him to go to such extremes. I…his daughter didn’t deserve what he did to her, but I never meant for him to kill himself over some sort of revenge over this.”
    She finally lay down on the couch and covered up. Royce and his brothers cleaned up the kitchen without saying much more. They agreed to meet at the office tomorrow, go over the recordings from the fire, and turn them over to the inspector. After another hour they left and Royce went up to his own bed.
    His plans to talk to Kasey were going to have to wait until tomorrow. He had to figure this out with Benton and see what they