CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE #2
"It's okay." Becca sniffed. "I want answers too. If someone installed something wrong or equipment wasn't hooked up right, I want them to pay for causing this."
Amy stood and gripped Becca's shoulder. "We do too. We'll see ourselves out. Tell your mother we'll arrange a time to speak with her again once she has time."
"I will." Becca wiped her eyes.
Franks followed Amy out of the house. Neither spoke until they were in the car and pulling away from the curb.
"Are we both curious now that we know Hillary Hilton was in the bakery after hours?" Amy stared out the window.
"It got my attention, but would she know how to pull off an explosion like that?" Franks asked.
"I don't know. ATF is just starting to piece things together and look at the equipment from the bakery.
I don't have a clue how much evidence that kind of explosion and fire would leave behind, but hopefully, if there is something, they can find it.
" Amy glanced over at him. "I get the impression she wasn't happy with how much he worked.
The question is, was she unhappy enough to do something about it? "
"But why do something so big? If she did do it, she had to know that it would kill or injure others.
We're lucky the death toll wasn't much larger.
It could have killed everyone that was eating there that night.
" His chest tightened at the thought of how many friends he would have lost that night if that had happened.
"Right. Every time I've wanted to kill my husband I've thought about poisoning his food or something." Amy winked.
"Remind me never to eat at your place." Franks laughed. "But yeah, most people would attack the person, not take out a whole restaurant full of people."
"Though, it sounds like the restaurant was her issue. Maybe she blamed it more than the man."
"Possibly." Franks sighed. "We need to get her in for a formal interview at the station."
"Agreed. So should we follow up with Mrs. Chris or anyone else today?" Amy asked.
"I don't think we need to. My gut—"
Amy laughed. "Do you follow your gut on every case?"
"It seldom leads me wrong. Come on, you have to admit you feel it too. She was angry at her husband. Complained he never made time for her. Her daughter was working at the restaurant, so she had time with her dad. That left the wife home alone."
Amy shook her head. "Normal people would file for divorce. Not blow up a city block."
"You've been at this job long enough to know we often don't deal with normal people.
She was jealous of her husband's first love, his restaurant.
It's no different than him having another woman.
He chose to spend time at work instead of with her.
And before you accuse me of defending her reasoning, I'm not.
I agree, she should have left him." Franks pulled into the parking lot of a small café.
"Okay, so if she did do it, we need proof. How do we get that?" Amy asked.
"That I don't know. Pray some camera in the area was sending video to another location?"
"That only proves she went into the bakery, not that she did something to blow it up."
Franks sighed. "I need to eat. I think better with a full stomach."
"It's ten in the morning."
"Early lunch." He smiled as he climbed out of the car.
"How is it that you're not five hundred pounds?" She followed him into the café.
"Lucky, I guess. Besides, I'm hoping we can get Hillary in to interview today. We might have to skip lunch."
"You really think we're going to get her to come in that quickly? We haven't even contacted her. And if she is guilty, she might not be so helpful." Amy followed Franks to a table. "Don't we have to wait to be seated?"
Franks sat down at a booth toward the back. "Nah, Angus and I come in here all the time. Gloria knows us. This is our table." He took a seat. "Burgers are great, but I'm guessing you'll get a salad."
"Actually, I was thinking just a cup of coffee." Amy grinned.
"You have to eat. We might not get a chance until late this afternoon."
"Some of us are okay with going a few hours without food." Amy glanced at the menu that had been resting behind the sugar container on the table. "I guess I could try a chicken salad sandwich. I'm trusting you that it won't make me sick."
"Never. J.D. runs this place. He makes it fresh every day. Trust me. We've been coming here for years. I got Lance a shake from here last night."
"How's he holding up?" Amy asked.
"You can tell he's starting to feel the stress.
He needs to go home and sleep a good ten hours, but no one can get him to leave Angus's side.
" Franks paused to place his order, then focused back on Amy after she'd given hers.
"I think once they bring him out of the coma, he might relax a bit and be willing to leave for a few hours, but right now, he's not sure Angus will wake, so he's scared. "
"I thought the outlook was good for him." Amy took a sip from her water glass.
"It is, though they won't know for sure until he wakes if there was any kind of brain damage or long-term issue with his throat, but they all say they think he'll be fine and make a full recovery.
When I spoke with Lizzy the other day, she said Angus will end up going to rehab for a bit probably to get his strength back.
She warned me it could be months before he's back to work. "
"Yeah, I was thinking about that. We have to hire at least one or two new detectives or we're all going to burn out. I have three new cases on my desk that I haven't given more than a glance. With all our focus on the explosion, everything else is on the backburner."
"Then we need to close this case quickly, because I'm not holding my breath that we get a new detective or two. We've been promised that for a few years and it never happens."
"True, but with the old mayor gone, we might just get a budget increase," Amy pointed out.
"We can only hope." Franks sighed.
"So, what are our plans?" Amy raised a brow at him.
"Call Hillary Hilton and get her in for an interview.
Maybe meet up with someone from ATF or the fire marshal and find out exactly what could have been done to cause the explosion.
How much knowledge would she have to have to pull this off?
I mean, I know the basics on how gas is supplied to a house or business, but I wouldn't have a clue what I'd have to do to blow a place up. " Franks shrugged.
"Not just one place. That explosion took out three business and damaged many more on the block. I'm going to step outside and give Hillary a call. Once we get her interview scheduled, we'll have a better idea on how our afternoon will look."
Franks nodded. "I'm going to text Lance and see if he needs anything."
As she left the table, Franks stared at where she'd been sitting. Usually, Angus sat there. He wondered how long it would be before they were here together again, telling jokes, talking about life, and acting like everything was right in their worlds.