Judith (Queen's Birds of Prey 3)

There was no hope to salvage anything from the burnt out shell of a house. Someone had set it; Jude was well aware of the smell of gasoline within the place. It sickened her that someone had waited until everyone was busy getting ready for Christmas and the holidays to deliberately set fire to the house.

Jude looked up when her sister Piper said her name. “I’m going to burn this to the ground. Just so when the place is rebuilt, they don’t have to worry about cleaning up the area. Have you found anything yet?” Jude told Piper she’d not found anything at all but a few broken items. “I can smell the gasoline that was used. I?

??m assuming you already knew.”

“I did. Have you heard anything from the family? I’ve not.” Piper told her just what she knew—the family was staying in the house down the road until they could rebuild. “Do you think they did this on their own? I have to admit, it was very telling when we found the kitchen devoid of anything other than a few cans of dog food. Smells fishy even to me.”

“Why don’t you just say it? It smells like they did this to reap from their insurance policy. The trouble with this is, they might just be able to get themselves a brand new home. Did Mercy tell you they’ve done this before? Maybe I should burn down my house and start over. There wouldn’t be any lingering gas smells either.” They both laughed. “But seriously, what do we know about this family? Other than they’re arsonists.”

“Just what Mercy told us. This is the second time they’ve had their house burn down around them. The last time they were only able to get partial help on the rebuild because a large portion of the house was salvageable. This time, in my opinion, they made sure there was nothing at all left to build from.” Piper looked around when Jude did. “The Christmas thing is still a few days away. Are you leaving early with the rest of the family? I’ve not decided when I’m going. I don’t even know where we’re going to be staying when we get there.”

“I’m not leaving early. I have one more piece to finish, then I’m going to ship it to the show I’m having in January. I know I could carry it. It’s for a charity event I signed up for about six months ago. I’m not in the mood to even go, much less bring an item to auction for people to pay extraordinarily little for. That sounded like I was bitching because I didn’t want to help. But it’s just...I don’t know. I’m not really in the mood for Christmas, I guess you could say. I’m hoping that once we get there, that’ll put me in the spirit.” Jude told Piper she had sounded ungrateful. “I’m not upset, actually. Ungrateful? I guess just a little. I’m not used to having to share my sisters. It’s been just us six for thousands of years. About the party? I guess you could say I’m indifferent to going. I love the holidays when we six get together. This will be the first time in longer than anyone in our town can remember that we’ll not just be the birds celebrating the holiday.”

“We’d have Joel, Miley, and Bryson this year. I don’t mind them being here. However, going someplace that is so strange to us doesn’t make it feel like a fun holiday for me.” She grinned at Piper. “I’m giving Miley the most outrageous gift. I hope she likes it. It’s my old medieval armor that I wore a long time ago. She talks about the one you have in your home all the time.”

“See? That, right there, is what I’m talking about. No one there will have any idea that it’s something you wore, and are giving it to a kid you love like we all do.” Piper picked up a large burnt piece of wood. “This reeks of gas. I think the fire marshal needs to come here and have another look around. I know he was here before, but I’m telling you right now, if his report says anything but arson, I’m going to boil him in his own fat.”

They both turned when a car pulled into the driveway. The emblem on the side proclaimed him to be the same man the two of them had just been talking about—the fire marshall, Aryne Patterson. He nodded to Jude and stared at Piper. Everyone was blown away by their beauty when they saw them for the first time, but Jude thought the man was staring directly at Piper’s hair. To her, it looked like Piper had dipped her head into the setting sun over an open body of water, the colors were so bright with the hues of the late sunlight.

Piper, like her, was a bird. Jude was an eagle. Piper was a phoenix. It was why her hair was so breathtaking. Her hair, like the others, was what her feathers looked like when she shifted to her other half. It was just as bright, if not brighter, when the phoenix came out to play. Clearing her throat before the man got himself in dutch with Piper for staring so long, Jude asked him why he was there.

“Lady Oliver asked me to come by, today if I could, to look the house over before it was taken the rest of the way down. I had no idea the family was in such a hurry to rebuild. I came as soon as I could.” Jude thanked him. “No reason to thank me, Lady Jude. This is my job. I’m to understand that you and the other ladies are going out of town for the holidays. I so wish my family could do that once in a while. Go visit other relatives, I mean. I hate all the fuss and bother with having so many people in my home.”

Piper laughed, and Jude did as well as the little man came to stand in what Jude thought was the living room. Not speaking to him while he worked, she moved to stand with Piper to speak to her.

“Mercy said you were going to sell your condo. Have you had any luck in finding a place you’d like to live?” Piper said that all the good homes were taken by Mercy and Blaze. “Yes, well, I’m sure they didn’t take them all. I’m looking as well, but I have to admit, I’m in no hurry to buy just yet. I love a couple of houses here, but they’re very drab to me. I want something old like Mercy’s home, and as homey as Blaze’s. They both have the best taste in decorating a room. Don’t you think?”

“Yes. I suppose. I think with Blaze, however, she has some extra help in the décor of the house. I’m thinking Bryson has a lot do to with the things in the living room. I’ve never been so tempted to take a nap as I am when I sit on their couch. It doesn’t even matter if the fireplace is lit, I feel all warm and cozy when I’m there.” Jude said she had the same feelings. “I’d steal them from her if I thought I could get away with it. I guess I’ll have to go and buy me a set of them so I can have some too.”

“How nice of you.”

They were both laughing when the fire marshall asked them what they knew about the family. After Piper finished giving him what she knew, Jude told him the rest. “This is their second fire. This time I’m to understand they have an exceptionally large policy on their home and contents. Also, I don’t know if this matters to you or not, but when the house was inspected two months ago when they doubled their insurance, the value of the home didn’t meet the criteria for what they were insuring. I’m not sure what happened as to whether they were able to upgrade the policy or not.”

“They were turned down. But I have since found out the family was able to get a second policy from someone out of state. Once this is settled, not in their favor, I’m thinking, the secondary insurance company will have to surrender their license to sell homeowners’ insurance. This is not going to go well for the Martins, I’m afraid.” He turned to look at the two of them. “Lady Piper, can you tell me your opinion of the fire? I know you to be an expert on fires. I would greatly appreciate your insight on this one.”

“Do you smell the gasoline?” He nodded at Piper. “Then I believe you have your answer. I would also like to point out we’ve not found any furniture except a beaten up couch in the basement. There are no frames we can find for any mattresses, nor much in the way of food in the kitchen area to your right. Also, and I find this really weird, there isn’t a single television shell or anything in the way of picture frames with broken glass. There should have been at least one that would have survived, I think.”

“I noticed there isn’t a washer and dryer here, either.” Piper told him she’d not thought of that. “Yes, well, you haven’t been doing this for as long as I have. I believe, however, eventually, you would have noticed it.”

“Thank you.” The man looked around at the large barn, as well as the three storage sheds in the back of the property. He asked if they’d been in them. “We haven’t. I wasn’t aware that we could.”

“I can. It is my job to be as thorough as I can when inspecting a place after a fire. I would very much like it if you two were to go with me while I open them.” He smiled at them. “I seemed to have lost the note that was given to me just this morning on those buildings in the back. I don’t remember if it said I should or shouldn’t look inside of them. The contents belonged to someone else in the family. The sir’s mother, I think?”

&nb

sp; “She’s no longer alive.” He nodded. “Oh, I see. You lost the note. I understand now. Yes, Piper and I will be only too happy to go out with you to the shed. But I’m thinking, just to be sure we don’t cause any harm to the building’s contents, we should call the police as witnesses to it.”

“Great idea, Lady Castle. Yes, I think you might well be onto something with that.”

Piper called the police, and the three of them waited for them to show up. Piper, like the rest of the birds, was on incredibly good terms with every cop on the force. When you donated enough money for them to have an entirely new building built, they didn’t mind coming around for little things like this. The inspection of a couple of buildings and the probable outcome would tickle them.

The police showed up in less than five minutes. After Mr. Patterson told them what he was doing and what he needed to do, it was the police who broke the large lock on the barn door to open it. He, Officer Dent, told them his body camera was on, and he’d make sure the insurance company had a copy of it before he left today.

As soon as the lock was broken and the chains pulled away, Officer Dent opened the door and whistled. Jude didn’t have to look to know that the barn was filled with the things from the house. She followed Piper into the building after the two men entered.

“It’s marked with their rooms.” That was what she noticed too. Piper walked to one of the boxes labeled kitchen and pulled out several cans of green beans. “This is why there aren’t any cans of food in the house. They’ve saved all their things out here. I’m betting that someplace in here is all their photo albums, as well as some pieces of furniture.”

“The furniture is over here.” Piper just looked at her when Officer Dent claimed he’d found more things at the back of the barn. “I’m going to have our police photographer come here and take pictures of this stuff before we leave here. Also, I’m not sure what you think, Mr. Patterson, but I’m thinking this is fraud.”