He smelled it before he saw it, the odor of burning wood, not at all unpleasant. He saw Rick Grant getting out of a car ahead of him and parked behind him.
The two men shook hands, and Rick lead Stone through the police tape. The house was nothing more than a smoking ruin. Rick went to two men in suits who were standing on the front lawn, talking to a fire department captain in uniform.
"Morning, Al, Bruce," Rick said. "Stone, these are detectives Alvino Rivera and Bruce Goldman. This is a former NYPD detective, Stone Barrington."
Stone shook hands and he and Rick were introduced to the fireman, whose name was Hinson.
"Stone, tell Al and Rick about last night."
Stone gave a brief account of his evening with Vanessa.
"Did she say anything about her husband?" Goldman asked, when Stone had finished.
"She told me about the divorce and her settlement. I gathered it wasn't an amiable thing. Her lawyer, Marc Blumberg, who introduced me to her, said the man was very angry about what he had to give her."
"She show any signs of stress or nervousness when talking about her husband?" Rivera asked.
"No, it seemed to be in the past, at least, to her."
"Does the husband look good for this?" Rick asked.
"Maybe. We questioned him this morning at his house. We still have to check out his alibi, but it sounds tight. If he's responsible, then he probably hired a pro."
The fireman spoke up. "The fire was started with gasoline near the master bedroom windows," he said. "We found a can, apparently from the victim's own garage. The perp had wheeled over a gas grill next to the house, and when the fire got going, the propane tank exploded. It
must have been full, or nearly so, because it did a lot of damage. The explosion probably killed the woman."
"We haven't heard from the M.E. yet," Goldman said, "but that sounds right."
"You're a lawyer, right?" Rivera said to Stone.
"Right."
"You're in town about the Calder thing?"
"Right."
"When you left last night, did you notice anybody hanging around the street?"
"When I backed out of the driveway, there were no moving cars visible on the street, just parked ones, but as I drove down the block toward Sunset, I saw some headlights in my rearview mirror. My guess is, somebody was waiting in the street, then started up and followed me to Sunset. I lost the car after I turned."
"Any idea of what kind of car?"
"No, all I saw was headlights."
"So the guy was hanging around, waiting for you to leave and for her to go to sleep."
"Could be. I didn't notice anybody following when we drove to the house, but I wasn't watching my mirror especially."
"What was your relationship to Mrs. Pike?" Goldman asked.
"I met her the day before yesterday in Palm Springs, at Marc Blumberg's house. Late yesterday afternoon, I had a meeting with Blumberg in his office, right after he returned from the Springs, and she was there. He asked me to give her a lift home, and she invited me to stay for dinner. That was it."
"Did you have sex with her?" Rivera asked.
"No.
"Ever met the husband?"