At the cabin, Ryan had mentioned that the first week he’d been there, he’d heard distant emergency sirens all one night, and had hardly slept, wondering if they were coming after him. That obviously hadn’t been the case, but if something big had happened, surely the newspaper would have written a story about it.

I turned to my computer, logged onto the website of the Chilson Gazette, and sure enough, there it was, an article about an odd glitch in the security systems of almost a dozen homes out near Breece Farms.

For me, that was proof enough. If Ryan had heard sirens throughout the night, that meant he was at the cabin the whole time. That he hadn’t left with a gun in his hand, with the intent of stealing a sculpture, ready to kill anyone who got in his way. That he hadn’t left at all.

He was innocent.

*   *   *

“He didn’t kill Pug,” I told Ash.

The attention of my deputy friend was primarily on making sure the dressing on his Fat Boys sub sandwich didn’t goop out onto his desk. “Good to know,” he said, then took a fast bite before the goo dripped down. After some chewing and swallowing, he added, “But why are you telling me? Hal’s the detective on this case.”

I shouldn’t have said anything at all, because explaining the specifics of why I thought Ryan was innocent would require me saying that I knew where he was. And, in spite of the guilt I was suffering for withholding information from law enforcement, I was not going to share that particular piece of news.

At least not yet.

“You’re right,” I said to Ash. “And I will tell Hal, just as soon as he gets back from lunch.”

“Have fun with that.” Ash took another messy bite of what looked like the Italian sub with double dressing. “Hal’s not . . . well, let’s just say his investigation isn’t going where he thought it would.”

So the seasoned, skilled, and experienced Hal Inwood wasn’t making any progress in finding Pug’s killer. Interesting. Would that make him more receptive to hearing what I’d learned, or less? I smiled on the inside and started looking forward to the pending conversation. But I wasn’t here just to talk about the murder investigation.

Since timing was everything, I waited until Ash had taken another big bite of sandwich so I could talk without interruption. “Saw Chelsea the other day. Rafe and I ran into her at Shomin’s. She said the breakup wasn’t anyone’s fault. I said that couldn’t be true, it had to be your fault. She’s the best thing that ever happened to you. I want to know what you did so we can fix this.”