“We found Sylvia’s Rolls. It was on fire, with a woman’s body inside. They haven’t identified her yet.”
Archie paled and sat on my desk. “Oh no.” He put the chips down and rubbed his forehead with his fingers, “I’ve known Bodhi since she was born.”
Hondo said, “When he gets the results, Sergeant Best is coming by to tell us.”
“Do Sylvia or Derek know?”
I said, “Not yet.”
Archie said, “They’ll want to know.”
Hondo said, “You don’t think it would be better to wait until we hear from the Sheriff’s Office?”
“No. Don’t hold this back from them.”
“Okay,” I said. “Will you wait here for the Sergeant?”
“Vick and I go back a long way. Sure, I’ll wait for him.” He put another chip into his mouth and patted the box, “I’m good, long as it takes.”
~*~
Wilson had the gate open before we reached the mansion grounds. He waited for us in the parking lot and walked beside us to the front door, saying, “ Derek Pozza’s here for the meeting, too. Sylvia called him.” He looked at us, “Think it would help if I sat in?”
Hondo said, “It might.”
“Bodhi’s not dead, is she?”
“We don’t know, but Ronny will explain inside.”
I said, “No need to tell it more than once.”
Wilson said, “Roger that.”
We entered the home and went to the same large room as before, where Sylvia sat on the couch with Derek. He held her hand in both of his. Franco and Troy sat in separate chairs. Franco glowered at us. Troy looked like a puppy that had been put outside and didn’t know what it had done wrong. He continually glanced at Derek holding his fiancé’s hand. Sylvia pointed at two chairs and said, “Please, sit down.” Her face was pale, but she had steel in her, too. This was no meek woman.
Wilson moved to the wall, leaning his back against it as Hondo and I sat. I said, “Has the Sheriff’s Office called you?”
“Yes, and I told them you were coming to inform me what occurred. They said they would also come here and tell me their findings. I told them that would be fine, but I trusted you two to tell me what I needed to know.”
“They may have additional information. It wouldn’t hurt to hear what they have to say.”
“I told them to go through you two. For everything.”
“Are you sure you want it that way?”
“Ronny, The one thing I have because of my business success in this city, is power. I can’t even control my own daughter, but I have power to do other things, do you understand?”
We nodded.
Sylvia continued, “The Sheriff’s Office will go to you first, with anything they find. Then you can tell me.”
I said, “If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do. Did they give you a contact person?”
“Yes, a Sergeant Best. By the way, he’s highly complimentary of both of you. He also said there would be no problem carrying out my wishes.” She leaned forward, still holding Derek’s hand, and he also leaned forward, not wanting to break the touch. She said, “Tell me what happened, and don’t leave anything out.”
We told them all of it, and she stopped us occasionally to ask questions, but otherwise we told it straight through. When we finished, Sylvia and Derek leaned back to their former positions, still holding hands. It was easy to see they drew strength from each other, and reminded me of the saying by Lao Tzu: Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Franco’s flushed face, on the other hand, looked like it would explode any moment from the blood pressure. He jabbed his finger at us, “You were seconds behind Bodhi, and you couldn’t catch her?”