But even through the pillows I could hear the intermittent pops and bangs from the yard below. The backyard, which meant it wasn’t just neighbors or passersby doing it but someone from our household. I also heard barking and shrieks of laughter. I finally gave up, dragged myself out of bed, and stumbled to a window where I could see what was going on.
Down in the backyard, Rob, holding a lit sparkler in each hand, was running around in circles while the dogs chased him, barking furiously, and Eric and the boys looked on, laughing and clapping their hands.
I wasn’t thrilled that Rob was setting such a bad example—had he completely missed Dad’s annual lectures about the perils of fireworks?—but at least he appeared to be keeping the sparklers well away from the boys.
Downstairs, I noticed that the door to the dining room was closed. I continued past it into the kitchen.
“I see the chief’s using our dining room,” I said.
“I thought you were going to sleep in.” Michael was working busily. Clearing up the remains of a toddler meal and, I was pleased to see, working on some grown-up coffee, bacon, and eggs.
“I was,” I said. “But Rob had other ideas.”
“Sorry,” Michael said. “He started setting off something noisy while I was letting the chief in. I chewed him out and told him to stick to sparklers until noon. Rob, that is.”
I nodded and began gulping down the coffee he set in front of me.
“Good morning, Meg.” I looked up to see the chief walking in, followed by Denton. The PI was already in the gorilla suit, although he was carrying the head under his arm rather than wearing it.
“Morning, Chief,” I said. “I trust you were as relieved as I was to see Mr. Denton still among the living.”
“Indeed,” he said. “I’m assuming you would have no problem if Mr. Denton continued to wear Horace’s gorilla suit for the time being?”
“As a disguise, it’s a pretty useless one except in Yorktown and here in Caerphilly,” I said to Denton. “Does this mean you’re staying in town?”
“If someone from FPF took a shot at me, they know where to find me in Staunton,” he said. “And besides, I want to search the courthouse.”
“I thought it already had been searched,” I said, glancing at the chief.
“Very thoroughly,” the chief said.
“Yes—but by police officers looking for evidence in the murder,” Denton went on. “This would be different—I want to look for evidence that will help sort out precisely what’s going on within First Progressive Financial. Evidence of corporate skullduggery. Which may or may not have anything to do with the murder, but will definitely have a bearing on Caerphilly’s various legal battles.”
“Mr. Denton suggests, not unreasonably, that his knowledge of the inner workings of FPF might enable him to spot useful evidence,” the chief said. “I’m inclined to consider his suggestion.”
“And if he goes into the courthouse wearing the gorilla suit,” I said, “no one will pay any attention, because they’ll all assume it’s Horace.”
“Precisely,” the chief said. “So I see no reason not to continue the rather ingenious masquerade you used to spirit him safely out of town. However,” he added, fixing Denton with a stern look, “I am not comfortable with having him wandering around town by himself in it or sending him solo into the courthouse. So if you don’t mind lending us the suit for a little while longer, I’ll take Mr. Denton with me into town. He, and the suit, will be in the mayor’s office. When I can free up a deputy to accompany him, I’ll let him do his search of the courthouse, and after that we can return the suit.”
“It’s Horace’s suit, and I’m sure he’d consider this a good cause,” I said.
“And should the occasion arise,” the chief added, “you might mention to a few people that Horace is back, just for a few hours, and working so frantically on a few forensic items that it would be a kindness not to disturb him.”
I nodded.
“Of course, if you deputized Meg to go along and babysit me,” Denton said, “you wouldn’t have to pull any of your deputies off their regular duties.”
“I’ve already told you I’d rather try to free up a deputy,” the chief said. “Meg has her hands full already.”
“You mean you’d actually consider deputizing me again?” I asked.
The chief winced.
“For the sole and specific purpose of supervising Mr. Denton’s inspection of the courthouse,” he said. And then, in a more conversational tone, he added, “But it shouldn’t be necessary. Right now, the roads around the town square are bumper to bumper. If I had to pull another deputy off traffic control this morning, we might just achieve total gridlock. But things should get better this afternoon.”