I've been to hell, I've seen it, I've been shown round.
― Iris Murdoch
Threats
I dropped Izzie off at work and made her promise to phone me if Granger and the boys showed up at the bar.
"You're not planning to get into anything with those guys, are you?" she asked nervously.
I shook my head. "No, I'll let Jeff handle that and call the police—I just want to get you out of there. You don't need to put up with them making comments or leering."
"I like that you take care of me," she smiled, kissing me so deeply it took my breath away.
"I'll defend your honour any time as long as there's more of those kinds of kisses," I teased.
She play -punched me in the shoulder. "You don't have to worry about those guys anyway—they’ve been banned from the bar and as far as I know Granger's still in jail."
"Just phone me if you see any of them and I'll come and get you."
She nodded and got out of the car and I waited until she was safely inside before driving away.
I drove to the Ford dealership wanting to inquire about purchasing an F-150 Lightning and hoping they had one in stock I could test drive.
But as soon as I pulled into the lot, my cell began buzzing. It was a push-notification from my security system about a person detected on my property.
I was about to check the cameras when I got another call from the monitoring company citing suspicious activity detected outside the house and the police had been notified.
I immediately dropped the idea of the test drive and drove straight home.
When I got to the house, an OPP cruiser was parked in the driveway and two officers were inspecting the grounds in back of the house.
"Mr. Asher?" one of the officers addressed me.
I nodded, "I got a call from the monitoring company about an intruder."
The policeman held up a black plastic gas can to show me. "Looks like we got here just in time. Someone was planning to torch your shed."
"Did you see anyone?"
The officer shook his head. "No, actually we''d like to take a look at your cameras—they must have caught something."
"Whoever it was is long gone," the other officer offered as he approached us. "Must have been scared off because he left his gear behind."
He pointed to a BBQ lighter and several smaller containers of fuel, labelled, Aspen. I recognized the brand name because it was the accelerant The Boys used to torch the barn and was part of the evidence in court when I was charged with the crime.
"Looks like a professional job," the officer said.
"C'mon inside," I encouraged them, "we can check the monitors and see if their faces are visible."
The first officer asked, "Do you mind if I check around to see if they tried to enter the house?"
"Good idea," I said, and allowed him free range indoors.
I picked up Frizzy who was mewing and frightened and sat with her in the den while the officers carried out their investigations.
Twenty minutes later, they came into the den to report their findings which unfortunately didn't amount to much.
The lead officer summarized their findings:
"There was no forced entry of the premises and there was only one intruder and he wore a ski mask and black hoodie. Couldn't make out the features of the face, but he was a burly guy, muscular and about six feet in height."
"Not much to go on," I sighed.
"Do you have any enemies, Mr. Asher?"
I nodded reluctantly, "I have a few people who have a grudge against me. Maybe they just meant to send me a message."
"I wish we had better evidence, but really, we can't charge people on just a suspicion."
"Well thanks for showing up so promptly. I'll keep an eye out and call you if I have something more concrete by way of evidence."
I watched as the cruiser pulled away and felt hopeless and vulnerable when it was gone.
I made coffee and sat by the fire feeling defeated. Suddenly, it hit me—Izzie might be in trouble. I punched in her number on my cell.
She picked up immediately, "Anything wrong?" she asked.
"We had an intruder on the property who tried to torch the shed, but the police arrived and scared him off."
"Did they see who it was?"
"No but he was picked up on camera, dressed in dark clothing wearing a hoodie and ski mask, so he couldn't be identified, except he was six foot tall and burly."
"Like Granger?" she asked.
"Yeah, but he's in jail."
"You sure about that?"
"No, I'm not," I admitted. "I'll phone the court and find out though."
"No need, " she said, "I overheard some Patrons saying he was out and pissed that he was banned from The Cactus. Do you think it was him?"
"Almost certain—I know his M.O.and he fits the description of the guy on camera."
There was silence on her end of the phone.
"Do you want me to come and get you?"
"No, just come by and pick me up at the end of my shift. I'm just surprised he'd try something stupid."
She was surprised—I wasn't.
I kind of thought from the moment I saw him in town it would end up with the two of us duking it out. It was the only way it could end between us.