Zikabar parked two houses from where he planned on going. It was silly, an he knew it. It wasn’t like they would be angry to see him. It had been a few years since he’d been to this house, Denton had invited him and Marcus three years, no four years before for thanksgiving.

He exited his car, made sure the doors were locked and smoothed his suit. He’d dressed more conservatively today, in a cyan suit, maroon shirt and tan tie. It was after dinner, on a weekday, so he didn’t expect Denton to be here.

He wasn’t visiting his parents behind his back, not exactly, but it would go better if his friend wasn’t around while Zee talked with them.

The house was an old craftman style house, with rust red brick and lighter paint. It had a two car garage, although the Brislows only owned one car. It looked very much like it had before the fire, search as he might, Zikabar couldn’t see any difference to his memory of it. He walked to the door and pressed the buzzer.

A moment later he heard steps, then the door opened. A cow holding a dish cloth looked at him. “Yes?”

“Good evening Miss Brislow, I’m not certain if you will remember me, I’m Zikabar Malhotra Bodenman….”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh, you’re Denton’s friend, I remember you now. Denton isn’t here.”

“That’s quite alright, I’m not here to see him. I was wondering if I could talk with you and your husband.”

“I don’t see why not,” she said, although her tone indicated hesitation. “Please come in.” She led him through the dinning room to the kitchen and indicated he should sit at the table there. “I’ll go get Stanley.”

She went up the stairs, and came back not a minute later with her husband. Stanley was a little taller than she was, without taking into account his horns, which were unadorned. He wore jeans and a fleece shirt.

“Mister Bodenman,” Stanley said.

Zikabar stood to shake the older bull’s hand. “Mister Brislow, thank you for agreeing to talk with me.” He didn’t correct him on his last name. Zee always used both his and his husband’s name, but he only forced those who annoyed him to do the same.

“Please, call me Stanley.”

The buck smiled. “Only if you’ll call me Zikabar, or even better, Zee.”

“Alright, Zikabar, please sit. Can I offer you something to drink? Coffee, tea?”

“I wouldn’t object to a coffee.”

“I’ll get it,” The cow said.

“Aileen, I can handle coffee. Come on, sit down, you’ve been on your feet all day.”

She looked like she would protest, but then sat down. Stanley kissed the top of your head as he walked by her. “You know you have to be careful about exerting yourself. How do you take it?”

“Black please.”

The bull came back with two cups and sat. “what did you want to talk with us about?”

“How is Denton?”

Stanley hesitated. “Wouldn’t you know? You two are good friends, if I remember correctly.”

“Denton and I are not currently talking.”

“It isn’t anything too serious, I hope,” Aileen said.

Zee smiled, “I am certain it will resolve itself. Denton is simply being stubborn.”

“That doesn’t sound like my son,” Stanley said.

“He hasn’t been acting differently around you recently?”

“Sure, when this thing about him being in the mob’s pocket cost him his job he was pretty shaken. And it happened so soon after the house burned down. That’s going to affect a guy. It affected all of us.”

“I can imagine. It is fortunate you were able to have your house rebuilt so quickly. Insurance companies are not often so agreeable.”

Stanley and Aileen exchanged a quick glance and worry crossed her face.

“We have a good one, they’ve always been good to us.”

Zee looked at them. “Stanley, Aileen, I know you didn’t go through your insurance to have the house rebuilt.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.” The bull replied, his posture becoming defensive.

Zee chose his words carefully. They weren’t criminal he was trying to get to admit to a crime, they were his best friend’s parents. “You are not in any kind of trouble, nor is Denton.” Not from him at least. “But I know he has come in contact with new people.”

“You know Denton, he’s always making new… friends.”

“Yes, but I am concerned that this ‘friends’ might not have his best interest in mind. I know they were here when the house burned. I’m worried they may have something to do with the fire.”

“No, they didn’t. It was an electrical fire.”

“Was it?”

“That’s what the fire inspector said.”

Zee didn’t miss the worried glance Aileen gave his husband. Zee had read the report, when he’d thought Denton had died in the fire, he’d looked for any kind of clues to help him understand what had happened, and what the people he’d been involved with had to do with it. 

He hadn’t found anything. He looked at it again, when Denton returned from his trip to Belize, and was fired from the police. This time he noticed a few things, not that anything was amiss, but that everything was too perfect. According to the report the fire had progressed exactly as an electrical fire was expected to do so.

Zee didn’t like it when explanations were perfect.

“Denton’s new friends, what can you tell me about them?

Surely you’ve noticed that there is something odd about them.”

This time the glance they exchanged wasn’t furtive. They might not be willing to talk, but they had noticed something.

“Stanley,” Aileen said.

“No.”

“He’s one of Denton’s oldest friend. They went to school together.”

The bull sighed. “It isn’t about his friends. I don’t know them. I only saw them when they saved us from the fire. I dealt with someone else after that.” Stanley fell silent.

They had saved Denton’s family? that hadn’t been in any reports Zee had read. The only official report had said that Denton had broken the door open, made sure everyone left the house an then went back in for something, and had died in the fire. Even after he’d resurfaced, the report hadn’t been updated.

“What is it about then?” Zikabar prompted the bull.

“It’s the fire. It didn’t happen like the report said.” Stanley rubbed his face.

Zee didn’t show his excitement. He’d known the report had been wrong.

“Tim was in the basement with out grandkids when the fire started. He saw it happen. He said it just appeared on the wall. there wasn’t any sparks, not heat source, it just started. They, not Denton’s friends, but people who worked for them, they said not to say anything about how the fire started.”

“Did they say why?”

The couple exchanged another look. “They said that the person who had started the fire was after Denton. That they would do everything to protect him, but if we talked about the fire it would tip off the person after him. And that isn’t all. We didn’t even tell that to them, because I thought they’d think we were crazy, but we tried to escape the house. I tried to kick out the living room window. It didn’t break.”

“When they had your house rebuilt, did they made it a condition that you not talk about what happened?”

“No. Telling the police and fire fighters Denton had died in the house came before. We were still in the hotel they put us up in when they told us they would have the house done in a couple of weeks. We haven’t talked about what I told you because it sounds crazy. But you believe me, right?”

“I do.” Stanley had no reason to lie. All he had to do was keep quiet, and Zee wouldn’t have been able to confirm anything. not that he had, except that there had been something odd about the fire indeed.

Zikabar stood. “Thank you for talking with me.”

“Do you really think they might mean my son harm?”

Zee considered his answer. “I don’t think so. Denton is a good judge of character, and if he didn’t trust them, he would have cut ties with them.”

“But you don’t trust them?”

“Something is odd about them, and I haven’t been able to figure out what. I dislike not knowing.”

Stanley nodded. “Have you asked Denton?”

“As I said, we are not currently speaking.”

“That’s the reason, isn’t it?”

“Only partially.” Zee shook the bull’s hand. “I will let you get back to your evening. Thank you again for talking with me.”

“Thank you for looking after my son.”

“Denton is dear to me and my husband, We will see to it nothing happens to him.”

Zee felt Stanley’s gaze on him as he walked away from the house. So Denton’s friends had saved him and his family. How had they been able to do so wasn’t clear. Had they been spying on Denton? The fire had been on a Sunday late afternoon, that was the day of the Brislow family dinner.

They had to have been close buy to be able to act in time. It would have taken them far too long to drive from the Cormoran house.

Zikabar wanted to have a conversation with the younger cougar, rather badly.