Burn You Twice - Mary Burton Page 0,52
September 7, 2020
5:00 p.m.
Gideon had been pressing for the search warrant for Lana Long’s apartment, but finding a judge today was proving difficult. In the meantime, he had a cold can of soda, aspirin, and crackers when he and Becca opened the cell of Lana Long’s ex-boyfriend, Ryan Davis. Enough time had passed for the guy to sleep off most of his inebriation. And Gideon, after hearing Joan’s theories on the arsonist, wanted answers.
Ryan Davis sat on his bunk, his head resting in his hands. He wore faded jeans, a sweatshirt dirty and frayed at the cuffs. His lace-up shoes as well as his belt had been taken from him at the time of his arrest. As he lifted his gaze to Gideon, the smell of sweat and vomit stirred around him.
“Have any stomach for a soda?” Gideon asked.
“That would be awesome, man.”
Gideon popped the top and filled a paper cup, waiting for the soda fizz to settle before topping it off and handing it to him. He offered the crackers and two aspirin. Ryan took the aspirin and washed them down with soda.
“Do you know why you’re here, Ryan?” Gideon asked.
He sipped the soda and then, seemingly deciding he liked it, finished off the cup. He held it out to Gideon, who refilled it with what remained in the can.
“I got drunk,” Ryan finally said. “I must have done some damage.”
“You’ve done this before, according to your arrest record in Denver.”
“Yeah.”
“Why are you in my town, Ryan?”
“I came to see my girlfriend.”
“Who’s that?” Gideon asked.
“Lana.” He took a sip. “Lana Long. I went by her place, but she wouldn’t answer her door.”
“When is the last time you saw Lana?”
“It was right after Christmas.”
If that was true, then Ryan was not the father of her baby. “You didn’t visit her here even once over the last nine months?”
“No. She told me to stay away.”
“Why did you finally come after her?”
“Out of the blue, she called me last week. She said she wanted to start over. She said she was tired of living out here alone. She said she was in over her head.”
“What about the arrest for vandalism in Denver?”
“Lana could get emotional. She saw me talking to another woman and freaked out. She set fire to the garbage cans by the woman’s house. She didn’t mean for it to get so big.”
“And charges were dropped.”
“Her mother paid for damages.”
“She set any other fires?”
“No.”
Gideon shifted his stance. “So she calls and you came running?”
“Yeah. I love her. Do you know where Lana is?” Ryan asked.
Gideon studied the man’s bloodshot eyes and hands that trembled slightly but deflected the question. “Why did Lana move to Missoula?”
“I don’t know.” He ran long fingers through his hair. “She broke up with me, packed up her car, and drove here.”
“So she just randomly picked this place on a map?” Gideon asked.
“No. She’s had a thing about Montana for a couple of years.”
“What kind of thing?”
“She thought it was pretty. That she could be something here.”
More than a few people moved to Big Sky Country thinking their troubles would not cross the state line and they could reinvent themselves. But long winters had a way of fanning, not extinguishing, old problems.
On a hunch, Gideon asked, “Was there anyone else in Lana’s life? Another man? Another woman?”
Ryan’s watery eyes narrowed. “Look, I’m not saying another word until you tell me what happened to Lana.”
Gideon never relished moments like this. “I’m sorry to inform you, Ryan, but Lana is dead.”
Ryan’s head snapped up; then he winced as if the movement had irritated his aching head. “Dead? Not Lana. I just spoke with her on the phone last week.”
“What did you two talk about?”
“Like I said, she wanted to see me again. I thought we were going to get back together. That whatever was here had worked its way out of her system.”
“Maybe it had,” Gideon said. “Maybe she was ready to go back to Denver and be with you.”
“Are you sure it’s Lana?” Ryan asked in a choked-up voice.
“Yes.”
Tears welled in his bloodshot eyes. “How did she die?”
“There was a fire.”
“A fire?” Ryan shook his head. “I told her she was playing a dangerous game.”
“What kind of game?”
He sipped his soda, staring at the fizzing bubbles. “She started writing a man in prison about two years ago.”
“How did she meet him?”
“She saw him on the news. She became kind of obsessed with him.”
Gideon’s body stilled. “Does the man have a name?”
“She never told me. She was afraid