normally take five to seven hours to move, not the nearly eleven he was claiming it had taken. But if he had a lot of lab equipment, maybe it would take longer.
“They were a full-service mover,” Mac said, obviously sensing where her mind had gone. “They had a crew of six, but set everything up in the living areas, placing the furniture where I wanted it, putting the beds together, and even making them. They also placed the books on the bookshelves, etc.” He shrugged. “They would have set up the lab if I’d wished it too, but I wanted to do that myself. Which is what I was doing tonight when the fire broke out.”
CJ nodded, but asked for the name of the movers. She intended on checking out everything this man told her.
“The movers were hired through Argentis Inc.,” he said with a slight frown, and then shrugged apologetically. “You shall have to check with them to get that information.”
CJ hid her expression as she wrote that down. If he wanted her to call the company, he was probably telling the truth, after all. Which was surprising to her. She would have sworn he wasn’t, and her instincts were usually pretty good about these things. It was why she’d been such a good detective. Her old partner used to say that she had an incredibly sensitive bullshit meter that always went off when something wasn’t quite right, or someone was lying to her. It usually worked great. But for some reason this guy was throwing her off.
CJ glanced over what she’d written and then peered at the house again before turning back to Mac and saying, “So, you moved in Thursday night/Friday morning and were working down in the basement last night/this morning, setting up your lab when you smelled smoke and realized the house was on fire?”
Mac nodded.
“Did you hear anything prior to smelling the smoke?” she asked. “Someone moving around outside or upstairs, maybe?”
“No.” He shook his head firmly. “I didn’t hear a thing from outside, and I know they weren’t inside.”
“How can you be sure?”
“It’s an old house. The main floor is hardwood and creaks like crazy when someone crosses it. I noticed that when I was directing the movers on where to put the boxes in the basement. I heard every step the others took upstairs from down there. I even heard them going up and down the upper stairs to the second floor from down in the basement.” He shook his head again. “Whoever set the fire definitely did it from outside and did not enter the house or I would have heard it and gone to investigate.”
It was exactly what CJ had suspected, but she was glad to have verification and made a note in the pad before looking up to ask, “Can you think of anyone who might want to kill you?”
It was a blunt question meant to catch him by surprise, and hopefully shock an honest response from him. Instead, it made the man smile.
“I’ve hardly been here long enough to make enemies,” he pointed out with amusement. “I haven’t even met my neighbors, let alone annoyed them enough to make them set my house on fire.”
CJ merely nodded. “Where did you live prior to moving here?”
“New York City.”
She stiffened at that and raised her eyebrows. “You’re American?”
“No. But I lived and worked in New York for the ten years preceding my move here,” he answered.
“So, you’re Canadian?” she questioned, and her eyes narrowed when he again hesitated before answering.
“Yes.”
CJ considered him briefly, quite sure he was lying, and then asked, “Why move here?”
“To be closer to my father and sister,” he said at once, which suggested he hadn’t been lying about being Canadian, after all. If his family was from here, then he probably was too.
CJ shook her head as she wrote down his answer. He had again set off her bullshit meter, and then made her think the meter was wrong with his next words. It was more than a little frustrating.
“So,” she began after considering what he’d said, “you grew up here in Sandford and your family still lives here?”
“No.”
CJ glanced at him sharply. “No what?”
“No, I did not grow up here and my family does not live here,” he answered helpfully, but not helpfully at all.
“But you just said you moved here to be closer to your family,” she pointed out a bit irritably.
“Yes. I moved to Canada to be closer to my family. But my