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Branson nodded grimly. “Right. And I guess you’re usually home at this time? There was no reason for anyone to think that the house would be empty?”

“Well, I used to work nights, but then I stopped for a while. Then I just started again. But I wasn’t working last night.”

“All right, perhaps they might have thought you weren’t there. Do you have a car?”

“No,” she said. “I think Ammo’s vehicle was out front on the street, though.”

“Can you think of anyone that would want to set your house on fire? Anyone that has a problem with you? Who has threatened you, perhaps?”

Oh, that was definitely a guilty look on her face. Ammo stood, putting his hands on the bed as he stared down at her. “Aimee, has someone threatened you?”

“Well, besides Yvonne over her HOA rules and Kelly-Anne over the fact that she’s carrying Charlie’s baby and thinks that means the house belongs to her. Oh, and Mr. C and the cats. Oh God, I didn’t feed the cats last night. They’ll be starving.”

“I’m sure they’ll be okay,” Ammo said. “I’ll make some arrangements for them.”

“All of those people have threatened you?” Branson asked, looking shocked.

“Well, kind of. I wouldn’t really call them real threats,” she told him.

“No, but there’s been a real threat, hasn’t there?” Ammo said. “I can tell by the look on your face there’s something you’re holding back.”

She let out a deep breath and stared up at him, then over at Branson.

“I guess somebody coming up to me as I walked home the night before last and telling me that I had until midnight Monday to pay them thirty thousand that my dead husband owes the big boss could kind of be construed as a threat. Saying that they would harm Kirsten or Ammo if I told either of them or the police about it is definitely a threat, right?”

“Yeah,” Branson said. “That’s definitely a threat.”

“When did this happen?” Ammo demanded. “You’ve been with me most of the time . . . unless it had to have been when you walked home from the sheriff’s department.”

“I’d just made it to my street, when these headlights suddenly blasted me. Then this man appeared. He told me he’d been watching me. That Charlie owed the big boss thirty thousand, and he wanted his money, and that he’d be back Monday at midnight for it. And if I told anyone, that Ammo and Kirsten would get hurt. Pretty sure he followed Kirsten and I to the Emporium that morning. I remember a car following closely behind us then speeding away once we turned into the parking lot. I didn’t think anything more of it, but I think it was him.”

“Do you have any idea who he or the big boss are?” Branson asked.

Ammo was suspiciously quiet, and she didn’t dare look up at him. She knew he wouldn’t be very happy with her.

“I have no idea. I don’t know why Charlie borrowed that much money or what he would have done with it. And I have no idea who I’m paying it back to. All I know is I can’t afford it.”

“It’s odd they gave you three days and then torched your house before you could even attempt to pay it,” Branson said slowly.

“So you don’t think it was them?” she said.

“I don’t know. We’ll definitely look into it. I’ll need to talk to the sheriff, see if he knows of anyone called the big boss.”

“Like the sheriff will help,” Ammo said.

“Are you really making a complaint about him?” Branson asked.

“Oh yeah, I’m gonna make sure he never holds a position of power again.”

Branson nodded. “I shouldn’t say this, but good. He’s hopeless at his job. Aimee, can you remember any identifying features of this guy who threatened you?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. The headlights were kind of blinding me, and I couldn’t see any features, other than he seemed tall and broad.”

“What about the car that followed you?” Branson asked.

“It was white,” she said, with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’m not very good with vehicles.”

“I wonder if they’ve been watching your house. There might be cameras around the neighborhood. We might be able to catch sight of them that way, or of who threw the firebombs through your windows. We also need to keep you safe. I’m going to recommend that you have some police protection. Whether that recommendation will be granted, I’m not sure.”