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truck maybe ten minutes later.”
    “Who called?” Beth asked.
    “A car driving past saw the flames and made the call to 9-1-1,” Captain Partridge said. “A couple of my deputies were here on scene about the same time the fire department was arriving.” He scratched at his round, pink cheek. “Bennet and Stadler. Bennet is the one who spotted the BOLO Ford there and made the call to the FBI. Both of them are out doing some door knocking with the neighbors now. I have a handful of other deputies patrolling the area.”
    Beth looked at the fire chief. “What did you guys see when you arrived?”
    “No cars, no people. The home was mostly engulfed. We called inside, searching for any occupants but never got a response. The rooms we could get at safely were searched. We got hoses on it pretty quick and knocked the fire back a bit before my guys could get in to search the rooms. Well, that’s when we saw the two at the kitchen table—or what was the kitchen table. Both bodies were nailed to what remained of the table’s surface by their hands. It looks like most of the fire was concentrated to the kitchen area of the home where the occupants were.”
    “The occupants, they weren’t burned alive, were they?” Beth asked.
    “I couldn’t tell you that,” Siegfried said. “They were deceased at the time we found them. We’re assuming it’s the homeowners, a Nancy and Bruce Crawford. We can’t really be certain at this point, though.”
    I pulled my notepad from my inner jacket pocket and wrote down the names of the homeowners.
    “Did you want me to get a coroner in here, or do you have a forensics team coming?” Partridge asked.
    “We have a team coming,” Scott said. “Let’s keep out everyone that’s not needed to keep the flames under control until our forensics guys can have a look in there.”
    “Sure,” the captain said.
    “Do we know what we have for registered vehicles for the property owners?” Bill asked.
    “Same thing the agent I spoke with over at the Omaha FBI asked. They have a 2012 Honda and a 2010 Chevy pickup. Both vehicles you see in the garage there. The agent told me that these two have been stealing the vehicles of those they attacked, but both of the homeowners’ cars are here. Like I said, I put some deputies out patrolling the area on the chance these two are on foot.”
    “Okay, good,” Scott said.
    “What was in there?” I asked. I pointed toward the double-tall carport.
    “I don’t know. Looks like a carport for something. Motorhome or big rig maybe,” Partridge said. “Nothing like that registered to them, though.”
    I nodded. “How long do you suppose it was until now since that fire was started?” I asked.
    “An hour and fifteen minutes or so,” Siegfried said.
    I looked over at Scott and Bill. “They left the vehicle they arrived in here. They’re either on foot or took something else.”
    “They could have come in two cars,” Beth said.
    “They could have. But they have been traveling in a single vehicle since they started their little road trip,” Scott said.
    I couldn’t take my eyes from the empty carport. I doubted they took a big rig, which left the chance of an RV. The thoughts started flowing on how it was the perfect vehicle for two people on the run. “Captain, can you have your deputies knocking on doors, asking what the homeowners had, if anything, parked in that carport?”
    “Yeah, I’ll get them asking,” Partridge said. He made the call over his shoulder radio, and someone confirmed on the other end.
    “I bet they went west if they were driving,” Scott said.
    “Still think they’re headed to Montana?” Bill asked.
    “Don’t know for certain one way or the other, but if they were continuing north, they would have stayed on I-35. We’re ten miles west of the city, just off I-80,” Bill said. “They could be taking I-80 into Omaha and then going, well, pretty much any direction.”
    “They’re probably still on I-80 if