Bad Company

by Jen Schoenbein

  “I can’t confirm arson, the investigation is still ongoing,” he replied, unhelpfully. “There’s not much I can tell you about that.”

  Well that confirmed that. “There’s one other thing that I thought was really strange,” I shook my head in confusion and watched his face carefully. “I didn’t find any information in the Chicago Tribune about any of the fires. Isn’t that odd?”

  A flicker of something, anger maybe, crossed Sully’s face.

  “Hmph. Well that is odd. I hadn’t noticed. But the Tribune isn’t often as concerned about news that happens outside the downtown area. There’s so much crime happening downtown, I guess it’s overshadowing the fires.”

  I didn’t quite buy his story, but I let it lie.

  “I’m sorry, but there’s just not much else I can share because of the investigation.” Sully shook his head and moved to get up.

  I got his message loud and clear. Our meeting was over. That’s fine, it was enough for now. I could always come back and bug him later if needed.

  “I sure do appreciate your time,” I shook his hand. “I just really want to see an end to these fires in our own backyard.”

  “Nobody more than me, I can assure you,” Sully replied soberly, ushering me out of his office and down the hall, where he walked me out.

  I nodded at the secretary “Thanks,” I said.

  “No problem,” she replied, bobbing her head. “Have a nice one.”

  Meanwhile, at the Mennon’s house,

  “Did you hear from Mal today,” Suzy asked.

  “No, why?” Sam replied.

  “No, it’s just that I’m worried about her,” Suzy said shaking her head. “She seems so stressed out and serious. I think she must work too hard.”

  “Well, we kinda want her to work hard right now,” Sam shrugged.

  “True, but she’s not taking more money to continue the case and she could use some help.”

  “What could we do to help her out?” Sam asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Suzy frowned. “But it feels like we should do something.”

  “Don’t worry, honey,” Sam wrapped his arms around Suzy. “Mal will figure it out. She’s really smart, you know. She found you.”

  “You both found me,” Suzy grinned, running a hand up Sam’s cheek and kissing him lightly. “Have I thanked you for that yet?”

  “Uh, yeah, but feel free to thank me again,” Sam waggled his eyebrows and kissed her back.

  “Is this all you need?” Wyatt asked, clearing his throat as he walked in. He held up a slip of paper.

  “Yep, that should do it,” Suzy said nodding her head. It was a list of grocery supplies she needed. Wyatt said AmazonFresh grocery was too risky. He didn’t want anyone unplanned coming to the house. He was sending one of his guys to get it.

  “I marked which items need to be brand name, otherwise, I don’t care which one they buy. Whatever’s available or on sale,” Suzy instructed.

  Wyatt cracked a grin, since they could obviously afford whatever she wanted from the store.

  “Are you sure you want to cook, honey?” Sam asked, rubbing her back. “You haven’t even been home for two days. You should take some time to relax and get back into the groove. There’s not rush, like ever, really. I could have food delivered, or we could hire someone to come in and cook. Your own personal chef!”

  “Oh, don’t be silly,” Suzy swatted his arm, and tilted her face to smile up at him. “I’m not injured and am perfectly capable of cooking. I sat around all day yesterday and it about killed me. I can’t just float around the house forever.”

  “It’s been a day,” Sam argued.

  “Yes and I can only handle so many hours of card games,” Suzy replied, eyes huge.

  “We could re-watch the Star Wars movies!” Sam countered, leaning forward excitedly.

  “How about we watch one a night, Sam,” Suzy grinned. “Not sure I could binge watch them, but I can manage a couple of hours a night.”

  “Oh, boy! Is popcorn on that list?” Sam asked.

  “I’ll add it,” Wyatt replied as he walked out of the room grinning and shaking his head.

  I stalked back into my office with some take out stir-fry from #1 Chop Suey. One of the biggest benefits of living in Chicago, was that there was international food everywhere. Pretty much anything I wanted, I could find. That, and good coffee.

  I opened my laptop and sat down, pulling the Kung Pao chicken and chopsticks out of the bag. I leaned back, crossing my ankles and resting my feet on the edge of my desk. I went back to www.insideonline.com to search the local papers for the fires. I plunked through the website, going back and forth between bites of chicken and peanuts.

  My talk to Rhodes had seemed like there had been several fires, but I only knew of 3. I looked for any other fires in the neighboring community. I couldn’t find anything on other building fires in the Inside-Booster, which was for Northside, and surrounding areas like Lincoln Park, but there was a dumpster fire outside a food pantry. It didn’t quite fit the M.O., but I wrote it down on a pad of paper.

  I checked the News-Star and Skyline, the other neighborhood papers on the website. I only found one other fire that had happened in Uptown, fairly close to Ravenswood. It was a continuing education facility for adults. They were teaching basic computer skills and home finance.

  I wondered if that was where the housing program recipients had been getting their education. When Sully brought it up, he didn’t mention that the education facility had been burned down as well. I wasn’t sure if that was an accident or not. Maybe he figured I knew. Or maybe he was fishing to see how much I knew, I wondered.

  I made a timeline of the dates and locations of the fires I knew about:

  April 17, dumpster fire outside of the food pantry, Edgewater (may be unrelated)

  May 3rd, continuing education facility, Uptown

  May 7th, preschool, Ravenswood

  May 10th, housing program, Roscoe

  May 12th, community center, Bricktown

  Today was the 15th, 3 days after the last fire. If the pattern was going to continue, and unfortunately I couldn’t see why it wouldn’t, we were due for another one. I dropped my feet to the floor and pulled out a map to mark out the locations of the fire. There wasn’t anything telling about them, but they were clustered around North Center.

  I tapped my chopsticks on the container, thinking, while I chewed. I looked back at the locations again and dated them. The locations were heading somewhat from North to South. It was a bit of a stretch, but something to watch.

  I set the map to the side and switched to a fresh page in my notepad. I was a paper and pencil kinda girl. I tried to use an online note program, but it just never stuck. I pulled up Dr. Millwood again. I tried searching a few other sites for information on his previous work, but still nothing. I pushed back from the laptop to think of other ways to find information on him. I had even tried the paid background information service with zero results. Maybe he was operating under a false name with a false license.

  I picked my Kung Pao back up and picked through it for the peanuts, they were my favorite. A little tricky with the chopsticks, but it gave me time to think.

  Setting the half empty container down once more, I grabbed my cell. It answered on the second ring.

  “Hello,” came the voice as slimy as I remembered it.

  “Hiya, Sugar,” I answered in my best phony voice. “It’s Moll. We met this morning at Arlington.”

  “Of course!” he replied excitedly. “I was hoping you’d call.”

  “Well aren’t you the sweetest!” I rolled my eyes even as my voice dripped with honey. “I was just thinking over our discussion and was hoping we could chat more about what you do. Could I meet you at your office? I’d love to see your facility and hear about your success stories! It’s always exciting to see a man at work.”

  “Well, I typically meet clients at the stables,” he hedged. “I have a very secure facility and
I have to protect my client’s information. You understand of course. How about we meet for lunch sometime?”

  “Sure, we could do that.” I allowed my disappointment to show. I was hoping to find his office, but maybe I could still get some answers. “I’m free tomorrow.”

  “Perfect! Are you near Arlington Heights?”

  “I live in Uptown, dear. But I can meet somewhere in between.”

  “How about the Shallots Bistro in Skokie at noon?”

  “Sounds lovely! I’ll see you then,” I replied hanging up the phone and resumed picking through my lunch. They never did give me enough peanuts.

  Meanwhile, in a heavily Oregano-scented Italian restaurant,

  “I’m telling you, Dad. Something happened,” Marco explained, pacing around the alley behind Mantovani’s. “You didn’t hear anything?”

  “No, nothing. What are you thinking?” Dom asked.

  “I’m not sure, really,” Marco thought. “You should have heard them. You could tell Uncle Peter had something over on Aunt Shelly for her to apologize like that. You would have had to hear it and see their body language. And then she announced she wasn’t going to be co-managing anymore either.”

  “Look who’s being observant,” Dom chuckled approvingly. “So, what else have you noticed?”

  “Well, we also had new help, Mal, for a few nights here and there. And now she’s quit and Shelly’s out.”

  “Okay.”

  “Mal was really friendly and did a decent job, but she also asked a lot of questions,” Marco continued and paused.

  “What else do you know?” his dad prodded gently.

  “Phil’s been irritable, Sally’s been stoic, but neither of those are new,” Marco bit his lip and tilted his head. “There was some tension with Uncle Peter. Cash was coming up missing. But I don’t really know how much.”

  “Really?” Dom perked up, listening intently from his personal home office.

  “Yeah, I thought someone was making mistakes, but Uncle Peter was getting pretty upset about it. Definitely not his typical friendliness.”

  “This was about the time that Mal started?” Dom asked.

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Marco said, light bulb clicking. “You don’t suppose he brought her in to find out what was going on?”

  “I think it’s a good possibility,” Dom offered. He was pretty proud his son was learning to watch and listen. It was a good trait for the Poggiali family, even if he didn’t want his son in the business in the same capacity. Marco had college and a chance at an honest life. Still, there were qualities that a man should have, he thought. Marco would do well for himself.

  “And then Aunt Shelly apologizing, the tension between them and leaving like that. I’d almost say that she had something to do with it.” Marco scratched his head.

  “Shelly, Shelly, Shelly,” Dom sighed, shaking his head. He had a sneaking suspicion what his sister was doing.

  “You know, Dad. I was actually kinda impressed with Uncle Peter,” Marco said, grinning “You shoulda seen him. He was in charge, you know? He pushed back and she crumbled! Uncle Peter’s growing some balls!”

  His dad chuckled. “Imagine! I never thought I’d see the day…..So, tell me about Mal. What do you know about her what does she look like?”

  I went home a little early, exhausting my research efforts. I had also spent a couple of hours trying to get my finances in order. It seemed like I never had time to get it all done. The bills kept coming in and I kept paying them, but I wasn’t really certain I could cover them all of the time. I tried to keep my work check book balanced, but it was always the last thing on my mind. Probably because it was my least favorite thing to do.

  Bills always wore me out, so I decided to sit out on my balcony for a few minutes with a cup of coffee. I locked my door behind me out of habit, chucked my shoes and walked into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. I poured water into my dead plant on the counter and walked out to the sliding door to wait for the coffee to perk.

  It was a beautiful day outside and I let myself sit for the first time in days without something to do. My brain was shot. I watched the clouds in the sky. I really loved Spring, but I loved coffee more.

  I couldn’t wait any longer, so I stole from the pot mid-brew and took a sip of the beautiful thing before I walked back outside. Letting out a major sigh, I felt my caffeine raise back to acceptable levels and relaxed a bit.

  I really should get a cat or dog to talk to when I get home, I thought. We always had one when I was younger. Most often it was a dog, but with an apartment, a cat would be easier. Then I thought about my ivy plant on the counter and decided it wasn’t that good of an idea anyway.

  I needed a new case. I know I was busy enough with Suzy’s case and I was still busy tracking down this fire, but I could really use another income coming in. It was my own fault, really. I wouldn’t take more money from Sam. It just didn’t feel right. I would have kept on the case regardless.

  Then, as I was looking up into the sky, I noticed an odd cloud, maybe a plume of smoke off to the south. It was darker than it should be, definitely smoke.

  Alarm spiked through me. Damn it! It’s another fire!

  I heard the fire alarms off in the distance, but was already on my feet. I shoved my feet into my boots and dumped my coffee into an insulated mug to take with me, grabbed my leather jacket and I was out the door.

  Chapter 13

  It was really hard to know where to turn. I was in my Jeep peering up through the windshield. I kept turning right and left to get closer to the source of the billowing black clouds. The wind kept blowing them around and it was hard to see where they were thickest.

  I finally heard more alarms and saw a few cop cars racing by several blocks in front of me. I flicked on my turn signal to follow. I wanted to follow along with them, but had to hold back for the lights.

  I banged the palm of my hand against the steering wheel in frustration before the light changed and I turned left in pursuit of the responding officers. I finally saw the fire trucks up ahead and cop cars blocking traffic. The heaviest smoke was coming from a brick building. The traffic was heavy, and I found a spot to park a block down a side road. I hurried back to the spot and slid in with the onlookers trying to blend in.

  I knew there wasn’t much I could do with the fire itself. The fire department and police department had responded. It wasn’t Station 56 and I didn’t see Rhodes. We were too far away from Bricktown anyway, but I surprised myself by checking. My goal was to look for clues outside of the fire. I was searching the crowd for interested parties, but I was also taking a page from Rhodes and looking for what was missing from the scene, if anything.

  It’s amazing how quickly a crowd will form at a scene of an accident or tragic event. Everyone wants to get a peek at the drama unfolding. Funny how no one seems to want to do anything about it, but they sure want to make sure they said they saw it. A few of them had their cell phones out videotaping as well. These people were particularly interesting to me. I slid along the back of the crowd, getting closer to a woman recording the events transpiring.

  “See, Darren? The fire is out of control!” the woman screamed into her smartphone. She was bouncing from foot to foot, eyes wide with horror and excitement.

  I passed by her and moved along, writing her off as a bored housewife. Several of the onlookers were simply transfixed, gasping as the firefighters came in and out of the building. They waved at smoke that was blowing our direction. A few of the police officers were telling the crowd to keep back.

  “Oh, man! This is just terrible! We just got the place set up and have taken several donations already,” a man said, towing the line set in place by the police. He was pulling at his hair and jumping around to see around the cops.

  Another guy had his phone in the air, too, but he was further out. He didn’t look as stressed, but he was definitely unhappy, bordering on angry. I edged closer to him, watching the fire. The firemen were running h
ose into the building.

  “Do you know if anyone’s inside,” I asked the stranger nonchalantly.

  He glanced over at me, while filming, grimaced and looked like he was going to ignore me. “No, I don’t think so. The place isn’t open today.”

  “What is the business?” I asked.

  “It’s a collection facility for a work program. People donate office wear and supplies. In this neighborhood, they’ve gotten good donations so far. I guess that’s all wasted now, though.” The guy started to open up a bit and put his phone away.

  “That’s terrible,” I replied. “Do you work with them?”

  “No, well not really,” the guy answered, sighing heavily. “I work for an insurance company. The one that’s insuring this place.” He gestured angrily at the building

  “Oh, that sucks,” I said, commiserating with him.

  “You don’t know the half of it. We’ve insured several of these community programs and are going to be shelling it out.” He said, shaking his head in anguish. “I’m not sure we’re going to be able to stay afloat.”

  “Any idea what happened?” I asked.

  “No, they’re under investigation,” he answered, eyeing me.

  “Well, good luck,” I nodded to him. He had shut down and wouldn’t say anything else. “Hope it all works out.”

  The man relaxed a bit as I stepped away and back a bit. I scanned the area again. The firemen were slowing down, the smoke was still coming out of the building, but much less than when I first came up. I saw the fire hoses being pulled back out of the building. They must have got it put out already. I was impressed by their timing.

  There was still a lot of activity, officials walking around, and equipment being put away. Lots of discussions between the firemen and the police officers was taking place.

  At the back of the crowd, to my far left, I noticed one guy step back from the crowd. He had a grim, determined look to him that seemed out of place. He was a tall, African American man in his early 40’s. His jeans and worn flannel shirt were a bit out of place in the neighborhood, the NW outskirts of Lincoln Park. He glanced back toward the officials, jaw ticking from grinding teeth. He gave a short shake to his head and stalked off, hands stuffed in his pockets.