Wrecker

by Dave Conifer

  On the way out of the building an hour later he stopped to see Joe Boone, a dispatcher who was just coming on duty. “It’s five o’clock, Joe. Quittin’ time for me. I’m heading home. Can you do me a favor?” He handed over a copy of his notes on the Havelocks. “Keep an eye out for anything that happens with these people tonight, will you? I have a hunch.”

  “Sure, Duane,” Joe said. He scanned the information on the paper. “Hold on. Creedmoor is local but the rest of it’s way the hell over by the shore. We can’t do anything over there.”

  “Yeah, I know,” he said with a shrug. “Just look for it anyway, okay? Like I said, I have a hunch. Call me at home if you see anything.”

  ~~~

  “We’ll watch the place overnight and keep out any looters but after that you’re on your own. You can call for board-up service tomorrow. Just look online or in the yellow pages. Give the fire department a call if you want to get anything out. They might let you go inside. It’s their call. Do you have a place to go?” was the last question that Police Detective Randy Elon asked her. Most of his questions were the same ones asked by Currituck. She tried to give the same answers she had earlier but she knew she was shading them based on prior reactions. Like the others, Elon melted away without saying goodbye when all the right forms had been filled out.

  The house still stood, although it was blackened and charred on the outside. The consensus among everybody she’d talked with was that it was a total loss and would be condemned, but that wouldn’t be decided for days. Maybe even weeks, depending on what stance the insurance company took. Neighbor after neighbor approached Jane and offered their homes as a temporary place for the family to live. Jane nodded graciously each time, hoping and praying that nobody would ask where Steve or Allie were. She was grateful for the offers but where she would sleep that night wasn’t on her mind. Now that the police were finally off her back and the firefighters still on the scene were working only on putting out the fire, finding her daughter and husband were back at the top of her priority list.

  ~~~

  It was hours before the firefighters were finished mopping up the scene. Nothing so much as smoldered by the time they rolled their hoses and packed their gear. Yellow tape was everywhere when they left, a reminder that the house and its immediate environs were off limits, even to Jane. She had no interest in going inside anyway. There was nothing in there that mattered to her at the moment. Until they started pulling out she’d been busy walking around the neighborhood looking for clues about where Steve and Allie might be.

  Now she looked at her husband’s Audi. It was coated with wet, black soot, so much that she could barely see its true silvery-blue color in the growing darkness. Sitting next to an abandoned house she feared that it would be an attractive target for thieves, but she could only drive one car and didn’t even have a key for this one. I’ll make sure it’s locked, at least. Something caught her eye inside the car as she yanked on a door handle, leading her to wipe at the oily film on the windows and peer inside.

  The streetlight cast just enough light that she was able to recognize his clothing. It was Steve, lying face down across the seat. His wrists and ankles were bound with rope and a strip of duct tape wrapped around his head and across his mouth. He was still, but she didn’t think he was dead. If he was already dead why would Creedmoor have gone to the trouble of tying him up? The doors were locked so she pounded on the glass. When that didn’t rouse him she kicked on the door itself. After the fourth or fifth kick he stirred. A few kicks later he tried to sit up, failed, and rolled onto his back.

  There was a lot of blood but she knew from his angry expression that he wasn’t hurt badly. With her own face pushed against the window she slapped at the glass until he recognized her. Somehow he twisted himself into a seated position. “Can you unlock it?” Jane shouted through the glass at him. He shook his head no.

  A few of the neighbors that were still outside looked over when they heard the shouts. It was best if they didn’t see the predicament her husband was in. She scanned the driveway for something heavy, settling on a clay planter full of dead begonias. Before anybody came any closer she bashed at the driver’s window with the planter after dumping its contents.

  The first time it bounced off the window, nearly flying out of her hands. She concentrated her strength on the next blow, causing the window to break into a spider web of cracks. After that it took only some gentle pushes to knock the glass out of the way. She reached in to unlock the doors and disappeared into the back seat.

  “Are you hurt?” she asked as she pulled the door closed behind her. For the first time she saw the bloody gash across the hairline above his right eye that had been the source of the blood that was streaked across his face and neck. “What happened?” He groaned as she peeled the tape from his face and hair.

  “Where’s Allie?” he asked, his words hard to understand because his mouth was so dry. “Did he get Allie?”

  “Yeah. I think so. Did he do this to you?”

  “Did you call the police?” he asked wearily, without answering her question.

  “We can’t. Creedmoor called me and told me not to. I don’t know what to do. It looks like he tried to burn the house down.”

  “I thought I smelled smoke. That’s our house?”

  “Was our house. What do we do about Allie? He’s crazy, Steve. Do you remember what I told you about who he is? I’m afraid he’s out for revenge. I’m so scared.”

  “Untie me, okay? Revenge for what?”

  She fingered the knots in the rope around his wrists, looking for an opening. “He blames you for the accident that killed his wife and daughter. He said if he hadn’t been busy fighting you off he’d have gone up to Maine with them and the accident would never have happened. He said you lied about what happened on the project.”

  “He said all that? I’ve never heard any of this. So it really is him?”

  “It is. Did you lie about the project?”

  “Of course. It was either him or me. I chose me.”

  After she’d loosened the knot she pulled the end through, releasing his wrists. As he flexed and shook them she moved on to the rope around his ankles.

  “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him,” Steve said. “He had me fooled with the caveman act.”

  “I was always suspicious,” Jane said. “I knew something was off. The way he slipped in and out of it. What are we going to do? Damn!” she yelled before jamming a finger into her mouth. “I broke my nail.”

  “We have to tell the police,” Steve said firmly.

  “No. He’ll know right away,” she protested. “And he’ll do something to her. I just know it. He’s always one step ahead.”

  “What else can we do?” Steve asked. “We don’t even know where he went. Do you really think we should try to handle this ourselves? We don’t have a clue about what to do.”

  “You don’t know him like I know him,” Jane replied. “I think he’s been planning this for years. We have to do what he says, at least for now. He said he’d call in a few hours. That was a while ago. Let’s give him a few minutes.”

  “Ten minutes. No more,” he said. “You’re bleeding.” He took her forearm and wiped at the dots of blood with his shirt. The glass in the wounds made it sting but his touch felt good anyway.

  “Wait a second! My phone’s in my car,” Jane suddenly said. “He might be trying to call already. We should go.”

  “I want to look at the house first,” he answered as he reached for the door handle.

  “No! Nobody knows you’re here. Right now they think it was just a fire. If they see you were attacked they’ll start talking and then the police will be back asking all kinds of questions!” They both turned and looked back at the street. It was impossible to recognize anybody in the dusk but the neighbors were still there.

  “Do you have the key to this car with you?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said after patting down his pockets. He fis
hed it out and handed them over.

  “Get back onto the floor and hide. I’ll drive. We need to get away from anybody who’s watching us.” Without waiting for an answer she climbed into the front seat after using her pocketbook to brush away some of the broken glass that glistened on the leather upholstery. She backed the Audi out of the driveway and made one quick stop at her car, which she locked after grabbing her day bag and phone. Neighbors tried their best to see into the Audi but when it was clear that Jane wasn’t going to slow down they stepped out of the way and let them pass.

  ~~~

  The driving was difficult because the windows were so streaked with ash. Steve, his face still layered with blood, stayed in the back seat. When they’d left the neighborhood Jane got out of the car and wiped the rear window with her already-blackened hands. “We should have gone in the house for some clothes,” she said wistfully.

  “Where are we going?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m just driving. He’ll call.”

  “What about Allie?” Steve demanded. “We have to go to the police. We’re taking a chance with every second we wait.”

  Jane looked at the clock. “It’s nine-twenty. Let’s wait until ten o’clock. If we haven’t heard from him by then we’ll report it. But I know we will. He’s had a plan all along and tonight’s no different. He’ll call.”

  “That’s forty minutes! And if we tell the police beforehand maybe they could trace the call,” he insisted.

  “You have to trust me,” Jane replied calmly. “I know him better than you.” She pulled into the corner of a supermarket parking lot and killed the engine. After examining her phone she placed it carefully on the dashboard. “So what happened when we were talking this afternoon and then you were gone? Tell me every little detail. Maybe it’ll help us guess what he’ll do next.”

  Steve stared at her, as though considering her request, then spoke. “Okay, right when you called—“

  “Wait. Start before that. Start when he first came.”

  “Okay. Allie and I were in the kitchen when the doorbell rings. I look out the window and see him. I’m like ‘holy shit, it’s the caveman.’ I go open the door and he’s standing there with poles, paintbrushes and a shitload of paint. Must have been twenty cans,” he said. “And not just little cans. Big five gallon buckets, like the ones that sheetrock mud comes in. Way too much paint but I didn’t say anything.”

  “That explains where the gas came from,” Jane interrupted. “He must have had it in the paint cans. They said the fire was started with gasoline in the basement.”

  “I don’t know how he got it there without his truck.”

  “But it turned out he had his truck, right?” Jane asked. “Didn’t you say you saw it way up the street?”

  He pulled his shirt up and tried to rub some of the dried blood from his face with it. “Yeah. I forgot about that.”

  “You told me on the phone. So he brings the gas onto the porch and then parks his truck out of sight,” Jane summarized. “That tells us that he had this all planned. See what I mean? So what’s next?”

  “He doesn’t say much. Neither did I. He grabs a can and some rollers and heads down the hall. The rest of it stays on the porch, I guess. I heard furniture being moved so I figure he’s painting, just like he said. What else would he be doing?”

  “How did the gas get down into the basement?” Jane asked.

  “I don’t know,” Steve admitted. “I wasn’t really keeping close tabs on him.”

  “Where was Allie?”

  “I was on my computer for a while looking at jobs on Dice,” he said. “I thought she was in the living room but then I heard her in with the caveman. You never told me they’re such good friends,” he said.

  “Yes I did.”

  “I don’t like her being alone with him, so I shooed her out. She ended up going outside and playing in the sandbox. I looked out once in a while. That’s about when you called.”

  “And she was still in the sandbox?” Jane asked.

  “I thought so. But when I looked again she was gone. I swear I’d just checked on her a minute before. That’s when I looked way up the street and saw his truck. I was about to run out the front door when he came in,” he said.

  “And he belted you?”

  “Yeah. With a paint can.” He paused. “I wonder why the neighbors didn’t see anything.”

  “He was careful. All they saw was the handyman carrying a can of paint into the house. What next?”

  “Next? You woke me up in the car. That’s the next thing I remember.”

  “Interesting,” Jane said. “I guess he left Allie in the truck while all this was going on. He needs her trust. If she saw him go after you she wouldn’t trust him anymore. Or else he didn’t have her yet. Did you smell smoke at any point?”

  “No,” he answered. “I guess he did that later.”

  “Couldn’t have been too much later,” Jane pointed out. “I was there not long after that and it was burning pretty good.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” he conceded.

  “Here’s something I don’t get,” she said. “The fire chief told me that the first 911 call for the fire came from my phone. From my phone! I never called! I didn’t even know about the fire until I got there. I’ve never called 911 in my life.”

  “Weird,” Steve agreed.

  “Creedmoor made that call. I’m sure of it,” Jane said. “I just don’t know how.”

  “I can’t believe that dumb bastard pulled this off,” Steve said, shaking his head. “He’ll fuck up. Just give him time.”

  “We don’t have time for you to learn this on the job. You’ve got to get it through your head, Steve. He’s very smart. We’ll never track him down if we don’t keep that in mind.”

  “The police will if we just tell them.”

  She glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard. “It won’t be long before they get their chance unless we get a call. Until then it’s on us.”

  Chapter 19

  Rockingham had just settled into his favorite chair and found the Red Sox game on cable when the phone rang. “Duane, it’s me. Joe. Hey, how’d you know something would happen to that family?”

  Rockingham winced as he switched the game off with the remote. His grip tightened on the receiver of the phone, one of the few corded ones still around. “Damn,” he said. “What happened?”

  “You’re not going to believe this. Their house burned down. It just came across in the last hour. Probable arson, they think.”

  “Arson?” Rockingham asked. “What time did this happen?”

  “Late afternoon, around four. It’s probably all buttoned up by now.”

  “Well what do you know? I should have stayed with her. Anybody hurt?”

  “Nothing in the report about that,” Boone answered. “The report says the house was empty. It started with a butt load of gas. Gasoline, I mean. In the basement.”

  “But nobody was hurt? You’re sure about that?”

  “I’m sure that’s what’s on the wire. I can see why they think it’s arson, with the gas in the basement. Did they seem like the kind of people that would burn their house down for insurance money?”

  “I don’t think they did it. It was probably Creedmoor.”

  The sound of crackling paper rippled through the phone line. “That’s the other name you gave me.”

  “Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on between him and the Havelocks but I think he did this.” Why he did it was another matter, Rockingham thought but didn’t say. Why would he do it? What am I not seeing?

  “You okay, Duane? You had a feeling about this.”

  “Yeah,” Rockingham said. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think I’ll take a ride down there. Unofficial, of course. Thanks, Joe.”

  ~~~

  There was nothing left to say and nothing to do but wait. Steve carefully shifted his position so he could see the clock without having to move his aching body. Jane knew Steve hoped the de
adline would expire uneventfully so he could bring the police in. She felt differently because she feared that Creedmoor would be even more unpredictable if he knew the police were involved. A deal was a deal, however. Unless something happened in the next few minutes they were going to call the police.

  ~~~

  Rockingham was glad he’d put on his uniform before leaving for Sandy Point. There were people out on the street in front of what was left of the Havelock house. They were probably neighbors, and the last thing he wanted to look like was a looter. With any luck they wouldn’t get a good enough look at the cruiser in the darkness to know that he was out of his jurisdiction. He recognized Jane’s Toyota on the street. Didn’t Boone say nobody was home? The car looked to be okay after he aimed his spotlight on it. That attracted the attention of the people milling around on the street, who looked over but kept their distance. He stepped out of the cruiser and checked the Toyota again with a flashlight. Then, with authority derived from the uniform, he lifted the yellow tape high enough to squat under it and walked up to the house.

  The fire was cold but he could still smell the gas. The vinyl siding was blackened and melted in areas that the flames had reached but he’d seen worse. It wouldn’t matter in the end, he knew. It was clearly a total loss. As he flicked his flashlight around the house and yard he wondered why he had bothered to come out. So far nothing he’d seen conflicted with anything that Boone told him over the phone. He looked back at the neighbors, who were huddled close together and watching him closely. Maybe somebody had seen something. Or somebody. There was only one way to find out.

  ~~~

  “Steve and Allie were home, but not Jane,” the first woman told him. “I live two doors down.”

  He almost asked for her name but it was an unofficial visit and he didn’t want to push his luck. “Allie’s the daughter, right? She’s four?”

  “That’s right. Cute as a little button.”