Flashover

by T. Alan Codder

  “I haven’t done anything!” black coat guy complained.

  Eric began pulling on his leather gloves. “Anything sharp in your pockets I should know about?”

  “No sir.”

  Eric began patting him down but found nothing else.

  “You always carry a can of spray-paint around in the sleeve of your coat?” Eric asked.

  “No law against it, is there?”

  “Let me see some ID.”

  The man slowly reached into his back pocket as a crowd gathered to watch. He pulled out his wallet and extracted his driver’s license as Chips began to work the crowd, making sure everyone kept their distance in case this went sideways.

  Eric looked at the card then handed it to Sean. “So, Mr. Peltier, you planning on spray painting a few cars today?”

  “No sir.”

  “What’s with the spray can then?”

  “I just bought it.”

  “Where? It’s a long walk to the nearest Lowes or Home Depot.”

  Alexander Peltier said nothing and Eric looked to Sean. Sean handed the license back to Alex.

  “We’re keeping the paint, but I think it’s time for you to be somewhere else, don’t you?”

  “Yes sir, officer.”

  “Officer Caswell, escort Mr. Peltier to his car, or wherever he needs to go. He’s seen all he wants to today. Make sure we get his address in case someone turns up with a bright yellow spot on their car.”

  Eric nodded and took Peltier by the arm and began walking him down the middle of the street. Sean tossed the can up in a spin and caught it as he walked to the nearest trash can. He took a couple of pictures of it with his phone, just in case, then tossed the can into the trash. He waited as Maggie approached.

  “He was spray painting cars?”

  “I don’t think so since there was no paint on the nozzle, but he was definitely thinking about it. Hold the can upside down in your sleeve, back up to a car and,” Sean made a spraying sound as he pressed an imaginary spray can with his finger. “Nobody would even notice until you were gone.”

  “What a jerk!”

  “Welcome to my world,” Sean said with a humorless smile.

  “Why didn’t you arrest him?”

  “Not worth it. It’s not illegal to carry a paint can in your sleeve. Unless someone has paint on their car that matched what’s in the can, I couldn’t charge him with anything except intent.”

  “Good thing I’m not a police officer.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I would have wanted to beat him to death with that paint can. Vandalism pisses me off.”

  Sean chuckled. “Down girl.”

  She relaxed her thinned lips and blew out a puff of air. “I just don’t understand people like that. Theft I can understand. I don’t condone it, but I can understand it. I have something someone wants, so they steal it. But vandalism? They don’t want it, but they don’t want me to have it either?”

  “Yeah, I don’t get it either,” he said as he took her arm and started her walking again.

  They completed two more circuits of the show before they returned to Big Belly Deli for lunch. They were sitting at an umbrella covered table, enjoying bratwursts, cold drinks, and a shared basket of fries.

  Maggie yawned and leaned back in her chair. “Oof. You kept me up too late last night and got me up too early this morning,” she said as she popped the last fry into her mouth.

  He gave her a crooked smile. “I’d like to remind you that you’re the one who wanted me to put the car in the show and volunteered to come with me. I have to be here, you don’t. You could have stayed home and slept in.”

  “And miss getting to ride in the Jag and seeing you do your police thing? What fun would that be? At least it’s a nice day.”

  He nodded. It was forecast to only be in the middle eighties with scattered clouds. It was still a little too warm for his taste, but at least the humidity wasn’t a million percent.

  “Want to have dinner at Mangia tonight?”

  She smiled. Mangia was where they went on their first date, unofficial though it was. It was the best Italian place in town, and the only upscale restaurant.

  “That would be great! We can leave the Jag where it is and walk there.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. The only problem is, it’s Saturday. By the time I can leave, they’ll probably be getting busy.”

  “So, we might have to wait. I don’t think the wait—” She paused as Sean’s radio squawked.

  “Available units, available units. Fire requesting traffic assistance at 1101 Daylin Street, the North State Textiles building. Fire is responding,” Terri’s voice said over his radio.

  He stared at the radio sitting on the table for a moment, thinking. He, Fish, Chips, Will and Eric were providing security for Cars on Main. Will and Fish were blocking Main street while the rest of them were mingling in the crowd. They were all technically off-duty, and the on-duty officers would take the call, but he reached for the radio anyway, holding it as he debated with himself.

  He hadn’t been too concerned about the first fire, but after running off the vagrants and throwing out all the trash that could be used to start a fire, having another fire in the same location less than two weeks after the first made it clear to him this was no accident and no mere vagrant taking out his frustrations with the world.

  “I need to take this,” he said, bringing the radio to his lips. “McGhee responding. Fish, what’s your twenty?”

  “At my car, blocking Main on the north end of town.”

  “Can you get your car out?”

  “Yes.”

  “On my way. I need a ride to the fire. Caswell, can you cover for Fish?”

  “Moving now,” Eric replied.

  He gave Maggie a quick kiss. “I need to go.” He stood and dug the keys to the Jag out of his pocket and tossed them on the table. “In case I don’t get back in time.”

  “You think you’ll be gone three hours?”

  “Don’t know. Hope not, but just in case.” He gave her another quick kiss then turned and hurried toward Fish’s location.

  “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Fish asked as Sean approached.

  Fish had already moved his car from blocking the road and spread the barricades to fill the gap.

  “That this is no coincidence?” Sean asked over the roof as he opened the passenger door.

  “Yeah,” Fish replied as he settled into his car.

  Sean dropped into the cruiser and snapped the seatbelt. “Yeah. That’s what I’m thinking too.”

  Ten

  Fish didn’t run the siren, but his strobes were flashing as he hustled the car through town then braked to a hard stop behind Paul’s car. The firemen were still in the early stages of battling the fire, but even to Sean’s untrained eye, he could tell this was no small mattress fire.

  Both buildings were burning, smoke pouring from broken windows in two places on each building. The structures weren’t engulfed in flames, but he could see the flicker of a blaze through the windows. The BFD was already spraying water onto the buildings, the thick streams of high pressure liquid knocking out the remnants of broken windows.

  A couple of men were attacking the roof of the first building, their gas-powered saw howling as they cut ventilation holes. As they labored, the Tilley Volunteer Fire Department arrived. The truck was dropping hose as it worked its way around the patrol car blocking the road, its siren and horn blaring. Pete was still pointing and shouting, directing Tilley’s men, when Abbeyville arrived in their truck.

  “Looks bad,” Paul said as the freshly arrived firemen scrambled.

  “Yeah,” Sean agreed as Fish nodded.

  Sean felt a sinking in his stomach. He wasn’t a fireman, but it was clear from the rapid and purposeful movements of the fire fighters, the blaze was out of control, or the firemen were afraid it was going to get out of control.

  He heard a swoosh and smoke began pouring out of
the farther of the two buildings in another place. Unlike the first time, all the fires appeared to be on the second floor.

  As Tilley and Abbeyville added their efforts to bring the fires under control, two groups of men wearing respirators began dragging hoses into the two buildings.

  “Dammit!” Paul snarled before turning and dashing away, shouting and waving his arms as he ran.

  Sean turned to see Paul flagging a car to a stop, but not before it ran over one of the hoses supplying water to the trucks. Sean pursed his lips in annoyance, watching as Paul gave the driver a stern lecture.

  “People are so stupid,” Fish muttered. “Did he think we’re out here blocking traffic for our health?”

  Paul directed the car onto the side road so it wouldn’t run over any more hoses. Sean couldn’t hear what Paul was saying, but he could tell from his hand motions and body language he wasn’t putting up with any crap from the driver. As the car crept away, Paul watched until it made the turn before stomping back to join Sean and Fish.

  “What a dumbass!” Paul snarled as he stopped by his fellow officers. “He said he was trying to get to the interstate.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He didn’t think it would be a problem to run over the hoses because he runs over his garden hose all the time.”

  Both Sean and Fish rolled their eyes and looked at each other. It was hard, sometimes, to not be cynical about the long-term chances of the human race.

  After a few minutes, Sean turned to Fish. “Why don’t you go back to the Cars on Main. I want to stay and talk to Pete if I get a chance. I’ll get Paul or somebody to give me a ride back.”

  “You sure you don’t need me to stay?”

  “We’re not doing anything except standing around.” He nodded at the firemen as they battled the blaze. “They’re doing all the work.”

  Fish nodded. “Okay. Let us know if you need one of us to come pick you up.” He paused. “Can Maggie drive your Jag or is she going to need a ride home?”

  “She can drive the Jag.”

  “Trusting man,” Paul said with a grin. “If my wife were to try to drive a manual, I’d have to walk along behind the car picking up pieces of the transmission.”

  Fish smiled. “Yeah, same here. Of course, I’ve never driven a manual either, so I wouldn’t be much better.”

  “You can’t drive a manual?” Paul asked, staring at Fish with comically wide eyes. He held out his hand palm up. “Turn in your man card right now.”

  “She’ll be fine. Her Civic is a manual,” Sean said.

  “A woman who willingly drives a manual? You’d better marry her, chief, before someone else does.”

  Sean snickered. “I’ve only been dating her for a couple of months. Give me a break.”

  “Okay…” Paul said, drawing the word out in teasing caution. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Don’t you have some traffic to control or something?” Sean asked, his tone gruff but his eyes giving him away.

  Paul looked around. “Nope,” he said, then looked at Fish as he became serious. “I’ll make sure he gets back, and if she needs it, I’ll give Maggie a ride home. No point in you hanging around, Fish. It’s your day off. Enjoy it,” he finished, his tone turning mischievous.

  “Right,” Fish replied, drawing the word out.

  Laugh lines appeared around Paul’s eyes. “Hey, you volunteered for the OT.”

  Fish grinned. “Just you wait. When you start having kids, you’ll know why I did, too.” He looked at Sean. “I’ll let Maggie know where you are and what’s going on.”

  “Thanks.”

  He really did have a good group. They were more like family than coworkers and watched out for each other.

  It took nearly an hour for the combined fire departments to get the blaze under control, but not before part of the roof of the second building collapsed in a brilliant shower of sparks. Once the flames appeared to be out, the firemen seemed to relax slightly, but they still spent a long time spraying water.

  After another thirty minutes or so, the Tilley and Abbeyville crews began loading their equipment and hoses as they prepared to leave. Not long after, Sean saw Pete walking toward him so he moved to meet him half way.

  “I don’t suppose there’s any explanation other than arson?” Sean asked when they stopped midway between the fire trucks and the patrol car.

  “None. We had four blazes started in four different locations. They were smarter this time. The fires were on the second floor where it could get in the wooden rafters and there was obviously a lot of accelerant used, not just on the mattresses, but all around. Looks like all four fires went off about the same time, so whoever set them had to have used some kind of fuse.”

  “Fuse?”

  “Yeah. It doesn’t have to be anything sophisticated. A cigarette would be enough.” Pete looked back to the buildings. “We lost part of the roof on the second building, but we were able to save the rest.” He shook his head. “I thought we were going to lose the roof on the first building too. That old wood is dry as kindling. If Abbeyville and Tilley hadn’t shown up in support, we would have.”

  “Damn. Barns isn’t going to be happy about this.”

  Pete wiped at his face, smearing grime. “He should be damn glad he has any buildings left at all.”

  “Anybody hurt?”

  “No, not really. One of Tilley’s guys, Blaize, got in a little too close and got steamed when they first attacked the fire, but he’ll be okay.”

  “Blaize? Is that his real name?”

  Pete chuckled. “Swear to God. Matthew Blaize Gardner.”

  “Good name for a fireman, I guess.”

  “He’s a good kid. A little gung-ho, but a couple more times coming out looking like a lobster and he’ll learn.”

  “What are the chances of there being some evidence left?”

  Pete shook his head. “Almost none. We’re still working to make sure it doesn’t flair back up. We’ll be at that for a while yet, but if the structure is safe, you want to come back next week and take a look around?”

  Sean stared at the two buildings. They weren’t even smoking anymore. “If you’ll come with me and tell me what I’m looking at.”

  “I can do that. It’s obvious, now, someone meant to take the buildings down, or at least heavily damage them. I don’t know if it’s the same guy or not, but if it is, he upped his game in a big way.”

  Sean watched as weary firemen from Tilley and Abbeyville continued to load their trucks.

  “Okay, thanks. I’ll take you up on that. I’m ashamed to say I ignored this the first time. I shouldn’t have.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. You couldn’t have known. There was no way to know.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t think Barns is going to draw any comfort in that.”

  “Then you send him to me and I’ll explain it to him.”

  Sean gave Pete a crooked smile. “No, that’s okay, but thanks for the offer.”

  “I’m doing training next week, but we can do the walk through any time after lunch Thursday, assuming the building is safe of course.”

  “How about Friday morning, when it’s cooler?”

  Pete nodded. “That works for me. I’ll give you a call Friday morning and we can get in and take a look around.”

  “Thanks, Pete. I appreciate it. Thanks for talking to me.”

  “I saw you standing around and I figured that was why you were here.” Pete glanced over his shoulder. “I better get back. Call me if you need anything or if you want me to set Barns straight.”

  “Thanks, Pete. I will.”

  Sean walked back to Paul’s car and picked up the radio he’d left on the roof.

  “Dispatch. McGhee. As soon as you can shake someone loose, have them come to the North State Textiles building and get me.”

  “You got it, chief.”

  There was some radio chatter as Terri found out who was available and where they were located. Next year he w
as going to try to add car tracking to the PISTOL system. Then his dispatchers could tell at a glance where the officers were.

  “Hatcher is on his way,” Terri said.

  “Five minutes, chief,” Ed’s voice came over the radio.

  “No hurry,” Sean replied, then sat the radio back on the roof and waited for his ride.

  Good as his word, Edward Hatcher arrived five minutes later and Sean settled into the blessed coolness of his cruiser with a sigh.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem. Not how you expected to spend your day off I bet.”

  Sean shook his head and snorted. “No, it wasn’t.”

  Ed returned him to the Cars on Main and then went on his way.

  “Arson?” Fish asked as Sean approached.

  “No doubt about it.”

  “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

  “Because you have two brain cells to rub together? You seen Maggie?”

  “No, not since I told her you were going to be a little while. You want me to check and see if anyone has seen her?” Fish asked as he tipped his head to speak into his shoulder mic.

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll find her.”

  He wandered and finally found her talking to a couple as they stood beside his Jag.

  “Here’s the owner!” she said, her face lighting up as he approached.

  “Nice car,” the man said. “I had one, a long time ago. Mine was a seventy-five, though.”

  “The V12, then,” Sean said.

  The man nodded. “Yeah. What a nightmare that thing was.” He glanced at the Jag. “I always thought the Series 1s were the prettiest of the bunch.”

  Sean smiled and nodded as the man chatted him up, but this was why he didn’t like putting his car in the show. He really didn’t care how hard it was for the man to keep the four Zenith carburetors in sync or the problems caused by the spaghetti of plug wires.

  After several minutes, Sean finally excused himself, claiming he needed to keep moving.

  “Thank you!” Maggie gasped as she walked with him. “He was bending my ear for at least fifteen minutes before you showed up, asking all kinds of questions about the car that I didn’t know the answer to.”