Flashover

by T. Alan Codder

  Pete took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I guess.”

  “If you have questions, that’s fine, go ahead and ask them, but don’t lead him. Make him tell you what he did.” Sean opened the door and they stepped in. “Ricky, this is Fire Chief Peter Turney. Tell him how you started the fires.”

  “The first or second t-t-time?”

  “First,” Pete said.

  Ricky shrugged. “I p-p-propped a mattress against the wall and p-poured some g-gasoline on it like he said. I struck a match, lit the rest of the b-book, held it to the mattress, and when it started to burn, I left.”

  Sean looked at Pete who nodded.

  “And the second time?” Pete asked.

  “The guy who wanted me to b-b-burn down his buildings was really p-pissed off and t-t-t-told me I had to do it again or he was going to t-turn me in for setting the first fire. He told me exactly how he wanted me t-t-to d-do it.”

  “What did you do?” Pete asked.

  Ricky clicked a moment as he watched Pete. “He gave me four c-c-cans of g-gas and told me to do it again, but this time to splash the gas all around and up on the walls. Oh, and to d-do it on the second floor. He said to find a rag and soak it in gasoline.” Ricky continued to twitch and click as he spoke. “He said to soak the mattress g-good, and to do at least two in each b-b-building. He said that once I g-got the mattresses soaked and the g-gas spread around, to light a cigarette and lay it on a book of matches. The matches would catch the rag on fire and the rag would start the mattress.”

  Again Sean looked at Pete. Pete bobbed his head with a half-shrug.

  “Who helped you?” Sean asked.

  “Nobody.”

  “Where’d you get the mattresses? We cleaned the building out.”

  “I found them.”

  “Where?”

  “Lying around.”

  “And you moved them by yourself?”

  “Yeah. I d-dragged them there myself. It was hard, b-but I wanted the money.”

  “How much did he pay you?”

  “He offered me a thousand d-dollars. Two hundred up front and he said he’d p-pay me the rest after the b-buildings b-b-burned if I didn’t t-talk.”

  “When did you talk to him?”

  Ricky twitched and clicked a moment before answering. “I d-don’t remember. I swear!” he cried when Sean glared at him. “It was a week or t-two before I set the first fire. I was just going to k-keep the money he g-gave me and not do it, but I saw him prowling around in his t-t-truck, like he was looking for me.”

  “What kind of truck?”

  Clicks shrugged, his head and face twisting. “Just a truck. White. A Chevy I think.”

  “Any markings on the truck? Get a license number?”

  “No. Why would I?”

  “What did the guy look like?”

  “I d-don’t know.”

  Sean stared at him but said nothing.

  “I swear!”

  “He paid you the money but you don’t know what he looks like? What did he do, mail it to you?”

  Clicks twitched and clucked before answering, but not as severely as before. Stress obviously made his spasms worse.

  “He was wearing sun glasses and a b-b-ball cap. He was kind of thin and I d-didn’t see any hair.”

  “How old was he?”

  “Fuck, I d-d-don’t know! He wasn’t old, but he wasn’t a k-kid either.”

  “Would you say he was closer to Chief Turney’s age or mine?” Sean asked, jerking a thumb toward Pete.

  “You.”

  Sean looked at Pete. “You have any more questions?”

  “How big were the gas cans?”

  Ricky shrugged, or twitched, Sean wasn’t sure. “Regular g-g-gas cans, like for a lawn mower.”

  “Around two gallons each?”

  “I g-guess.”

  “A standard mower can is two, two and a half gallons. That’s plenty of gas for the size of the fire.”

  “What did you do with the cans?” Sean asked, hoping they could get some prints off them.

  “I threw them in a dumpster like he t-told me.”

  Sean grimaced. By the time they found them at the dump, anything useful on them would probably be corrupted. He stared at Pete a moment, thinking.

  “You have anything else?”

  “No.”

  “Did his story sound right?”

  “Yeah. It matches what we can tell from the fire.”

  He looked back at Ricky. “Okay. We’re going to turn you loose in a few minutes. If you see this guy again, don’t tell him you talked to us.”

  “You’re not g-going to arrest me?”

  “Did you lie to us?”

  “N-No.”

  “Then no, I’m not going to arrest you. Wait here.” Sean motioned to the door and followed Pete out. “Thanks for coming down. I’m going to let this guy go, at least for now.”

  “You really think Barns did it? Why would he send an inspector out if he wanted to burn the place down? I don’t think any insurance company in the world would question paying up, especially with the roof collapsed on the second building.”

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? Barns seems smarter than to tell the guy his name, and he’s not exactly thin, either. There’s more going on here, something we don’t know, but I’m going to try to find out.”

  Pete shook his head. “I would have never pegged it being Barns.” He looked at Sean and grinned. “I see the Locoste thing wasn’t a fluke.”

  Sean’s lips thinned. “Let’s not have a victory party yet. I need something more than the word of a homeless guy.”

  Pete snorted and shook his head. “Good luck.”

  Sean left Ricky in the interrogation room under Will’s supervision while he continued to dig around on the Dynamic Properties website and the internet, but he couldn’t find a good picture of Barns. Like most websites, the photos of the smiling, busy people were probably all stock photos of models.

  Growling in frustration, Sean returned to the room that held Ricky.

  “You said the guy’s name was Wally Barns?”

  Ricky nodded.

  “Not Wallace?”

  Ricky clicked and shrugged. “Wallace, Wally, something like that.”

  “Did he say anything else?”

  Rick stared. “No. He said he owned the b-b-buildings and wanted to b-burn them down for the insurance money.”

  Sean’s eyes narrowed. “He told you that?”

  “Yeah. He said he was the owner of D-D-Diamond Properties, that he owned the b-buildings, and that he’d changed his mind about some p-project and wanted the insurance money.”

  Sean could tell Ricky believed what he was saying, but it bothered him that Wallace told Ricky his name. If Ricky got caught there was the risk of being identified, which is exactly what happened. He also was suspicious that he’d given his name as Wally instead of Wallace and Diamond Properties instead of Dynamic Properties, but he could chalk that up to Ricky’s addled memory. He looked at Will.

  “Get him out of here.”

  “Chief, can I talk to you a minute?” The two officers stepped outside the room and closed the door. “You don’t want to hold him on arson?”

  “No. I don’t want Barns to know he’s been named. If we arrest him and Barns finds out, he’ll start covering his tracks, if he hasn’t already.”

  Will looked at Sean a moment. “You’re going after Barns?”

  “Yeah. Clicks is just the tool. I want the man who was using the tool. If he tries to claim the insurance we can get him on fraud, and if he doesn’t, at the very least he can reimburse the city for the expense of fighting the fire.”

  “Good enough.” Will opened the door and stepped into the room before taking Ricky by the arm. “Come on, Clicks. Let’s take a little ride.”

  As Donner led Clicks away, Sean turned for the supply closet to retrieve the disinfecting wipes and air freshener.

  Seventeen


  Sean was on his way to Raleigh to meet with Barns when his cell rang, the phones ringtone sounding through the car’s sound system.

  He’d contacted Barns yesterday before leaving for the day and arranged a meeting to talk to him about the arson. He could have done it over the phone, but he wanted to watch Barns’ body language as he answered his questions. Wallace seemed anxious to meet with him, and that was yet another piece of the puzzle that seemed at odds with what Ricky told him.

  He pressed the button on the car’s dash to accept the call. “Sean.”

  “Sean, Rudy. You got a minute?”

  “Go ahead, mayor.”

  “I heard from Hud last night. The Tilley city council approved Brunswick taking over the policing of their town. They balked at some of your recommendations, mostly the number of men you requested, but I told them that was the deal, take it or leave it. They took it.”

  “So, what does that mean?”

  “You tell me. When can you start the patrols?”

  “It depends. I can begin interviewing for—”

  “That won’t work. The entire Tilley police force quit last night in protest.”

  “Oh,” Sean grunted. “I guess that means we can start right away. But you remember what I said, that we don’t have enough officers to effectively patrol Brunswick and Tilley.”

  “I remember. Tilley wasn’t being effectively patrolled before. Just do the best you can until you can get more officers hired. After their officers quit, I told Hud we’d bill by the hour until you can staff up.”

  Sean sighed. “As soon as I get back, I’ll start the process of switching their 9-1-1 to our call center. Until that happens, if they need help, they’ll have to call our main number. Can you take charge of making sure they know that? You know this puts a lot of pressure on us, right?”

  “I know. I’m sorry. Hud tried to keep Cooper and his officers on for a couple more months, but they wouldn’t have it. I guess I can’t say I blame them.”

  Sean nodded to himself. He knew how he’d feel if he were in Coop’s shoes, but he’d have probably stuck around long enough to find another job.

  “No, I suppose not. I’ll call Claire and have her pass the word to the officers that we’re taking over patrolling Tilley, effective immediately. We’re going to need overtime, Rudy, and in a big way.”

  “I know it’s going to be tough for a while. Do what you have to.”

  “I’m not going to burn my men out. Overtime will be strictly voluntary, agreed?”

  “It’s your call. I’ll back whatever you decide.”

  “Okay. I need to make a few phone calls.”

  “Thanks, Sean. I’m sorry about this. I didn’t mean to put you in a bind.”

  “We’ll make it work, somehow. No matter what, the changeover was going to be ugly. I guess we might as well get it done quick and early. See if Tilley will forward me their officer’s personnel files. I’ll look them over. Maybe we can pick up their officers and cars. If we can, they’ll be no worse off than they were. Also, I’d like to talk to the people and explain how this is all going to work so they know what to expect.”

  “I’ll have to find out if they can legally do that, but if they can, I’ll try to get a copy of the file for any officer that’s interested in joining the BPD. I’ll also talk to Hud about setting up a meeting for you. Anything else?”

  “Probably a million things, but I’m on the road to Raleigh right now. I’m paying a visit to Wallace Barns.”

  “For what?”

  “Yesterday we caught the guy who set the fires. He said Barns paid him to do it.”

  There was a long silence. “Do you believe him?” Rudy asked, his voice soft.

  “Yes, but some of what he said doesn’t make any sense. That’s why I want to talk to Barns.”

  “If he did it, that will cause a lot of… problems.”

  Sean smiled to himself at Rudy’s delicate wording. “He’s allowed to burn down his buildings if he wants to. Nothing illegal about that, unless he tries to claim it on his insurance.”

  There was another long silence and Sean could imagine Rudy sweating, then Rudy sighed.

  “Just when I thought we were getting somewhere. Between what happened with Steve, and now this, we can’t seem to catch a break.”

  Sean smiled. “Hang in there, mayor. I’m pretty sure there’s more to this than Barns hiring a guy to burn down his building. That’s why I want to talk to him.”

  “Yeah, okay. Keep me in the loop on this.”

  “You got it.”

  As Sean drove he turned over in his mind the hundreds of things that had to be done to begin patrolling Tilley, and all the ways it could go wrong. He knew as soon as Rudy talked to him about the idea there was going to be some pain during the changeover. The Tilley PD really screwed him over by quitting like they did, which was probably what they intended when they did it. They were justifiably upset they were being tossed out of a job for a contractor, but they’d really put the citizens of Tilley on the spot.

  Wayne Cooper seemed like a good guy, but he didn’t want him in his department. Divided loyalties were never a good thing. The other officers, however, might be a different matter. Once the shock and surprise of finding out they were losing their jobs wore off, and their mortgage payments came due, they might decide the BPD wasn’t such a bad place to work after all. They might even keep their old desk as a satellite office.

  He pulled into the parking lot of Dynamic Properties but continued to sit in his car, engine running for the air conditioning, as he dialed the station’s main number.

  “Brunswick Police Department, how may I help you?” Claire asked.

  “Claire, Sean. We have a situation. I need you to pass the word to all on duty personnel that we’re taking over patrolling Tilley, effective immediately. Make sure the word gets passed along to everyone coming on shift. The mayor is working on letting Tilley know that until I get their 9-1-1 switched over to our call center, they’ll have to call our main number, so keep an eye on that.”

  “I’ll let everyone know. So, they approved it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why can’t Tilley continue to patrol until we’re ready to take over?”

  He snorted. “They all quit last night in protest of losing their jobs.”

  “Oh.” She paused. “This is going to be a big ol’ mess.”

  “Yeah. Can’t be helped though. Have the patrols start making regular sweeps though Tilley until we can sort out how we’re going to handle this, but Claire, if we get pinched, Brunswick gets priority.”

  “Understood.”

  “Call me if you need me.”

  “Will do.”

  He hung up, and after taking a deep breath to focus his mind on the current task, switched his car off and stepped into the heat.

  The Dynamic Properties building was an unremarkable building in an office park full of equally unremarkable buildings of similar style. Sean stepped into a pleasantly cool office with grey carpets, inoffensive cream paint, and beauty shots of various buildings.

  “Welcome to Dynamic Properties. May I help you?”

  Sean smiled at the perky young brunette behind the half-circle wooden desk. Her hair was cut fashionably short and she had a telephone headset perched on top of her head. She appeared to be comfortably dressed in a light blue Polo shirt with the Dynamic Properties logo on the left breast, a large red D with the bowl of a white P tucked inside.

  “Sean McGhee. I have an appointment with Wallace Barns.”

  “Yes, sir, Mr. McGhee. Please have a seat and I’ll let Mr. Barns know you’re here.”

  Sean sat down and hadn’t even gotten comfortable before Barns appeared.

  “Chief McGhee. Come on back.”

  Wallace led Sean deeper into the Dynamic Properties offices. He passed rooms of busy people sitting at computers or talking on phones.

  “Quite an operation you have here,” Sean observed.

  Walla
ce smiled. “We’re growing. We manage thirty-two apartment complexes around the Raleigh, Durham area, nineteen of which we own.” He shepherded Sean into his large office. “We started out as a management company, then about ten years ago we started buying distressed complexes and renovating them. Now we’re moving into development. The Mills at Brunswick is going to be our flagship development.”

  Sean nodded as he glanced around Barns’ office. Wallace’s office was large, and nicely decorated, but it wasn’t lavish, with the same high grade but commercial carpeting that was in the rest of his offices. His desk was a chrome and glass affair that was spartan and wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi movie. He smiled to himself, finding it funny that he thought of it in those terms. Maggie was rubbing off on him.

  He sat down in one of the two cream guest chairs as Barns settled behind his desk.

  “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Wallace asked as he leaned back in his matching cream, high backed chair, swiveling and rocking slowly.

  “I found the guy who set fire to your buildings. It was the same guy both times.”

  “That’s great news! Did he say why? Did you arrest him?”

  “No, and no. There’s a problem.”

  “What?”

  “He said you hired him to burn the buildings down.”

  “What?” Wallace exclaimed, his swiveling stopping as he lurched forward in his chair, his eyes opened wide. “I did no such thing! Why would I do that?”

  “He claimed it was for insurance fraud.”

  Barns went slightly pale. “You’ve got to be shitting me. Do you believe him?”

  “No, not really. That’s why I’m here. I have a few questions.”

  “Do I need my lawyer?”

  Sean smiled. “No. It’s not illegal to burn your own property and something’s not right about this guy’s story. He believes it, but parts of it don’t make sense. Can you account for your whereabouts around the time the buildings burned? Were you out of town immediately before? Anything like that?”

  “I’m not sure I should answer that,” Barns said slowly.

  “Mr. Barns, I’m not trying to trap you. I haven’t read you your rights or placed you into custody. I’m out of my judication anyway, so anything you tell me would be your word against mine. As I said, you’ve done nothing illegal as far as I know, even if you did hire this guy to burn down your buildings. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of what’s going on.”