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“We think it was deliberate.” Rowley dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “The wires have no signs of fire damage; everything is outside the outlet.”
Jenna wondered why Rowley was divulging intricacies of the case with Atohi and raised her eyebrows at him in question. “Ah… we’ll wait for the fire chief’s report before we speculate.”
“I see that discussing the case with me is of concern, Jenna.” Atohi smiled at her. “I’ve worked with law enforcement all over, for some years now. I understand what we discuss never leaves the department. You can trust me. My only interest here is solving a possible crime… and I believe I have valuable knowledge to contribute.” He met her gaze. “I know fire. I’ve lived surrounded by the forest all my life. Knowing how fire moves is part of survival. If you have doubts an electrical fault caused this fire, then someone committed murder.”
Jenna caught Rowley’s nod of approval and leaned closer to Atohi, but she doubted anyone had overheard them. “I believe Carol was dead before the fire started, and from what I can see, whoever killed her used an accelerant to spread the fire. The fire chief says it’s an open-and-shut case of an electrical fault.” She gave him her suspicion of the use of the accelerant and the fire pattern.
“So, someone struck and killed her and then set the scene to make it look like an accident.” Atohi stroked his chin and thought for some moments. “And yet you didn’t smell gasoline?”
“Nope.” Rowley shook his head. “And I got down close to the carpet and took samples.”
“Can I go, see?” Atohi leaned back in his chair. “If the accelerant was poured from a can like this”—he leaned forward and poured salt into his hand and allowed it to pour from his palm onto the tablecloth—“it splashes some and the fire would jump in spot fires to the splashes. The fumes alone would ignite the splashes. If someone squirted it, like from a bottle of lighter fuel or rubbing alcohol, it would be in a thin line enough to ignite but more controlled.” He collected all the salt from the table and dropped it onto a plate. “That would make it less likely for them to catch their clothes on fire when lighting the accelerant too.” He stared at Jenna. “Both scenarios are dangerous. It would be drop a match and run. Not bend down and ignite the fuel with a lighter.”
Jenna nodded. “Okay, when we’re finished up here. Come and take a look. I’d value your opinion. Not that any of our opinions will matter. There will be no case to answer if the fire chief rules it as an electrical fault. I’ll have to go over his head and hope the medical examiner from Helena agrees to oversee the case.” She sipped her coffee and sighed. “We need our own medical examiner in town. I wonder how many crimes have occurred here and been overlooked because of lack of a forensic team.”
“Many.” Atohi let out a long sigh. “Hunters find bones, and before you arrived, all were assumed to be ancient burial sites.” He snorted. “We know where our people are buried but no one asks us. The sheriffs before you believed they knew best. I know you’re different, Jenna. I can see the warrior spirit in your eyes. You’ll fight for the truth.”
After finishing their meal, they went back to Carol Dean’s gutted apartment. Below in the hardware store, the owner had a team of people loading stock into trucks. From what she could see, the damage to the store was substantial. It had water damage and the owner would need to replace part of the ceiling. She spoke briefly with him and discovered he’d be moving to a vacant store he owned opposite the real estate office on Main. The disruption to his business would only be a day or so. The current building, he’d already made plans to sell to a company wanting to build an outdoors store. She blinked. For a sleepy town, things sure moved fast in Black Rock Falls.
She leaned against the wall
as Atohi examined the fire pattern across the floor, and when he remarked at a tiny patch of soot, she bent to look closer. “What do you see?”
“When a match burns fast, it curls.” Atohi pointed to a tiny patch of soot. “That would be carbon from a matchstick. I believe they used alcohol. They squirted it from the victim to the lamp, the lamp to the outlet, then the person soaked the body and made a trail from the body to the door. They threw in a match, using the front door for protection. Alcohol burns cleaner than gasoline, so it would be easily missed. There’s no smell once it’s ignited. There wouldn’t have been much initial smoke and the killer had time to walk away before anyone noticed. Another thing is, see how the newspapers are stacked close to where the body lay? He likely soaked them as well. See how small pieces of newsprint are over the floor like ash?”
Jenna pulled out her phone and took pictures of everything and then carefully gathered samples. “All this could be evidence in a murder case, but the main suspect was in Aunt Betty’s Café at the time of the fire.”
“He had time to get there before anyone noticed the fire. You’ll need a professional to prove it. Maybe call in a fire expert from another town.” Atohi’s brow wrinkled and he turned to look at the lamp. “Hmm, even more evidence. The lamp switch is in the off position. It was daytime. Why would the victim need a light on? So how could the outlet cause a fire?”
“I’ll take photographs of the lamp.” Rowley grinned at Jenna. “Didn’t I tell you Atohi would help us?”
Allowing all Atohi’s amazing observations to filter through her mind, Jenna nodded. “Yeah, you sure did.” She smiled at Atohi. “I appreciate your observations. If I can get a medical examiner’s team from Helena, they’ll do a forensics sweep. I’m convinced this was a homicide.”
Twenty-Four
It had been a long day of chasing shadows. The most compelling evidence was seeing Errol Dean standing on the corner staring up at the apartment. He’d stopped Jenna on the way to the cruiser and demanded to know what had happened to his wife. It was a ploy she’d seen before from a guilty man. Many returned to the scene of the crime to relive the moment. Jenna ignored his questions, saying she had no information to give him and was waiting on a report from the fire chief, which was true. The fact she had evidence to prove a homicide played on her mind. She made a call to the DA. The man was reasonable and listened to what she had to say: “I’d like you to wait until I can at least get a reply from the Helena medical examiner’s office. They’ll be looking at the evidence I’ve forwarded them and then deciding if they want to be involved.”
“The fire chief is usually the go-to expert on fires, Sheriff.” He cleared his throat. “Going over his head seems a little unnecessary, as his assessment of the scene indicates an electrical fault caused the fire. Have you spoken to the mayor about this request?”
Annoyed Jenna, checked the time, picked up her things, and headed out the office. She locked the door and headed to her cruiser. “I’m the acting sheriff and the evidence I’ve found is well within the guidelines of requesting a medical examiner to investigate a probable homicide. I’ll speak to the mayor if you insist, but in the meantime, I’ll send you copies of the evidence we’ve collected.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I figure the medical examiner’s office will want to investigate the case.”
“Okay, I’ll look over it.” He disconnected.
She drove the short way to the house she’d rented and went inside. Exhausted from a long day, she headed straight for the shower. After eating a reheated bowl of chili from Aunt Betty’s Café, she brushed her teeth and fell into bed. Asleep in seconds, she slept like the dead until the click of a lock shot her awake and soft footsteps scuffled away. Every hair on her body stood to attention with the knowledge someone was in the house. The pungent smell of rubbing alcohol filled her nostrils and her eyes watered. Had Carol’s killer gotten inside and was trying to burn her alive as well? Fully alert, she stared around in the gloom. Her bedroom door was now closed and she’d left it open. Why would they do that?
She listened intently. The old floorboards in the hallway creaked as someone moved around, no doubt setting up the scene to resemble another electrical fault. Heart pounding, she reached for her Glock on the bedside table and ran her palm over the bedclothes, feeling the evaporating chill of rubbing alcohol. Fluid soaked through the covers and the legs of her PJ’s. If Carol’s killer was in the house and struck a match she’d go up in flames. Panic gripped her and, laying down her weapon, she leaped from the bed, stripped off her PJ’s and tossed them onto the bed. In silent steps she eased across the floor and grabbed the clothes she’d set out for the morning. Dressing at light speed, she pulled on her boots, strapped on her duty belt, and holstered her weapon. Her Glock was useless. A gunshot would ignite the fumes. She had to think fast—think like the killer. She had a chance to escape if he used the same technique to start the fire.
The creak of floorboards came closer this time. Hairs prickled on the back of her neck as she glanced around frantically looking for a way to escape. She’d never fit through the narrow windows in her room. The front door was her only way out. If the killer planned to ignite the accelerant, he wouldn’t want anyone to see him and would leave by the back door.
Moving in silence, she pressed her back to the wall and froze, holding her breath as the handle to the door made a slight squeaking sound as the knob turned. Fear gripped her as the door slowly swung open, pinning her behind it. The smell of rubbing alcohol hit her in a wall of fumes as a black shape backed away from the room squirting a path of fluid on the floor. She trembled as realization hit her. He’d come back to open her door to ensure she’d burn to death. With such dense fumes, once ignited there’d be no escape. She had to act now before he struck the match.
As the person backed into the kitchen and out of sight, Jenna slid out in the pitch dark and moving like a shadow made her way to the front door. Holding her breath, she turned the key in the lock and pulled on the handle. A gust of wind from the open door swept through the house, and a bright light exploded in the kitchen, forcing her out the door and onto her knees. An ear-piercing scream cut the silence as the house ignited in a woosh.
Mesmerized by the speed of the dancing flames, Jenna turned to stare through the door at the path of fire running across the floor. An instant later a fireball burst from her bedroom in a roar. Heat brushed her exposed flesh as she rolled on the ground. Winded, she staggered to her feet and ran to her cruiser. Diving behind it she hit the blacktop gasping for breath. Flames reached out, igniting the grass, and an explosion rose up in a mushroom of destruction, shaking the ground and rocking the vehicle. Hit by a wall of heat, Jenna covered her face. Debris rained down on her and, trembling so hard her teeth chattered, she rolled under the cruiser. Fumes from the inferno suffocated her. Dazed and disorientated, she holed up under the greasy, dusty cruiser as the crackling house singing its death song succumbed to the flames.
“Jenna.” A strong hand had her by the arm. “Come with me. It’s not safe here.”
She turned to see Atohi, kneeling beside the cruiser with bits of flaming wood scattered around him. “Okay.” She rolled out and he pulled her to her feet, dragging her away at a run toward his truck.
