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“I know. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get some answers for you. In the meantime, don’t allow this to be a problem on your shoulders. Have you talked to Emily today?”I ask.
“Yes. They are all okay, and Payton understands St. Nicolas wasn’t hurt, but I think Mike is going to have to get into another costume to prove to him, St. Nicolas is safe,”she says, chuckling.
I laugh out loud.“I’ll bet he thought he was done with that costume when it burned,”I state.
“Probably, but I know he won’t want little Payton traumatized.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” I say wistfully. “Okay, I better go. I’ll call you later when I learn something.”
“Great. Have a good day, Ri.”
“You too, Leia.”
I hang up the phone and place it in my coat pocket, while simultaneously grabbing my keys, and heading out to the car. Once the car is warmed up, I make the decision to head over to the venue first. I want to take a look at the wall that the tree was plugged into.
When I walk in, I see Charley is already here doing her investigation.
“Hey, Charley,” I say, walking over to where she is at.
“Riley, what are you doing here?”
“I was here last night when the fire started. I came to check the outlet that the tree was plugged into, something has been niggling at my brain,” I tell her.
“Walk through your evening, and let’s see if we can both figure it out,” she suggests, and I do.
I tell her about walking over here and smelling something burning, but how Leia said it was the kitchen and not seeing any smoke in the corner I assumed she was correct. Then I tell her about the explosion pop, from the corner where the tree was, and the tree catching on fire.
“Are you okay?” she asks me.
“Yeah, I’m good, and luckily no one was seriously injured,” I remark as I make my way to the corner outlet.
I see where the wall has been smashed in. “The fire was behind the wall?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says with a deep sigh. “The electrical is out of code, and no one has updated as they should have. With so many things plugged in and going, the wires were unable to hold all the power. We are lucky the building is more concrete than wood,” she says. “This could have been a lot worse than it actually was.”
I nod. I can see the burned wires in the wall, and I know she is right. “It smoldered before it really caught fire,” I say, more to myself, but she agrees.
“Thanks for letting me come look, Charley,” I say as I step back from the wall.
“Normally I wouldn’t, but since you were here, it saved me from having to come find you and get a statement,” she says with a smirk.
I laugh. “Okay, I will leave. This whole incident was nagging in my brain. I knew something didn’t feel right. It was the smell of the burn, but when Leia said the cooks, I just allowed myself to believe it, thanks again.”
“I understand. An electrical fire behind the walls is not one we come across everyday,” she says softly as I walk toward the door nodding my head.
I walk out of the building and to my car, thanking God everyone, including Mike, was okay. Charley is right, this could have been a lot worse.
I call Leia, “Hey, Leia,” I say when she answers.
“Did you find anything out? Was it something we did?”
“No, it was nothing you or your team did. The wiring was not up to code, so having everything plugged in caused the electrical to overload. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was this event or another, it was going to happen eventually.”
“I know you are right, but it did happen at our event, and I feel awful about it. So many people could have been hurt,” she says.
“But they weren’t, and that’s what is important,” I cut in.
“You are right, I know you are right, but I still feel terrible that this even happened.”
