Flashover Pt. 05

"They call you Clicks?" Sean asked as he and Will stepped into the interrogation room.

The man was in his early- to mid-forties, with coal black hair going grey and worn as a wild mop. His beard was long, as full and wild as his hair, though unlike his hair, it was almost totally grey. He was painfully thin, his clothes hanging on him like a tent, his arms little more than sticks, and his face was sunken and wrinkled with heavy bags under his eyes. Like all the recent visitors to this room, Clicks had a noticeable odor of stale sweat.

The man made several clicks, his head moving erratically as his face twisted, his eyes squinting and his lips curling into an involuntary sneer. "That's what they c-c-call me," he said, his head bobbing as he made several more clicks.

"What's your legal name?"

Again the man clicked and twitched before answering. "Ricky. Ricky C-C-Cowler."

"Okay, Ricky, know anything about the fires at the North State Textiles building?"

"No," Ricky said after another round of clicks and jerks.

Right away Sean could tell the man was hiding something. He thought for a moment then decided to stretch the truth a little.

"I think you do. One of your buddies said they saw you do it."

Ricky's jerks became more pronounced, his face twisting in ways that looked painful, and he clicked longer and louder before he answered. "C-C-C-Couldn't have."

"Why not?"

"Because I d-didn't d-do it."

"I think you did," Sean said, sitting down across from Ricky. "I think you set both fires."

"N-No I d-d-didn't," Ricky said, but he couldn't meet Sean's eyes and he couldn't seem to stop his jerks.

"Why'd you do it?"

Ricky began to click louder still, and his twitching moved from just his head to the rest of his body. "I d-d-d-didn't!"

"Did someone pay you?"

"N-N-No!"

Sean stared at Ricky a moment. "You're going to do time for this unless you give me something. You know that, right?"

"D-D-Don't you have to read me my rights or something?"

"No. Don't believe everything you see on television."

"I want to see a la-la-lawyer."

"Why? We're not charging you with anything. This is just a friendly conversation."

"You can't qu-qu-question me like this!"

"Of course we can. This is just a detention."

"Wh-Wh-What does that mean?"

"It means we're going to ask you some questions. If we think you're lying, we're going to take you into custody."

"I d-d-d-didn't d-d-do nothin'!"

Sean nodded. "We'll see about that. Officer Donner, help me setup the lie detector." Sean nodded toward the door when Will stared at him in confusion. "We'll let him stew a few minutes," Sean said after they stepped into the hall and closed the door. He led Will down the hall. "I want you to wheel the copy machine in there, and if you think he's lying, or I look at you, I want you to press the copy button, okay? Just let me print something out before you unplug it."

"What are you doing?"

Sean grinned. "Making a lie detector."

Sean hurried to his office, quickly opened his word processor, typed two words as large as a single page would hold, and then hit print. By the time he stepped into the dispatcher's office, where the copier lived, Will was already unplugging the cables. Sean looked at the page then placed the paper on the glass before he wheeled the machine down the hall and into the interrogation room. He silently plugged it in and flipped it on.

"Know what that is?" Sean asked as the machine clicked and chattered to itself.

"It's a c-c-copier," Ricky said as he looked at the machine, his head twisting and jerking.

"Nope. It kind of looks like one, but it's actually a new type of lie detector. It can read your blood pressure, breathing, the stress patterns in your voice, dozens of little indicators that signal when someone is lying." Sean smiled at Ricky. "As soon as it finishes warming up, I'll show you." It took another minute or so before the machine became quiet. "I'm Sean McGhee," Sean said to the room then waited a moment. "I'm ninety years old," he continued.

Will was standing with his hands behind his back, using his body to block the copy button. The machine whirred and a piece of paper slid into the output bin. He picked it up and handed it to Sean. Sean looked at it and then turned it so Ricky could see it. He's Lying was printed on the page in giant letters. He forced himself to not smile as Ricky's eyes opened wide.

"See? Now, let's test it on you. State your name."

"Ricky C-Cowler."

The machine whirred and a piece of paper appeared. Will frowned and picked it up and turned it toward Ricky. Sean hummed as if thinking. "Is that your real name?"

"Yes! Well, n-n-no. It's Richard."

"Try it again," Sean suggested. "What's your name?"

"R-Richard Wesley C-Cowler."

The machine remained quiet.

"Okay. Did you set the fires at the North State Textiles building?"

"N-N-N-No!" The machine whirred and Clicks began to jerk so hard Sean was afraid he was going to fall out of the chair or hurt himself. "I d-d-didn't!" The machine whirred again. Ricky looked around, like he was trapped, his arms, torso, and head in constant motion.

"Ricky, just tell us the truth. We know you set the fires, but we also know someone put you up to it. That's who we want, not you. Just tell us what you know and you can walk out of here right now. Now, did you set the fires?"

Ricky stared at the machine, clicking as his face twisted and his body jerked. "Yes," he said, his voice almost too soft to hear.

"Who put you up to it?"

"I don't know." The machine whirred. "I d-d-don't know! I swear! I've never heard of the g-g-guy!"

"He give you a name?"

"Wally B-Barns."

Sean made sure he didn't look at Will. "Officer Donner. I want you to place Mr. Cowler into custody and read him his rights."

"You said I could g-g-go!" Ricky said after a long moment of clicking and jerking.

"We're not charging you. Yet. I'm going to have the fire chief come down here and I want you to tell him how you set the fires. If you come clean with us, we won't charge you and you can go, understand?" He glanced at Donner. "After you place him into custody, put the lie detector back. I don't think we'll need it anymore."

Donner nodded and Sean could tell he was working hard to not smile. "Right away, chief."

It took twenty minutes for Pete to arrive. Terri called Sean when Pete pulled into the parking lot and he met him in the lobby, holding the inner door open so it wouldn't lock.

"I've got a guy in the interrogation room who admitted to setting the fires. He's going to tell us how he did it. I want you to tell me if what he says would work or if he's feeding me a line."

"Why would he do that?" Pete asked as they walked through the station.

"I don't think he's entirely all there. He fingered Barns so I want to be sure he's not lying to me for some reason."

"You're kidding me!"

"It's what he said. I'm still trying to find a picture of Barns on the internet to see if he can identify him." They paused by the interrogation room door. "You ready?"

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.

"N-Nobody."

"Where'd you get the mattresses? We cleaned the building out."

"I f-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 sunglasses 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'd 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.

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."

"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.