Chapter 37
They said little to each other on the drive to Cottage Country, mostly because Craig spent the time on his phone coordinating his volunteers. The firefighters arrived along with them. Craig ordered her to stop, jumped out of the Suburban and ran to the burning cabin to get them organized. The few remaining cottage residents were spraying the cabin with water from two garden hoses. Craig’s crew took over those hoses while Craig got the residents back from the fire.
Flames rose out of the windows and raced up along the roof. As the first large hose from the truck went into action, the roof collapsed. Flames exploded up to twice the height of the cabin. Sparks rose even higher.
She was one hundred feet or more away and could still feel the sudden rush of heat that came with the explosion.
Two firefighters on one of the garden hoses were blown over. They were helped up and away and the hose was abandoned. The second garden hose was also quickly abandoned, replaced by two more hoses from the fire truck.
Sparks and flames spread from the cabin to the surrounding trees. Ten minutes after the explosion from the roof collapse, eight trees were either smoldering or on fire.
She went to the residents and said to the one who had to be Hetherington, “Get out of here.”
Hetherington said, “We’re staying to protect our cabins.”
The top of a pine tree burst into flames like a match being struck.
“Not if I arrest you, you’re not.”
Hetherington watched the same explosion of flames. “You can’t do that.” He coughed when smoke swirled around them.
She shielded her face and turned away.
Another pine tree burst into flames.
One of the others said, “What about our stuff?” He pointed out two cabins. They were far enough from the fire at the moment.
She looked to Craig, but he was busy directing the firefighters. “You have two minutes before I come get you.”
The other residents scattered back to their cabins. Hetherington stayed with her.
“We started with the hoses right after we heard the crash, but then it just exploded into flames.”
They watched another pine tree ignite like someone had soaked it with gasoline. Needles became fiery darts floating everywhere.
“Tell them I heard that strange noise again, only this time it was louder and I could track it to that cabin.” He ran back to his cabin.
All residents were evacuated within her two minute deadline.
Kelly arrived in the Dodge Charger with Harry Madsen.
“Is this a big fire?”
Harry nodded. “There is a danger of it spreading.”
She said to Kelly, “Set up a roadblock. I don’t want any spectators getting through.”
“If it’s all right with you, Sheriff, I can lend a hand with Kelly.”
“Thanks, Harry. I do appreciate that. Take the Suburban.”
A helicopter arrived and landed as Harry and Kelly left. An African-American man in a Forest Ranger outfit got out and ran over to her.
“Randal Vance, Sheriff. Hell of a way to meet, isn’t it?”
“You’re Craig’s friend.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You two served together in Afghanistan.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I have about a million questions for you.”
“I bet you do, but if you will excuse me, I’m going to call for help on this one.” He ran back to his helicopter.
She stayed out of the way while Craig and his firefighters went about their work. Twenty minutes after Randal put in his call, three firefighting teams from Forestry arrived with another, smaller fire truck. Two men put the hose from it into operation. The other men proceeded to dig and cut breaks around the fire. Forty minutes after that, a large helicopter arrived with a huge container of water hanging below it. It hovered over the fire while the crews got out of the way. It then released the water onto the cabin, which hissed like a giant, angry cat, before flying off. The crews immediately went back to work.
Craig came over to her. “There’s no wind or we wouldn’t have as much accuracy with the helicopter.” He went back to commanding his firefighters.
Harry, Craig, Randal, Kate, Susan, Kelly, even Mattie were part of a tightknit community. They had their differences. As Craig had told her, a certain amount of human vanity always went into one’s own sense of importance. Harry and Craig, and certainly Kate, were used to calling the shots. They’d been doing it together as part of their jobs for years. Even Craig, the newcomer, the radical, antisocial veterinarian had taken easily to his role as commander of the volunteer firefighters. It was only natural they would be comfortable with each other. They could trust each other.
She was the interloper. She was the one who upset the balance, the previous order of things. Harry’s retirement required the disruption, but her own vanity could be distorting her perception. No matter how enthusiastically any of them welcomed her homecoming, they had to get to know her every bit as much as she had to get to know them. She had to get over the feeling that everyone here was trying to shanghai her life and career for their own, secret agenda. Kate and Harry had been part of the panel that hired her. It was only natural they would have discussed their opinions about her. There was no basis for this persistent suspicion of something going on behind her back.
Gossip was part of the social fabric of every community. How would she feel if the DGN exhibited no interest in her at all?
She hadn’t recognized Stephanie Peterson at first, the woman who saved her from her father’s murderous rampage. Taking people’s comments and behavior personally was only going to make settling in here more difficult. It was going to be her fault.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” she muttered.
She jumped and shivered when Craig said from behind, “Better move back a bit.” He took her by her arm and backed her up.
The huge helicopter flew in again and hovered for a few seconds while Randal radioed directions to the pilot. The second load of water was dropped. The hiss sounded wetter this time. Less than ten percent of the fire was still going when the helicopter flew away.
Randal brought over a canvas duffle bag, withdrew bottles of water and towels and handed them out.
She wiped the heavy perspiration off her face. “God, I wasn’t even aware.” She was soaking wet.
“It can be hypnotic,” Randal said. “If you’re in just the right spot—or wrong—you don’t feel the heat at first, not any more than your mind tells you should be there. But as the fire grows, it takes hold of you and you start to boil.”
She took a drink of water.
“Sorry about this.” Craig poured his water over her head.
“Jesus.” The water rose off her as steam.
Randal laughed. “We just about had a broiled sheriff.”
She poured her water over her head, wiped herself down and got another bottle of water.
Craig and Randal went back to their responsibilities.
She pulled her wet blouse away from her skin. They behave professionally; she overheats and enters an impromptu wet T-shirt contest. If video of this got out, it would probably set a speed record going through the DGN.
“Dammit.”
She found another towel, grabbed the one Craig had left behind and continued to dry her blouse as best she could. A dry blouse was stashed in the back of the Suburban.
The firefighters took about another two hours to completely extinguish the fire. The cabin was a low pile of charred, wet debris and ash when they were done.
Once Harry returned with the Suburban, and while he talked to Craig and Randal, she got into the back of the SUV and changed into the dry blouse. She rejoined them still tucking it into her pants.
“Hetherington told me to tell you he heard that same noise again. This time it was louder and he could track it to the cabin just before the crash.”
“The crash?” Craig looked for Hetheringt
on.
“I evacuated all of them.”
“Thank you for that.”
Harry said, “Let’s have a look.” He nodded to her. “If that is all right with you, Sheriff?”
“You guys are the experts. Just let me know what you see that I undoubtedly won’t.”
Craig led them into the debris. “Watch out for small fires that might still be going. This would have been the great room. Back there was the kitchen and the door to the back. The bath and laundry were across the hallway. Stairs at the front went up to probably three bedrooms and a full bath.”
“It’s all down here now.” Randal slid his foot through the ash sludge.
The four of them spread out to search. Randal was the first to find a flame and stomped it to death before clearing away debris to prevent it from coming back to life.
Shana would call them zombie fires.
Harry found what he was looking for shortly after that. He brought them all together to show them the center of another red, plastic propeller. The rest had melted away.
“That was the noise,” she said. “I’m sure I heard something similar out by the Colter farm the Friday I moved here.”
Craig and Randal looked at each other with the same puzzlement on their faces. Harry was the most affected by what she’d just said. Something shocking was going through his mind.
“This cabin was deserted,” Craig said, “like the first one.”
“The first one wasn’t deserted. We found bones from human fingers.”
“I don’t like where this is going.”
“There’s another one.” Randal ran to where the kitchen used to be.
Her heart skipped when she turned to watch him, but he only meant another flame still alight. He dispatched it as quickly as he had the first one and rejoined them.
“Both of these fires were set deliberately.”
The three men looked at her. Harry seemed the most open to what she was saying.
She took the propeller center from Harry and held it up. “A remote control helicopter could have delivered the incendiary device to each cabin.” After a quick look around at the cabin they were in, she pointed to the other burnt one. “This fire was hotter.”
“A lot hotter,” Craig said. “We were lucky to keep it from spreading any farther.”
“In your report on the first fire, Hetherington said he heard a buzzing noise like wasps swarming right before the small explosion every resident swore they heard. This time, he heard an even louder version of that noise, so loud that he had no trouble tracking it to the cabin right before a crash and an even bigger explosion and a hotter fire. My bet would be thermite.”
Harry said, “A bigger helicopter.”
“Or more than one. Either way, both fires were set deliberately. You know what to look for.”
They spread out again.
Craig came past her and said, “This is what Kate meant. She knew you would be really good at what you do.” When he returned to the spot he was searching, he passed a brief flash of something shining on the floor of what used to be the great room.
She ran to the spot and knelt down. At first, she saw nothing but a mound of wet, black soot just over a foot high. Her fingers were getting as black as the debris she was brushing aside. Glancing back to where she had been standing by what would have been the stairs, she followed as best she could what she thought had been her line of sight and looked down. To the right of her knee, she caught a faint glimmer of metal sticking out of the mucky ash.
She dug out a set of keys attached to a key ring and a charred remnant of leather. “Found something.”
As the three men came to her, she brushed aside more black muck to find the remains of the hand that had held the keys.
“Oh shit.” She stumbled backward when a floorboard gave way under her.
Craig and Harry caught her.
They partially uncovered the remains of six bodies laid out side by side before backing away.
“On a quick look,” Craig said, “they appear to all be men and all under the age of forty.”
Harry said to her, “I think this is a job for your former colleagues.”
“I’ll put in the call.”
“Before you do,” Harry said and took her aside. “I was with Kelly because I’d come to see you. I got nada from Wiley yesterday, but he knows something. Tomorrow, you and I are taking a second crack at him.”
“What about Huard’s objections?”
“Let him get angry. It’s too important to play silly need to know games anymore. This shitload of bodies is proof of—”
His cell phone began ringing.
Harry put it to his right ear, covered his left and walked a few paces away. He said little in response to what he was being told, but he nodded frequently. When the call was over, he came back to her shaking his head.
“That was Mark,” he said. “Wiley’s dead. They got to him even in CCI. Caroline Nguyen also called him. She confessed to having had a brief affair with Wiley and she’s suddenly remembered something he told her. He’s bringing her in to give a statement. He wants me to be there.”