Page 73 of Hot Zone

“He busted all the photos with a pipe wrench. It’s the weirdest thing. He smashed them all one at a time and then went over to the other wall, took down a photo, and moved it to where the ones he’d just broken used to hang. I can’t tell what’s in the photo, though. It’s too grainy.”

“I got it right here. It’s from the ribbon cutting on the new building.”

“Were you there?” he asked.

“I was, and I’m in the photo.”

“Okay, I’ll need those pictures. I should have caught that myself, but I was focusing on the areas where the fires started. I just assumed all that damage was from the water. If I’d looked closer, I would’ve caught that they were broken.”

“Well, we have them now, and that’s what counts.”

“Can you identify the other people in the photo?” he asked.

“Maybe. It was a few years ago. I think most of the kids in the class were from out of town and were just here for school. I’m not sure where they’re all working, but Syd is here with me, and I bet between the two of us, we can figure out who they all are.”

“Okay, I’ll be there shortly.”

I pocketed the phone and turned to Syd. “We need to see if we can figure out who all the people are in this photograph.”

She nodded. “Let’s go to my office and see what we can do… Marcel,” she called, and one of the other instructors said something to the person he was talking to and then jogged over to us. “Keep an eye on everyone. I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”

“Sure thing, Cap.”

I followed Syd around the building to her temporary office in the old building, and we put the photograph on her desk.

“Let me grab a piece of paper, and I’ll pull up old class registers. That should help us identify everyone.”

“Sounds good. We can work left to right. I recognize most of the people on the left-hand side.”

She handed me the paper and a pen. “Here you go then. I’ll let you get started while I pull up that class list.”

I took them from her and started making a list of the people who attended the ribbon cutting, starting with the city manager, the fire chief, and one of our state representatives whose name I couldn’t remember, but I was sure Syd would know. One by one, I wrote down their names, finishing when I got to the Mayor and Syd.

“Hey, Syd, what was his name?” I pointed at the state representative.

“Jim Richards. He lost his seat like two months after this.”

“Yeah, I just forgot his name. I didn’t vote for him either time.”

She laughed. “Me either. I had to make myself be nice that day. Anyway, here’s the class list. Let’s see if we can put names with the faces.”

We started each class with right at thirty students, but there was typically some attrition. It’s a hard class, both physically and mentally, and we’d much rather someone figure out this isn’t for them here at the school than after they are out in the field.

I looked at the photo, and while I didn’t remember everyone’s name, most everyone looked familiar. “I remember these two.” I tapped on the image. Emmitt and Von Pruit.

“I do, too. Only time I know of that we had twins come through together.”

“They both went back home to Sweet Springs and are working for the department there.”

We made our way through, not only identifying each person but trying to locate them. It took a bit of social media stalking, but we were successful with all but three of the students.

“I don’t remember Alicia Bass, but that must be her.” Syd pointed at the only female of the three. “Hold on.”

She turned back to the computer and did her thing. “Okay, looks like Alicia Bass left in the first week for health reasons.”

“I don’t even remember her,” I said.

“I’m not surprised. That was a wild year. We were technically in the new building, but actually, we were still working out of both.”

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