Page 39 of Justice for Samara

“The black striations?”

“Yeah. That indicates that an accelerant was used. We won’t know what it was until the fire investigators arrive.”

“But it’s my job to?”

“Yes. I know. But in the case of a fire where there’s a human loss, we have a team that comes in from out of town. The county pays for it. They’re fair and impartial in an area where relationships color everything, and they’ve got skills and methods, equipment and chemicals and testing abilities, that neither you nor I have as professionals.”

“Got it. So they’ll be open to working with me?”

“Oh, absolutely, detective. They’ll want you here. You being here keeps them from having to report multiple times. They can report directly to you, and you have the information at hand.”

“Thank you. Sounds good.” As the fire chief walked away, she heard footsteps and turned to find Michael coming up beside her. “And?”

“I talked to all of the spectators over there. House next door to the west was the one that called it in. Neighbors said nothing has seemed amiss lately. They came and went like always.”

She side-eyed him. “And you confirmed?”

“Yes. It’s his house. I called the Post1 commander and told him. Stadler isn’t on duty right now, and rumor had it that he was going fishing this weekend. Was supposed to be back to work on Tuesday.”

“And… Glenna?”

“Yeah. She’s been in and out just like always. Works at the military hospital at FortCampbell, and usually not on the weekends.”

“Okay. Did you get a contact for her work?”

“They don’t have it. We’ll just have to call down there and ask for a supervisor, I guess.”

She tapped her notepad with her pencil. “Or we could go down there.”

“Yeah, we could. At least one of us could.” He waited a few seconds, then asked, “You doing okay with this?”

“Yeah. Hoping that was him in the house, but it sounds like it probably wasn’t.”

“Detective!” a voice called out.

“Yeah. Whatcha got?”

“Nothing.” The coroner handed her a clipboard. “Just need you to sign off on moving the body to the state medical examiner’s office, if you’ve got enough photos.”

“Yeah, I do.” She took the pen, then turned to Michael. “You’re the chief deputy. Would you mind?”

“Of course not.” He took the clipboard from her, signed it, dated it, and handed it back to the coroner. “Let us know when the body’s out so we can get in there with the fire investigators.”

“Will do, sir. Thanks.”

They watched him walk away, and Samara’s hope started to fail. “You do realize that ten to one, that’s Glenna in there.”

Michael’s voice was a low murmur. “Yeah. I know.”

“Areyouokay with that?”

“Oh, yeah. That was over a long time ago. There’s nothing left of that for me.”

“Good. Anything else you need to do here?”

“Just watch as they load the body. I signed off on it, so I’m supposed to witness that.”

“Got it. I’m going to the other end of the house to look around. They told me it’s plenty safe enough.”

---