Page 14 of From the Flames
Chase made notes. “The plans show insulation between the units.”
“There couldn’t have been much, and we could sometimes hear the people below us. I had rugs down in every room of the house because I didn’t want the downstairs neighbors to hear the kids.”
Kevin nodded. “What about the smoke alarms? We know they didn’t go off, and neither did the sprinklers.”
“Yeah. Have you looked into the other buildings?” Willy asked.
“Yes. The fire marshals and the building inspectors have been through them with a fine-toothed comb. Everything worked the first time. It’s like this building, the one you lived in, was completely forgotten.”
“But it wasn’t. The management was around, and they maintained the building. I saw them in and out. Last Thanksgiving, my oven didn’t work. They had someone there to replace it, on Thanksgiving, within an hour, and they took a hundred dollars off the rent the next month for the inconvenience. They were good people.”
“But things didn’t work,” Kevin said.
“Maybe they didn’t know they didn’t work, or they thought they did,” Willy said. “Why would you test all of the other buildings and not ours? I mean, with the sprinkler system, you can only test it so far. You can’t have it go off and wet everything down. So what if that worked, but the rest didn’t? I don’t know. But it seems like there’s a mystery here.” Willy leaned against the counter. “Who built the building?”
Chase pulled out his notes. “Wilson and Marshall built the complex.”
Willy pushed away as he shook his head. “No, who actually built the building? Is there a difference?”
Kevin gaped, wishing he had thought of that. “Maybe it was a different contractor.” He pulled out his phone and called the codes office. They had to keep records of all permits and inspections. He requested the information he needed and then hung up. “They’re going to call me back.”
Willy shrugged. “If the other buildings are different from this one, then why is that true? What’s the cause? A contractor isn’t going to build three buildings and then cheat on everything on the fourth. It makes no sense. After doing three, they’d do the fourth the exact same way as the others. Then everything would simply be easier. Repetition makes it more efficient, so why do something different?”
“Maybe because it was the last unit and they decided to cut corners?” Kevin supplied as his phone rang. He answered it.
“The whole complex was built by the same development company, but the contractor for the first three units had financial problems, and the last unit was built by Kraft and Hobson out of Philadelphia. They are still in business, mostly in the Philadelphia area.”
“Perfect,” Kevin told her. “Thanks. That helps us a lot.” He ended the call and relayed the information. “So it sounds like we have our answer. But what do we do with it?”
Chase smiled. “I’m going to include it in the fire report and forward it to the police. The various insurance companies are going to be interested in that information as well. They are going to have to pay out claims, so they might try to go after them.”
“True. But there has to be evidence that we can provide,” Kevin said.
“Okay, but be damned careful. I went by what’s left of the place, and it’s kind of frightening. The walls look about ready to cave in at any time.” Willy looked worried at the idea of them visiting what was left of his old building.
“We always are. Right now, it isn’t safe for anyone to enter. We’re waiting until the borough has someone look at it before we go in. But eventually we’re going to have to. If there was something wrong with how it was constructed, then we’re going to need to make sure that none of the other buildings these people worked on are like this. That could involve law enforcement and even the state.”
Willy nodded slowly, but it was clear he wasn’t a fan of the idea.
“Is there anything we can do to help you?” Chase asked.
“Not really. I have to go through the kitchen things that I have, but other than that there isn’t much to do. I mean, I guess we’ll get the things we need over time. It’s all I can do until the insurance comes through, and even then, I don’t want to go out and buy a whole bunch of new stuff just because I can.”
“I get that.”
April stood on her pillow, then jumped up and down before plopping back down once more.
“There’s a lot I just don’t seem to know right now, and things for the kids come first. I need to get them toys and books and things.”
Kevin stepped closer to him. “I don’t go into the station until noon on Saturday. If you want, we could hit the yard sales this weekend. People are always selling kids’ stuff. We might be able to find some books, toys, and even clothes for them.”
Willy smiled up at him like the sun had just come out. “Sure. We can do that. It sounds like fun, and you never know what we may find.”
And on top of that, Kevin and Willy would get to spend some time together.
KEVIN ANDChase stayed a little while longer before heading back to the station. “That wasn’t very helpful.”
“Yes, it was,” Kevin countered. “This was the second time that Willy told me about how he lived in that apartment. Do you remember how the plans showed that the walls between units were solid and that they acted as firebreaks? Those were missing. In this unit, the walls were just timber and sheetrock with whatever basic loadbearing walls that were needed. I went into one of the other units, and the walls in the central halls were block making up a stable central column. Those walls also acted as breaks to keep fire from jumping all around the building. There were no such features in the one that burned.”
