“No
bodies were found,” a fireman interrupted Callon’s thoughts. None of the
policemen said anything. Callon quietly left his companions to go back to the
police car.
Outside,
some of the fire trucks had left, and most of the onlookers had gone to their
homes. The smell of smoke and burnt wood still lingered in the air as the
police tried to place the police line around the property as quickly as they
could.
Holding
his flashlight, Chalano leaned down on the front corner of the property to
examine the soil.
Callon
spotted the boy. The teenage boy was stepping on a crime scene, but he didn’t
know it because the police line wasn’t placed over that part of the property
yet. Callon quickly walked to Chalano. “Looking for something, eh?”
The boy
turned to him, looking frightened about how Callon had approached him so
quietly. Callon had said the question as sarcasm, and as a hint that Chalano
should get out of the crime scene. In his fright, the boy didn’t figure out
exactly what Callon meant, and answered, “I’m just researching for my school
project, sir.”
Chalano
kept standing on the soil. Callon thought, Maybe it’s time to tell him about the
obvious. “A school project that’s about crime scenes? Cool! Will you step out
of this property, kid?”
Realizing
what Callon had meant to tell him, Chalano abruptly left that spot, and walked
to the sidewalk that was just beside the property. Callon figured out that he
must befriend the kid a bit in order to get some information out of him, so
Callon walked to Chalano. “I can’t believe that you talk about crime scenes in
high school these days,” he said, looking away.
“No, actually,
it’s not about crime scenes. It’s an annual writing competition for all the
students of 4th Project Town and Citrus Town. I won in the
elementary division on 2004. This is the first time that I will be joining
again after that win, and I chose these serial fires as a topic for my entry.”
Callon
was not looking at Chalano. He was watching some onlookers on the other side of
the street. He didn’t even look like he was listening. But he asked, “So what
will your story be about?”
“It’s
going to be fiction. It’s going to be about a normal town in which abnormal
things happen. Houses burn for no reason, and the victims just disappear,”
Chalano described. “I just need a story that is realistic, and basing my story
on these fires will make a strong impression on the readers. These fires will
always be a mystery.”
What
makes him so certain that we are dealing with “serial” fires? Why does he seem
to be too familiar with the idea that the victims just disappear? The police
have never issued a clear statement to the public about these arsons yet, and
they never will. This kid knows more than the average resident should know. Callon
thoughts were racing as he tried to keep looking away from Chalano. “That
sounds great! Why don’t you add your work with Coal into this story?”
Chalano
felt like he had swallowed a gigantic stone, even though he didn’t. How did
Callon know? Aside from the members of Coal (who were all sent to prison),
nobody else knew about Chalano’s association with Coal. When he was a member,
Coal was like a top secret. The members of Coal were supposed to maintain the
secrecy of the gang’s existence, and Chalano was faithful to that policy. Frightened,
he stared up at Callon in disbelief.
Callon
noticed that the boy suddenly became very quiet. He patted Chalano’s shoulder,
saying, “Are you alright?”
“How
did you know about Coal?”
Realizing
that he had just broken a good conversation without intending to do so, Callon
replied, “Oh, that? People like me have a way of knowing.”
Callon
grinned at Chalano, and walked toward the police car. “Good luck on your story.
I have to go.”
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