'We were in Provincetown for a few days when it happened,' Canton said.
'One of the neighbors called us. We came right back.'
'The fire was set,' Jesse said.
'We assumed it was from the graffiti, and the way the floor burned. But the state Fire Marshal's Office makes it definite. A combustible liquid, probably gasoline, was poured over the rug in the living room and ignited.'
'We know who did it,' Canton said.
'Howard and I are both sure of it.'
Jesse glanced at the notes on his yellow legal pad. Howard's last name was Brown.
'Who?' Jesse said.
'Alex, we can't really prove it,' Brown said.
'We know it was them,' Canton said.
'Who?' Jesse said.
'The fucking Hopkins kids,' Canton said.
'Full names?'
'Earl,' Canton said, 'I think is the older one. And Robbie.'
'Ages?'
'Oh, maybe fifteen and fourteen, in there. Neither one of them drives a car yet.'
'Had trouble with them before?' Jesse said.
He knew the answer before he asked the question. Of course they'd had trouble. Two openly gay men in an openly heterosexual environment with a lot of affluent teenage kids hanging around with nothing to do. Let's go down and harass the queers.
'Nothing big, they'd make remarks when they went by the house,' Brown said.
'Such as?'
'Oh, some kind of rhyme about Mister Brown goes down. Stuff like that. I been gay a long time. I've heard worse.'
'Anything else?'
Brown and Canton looked at each other as they thought about it.
'No,' Canton said.
'Mr. Brown?'
'No, uh-uh.'
'So how do you know they set the fire?'
Canton looked at Brown.
'You say, Howard.'
'I was standing in the driveway, looking at what's left, and they came riding by on bicycles. Both the Hopkins boys and their friend.
I don't know his real name, kids call him Snapper. They all had I these big smirks on, and they sort of slow down and start riding their bicycles in big circles in the street. Then the older one, Earl, starts riding no hands and he says to me, 'Hey Mr. Brown,' and I looked, and he made a gesture of lighting and throwing a match.
And all three of them are smirking.'
Brown shook his head.
'I wanted to kill the little punks.'
He shook his head again. Sadness and anger about equal, Jesse thought.
'But of course, I didn't say a word. I just got in my car and drove off,' Brown said.
'They ever threaten you?' Jesse said.
'Not until this,' Canton said.
Brown shook his head.
'Well, we'll talk with them,' Jesse said.
'Talk. The little bastards burned our house down and you'll talk with them?'
'It's a cop euphemism,' Jesse said.
'I'll have them in. We'll question them.'
'You can't arrest them?' Brown said.
'Not on what you've given me.'
'They practically admitted they did it,' Brown said.
