“I haven’t read those things since I was a kid.”
“You’re still a kid.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“So…kid…you know more about this stuff than I do. Should I rest up so I can be up half the night doing whatever I’m supposed to be doing?”
“Probably not a bad idea. You should rest when you can because you never know what’s gonna happen.”
“Well, you can wake me up if you see anything. You can keep the news channels on when you’re studying.”
“You mean like that?” Franklin said, not five minutes later.
“Huh…like what?”
“That,” Franklin said pointing to the TV.
“Apartment building on fire…Westwood…that’s not far. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t forget your phone.”
“Oh…yeah.”
Walter put his phone in his pocket, put his Bluetooth on his ear, and was gone. Franklin continued watching the TV coverage and saw Walter arrive seconds later and pull everyone and their pets out of the building less than a minute later. By the time the fire department arrived on the scene, everyone was standing around Walter, taking photos and trying to get close to him.
“Excuse me folks, got a call comin’ in,” he said, pressing the button on his Bluetooth to take the call.
“Don’t hang around there too long,” Franklin said, “There’s another one on the east side…looks like Amelia.”
“Okay, I’m on the way.”
“Well folks, I gotta go. You take care,” he said, lifting off into the sky and flying away east. He arrived at the burning apartment in Amelia a few seconds later and it was much the same. He evacuated the residents, and their cats and dogs, and stood there awkwardly accepting their gratitude. What he didn’t notice was a man sitting in a car on the edge of the parking lot talking on a cell phone.
“Wow, I have twenty-nine seconds to evacuate your building, get here, and evacuate everyone here.”
“How fast do you figure he had to be going?” the man on the other end asked.
“I’m sure we can do the math. Darn fast, however you add it up. I wonder how he found out. You think he has super hearing or something?”
“Right before he took off, he took a call. Had a Bluetooth in his ear. He’s got someone somewhere, doing support.”
“You know what the boss is gonna say.”
“She’s gonna want more data.”
“Okay, call Mike in Queens. Have him fire that one up.”
“Right now?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, how long you figure for the media to report it?”
“It’s New York. It’ll make news fast enough. Just make the call.”
A few minutes later, Walter took another call from Franklin.
“What now, kid?”
“You’re not gonna believe this, another apartment fire.”
“What is it with apartments catching fire? Where’s this one, back on the west side?”
“Queens.”
“Like New York City?”
“Yep, that’s where Queens is.”
“Okay, I’m headed there. I’m gonna be hungry when I get back. You think you can grill up some burgers?”
“Sure, I’ll have ‘em ready when you get back.”
6
Walter finished his sixth hamburger, washed it down with a beer, and put his feet up.
“You know what’s weird, kid?”
“Besides eating like that?”
“Yeah. I get horribly hungry sometimes. I think my body burns stupid amounts of energy doing this stuff. No, besides the eating. It’s these fires.”
“What’s weird about them?”
“I don’t know. I’m not any expert. I’m just a retired factory worker. The one on the west side and the one out in…where was that…Amelia…they seemed similar. I can’t explain it. My senses are more sensitive now. There was a smell, nothing I’ve ever smelled before…and I smelled it again in New York. I wonder if they were all arson.”
“Could have been, but they were almost at the same time.”
“Yeah…almost. I don’t know. I’m not wearing my tin foil hat or anything, but it just seems weird. You know, maybe the cops oughta know. Be right back, kid. You can take Otis for a walk for a bit if you want. I’m sure he’d love to get out.”
Walter walked into the District 1 Police station downtown and was recognized instantly.
“Hi, Walter,” the officer at the desk said, “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”
“Hi Officer…Daniels,” Walter said, reading the cop’s name badge, “I’m not sure, just a weird hunch I need to run by the experts.”
“Weird hunch?”
“Yeah, about those apartment fires.”
“Nice job, by the way, getting all those people out.”
“That was no big deal, really. I do what I can. Anyway, I don’t know much about this sort of thing, not like you guys do. There was a weird smell at both fires, nothing I’ve ever smelled before. Then I heard about one in New York City, so I zipped over there and got some folks out of that building, and I smelled the same thing. I think they were set on purpose.”
“You know you’re dealing with different jurisdictions, don’t you?”
“Yeah…just figured you could make some calls to the right people, make sure they do some digging.”
“I’ll have you talk to Officer Cocker. He’s a bit of an arson expert. If you could describe everything to him, maybe he can make some sense of it.”
“That would be good.”
“Hey Walter,” Michael Cocker said a couple minutes later, “Follow me. We’ll sit down and have a chat.”
Walter followed the cop to an office where he pulled up a chair and sat down.
“Daniels tells me you have some suspicions about the fires?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know much about this sort of thing, but something smelled funny at each one, even the one in New York.”
“New York?”
“After I got the folks out of the one in Amelia, I heard about one in Queens, so I went there and took care of that as well…same smell there. Weird.”
“Can you describe the smell?”
“Not easily, but I’ll try.”
Walter spent the next minute trying to describe what he smelled at the fires.
“How did you pick that out?”
“Can’t explain it. My senses are more sensitive than yours. I can pick out things, individual smells. I can smell the corn beef sandwich you have packed in that cooler over there.
