The warble of another siren caused the fire chief to turn away briefly from watching his crews at work. The Deputy’s Ford Crown Victoria patrol car came alongside the ladder truck that had stayed outside the compound making a physical barrier between the crowd of onlookers and the fire. The siren died away but the red flashing roof lights stayed on. The Chief saw the door open and the occupant emerge. Recognition dawned as the driver stood up straight to his full 6” 2’ height, the chief took in the broad shoulders and large chest, the close-cropped buzz cut and square jaw of Deputy Pete Hodiak, a good man in the chief’s estimation. The deputy sheriff took a long panoramic scan of the scene, the crowd and every single face in it. He knew that most arsonists if arson is what it was, liked to hang around to watch their handy work. He recognised almost every person there, either by name or in passing and didn’t see any stand-out trouble makers except maybe Ashley Barrett from the junkyard down the road, who was never an easy fella to get along with at the best of times, and after he’d been drinking all night he was an awkward cuss. He would have to call the office for back-up soon or it would take hours to collect all of these people’s statements. His scan continued on with the burning building and the half-dozen fire department personnel bobbing around in their bright yellow protective helmets, so the crew captain or fire chief stood out easily in the lone red helmet. Hodiak made straight for Captain Haines, the chief. “Hey Pete.” the chief offered in welcome. The deputy nodded hello. “What do you think Cap?”
“Too early to say Pete, only just started in on it, but I doubt there’ll be bodies, the gates were closed and locked. My guess would be a heater malfunctioned or something of the like”. “Okay, well that’s something I guess, but someone at the newspaper is going to be majorly pissed!” The Chief looked puzzled, “What makes you say that?” The deputy turned to look into the fire. “Well those two centre units belong to the Marion County Tribune, that’s history right there going up in smoke, shame, damn shame.” They both nodded in agreement.
FIFTEEN
Ed followed Linda and Jan to the very back of the library where there was a door marked fire exit, Linda lead through into a narrow corridor lit by a single strip light and a frosted skylight. The corridor had several doors on either side with the last door directly in front of them at the very end marked FIRE EXIT ONLY and operated by a push bar. Linda led them to the last door on the left before the fire exit then paused as Jan found the correct key from a large bunch taken from her pocket. Jan inserted a key into the lock but it wouldn’t turn. She tried the handle, it turned easily in her hand and the door swung open.
“Oh, that’s odd, it’s already unlocked”. She stepped into the room, turned to the right and knocked the light switch up. None of the group was prepared for what they saw. Linda and Jan gasped at the mess that confronted them. The room measured roughly twenty feet square and had shelves and cupboards on three of the four sides but no windows except another small skylight in the centre of the roof. The back wall held a computer work station, the main computer and an old microfiche machine. Below the skylight, in the middle of the room was another stand-alone island work station with storage underneath. The contents of the shelves and storage units were scattered on the floor in disarray. The plastic microfiche files were heaped in the corner, the shattered machine bashed in nearby. Ed could see that most of the mess was old newspapers and magazines.
“I’m guessing this isn’t your usual filing system?” Dazed, the two women looked helplessly around the room. “Why would anyone do this Ed? It’s only our newspaper archive, what’s the point?” Ed looked at Linda, “I think we should get out and lock the door, this is a crime scene so I doubt the Police will appreciate us disturbing things, the computer will have to wait”. They backed out, Linda switched off the light and Jan locked the door after them then went to the front desk to call the Police. Linda and Ed stood in the corridor facing each other. “Let’s go sit in the staff room, have a coffee while we wait.” She gently grabbed his hand and led him the way they came back to the staff room. She busied herself filling the coffee percolator with water and coffee then found two clean mugs in the cupboard under the worktop.
“I have a feeling this has something to do with Gracie.” said Linda.
“Why would you think that? It looks like something kids would do, just goofing around.”
“Well because that is where I transferred all the information from the newspapers and microfiche to computer and where I would have looked into the disappearance if the computers were working. I think whoever did this has messed up the computers too, so that I can’t find anything, and that is the most secure room in the building, I doubt any kids would have got in there.”
“Damn, so we can’t find anything else out about the missing kids?”
“Kids? What do you mean kids, are you saying there’s more than one now?” she looked even more shocked.
“Well I don’t know exactly, but there might be, somebody mentioned something to me this morning at the diner but it’s gonna be hard to find anything out now, unless…”
“Unless what?” she asked. The water had run through the machine and filled the glass jar underneath with strong smelling coffee. Ed watched in silence as she filled the two mugs with the steaming liquid then added creamer and sugar to his then passed him his drink. “Unless what?” she repeated.
“Thank you.” He replied as he took the proffered drink, he held it below his nose and breathed in deeply, savouring the aroma of coffee beans. “I don’t know, it’s just that I had a thought, when I first got into town I looked for the local newspaper office to see what they might have on the little girl. The place was locked up tight for the night so I never got to ask. Luckily for me I found you instead.” He blushed a little as he said the words but moved swiftly on, “but it is still worth asking them, they would keep copies too.”
“Yes, of course, I know the editor a little as they use the library for research sometimes, let’s go across now and ask…”
“You’re not going anywhere yet Mrs Saxon!”
Ed and Linda both jumped as Sheriff Rosen’s voice seemed to echo around the staff room as he stood in the doorway, a solid barrier to the library. “Or you either Mr Saunders, least not until we have had a look at this intrusion Mrs Phillips told me about.” He turned his back on the couple and walked slowly down the corridor towards the stock room, each step purposeful. Rosen directly stopped outside the room then turned back to the pair as they followed him down the corridor, looking expectantly at them.