"Oh, I have a heavy hose for you!"
"Oh my God. Bye, Lieutenant." I laughed out loud.
Liam chuckled. "You started it. I'll call you later."
I tapped the end call button and tucked my phone into my pocket, still smiling. I adjusted my hard hat as I stepped through the chain-link fence surrounding the community centerconstruction site. I nodded to a few of the workers who recognized me.
"Good morning, Ms. Daniels. I didn't expect you until tomorrow's inspection," the site foreman commented.
"Yeah, I know, but I needed to do a preliminary walk-through and check a few measurements." I checked off another item on my list as I examined the newly reinforced floor joist in what would become the main gathering space.
"We're in good shape. Everything's coming along according to plan," he noted.
"Looking good, Mr. Morrison," I commented back. He gave me a thumbs-up without interrupting his tasks.
I moved toward something that appeared to be water damage. Kneeling, I ran my hand along the concrete, checking for cracks or signs of moisture problems, when I spotted a darker stain.
"The hell…" I murmured, setting my clipboard to the side to better examine the discoloration.
Something was wedged under the floor joist, near the stain. It was a fabric of some kind, partially burned and stiff, with whatever had soaked into it. Using my pen, I pulled it out without touching it directly. It was a rag, and it smelled like gasoline.
I sat back on my heels, my mind racing.Had someone planned on burning my project?My first instinct was to call Liam, but I was sure there were proper channels for this kind of thing to create a paper trail. I stood and brushed the dust from my knees. Mr. Morrison was now on the opposite side of the building. I'd inform him after I filed the official report. No need to cause panic among the workers when the fire hadn't actually been set.
I pulled out my phone to snap photos from different angles. I then opened the measurement app on my phone torecord precise distances. I tapped on the web on my phone, clicking on the town's incident reporting system to file a report detailing what I'd found, attached the measurements and photos, and selected the recipients: the town building inspector, fire marshal, and police department, hit 'Submit,' and tucked my phone back into my pocket.
Questions swirled in my mind as I gathered caution tape and headed back toward the evidence site to rope it off until the officials arrived. As I finished taping off the last piece of yellow caution tape, I turned to see a white SUV with 'GGFD' in reflective letters on the side. I dusted the legs of my jeans, attempting to make myself presentable.
The SUV came to an abrupt stop, and Liam jumped out. Even from a distance, I could read the tension in his shoulders. He scanned the site until his eyes locked on me as he moved with a purposeful stride.
"Gisselle, are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine. How did you know?" I questioned, crossing my arms.
"I'm on the automated alert system for all fire-related incidents. Why didn't you call me directly?"
I shrugged. "I followed protocol the way I would for any other potential problems."
Liam's eyebrows shot up. "Potential problem? This is attempted arson and possibly connected to an active investigation."
"Look. I didn't want to be the woman who bypassed official channels because I'm seeing the fire lieutenant, okay? I wanted to handle this professionally."
"That’s what you're worried about? How this looks?"
"I wanted to be taken seriously. You know I'm already getting pushback from some of the council members."
Liam stepped back. "Show me what you found."
His abrupt shift back to professional mode caught me off guard, but I quickly recovered. "It's by the northeast corner foundation."
He followed me to the evidence. Liam crouched down, examining the stain and the rag's placement without touching anything.
"Did you touch any of this?" he asked.
"No. I used my pen to move the rag enough to confirm its identity. I then took photos, measurements, and everything I documented in the report."
Liam nodded, pulling out his phone to take his own photos. "Smart. This might be our guy."
A chill ran through me. "Why here? Why my project?"
