The firefighters should have had plenty of time to get in, fight the fire—and to get out if the blaze started to get away from them.
All firefighters were trained to spot the signs of a fire starting to behave badly.He never had been able to understand why the Cobbler Cove firefighters, some of whom had advanced degrees in fire science and bloody well knew how to read a fire, had ended up getting trapped inside the Shoemacher fire.
Even the most rudimentary of fire training pounded home the first and most important rule of fighting a fire.If you lose control of it ...GET.OUT.
The building permit, based on these plans, had been issued by the county building inspector.During construction of the barn, there would have been at least one more on-site inspection to ensure the building met all the specs in its plans.That inspector would’ve seen the sprinkler system in person.
Why then, had there been no evidence of a sprinkler system in the aftermath of the fire?
He thought back to the day he and Tucker had walked the barn’s foundation.He didn’t remember any pipe stubs sticking up from the north side of the foundation where this drawing said pipes from the underground pressure tank entered the barn.
He also didn’t remember seeing any indication of a tank being buried next to the well house.There would’ve been an above-ground pressure relief valve, a fill pipe, and maybe a hatch to get inside the tank for cleaning or repairs.
Had the sprinkler system been designed and approved then never been installed?
Surely, the on-site building inspector wouldn’t have signed off on the final code inspection if the blueprints had been approved with sprinklers and none had been put in.
Gray took a deep breath.Exhaled slowly.
He couldn’t look at Bonnie.Her husbanddiedin this building.A sprinkler system very likely would’ve saved his life even if it might not have saved the barn.
Very carefully, he closed the blueprints.
He wasn’t going to tell her.Not now.Not here in a dingy storage unit with no warning and no preparation for a difficult conversation.
He needed time to compile all the evidence: the electrical analysis, Tucker's photographs, the permit documents, and blueprints.It had to be airtight before he showed it to anyone, most especially to one of the fire’s widows.
He needed to be ready for her reaction when he broke it all to her.Although honestly, he had no idea what her reaction might be.Would she cry?Rage?Shut down?
He wished he were better at reading people and gauging their reactions.Give him a book to read or a set of facts to memorize, and he grasped it at light speed.Put him in the room with a stranger and ask him to learn anything about that person without lengthy acquaintance, and he was lost.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”Bonnie asked.
“I found the detailed electrical layout.And some other mechanical information I'll need to cross-reference.”
She looked at him steadily.“That's a careful answer.”
They looked at each other across the blueprints.The fluorescent light hummed.Dust moved slowly in the air.
“When you're ready to tell me the rest of it,” she said finally, “I'd rather you just tell me.”
“Okay.”He held her gaze candidly.“I will.But I need to check a few more things first.”
“Just give me some warning.I don't like being ambushed.”
“Noted.”
She held his gaze for one more beat.Acknowledgment passed between them that he was promising to keep his word and she was trusting him to keep it.
They headed outside.
As she locked the unit, Gray asked, “Does the mayor know you have access to these blueprints?”
“Of course.He knows I have access to all the city records.”
“He trusts you completely?”
“He does.”She answered calmly, but it couldn’t possibly be that straightforward.She worked for the man in whose barn her husband died.
