Chapter 13

I decided I needed to interview Mr. Cooper before talking to the nearby business owners. Normally, canvassing was the first thing detectives would have us do at a scene, but we’d take just basic statements and the detectives would follow up based on that and other information they found in their investigation.

As of right now, I didn’t really have a direction to follow, other than I knew it wasn’t an accident, and Mr. Cooper was the only one I was almost certain wasn’t involved. I guess if I was really conspiratorial I could imagine a scenario where he set the fire himself and got caught upstairs, maybe not expecting it to spread so fast; but I’d seen the look in his eyes when I got there.

He was shocked and confused and he’d have to be a hell of an actor if it was faked.

The drive to Summersville didn’t take long and it was nice to have access to a car, even though it felt weird to be in a patrol vehicle again. Although I hadn’t driven one when I was on the force, we did train in them at the academy. The main difference wasn’t the cars themselves, although they sometimes had a little more power than civilian vehicles, it was the way other vehicles reacted around you. Slamming on brakes, driving below the speed limit, and basically being obstacles as much as possible.

I didn’t have a badge, so I’d asked Orville’s wife Sarah to call ahead and get me cleared to speak to Mr. Cooper, in case only family were allowed to visit him. She didn’t say if it was a problem, but when I asked for his room number and gave my name and the nurse at the front desk waved me through towards his room.

The last time I’d been here had been my senior year when Dad had a bad scare with his lungs and the doctor had sent him down for a bunch of tests. Not much had changed in the years since I’d been here, including the hospital rooms.

Mr. Cooper was in a four-person room, but at the moment no other patients were present, which meant we could talk in private.

“Mr. Cooper?” I asked, standing by the door. “Do you have a second to talk?”

“I ... Henry Brewer?” he asked as he turned to look at me, a kind of confused expression on his face.

“Yes sir,” I said, coming up to the side of his bed. “Do you remember the fire last night and us jumping out the window?”

“Yes. I’m old, son, but I’m not senile yet. It was just awful smoky last night and kind of hard to see you, and you look a mite different than I remember when you were a boy. They told me about you throwin’ me out the window, though,” he said, reaching out a hand.

“Yes sir,” I said, taking his weathered hand in mine.

“I guess I should say thank you for getting me out of that fire, although my leg I kind of wish you had used the door instead.”

“I would have if I could,” I said, laughing. “Trust me; my ribs would have appreciated it too.”

He laughed, winced, and then patted my hand with his, trapping it between them before letting me go and settling back into the bed.

“It was nice of you to come out and check on me.”

“Actually, Orville asked if I could help with the investigation into the fire, since I did police work up in New York City, and had been to a few fires when I was there. I was hoping to ask you some questions.”

“Ohh, I didn’t know you became a policeman. When did you start workin’ for Orville?”

“I’m not working for him. I’m just helping him a little by looking into this fire. Do you remember anything about the fire? When you first smelled it? If you heard anything?”

“Not really. I usually go to bed pretty early, since I’m a lot more tired than I used to be. I woke up coughing. The room was already full of smoke. A minute or so later you came crawling into the room. It all happened so fast.”

“What about the night before when you locked up, before going to bed. Did you lock both the front and the back door?”

“Yes. I put everything up, swept the place, locked up, and then came upstairs to eat my supper; just like I do most nights. I wasn’t very hungry though, so I just had a little snack instead. I was pretty tired and the sun was starting to go down, so I went straight to bed. That’s it until I woke up to the smoke.”

“Are you sure you locked the front and back doors? I know after a long day, I sometimes think I did something but didn’t, especially if it’s something I’ve done a lot of times before. Maybe you remember locking it from another day, and forgot last night?”

“No sir! I remember, because I always put away all the equipment on the shelves back there, throw out the trash, and then lock the back door when I come back in. It’s one, two, three, like clockwork, every night. I didn’t forget.”

“Okay. Is the building insured?”

“I think so, but I’m not sure. The building is still in Frank’s name and he always took care of that.”

“I heard that he was sick. Is he still involved in the business even though he doesn’t cut hair there anymore?”

“Well, his son is helping with it a lot. You know, his boy got his business degree at WVU? Smart boy. Majored in business. Frank’s condition has gotten a lot worse, so I don’t think he’s doing much actual work, anymore. I spoke to him last week, but we mostly talk about the old days now. I still pay Frank his share, though. Medicaid isn’t covering as much of his procedures as they’d like it to, so I know every dollar counts.”

“So his son is handling the insurance and taxes, things like that.”

“Yep. He’s even done my taxes the last few years. He’s a smart boy.”

“I know this is a terrible thing to ask about, but I have to as part of the investigation. If Mr. Williams’ condition is that far advanced, have you discussed with him or his son what will happen to the business after he passes?”

“We’ve talked about it a bit, although more with Jeremy than with Frank.”

“Did you come to a conclusion?”

“Not really. It made Frank upset to talk about it, so I figured why bother him. Ohh, Jeremy has ideas. He thinks we should sell it, since Frank owns the building and the land and maybe I should retire, but I don’t know what I’d do with myself. No, I think I’ll keep working and deal with all that mess when the time comes. Of course, I guess that doesn’t matter now. I heard the building is completely gone. I might have to go stay with my son for a while, since that was both my livelihood and my home. I swear, I don’t know what I’m gonna do now. Cuttin’ hair is all I’ve done for the last thirty years.”

He got choked up on that last sentence and turned to face the window, looking out into the mid-day sun. I sat quietly, waiting for him to regain his composure.

“Again, this is just a formality and I have to ask the question, but do you have any enemies in town? Anyone you know that might be upset with you?” I asked once he’d turned back towards me.

“No. I mean, I’ve given a bad haircut here and there, but nothing to get seriously mad about. Did someone set the fire on purpose?”

I’d been waiting for that question, just like I had when I’d spoken to his son. No one liked to think someone would want to hurt or kill them, and it was always easier to believe something like this was an accident rather than done on purpose.

“I don’t know. These questions are all formalities that we have to ask in situations like this, just in case.”

We spoke for a few more minutes, mostly about life in Buxton, and how things had changed since he was a kid. I was a little astonished that, although he worked there every day and lived above the shop, he actually didn’t know that much about how his own business ran. He’d left that part of it up to Frank Williams for years, and now that Frank was too sick, had transferred that over to Frank’s son.

I wished him well and told him I’d let him know if I found anything, and left shortly after. Since Mr. Williams was in a hospice not far from the hospital, I tried to stop there and talk to him as well, but the nurses turned me away, saying he was too sick for visitors and wasn’t able to talk at the moment anyway, because of the large amounts of narcotic pain medication he was on. I hadn’t actually known anyone this advanced with the disease before, but I’d heard that once someone made it this far into hospice, it was more about elevating pain medications, and making their final days more comfortable than actually fighting the disease. I hadn’t checked, but I’d bet the doctors had more or less given up on treatment by this point, especially if he was so far gone he could barely talk anymore.

Besides, without a badge I would have had to call back to Buxton and have Sarah try to talk them into letting me through the door.

My last shot was to call the son, since he was the one handling the family’s finances.

“What?” he said when he answered, which meant he was either pissed off at something or just an asshole?

“Jeremy Williams?”

“Who wants to know?”

“I’m Henry Brewer, working with the sheriff here in Buxton, investigating the fire at the barbershop your father owns with George Cooper. I’m assuming you’ve heard about the fire?”

“Yes. I’m very busy, Officer. Just tell me what you want so I can get on with my day.”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to mislead you. I’m not a deputy with the sheriff’s office; I’m just assisting in the investigation. Mr. Cooper told me you were handling most of your father’s business now, and I wanted to ask some questions, as he was unable to answer.”

“Until the insurance company finishes its investigation into the fire, any questions will need to go through my attorney. Email me and I’ll get you his information.”

With that, he abruptly hung up. I looked at the phone in my hand, several thoughts running through my head. Although I was going to ask about the insurance policy, especially after Mr. Cooper mentioned the son wanting to sell the business, I hadn’t brought it up. It was strange for him to bring it up first and point me to his lawyer, and even stranger that he would be waiting for the insurance company to ‘finish’ an investigation. He wouldn’t have heard about the fire until later last night, even if one of the neighbors had called as soon as the fire happened. For him to have opened a claim, found out they were going to do an investigation, which didn’t always happen in claims, retain a lawyer and feel the need to refer questions to that lawyer, he would have had to really be on the ball.

Of course, it wasn’t illegal to be efficient, but his aggressive response certainly did make me curious. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t actually law enforcement, it made things more complicated, which meant my next call was to Orville.

“How’s the investigation going?” he asked when he answered my call.

“Good. I’m just leaving Summersville after talking to Mr. Cooper. I could use some help though.”

“I already sent those samples off to the Staties to go to their lab.”

“Good, but I need to know about the insurance policy they had on the building. Mr. Cooper said Jeremy Williams, Frank Williams’ son, handled all of that. But, when I called him, he told me I needed to talk to his lawyer. I need to find out what kind of policy they had, who the beneficiaries were, and so on.”

“You’re thinking it wasn’t an accident then?”

“I won’t have proof until we hear back from the lab, but no, it wasn’t an accident. If I had to guess, someone poured gas or something like that through the open back door and lit a match.”

“And you’re thinking it was the son?”

“Maybe. I need to get more information before I can tell you for sure. I’m missing the smoking gun, as it were.”

“I see,” he said, sounding more serious than normal. “Yeah, I’ll put in a request with the insurance company. If they need me to get a subpoena, it’s going to take a few days.”

“I figured. I appreciate the help.”

“Anything else you need from me?”

“No. I still have to canvas the buildings nearby and see if anyone saw anything around the time of the fire, specifically by the back door. It was opened before the fire started, or at least during the fire, and looked to be unlocked. Whoever started it, they did it from the back of the shop.”

“I’m on main street now. Do you want me to get some statements?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind. They might be more likely to talk to you, since you’re the sheriff.”

“Ha, you’d think so. Maybe it was different in New York City and people opened up to law enforcement, but that isn’t the way it is around here. Even though I’ve lived here my whole life, they still only see the badge and clam up.”

“It wasn’t different in New York City, but these aren’t people trying to hide their moonshine still in the barn or the meth trailer outback. These are business owners, and I’m betting you have at least some kind of relationship with them. They only know me as the kid who left town and failed to make something of himself.”

“I don’t think you give yourself enough credit, but I’ll talk to them.”

“Besides checking if they saw anyone around the building that night, see if they remember seeing Williams’ son around town, either in the days before it happened or at least the day of the fire.”

“Sure, I’ll check. The judge usually knocks off early, so it’ll probably be some time tomorrow before I have a subpoena signed for the insurance. I’ll give you a call when I have it.”

“Thanks, Orville,” I said.

“You’re the one doing me the favor, remember,” he said and hung up.

It was mid-afternoon when I got back to Buxton. Instead of going home, I continued on to Rosita’s, since I hadn’t been able to go by and visit the night before. Even though we hadn’t actually discussed me coming by and visiting most nights, I’d said ‘see you tomorrow’ when I’d left the night before, and so I felt like I owed some kind of explanation as to why I’d never showed.

It was almost time for her dinner rush, so I wasn’t planning on staying long, but I at least wanted to see her before I went home. Normally, she was in the back when I stopped by, but today she intercepted me as I opened the door, wiping her hands on a towel she kept tied to her apron.

“You’re okay!” she said, skidding to a halt in front of me, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me.

For a moment, I just stood there with my arms kind of hanging at my sides, taken aback by it. Although we were spending a lot of time together and I knew she liked me, we hadn’t really initiated much in the way of physical contact, and it was so sudden I’d was taken off guard.

“Umm, yeah,” I said as she released me and stepped back.

“I heard about you and the fire. They said you jumped out of a window.”