RON AND I stood by the smoldering rubble. What had been a well-built, if old and ugly building, now looked like ground zero. The heat had been so intense prior to the fire department’s arrival that the bones of the structure had collapsed, toppling the building onto itself. The fire chief on the scene wandered over to us.
“Miami,” said the chief.
I nodded to him. I had subbed occasionally as a batter on the fire department’s softball team.
“You know this place?” he said.
“Was a two-story office, wasn’t it?” I said.
He nodded.
“Yeah, I mean you know the owner?”
“Nah, the owner I don’t know. But the tenant was an illegal bookmaker. Used to take off-course bets down at the jai alai.”
He turned, and we all watched nothing happening. I cast my mind back to my only visit to this place, when Lucas and I had confronted the bookie who had ultimately taken the bets from Desi. Now his entire operation lay in a hot pyre.
“Anyone in there?” I said.
“Not that we can tell. What brings you guys out here?” said the chief.
“Ron heard it on the radio, and we’d been here recently, so . . . ”
“You know this bookie, then?”
“Not well. We’ve just wrapped up a case that involved the jai alai and we came into contact with this dirtbag.”
The chief frowned. “You guys can provide alibis for last night, right?”
“What time?” I asked.
“Say, between eight and nine.”
The timing couldn’t have been any more perfect, and I got the feeling that was the point. I looked at Ron.
“We were both at the Palm Beach Council meeting,” said Ron.
“Someone vouch for that?”
Ron shrugged. “About half the island, I’d say. Why?”
“This was a professional job, all right,” said the chief.
“How so?” I said.
“Whoever did this, they really knew their stuff. The investigation will tell us more, but to my eye, the spine of the fire was specifically designed to destabilize the structure in such a way that it collapsed, but collapsed into that vacant block.”
We looked at the vacant lot where about a third of the building now lay.
“It’s pretty rare that the adjoining building is unharmed, but apart from a little water damage, that’s the case,” he said, pointing at the building on the other side, standing beside its fallen brother.
“And the accelerant,” continued the chief. “Not sure what it was yet, but it was hot. Maybe a metallic compound. Either way, it was done in such a way that the structural damage was complete before there were any signs of fire on the outside. So by the time we got here, it was already all over. Our hoses just helped the building collapse.” The chief turned to me. “But don’t quote me on that,” he smiled.
The fire department had a truck on the scene, but it was mainly to keep people away. The blaze had burned itself out, but they were waiting for the whole thing to cool down before checking it further.
“So you think this guy has enemies,” said the chief, “or money problems?”
“I’d guess both,” I said. “But he definitely looked like a man with money worries.”
A fire investigator walked over to us in a crisp white shirt.
“Chief, we just got a call from the PD. They have a name on a tenant. It’s a company called Trix Leisure Ltd. Seems they just got a call out to a storage locker rented in that same name, signed by someone called Barrett.”
The chief looked at me.
“You know that name?”
I nodded.
“That’s the bookie.”
The chief turned back to his man and told him to continue.
“Well, the night guard reported suspicious activity early this morning. Get this. Locker is full of documents, ledgers, cash.”
“You don’t say?” said the chief.
“And one more thing. The locker also contained accelerant, explosives, the lot. PD reckons enough to recreate Krakatoa.”
The chief glanced at us and nodded. “Excuse me, gents. I’ve got work to do.”
We watched him walk away with his investigator, then we got back in the car. I sat without starting the engine.
“You seen Lucas?” said Ron.
I shook my head slowly.
“Not since he lit a fire under some Tongans.”
“Spoken to him?”
I shook my head again. “Left a voicemail for him, though. To tell him the bookie’s van was back in business, and we’d had no effect.”
Ron looked out the window at the collapsed building and spoke softly, as if to himself.
“I’d say that was an effect.”