Tin City Tinder (A Boone Childress Mystery)

by David Macinnis Gill

  I was counting on him drawing attention instead.

  The north end of the green was the least populated area. It was on a slight rise, with magnolia trees whose thick leaves gave good cover. I could see the whole area.

  All I had to do was wait.

  Up on the bandstand, Sheriff Hoyt took a cordless microphone from the emcee, who had seconds earlier finished introducing the candidates for Little Miss Allegheny.

  My phone buzzed: A text message.

  Doc: Y R U HIDING IN TREES?

  Me: ON STAKEOUT

  Doc: FOR WHO?

  Me: TOP SECRET

  “Top Secret?” Abner said.

  I jerked like a fire ant had stung my ass. Abner was standing six feet away, hidden by the same leaves that hid me.

  “Doc. Geez. How did you sneak up on me?”

  “Been here the whole time, getting out of the sun and hiding from your mama. The woman’s meaner than a prison bull. What’re you up to?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Don’t lie to me. Not after you slunk up here like a dog hiding a bone. You’re watching for somebody. Who is it?”

  “Deputy Mercer.”

  “That’s the one that writes all the tickets?”

  I explained about Chigger’s sniffing ability. “We turned the dog loose on Eugene Loach, and nothing happened. But then later, he signaled on Mercer.”

  “You sure about this?”

  “It’s the only lead we’ve got, Doc.”

  “Guess we best follow it, then.”

  “We?” I protested. “You’re out on bail. Technically, you’re still charged with interfering with an investigation.”

  “You want to find the man who killed that woman, don’t you?”

  “More than I want to breathe.”

  “Then turn your head to the left, Boone, because your suspect is about to walk right by you.”

  A hundred yards away, Deputy Mercer scurried down the sidewalk toward the front of the courthouse building.

  I tapped out a group text: FRONT COURTHOUSE. NOW!

  “Eyes on me,” I told Abner.

  We jogged behind the tree, then walked to the sidewalk. Turned the corner of the building in time to see Mercer pull a heavy oak door open.

  “Hold on,” I blocked the way until the door began to close. “Let’s go.”

  We dashed up the steps, slipped inside, and then ducked into an alcove.

  “Wait here for Cedar and Luigi.” I whispered to Doc. “What do you think he’s up to?”

  “Looking for a place to take a leak?”

  “Seriously.”

  “At my age, taking a leak is serious business.”

  Cedar was the first to reach the front of the courthouse. When the text came, she ran around the opposite side of the building. She was halfway up the front steps before she saw me waving. Luigi came around the building a few seconds later.

  “He’s in the courthouse,” I said. “Once we’re inside, stick close to the walls and walk as quietly as you can. The acoustics are terrible, so sound really travels.”

  “Boone,” Cedar said, a hand on her hip. “It’s not like we’ve never been in the courthouse before.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Sure. Sorry.”

  And then we were in.

  The first thing I noticed the darkness. It was bright outside, but the overhead lights had been turned low. The next thing I noticed was Mercer’s voice.

  He was talking to someone.

  13

  Mercer’s voice drifted down the stairway to the second floor. “Another one? You said the last one was it.”

  My first step on the polished floors made a squeak. I removed my shoes and moved on down the wall, sock footed. When I had a clear view of the second floor, I motioned for the others to move up to the stairwell.

  We kept to the shadows.

  Waiting.

  Listening.

  “The main goal here is to create an utopian society populated by whites,” said a second man. “His problem is that he needs the money to do it, so he buys up the property along a freeway route and sets his son lose on the historical towns that his father tried to create. He wants to finish his father’s work. So if he has to burn out a few buildings and run off some Mexican squatters, even better. This group of blue haired biddies has thrown a monkey wrench into our plans.”

  We moved further down the hallway.

  The sound of the voices diminished to a hum. We had no choice but to follow them up the stairs. I motioned to the group that they should stay, but Cedar shook her head, no.

  It was more like a Hell no!

  I pointed at the wi-fi apparatus I was still wearing. I pressed a button on the chest plate, removed the listening fork from its slot, and pointed it upstairs.

  The second man’s voice came through loud and clear.

  “When a monkey wrench is in the way, the only recourse is to remove the wrench. Starting with the leader.”

  Mom! I thought. They were talking about removing my mother.

  “What’s the plan this time?” Mercer said.

  “The office of the Registrar of Deeds has some surveys and plait maps of the Tin City property. It would be good if they were conveniently lost.”

  “Is that all?” Mercer said.

  “No, there’s a second thing. The Allegheny County Historical Society has a little building chock full of important historical documents. The building still uses its original LP heating system.”

  “I’ve only got one fuse left.”

  “If all goes well, it will be all you need.”

  “You said the last job would be the last one, and I could get out of this rat hole town.”

  “I miscalculated.”

  “I’m sick of playing Barney Fife for you!”

  “Alas, until your gambling debts are paid off, it’s a role you’ll be stuck with.”

  “Some uncle you are!”

  “Great uncle. Now go about your business. I’m due on stage in a few minutes. There’s a Miss Allegheny to crown.” He sighed. “It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it.”

  His footsteps grew louder.

  I waved for everyone to hide, and they slid into the shadows on the either side of the risers as the first footfalls sounded on the risers. I noticed the shoes first. Highly polished black leather Oxfords, merino wool slacks and matching jacket. Light bounced off the fabric, which was clearly tailored.

  Only one man in town could afford that suit. My suspicion was confirmed with the back of man’s head appeared, a coffered mop of hair trimmed right at the top of the collar.

  But the hair was too silver.

  His body was too thin and too short.

  It wasn’t Trey Landis.

  It was his father.

  “Goddamn.”

  The words escaped my lips before I could stop them.

  Ahead, G.D. Landis stopped in his tracks. His head turned side to side as he listened.

  “Idiot sheriff,” he murmured as he checked his watch. “The introduction wasn’t supposed to be for another two minutes. You’ve ruined my entrance.”

  He stalked down the hallway and to the front door. He pulled a wheelchair out of a darkened alcove, sat down, then drove it to the door. Light flooded the building, and G.D. Landis rolled his electric wheelchair toward the handicapped ramp. If his head turned at that moment, he would have seen the peculiar sight of three college students and an elderly man in with long hair and a straggly beard all hunkered behind a potted plant.

  “Mercer’s the arsonist!” I whispered after the door had closed and we were in shadow again. “He’s been working for Landis! The old man has been faking it all along!”

  “I knew it!” Cedar said softly.

  Luigi shrugged. “I did not.”

  “Me, neither,” Abner added. “What’re they up to?”

  “They’re going to destroy evidence of the cemetery,” I whispered. "And burn the Historical Society, too.”

  “How are we going t
o stop them?” Cedar asked.

  “Y’all three, take Landis. He’s announcing Miss Allegheny in a couple minutes. Keep an eye on him. I’ll try to record Mercer in the act of starting a fire.” I patted my pockets. “Where’s my cellphone?”

  “I got a camera,” Cedar said.

  “Let me borrow it?”

  “I’m coming with you,” she said.

  “It’s dangerous.”

  “It’s my camera.”

  Upstairs, there was a crash and the sound of cursing. Clearly, Mercer was a better arsonist than burglar.

  “We’ll follow Landis.” Abner snagged Luigi by the sleeve. “You two take Mercer. Be careful! No telling what a cocky bastard like that is capable of.”

  A few seconds later, the door opened, and they were outside. When the light faded again, Cedar and I dashed up the stairs.

  We followed the sounds to the office of the Registrar. I had passed by it several times in the past. It was an old fashioned kind of door: Patterned glass with the names of the occupants hand-lettered in gold and black.

  Before, the door had always been closed.

  Now it stood ajar.

  I bent down to one knee, pressed against the wall. With Cedar literally breathing down my neck, I peeked inside.

  The front office was dim.

  A receptionist counter separated it from three offices behind it. The middle door stood open, and light shone from the high open window. Mercer stood in front of the window, his body a hunched silhouette, as he flipped through the open drawer of a filing cabinet.

  I crept in and stayed low.

  Cedar followed me on hands and knees.

  “Camera,” I whispered.

  Cedar pulled it from a pocket then set the flash function to off. She set it in my palm and gave me the thumbs up.

  Slowly, I worked my way down the counter.

  The light behind Mercer made it hard to get a good shot. The deputy’s face was hidden in shadow.

  I needed a better angle.

  Hurry up! Cedar pantomimed to me.

  I am! I mimed back.

  I kept moving, the muscles in my thighs on fire. I wanted desperately to stand up, but doing so would alert Mercer. Near the copier at the end of the corner, I finally got the shot.

  Mercer turned into the light. He pulled a packet of materials out of the drawer. I hit record on the video function and watched as the deputy stuffed the material into a manila folder. He slammed the drawer shut, then pulled the office door closed behind him.

  I ducked and waved for Cedar to do the same.

  Mercer crossed into the dim light and reached for the outer door as the camera reached its storage capacity and sounded a warning chime.

  Mercer turned and saw Cedar hunched up against the reception counter, arms wrapped around her knees.

  “Hi,” Cedar said. “Can you point me to the ladies room?”

  “Ladies room, my ass.” Mercer pulled his gun. “Now what am I going to do with you, little miss nosey butt?”

  Cedar puckered up. “Give me some sugar?”

  The tips of Mercer’s lips curled up. “I got a better idea.”

  14

  Mercer shoved a plastic vial into Cedar’s hand. He tore strips of duct tape from the roll and wrapped them around her hand so that she couldn’t release the vial. Then he taped the hand to Cedar’s thigh.

  I stayed behind the copier. It had been my hiding spot from the instant that Mercer had seen Cedar. I hid there the whole time that the deputy had Cedar up. It killed me to hold back, but I had to wait for an opening.

  Never open fire when you’re outgunned.

  Through the walls, I could hear Landis’ muffled voice on the PA system, announcing the runners up for Miss Allegheny.

  Nervously, I stroked my chin and tapped my chest. The tips of my fingers touched the chest plate of Luigi’s listening device.

  That’s it, I thought.

  I detached the listening fork from the slot on the plate, pushed one of the buttons, and pointed the receptor at Mercer. The sound of his breathing filled the buds in my ears.

  I jerked back, almost hitting the wall behind me.

  Whew. The sound was coming in loud and clear. I hit another button on the device and waited.

  “You know what that is, girl?” Mercer said.

  Cedar shook her head, no, and I clicked a third button, directing my signal to override the wireless microphone that Landis was using on stage.

  “Of course you don’t,” Mercer said. “Because you’ve never seen anything like it before. Invented it myself. It’s a sodium fuse, like the ones I used to burn down those houses for Landis. Want to know how it works?”

  I eased an ear bud off and listened to the sound of the muffled voice on the PA.

  Mercer’s voice was being piped to the whole town.

  The crowd stopped applauding to listen.

  “The sodium sits at the bottom of the plastic tube,” Mercer explained to Cedar. “The mineral oil’s in the middle. The water’s on top. All I do is pull this cork out of a little hole in the middle here, like this, and the oil drips out. When it’s gone, the water comes down, and boom! No more nosey little bitch.”

  “Halt!” I stood up and pointed the listening fork at myself. “Deputy Mercer, I’m placing you under citizen’s arrest for arson, murder, and trying to blow up my girlfriend.”

  “Citizen’s arrest?” Mercer pulled his gun. “Not in this lifetime. Tell you what, you sit right down next to your girl. She’s got something to show you. Believe me, boy, it burns a lot hotter than kerosene and barn straw.”

  Mercer stepped out into the hallway. He slammed the door, and I heard the key turn in the lock.

  I expected to hear footsteps, but instead, Mercer’s shadow crossed the space under the door.

  He was making a run for it.

  I yanked the duct tape off Cedar’s mouth. “You okay?”

  “Stop up the hole! In the tube! Stopper it!”

  The oil had almost dripped out of the plastic tube.

  Only an eight of an inch remained.

  I slapped a finger over the hole Mercer had uncovered. The water sloshed above the thin line of oil, coming perilously close to the sodium below.

  “Hold it steady,” Cedar warned me. “Tilt that thing, and I lose my hand.”

  “You’ll use a lot more than that.”

  “Sodium’s not that reactive, Boone.”

  “This isn’t sodium. It's cesium. Mercer doesn’t know his chemicals.”

  “Wait! Cesium can—“

  “Blow us to smithereens. Unless we find a way to get rid of all of the water first.”

  Cedar licked her lips nervously.

  “Your lips are chapped,” I said.

  “Who cares?”

  “I do! Lip balm! Got any in your purse?”

  “Front pocket. Why?”

  “The balm is pure petroleum.”

  With my free hand, I fished the tube out of the pocket. I stuck the lid in my teeth and twisted the cap off, then spat it out.

  It bounced off Cedar’s nose.

  “First you rip half my face off with the duct tape, then you spit lids at me.”

  “Shh,” I said. “This isn’t easy. First, I have to move my finger, and before the oil drips out, I have to squeeze this petroleum jelly inside the tube.”

  “Could be worse.”

  “How?”

  She nodded toward the hallway. “There could be smoke coming under the door.”

  White smoke roiled across the floor.

  “Yep,” I said. “That’s worse.”

  “The smoke stinks like a road flare,” she said.

  “He uses flares to light his thermite.” My brow filled with sweat. I wiped it on my shirtsleeve. “But the building has sprinklers, so we’ll be okay.”

  “You’re forgetting your chemistry. Water—“

  “Won’t stop thermite. You’re right.” I set the opening of the tube next to the spot where my skin
blocked the hole in the plastic tube. “On the count of three, we go. And Cedar?”

  “Yeah?”

  “If I blow off your hand, I’m sorry.”

  “Worry about not blowing off my face.”

  One, I counted.

  I kissed her full on the lips.

  Two.

  I kissed her again.

  “Stop kissing me and—“

  Three.

  In a single motion, I pushed my thumb aside and squeezed with all my strength.

  A few ounces of petroleum jelly squirted out. The oil chamber pushed the water back into the top of the tube. I squeezed again for good measure, but the job was done.

  Cedar was safe.

  “Thank god.” I fell on my ass and breathed in, taking deep gulps.

  The fire alarm sounded.

  The sprinklers went off.

  Water showered down on our heads. Within seconds, we were soaked, and water was pooling on the floor around us.

  As the fire alarm rang, the sound of sirens cut through the air, I stripped the lengths of tape off Cedar’s thigh and unwrapped her hands.

  More smoke poured in.

  Aa bright red glow formed at the doorway.

  With Cedar’s hands now free, I lifted the tube carefully off and stuck a piece of duct tape around the tube. I pushed it into a cactus plant on the receptionist’s counter, then slipped on the wet floor.

  I fell to one knee.

  My hands slapped the bar, and a finger caught the lip of the cactus pot.

  It teetered on edge.

  Ready to fall.

  “Gotcha!” Cedar grabbed the cactus pot. She set it on the floor. “How about we get the hell out of here?”

  “Excellent idea!”

  The only exit from the suite of offices was the door, but when I reached for the knob, it was white hot.

  No surprise.

  A thermite fire was on the other side of the door.

  “Windows!” she yelled. “You take that office! I’ve got this one.”

  I tried the first office. “Locked!”

  Then moved to the next.

  “In here!” Cedar called.

  I ran inside, sloshing through the rising flood of water.

  Cedar lifted the window a few inches. “It’s stuck!”

  I grabbed the shash, and we slammed it open.