Arsonist Read Online Free PDF Page A

said.
    “Looks like it.”
    “You wanna grab something to eat first?”
    “I’m not hungry. I’ll just meet you down at the precinct. Is he still in custody?”
    “Yup. They picked him up a few hours ago from school.”
    They exited the house. Stanton saw Benny making notes on a sheet that was attached to a clipboard. He waved goodbye to them as he walked to his truck.
    It didn’t take Stanton long to get back to the precinct and when he did he went straight to his office and shut the door. He reviewed the Yazzie file again, reading the initial responding detective’s report. The victim had actually died of smoke inhalation before he was engulfed by the fire. There were some photos and Stanton glanced at them and shuffled them to the back of the file.
    He stretched his neck and closed the file before turning to his computer. Opening Google Mail, he saw he had eighty-seven unread emails.
     
     
    It was nearly an hour later that Gunn showed up to the precinct. He walked through quietly, nodding to a few people before coming into Stanton’s office without knocking. He sat down across from him and put his feet up on the desk. It was almost ten minutes later that Stanton responded to him.
    “You smell like booze,” Stanton said.
    “Haven’t touched the stuff today. Well, ten shots. Give or take.”
    “You can’t come in drunk on every case. Eventually someone will notice.”
    “Someone will notice because I ain’t actin’ right or someone will notice because someone else will tell them?”
    “I’m not like that, Stephen.”
    “No? You sure as hell testified against Harlow pretty quick.”
    Stanton stopped his work on the computer and turned to him. “What did you say?”
    “I’m just sayin’, you tell me you’re not a rat and I tell you that you’re the only detective here that’s testified against another cop.”
    He turned back to the computer. “Michael Harlow wasn’t a cop. He was a thug. I took another thug off the street but testified against him first. That’s all we do. That’s our job.”
    “This ethics lecture is borin’ me,” he said, leaning farther back in the chair. “Let’s go get some pussy.”
    “Not interested.”
    “Man, sixteen homicide detectives and I get stuck with the Mormon.”
    “It’s not exactly charming from where I’m sitting either.”
    A long pause and then Gunn said. “I didn’t mean that. I really didn’t. You’re dependable and there’s no one else I’d want watchin’ my back. But you gotta cut loose sometimes, man. At least a little. I feel like I’m hangin’ out with my grandma sometimes.”
    Stanton finished the email he was working on and sent it. He stood up and turned to Gunn. “I’ll try to be more fun if you quit showing up to work drunk.”
    “I’ll try.”
    They walked out of the office and into the long corridor. To the right were the holding cells, to the left the front commons area and the entrance. Some commotion was near the entrance as two officers tackled a man that was resisting them and one of the officers tased him. He was screaming and they had to hurry and get the cuffs on before he regained his composure. Stanton had to step over the pool of urine that was running down his leg and onto the floor.

 
    CHAPTER 6
     
     
    The interrogation room was hot and there were no windows. Stanton brought a cold soda in with him and set it on the table in front of sixteen-year-old Fernando. He sat across from him and smiled as he opened a bottle of juice for himself. Fernando watched him a moment and then opened the soda and took a swig.
    “I saw in your file from school that you play baseball. What position?”
    “Shortstop.”
    “I played catcher but I was too skinny so they sent me to left field. I remember there wasn’t much to do there but I would get a chance to just hang out in the sunshine and think about things. It was much more enjoyable than being catcher.”
    “How long did you play for?”
    “Just one season. I