Edge of Lightning

Detective Fitch sat uncomfortably in the Commander’s office, waiting. He was really too large of a man for the chair. He didn’t know where to put his hands, and his shoulder holster interfered with the backrest. He looked at the file on the desk, closed, but some pictures spilled out. He was really nowhere on the investigation and wasn’t even sure if that was why he was called into the office. He heard a toilet flush, water running, and shut off from behind a closed door in the office, and the door opened.

“Oh you’re here.” He sat down. “Dave, I called you in to see if you are ready to handle this investigation. If you want me to assign it to someone else, I will, but I would rather someone already familiar with the players. Can you handle this?”

“Yea, Brian, I got it. You know me. Work first.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t have anything yet.” He stretched both arms up, exhaled, and leaned forward. “Any ideas?”

“I’ve called in state forensics to help process evidence. There is definitely some kind of operation that was going on. I suspect human trafficking considering the number of people, but maybe some black market activity. All their paperwork for the building and medical research seems legitimate. Still, since the cover has been literally blown away, I’m not even sure what we will find when we start digging.” He swept the pictures back into the file and picked it up. “Now, I’m trusting you with this. Are you really ready? Are you staying sober? Do you have it together?”

“Yea” He took the file.

“Dave, I’ve known you a long time, and you had a rough go of it last year. You can say no.”

“No, I’m in. Don’t lose faith, I want to do it. I need to.” The Commander stood up and came around the desk and put his hand on Dave’s arm.

“Alright, get to it. Start with the hospital.” He opened the door, and Dave followed him to the coffee station in the adjoining room. “What about the kid?”

“Not a scratch. Paramedics checked her on the scene and couldn’t find any reason to admit her. I’ve got the rookie sitting with her until child services can take her. All I’ve got is a name so far.”

“What’s the background on…ah… I forget.”

“Anton Merril? He’s a low-level player in organized criminal activity. No real allegiance but doesn’t deal with the Mexican cartel type and doesn’t care for drugs. He spent pretty much his whole life in the system, from group homes to juvie. His rap sheet is about ten miles long. His only success is getting more effective as a criminal. He started with small crimes and moved to more sophisticated operations as he has made friends along the way. He sticks to money schemes and insurance scams now he’s never been particularly violent. It doesn’t seem to align with what you think was going on at the AMR site.”

“Well get what you can at the hospital. Maybe forensics can pull some evidence from his effects at least until he regains consciousness.” The Brian sipped his coffee. Dave made a cup for himself.

“Do you think the FBI will step in and take over?”

“Not if I can help it. The Chief called me in and told me to dedicate as many resources as possible to collect intel before the ATF comes in. If the FBI comes and hinders that, we may lose the investigation to them. If we can prove it was an accident or something, we can keep the ATF out. He paused…

“Any word of Sarah or Katie?”

“No, at best, the FBI tells me it’s a case of parental abduction, and it should be handled through the family courts if I can locate them.”

“But they aren’t actively looking for her.”

“They have flags on her credit so if she uses a credit card or files a tax document they will know, now they are just waiting to see if she slips up. I just don’t believe we had it so bad that she would just up and leave and take Katie. I think she would have come to me and tell me she was unhappy. It doesn’t feel right.”

“It’s not. Stay the course.” He slapped him on the back and paused, looking back, “You let me know when you want to take that Captain position. You’ve got the rank. You’ve been a detective for 20 years. Maybe it’s time to change your title. Think about it.” He went back to his office. Dave stood there, file in one hand, and coffee in the other. He stood there a few minutes drinking his coffee, looking out the window of the squad room.

“When he came in, he was a mess. ER pulled his clothes and tossed them in this bag.” The ICU nurse handed Dave a clear trash bag filled with Anton’s clothes. “A guy from the state lab arrived about an hour ago and is scraping his nails and I dunno whatever those guys do. It looks like he’s almost done. Whenever he goes out, you can go in. He’s intubated and not showing signs of waking up. Once he’s stable, we are moving him to the burn unit to address whatever it is that burned him.” Dave looked at the bag full of burnt bloody, dusty clothes, and back at the man in the hospital bed. The crime lab tech was taking hair samples, and swabbing his skin, what was left of it.

“What do you mean, what burned him?”

“Parts of him are so burned it’s like his skin was cauterized, but it’s localized something like a hot poker wouldn’t do that.”

“What could, I dunno, lava? Lightning? It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.” The tech was closing his toolbox. The detective reached into his pocket for one of his cards. As the man came out, he handed it to him.

“Dave Fitch.” He shook the man’s hand. “I’m the lead detective on the case.”

“Robbie Allen. Arizona State Crime Lab.” The man pulled his card from the pocket of the satchel that was slung over his shoulder.

“Is there anything you observed that might be helpful yet?” The nurse went into the room and was checking machines and making notes on the chart. “Anything cursory that might put us in a direction would be a huge help.” The man shifted his bags and tool kit. he reached for his note pad from the bag that had been slung over his shoulder.

“I can’t say much until I have a chance to analyze the photos of his injuries and lab samples. I don’t have any reference as to what caused his injuries. Whatever it was, it was hot, but he’s burned in one place, and an inch over there’s nothing—perfectly healthy skin. Almost like there was a stencil, and he was only burned by whatever wasn’t shielded. Usually, someone with burns like this before they have been washed they smell like cooked meat and smoke and chemicals burned from their clothes. This guy is as fresh as they come, almost like clean laundry, but look at him he’s got burns on his back from head to toe, and they come around to his front in a way that fire caused by an explosion doesn’t behave. I’m stumped. If there a fire, carbon is released, it has to go somewhere, it has a smell. There are chemical markers I should be able to find. Whatever it was didn’t leave much trace evidence that I can find, but something did it. I mean, look at the poor guy.”

“That guy is a criminal. He’s a bad guy, and he was involved in something. Just know that he was up to no good and a place like that doesn’t operate in a vacuum. There more to this story, and it’s up to us to figure it out. As soon as you know something, please be in contact.” The man nodded and left down the hall. Dave turned to the door again and knocked softly. The nurse waved him in; he dropped the bag of clothes in a chair and went to the bedside. He stood there looking down at Anton.

“I called some orderlies to turn him so I can dress his wounds. When we lift him, you can see what we are dealing with.” Dave nodded. Three men came, and all got into position, and the nurse gingerly peeled away the light cloth that had been placed on the man. Despite his small frame, the orderlies had trouble holding him. There was practically nowhere they could touch that didn’t involve contacting a burned place. “You can see he’s got a big stripe here and there, and they reach out in these tendrils, but then undamaged skin right next to it.”

“Don’t people blister or peel when they are burned?”

“They should. It may be that these burns are so bad the burned parts will have to fall off before any of that happens. Plus there’s no variation in burns.”

“What do you mean?”

“Usually when a person has a burn, it’s worse in some places and not so bad in others. It’s like he was burned at exactly the same intensity everywhere he was burned and 100% not harmed anywhere he wasn’t burned. That just doesn’t happen.” The nurse finished dressing the wounds, and the orderlies laid him back down and left.

“Is he showing any signs of waking up?” The nurse shrugged.

“He’s heavily sedated as long as that tube is in. When the doctor makes rounds, he may consider him stable enough to move. He crashed a couple times in the ER. He is currently on the ventilator because of the medications, but as far as I can tell, if we can get him beyond the shock and pain. He should recover.”

“This man is a known criminal. He’s going to jail, probably prison. If there is any chance that he is going to wake up, I want an officer on the door.”

“I will put a note in the file so you can be notified if his condition changes.”

“Please do.” He handed her another card. “I want to know as soon as he is awake. Actually, I want to know when he is showing signs of waking so I can be here to talk to him first, so maybe when they reduce the medication and remove the tube.”

“You got it.”

“Thanks.” Dave took another look at the man. He could hardly believe that this was the same miscreant he had dealt with in the past. He looked different, not just because he was in a hospital bed and pumped full of drugs. Dave couldn’t put a word on what was different, but not the same as before. “You know they found a little girl under him?”

“No, I hadn’t heard that. Was she killed?”

“Not a scratch, no burns, filthy like you wouldn’t believe and unconscious for a bit, but unharmed in every way. Why him and not her?”

“Could he have been protecting her?” He snorted.

“This asshat? I doubt it. I’m just as stumped as I was earlier. I gotta get lunch and get back to work.” He made for the door, grabbing the bag of clothes as he went. “Mam, I sure appreciate your help, please notify me first thing if anything changes here.” She smiled and waved him off as he left.

He made his way out of the hospital, drew his keys to unlock his trunk, dropped the bag in, and paused before closing the trunk. He grabbed the bag and untied it. Then opening it quickly as if something within was suffocating. He had been wearing black dress pants and a button shirt. He found the shoes bore the same burn. Appearing to have branded the fine Italian leather sparing perfectly crisp. The belt was still attached to the pants from when they had been cut from the man. The shirt buttons had been mostly torn off, and those that remained ripped loose. He held up the shirt, which had holes in the places the man was burned, but the fabric held entirely where the fire had not touched. He held the shirt to his face. Tentatively and cautiously, he took a sniff. He was unsure what he expected, but there was nothing, except perhaps a faint remnant of whatever hygiene products Anton had used when he set off to work the day before. Dave shook off the strange feeling it gave him and shoved the articles bag in the bag and, tying it shut, slammed the trunk.