California Fire And Life

45

You got it wrong again, you dumb lazy fuck!

Is what Jack wants to say to Accidentally Bentley. But Jack doesn't figure that's exactly diplomatic, so he settles for, "I think you might want to reconsider your call on the Vale fire."

"Get out of here," Bentley says. He's sitting at his desk at the Sheriff's office. Actually, he's cleaning out his desk, and what he means by Get out of here is not You're kidding; what he means is Get out of here.

Bentley jerks his thumb toward the door.

Which looks good to Jack, too, but he reminds himself that he's here to try to get Bentley to reopen the investigation, so he takes a breath and says, "Brian, the house has all the indicators."

"Such as?"

"Deep char."

"There was a lot of stuff in the house."

"Alligator char on the beams."

"Old wives' tale," Bentley says. He doesn't even look at Jack. He's busy putting stuff into a cardboard box. "Could mean something, could mean nothing."

"Spalling on the concrete pad."

"Same."

"The damn bed frame was annealed."

Bentley puts a coffee mug in the box. "Jack, if you're saying this was a hot fire – okay, it was a hot fire. I'm telling you, there was a fuel load in that place could have burned Chicago. Now get out of here."

A couple of deputies standing at another desk look over.

"I found a pour pattern," Jack says.

"There was no pour pattern."

"You didn't do a dig-out."

"Didn't need to do a dig-out."

"The hell you mean you didn't need to do a dig-out?!"

The deputies are watching now. Ready to step in if this guy needs moving.

Bentley yells back, "The deceased was smoking in bed! The most common cause of fire fatality there is!"

"There was no smoke in her lungs!" Jack yells. "Less than 10 percent CO in her blood."

"She was drinking!" Bentley hollers. "She was bombed on booze and pills! She OD'd!"

"But first she went around the room pouring accelerants?" Jack asks. "Gives herself her own Viking funeral? Come on, Brian."

"The fuck you talking about, accelerants."

"I took debris samples, and they're going to come up positive-"

"Bullshit."

"-and I just want to give you a chance to back off your call first."

"Well, you're a hell of a guy, Jack," Bentley says. "But I'm not backing off shit. Now go back to cheating widows and orphans."

"You need to reopen-"

"You just can't stand being an insurance adjuster, can you?" Bentley says. "You still wanna be a cop. Well, you're not, Jack. They threw you out, remember?"

I remember, Jack thinks.

"Yeah," he says. "I remember you going belly-up on the stand."

Bentley grabs him by the shirt. Jack grabs back. The two deputies move in to separate them, so they have a real little scrum going when Letty comes around the corner.

"Jack, for Christ's sake-"

"Hey, Jack," Bentley says, "maybe you can beat a confession out of him."

"You don't do your job-"

"I told you not to dick around-"

" Jack – "

"-with shit you don't know any-"

"-you dumb, lazy-"

"Jack."

Letty takes him by the elbow and walks him up against the wall. "What are you doing?" she asks.

Jack takes a deep breath. "I came to try to get him to back off his report."

She gives him a quizzical look.

"The fire was an arson," he says.

"Oh, you two are together on this, huh?" Bentley says. "What are you, Jack, doing her again?"

Jack starts for him but Letty stands in his way.

"Let him go," Bentley says.

Letty says, "Like you want me to."

"And you was told to stay out of this, del Rio," Bentley says.

"She was my sister."

"She was stoned and drunk and she torched herself," Bentley says.

Jack says, "If you'd do your fucking job for once-"

"Get out of here!" Bentley yells. He's straightening out his shirt and patting his hair back into place.

"He's leaving," Letty says. She holds a hand up to the two deputies who are about to escort Jack from the building. She keeps her hand on his elbow as she walks him down the hall. They can both hear Bentley yelling, "You're an asshole, Jack!"

"He might have something there," Letty says.

"Probably."

"Probably," Letty chuckles. Then says, "Arson?"

"I won't be sure until the sample tests, but…" Jack says. Then he asks, "Could Pam have done that, Letty? Could she have been so down she'd take herself out and the house along with her?"

"Pam would never have killed herself."

"How-"

"The kids," Letty says. "She never would have left the kids."

"She was very drunk."

Letty shakes her head. "He killed her, Jack."

"Letty…"

"He killed her," she says. Then, "You'd better get out of here."

He gets into his car and drives off. When she gets back into the office Bentley asks her, "So how's the old boyfriend?"

"Shut up, you dumb lazy fuck," Letty says.