As the truck driver sat down in the conference room for the second time, Ray turned to the blonde haired consultant who had come along as an extra help, and wondered whether he had made a mistake about calling him here. Since he'd arrived the former psychic had wasted time smelling the crime scene and examining light fixtures. Sometimes it was hard to believe that Lisbon trusted him so much, he thought. "So why are you calling me back here?" Stacy asked to which Haffner replied, "We need to go over what happened the morning Lamb died. Step by step. To confirm you were the last one who saw him alive."
"This is a waste of time," Adams said to which Jane remarked, "Oh I completely agree, it's cutting into my sleep schedule. So could you hurry it up?" "Who do you people think you are? You don't have the right to come in here and accuse people! We're like family here, it's that simple!" Stacy said leaning forward and asking, "So what do you want me to say? I told you everything I did that morning. 5:50 A.M. We got a call from an apartment about six blocks from here, so my unit was dispatched to handle it. When we came back Chief McFrat called a union conference and then Michael found him dead in the garage."
"Interesting, straight and to the point yet you don't seem to really acknowledge that one of your own died," Jane stated and then commented, "Sounds like a rather dysfunctional family if you ask me."
"You misunderstand. I'm tired of these questions! We all are! Let Joel rest in peace and we can move on with our lives," Stacy insisted. "I can't help but to notice a quiver in your voice, almost as if you're pleading with us. Is there some reason you're worried we'll find something?" the consultant remarked.
"We've been thru a lot here okay?" Adams said to which Haffner asked, "What do you mean?" "This department almost faced shut down when the city had to cutbacks, but Chief McFrat got us together we had a fundraiser and we can support this volunteer service for another three years. But now you've got a murder investigation on our doorstep? That isn't going to look good," she explained to which Patrick said, "The truth is never pink bows and ribbons, I'm afraid. So you need to be as clear and as frank with us as possible if you want this all to go away. Why don't you start by explaining why you moved the truck?"
The middle aged woman sighed and said, "It's like I said a body here in the firehouse would not help us any. So... we decided to move it. There was a fire being dealt with anyway. Chief McFrat knew that if he could write off that Joel died in the blaze rather than here, that it wouldn't raise any eyebrows."
"So you moved his body after you found it? That's tampering with evidence!" Ray said in disbelief. "Well I think that covers everything we need to know, you're free to go," Jane said which caused the woman to look at them in confusion and Haffner said, "Jane, she just confessed to tampering with a crime scene."
"Oh, well in that case could you tell us where Chief McFrat is at now?" he replied to which she stammered, "In his office… I guess." "Thank you for your assistance, I'm sure Officer Haffner has some rules about what you need to do next," the consultant said as he left the room and walked toward the back of the firehouse.
"Could you excuse me a moment?" Ray asked, following the consultant and muttering, "Where do you think you're going?" "The source of our problem, McFrat himself. Seems to me that all clues are pointing to him," Patrick answered as he stepped up to where the office of the fire chief was at and Ray remarked, "You do realize we only have her word about this? When we found Lamb's body it was practically burned to a crisp, so the evidence says that he died in that fire."
"It's a good thing you called me then isn't it?" the blonde man countered opening the door to where the older man was sitting at his computer. "Can I help you boys?"
McFrat asked to which Jane said, "Maybe, maybe not; but you could start by telling us why you let Officer Adams take our victims body to that fire." "Excuse me?" the fire chief asked angrily to which Ray remarked, "Stacy just confessed to moving the body from the garage of this firehouse, if she is telling the truth she says you told her to do that."
"She's lying obviously, I wouldn't tell her to do anything like that," McFrat said nervously to which the former psychic said, "That twitch in your left hand tells me otherwise. Are you a smoker, Chief?"
"I'm trying to quit," he said raising his sleeve to reveal a nicotine patch he had on his shoulder. "Hmm right, so this is another tell then, what are you hiding?" Jane said as though he were talking to himself as he paced the room and Haffner crossed his arms, sighing and stating, "Sir, just to make things a bit clearer, when was your unit called to the scene of the fire?"
"Around 5am this morning, Stacy drove truck number 13 and we got the thing put out by 7," McFrat answered to which the consultant said, "Meaning the murder must've occurred sometime before that, whenever the shift change was happening. Was there something here in the firehouse that Stacy was afraid Lamb would find out about? Some dark dungeon you're hiding?"
"You sound like you're a nut job," the fire chief observed. "I think he's hiding something," Jane said turning to the other agent who stated, "And what makes you think that?"
"Twitch in his hands, plus since we came in the room he hasn't been able to keep his eyes on us." Pausing, the former consultant turned about and gave the chief a cold stare remarking, "Is it here?"
He placed his hand on one of the drawers next to the older man's desk causing McFrat to reply, "This is ridiculous!"
"Or maybe here…?" Patrick remarked turning to an old tv set up in the corner of a file cabinet and then smiling for some reason and reaching behind it to take out an old bubble gum dispenser. Opening it, he nodded slowly and then passed it to Haffner who gave it a glance and then asked, "Chief McFrat could you explain why there is some marijuana in your office?"
"I have no idea how it got there," the fire chief began to which Jane scoffed and said, "Wow you're a horrible liar. But he's not our guy." "What? You're saying he's doing drugs but he didn't kill Lamb?" Ray asked in surprise.
"Nope, whoever the murderer is obviously wanted the body to be taken to the place where the fire was happening. So I think we need to visit the other crime scene… um, what's the address of the building?" Jane asked turning back to McFrat who looked dumbfounded by their conversation and then declared, "It's 1605 Chestnut Drive, about six blocks from here."
"Thanks so much," the blonde said with a smile and then glanced at Haffner and declared, "You know what to do with him right?" Ray rolled his eyes and muttered, "You're under arrest… just don't leave town."
