Every handful of backfill Steve pulled into the car brought a new cascade of dirt, rocks and dust on his head and shoulders. After several minutes of random swearing, coughing and wiping his eyes, Steve pulled his head back in the window. "If this is going to work, I need two things: This." he grabbed Mike's Giants cap off the seat and pulled it over his dirt-matted hair.
Mike was going to objects until Steve smiled and said, "Don't worry, I buy you a new one when we get out of here."
Mike laughed, "Promise?"
Steve joined him in a chuckle, "Second thing, you still got your handkerchief?"
Mike checked his pockets and came up with the pristine white cloth. It had zero chance of staying that way. He handed it over to Steve, who after wiping the sweat, blood and dirt from his face, tied it over his nose and mouth. "How do I look?" he asked before attacking the growing void outside the window with renewed vigor.
"Like a deranged tunnel rat." Mike said.
"I heard that!" Steve called back as he leaned further out the window and continued to shovel dirt into the car.
While this was happening, Talbot had managed to pull out the lower cushion of rear bench seat, letting in a small current of fresher air from the trunk. He leaned forward to Mike and spoke in a low voice. "I don't know how much longer the oxygen is going to hold out. If he doesn't start to make some real progress, we are going to have to risk two diggers and deal with the dirt as best we can.
Mike looked at his watch and then swept the pile of refuse Steve had deposited on the seat into the growing volume on the floor. He then checked the size of the hollowed space beyond the driver's side window, "Not yet, it looks like he's making good progress. According to your calculations, we still have another 30 minutes or so before things start to get dicey."
"That was a rough estimate, but I'll let you make the call. I'm going nuts just sitting back here while we slowly suffocate."
"I know, but let's face it, he's a lot younger and smaller than both of us. If anybody can get out, it's gonna be him. Two of you start disturbing the ground out there and the whole thing could collapse and trap you both. If that happens, I don't know if I'd be able to get you out in time by myself. If it collapses on him, well, two of us have a better chance of pulling him out, don't you think?"
"I guess you're right, but it's a moot point if we all die from lack of oxygen in the meantime."
"I tell you what, Larry, if that happens you can sue me, Okay?"
Talbot responded with a laugh.
Steve's slid back into the car. He flipped over and went back out the window on his back. His body, from waste up, was now outside the car. Through diligent excavation, dirt continued to pour through the window. Most of the space under the steering wheel was now full, so Talbot began pulling handfuls of dirt over the seat back. Mike moved closer to steering wheel and continued scooping dirt away from Steve's feet. They proceeded until ominous groaning sound filled the car. Talbot shouted, but it was too late as Mike's last supposition turned prophetic. The ceiling of Steve's makeshift tunnel collapsed, burying the young homicide inspector.
00000
Norm went lights and sirens all the way to Cupertino. He only quelched the sound when he pulled into the lot of the Sherriff's Office. He and Bill took the few feet between the car and the main entrance at a jog.
The deputy at the desk seem startled when the two detectives burst through the door.
"Whoa, fellas. Where's the fire?"
"You tell us." Norm began. Both he and Bill pulled out their stars and Norm continued. "I called about 40 minutes ago. Spoke to Deputy Reynolds about the Garrod-Cooper place and our missing colleagues."
"Right, I got a note from him right here. Boy, you big city boys got out here in a helluva hurry. Musta really been putting the petal to the metal. Let me see, the note here says to give you boys anything you need. Reynolds is already at the scene."
Norm took a few deep breaths. "Great, thanks. I think what we need most is an escort to the scene. Now that it's dark, we'll make better time if we follow someone who knows where they are going."
"Makes sense, give me a sec and I'll get the dispatcher to call someone back to lead you out there."
"Appreciate it."
"Well your quite welcome. This has been one of the busiest nights we've had in a long while, with the big fire and all."
"How bad is it?"
"Really bad, from what I here. House and winery went up like a tinderbox. And with as dry as it's been, wasn't long before the whole vineyard was involved."
"Anybody hurt?"
"That I don't know, but they did send out a couple of ambulances and the coroner."
"Coroner?" Norm asked, alarmed.
Dan put his hand on Norm's shoulder, "I'm sure they are fine."
"Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. They haven't found any bodies, as far as I know. The coroner is also the local Vet. Old Doc Martin went out to make sure the horses were ok."
"Your coroner is a Veterinarian?"
"It's an elected position, not like a medical examiner. But honestly, I think most people around here would trust the Doc with any living thing, animal or human."
The deputy picked up the phone and contacted the dispatcher. He turned back to Norm and Bill. "Well gentlemen, if you'll go back out to your car, a black and white will be right around. You got lucky, most of the time we don't have anybody this close to the barn. It's a big county."
"How long will it take to get out there?"
"I guess about 15 minutes. Good luck guys, I hope you find your people."
00000
Drumming his fingers on the desk, Dan waited to talk to a breathing body at DMV. He'd already been on the phone too long for his liking. His first step had been issuing statewide APB's on everyone involved, including Mike, Steve and their car. Then, he had spent the next hour calling airlines and ship lines. He discovered that if the Garrod's and Jones were traveling, it was under assumed names with forged passport. No international air or sea carriers had a record of their reservations in the names he had.
He then contacted airport and seaport security and US immigration. In lieu of photos, he'd left the general description of Georg Garrod from Steve's report. He had also come up with a description of Jones, based on his personnel file photo from Interpol. He had nothing on the other two suspects.
Dan was anxious to get this part of the job done and join Norm and Bill on-site. He knew what he was doing was important, but in his mind, finding Mike and Steve trumped nabbing fugitives every time. A voice on the line pulled him from his inner musings. The response from DMV was more or less what he expected. Fortunately, they confirmed that the Garrod Brothers did hold California Driver's Licenses. Unfortunately, they couldn't even begin to retrieve photos or any vehicle registrations until the next business day.
He slammed down the phone in disgust. Despite the possibility of officers in peril, he could not make the wheels of bureaucracy turn any faster. Deciding one more phone call was in order, he walked into Mike's office and retrieved the home phone number of Captain Rudy Olsen. It was time to call in the big guns.
After the brief conversation with Olsen, Dan had done all that he could at Bryant Street. He gathered up the files, organized them and paper clipped a note to the outside of the stack. He laid them on Mike's desk as per Rudy's instructions. Confident that the Captain could make things happen much more effectively than he could, Healey left for Garrod-Cooper Farms.
00000
Bill and Norm began to smell smoke 10 minutes into the drive. After a few more tense moments, they saw the flickering glow of flames through the trees. The black and white stopped, waved them past and pointed to and road just ahead on the right. When the made the turn up the drive, it looked like a scene from one of the latest batch of disaster movies that had hit the theaters.
"Damn!" Bill said as Norm pulled to a stop behind a fleet of fire and rescue vehicles. Norm was speechless as he got out of the car. Even 100 yards from the source, they were hit by a wall of heat from the intense flames. Several hose crews doused the inferno with torrents of water. Whatever structure had been directly in front of them was a total loss.
A sheriff's deputy approached them. "San Francisco?" he called out.
"Yep, Tanner and Haseejian."
The deputy reached out his hand. "Reynolds. We spoke earlier." After a quick handshake, he got down to business. "I don't know what I can tell you other than this is definitely a torch job. Even I could smell the gasoline when I got on the scene. They also left those." he indicated the pile of jerry cans by the side of the road with an outstretched hand. "They weren't trying to hide anything."
"They've cut and run." Norm said quietly.
"Yep, looks like it. I hope you folks already got them out on the wire. They're foreigners, you know. Probably going to leave the country as fast as they can."
"We're already got a man on it." Bill responded.
"Good."
"Any sign of our people."
"No, not yet. No cars in the back lot and I hope to hell they weren't in the house. It was fully involved by the time the crews got here."
"Me too. No one has been inside yet?"
"Nope. Way too hot and dangerous."
"What about the rest of the property?"
"We already checked out the barn over at the farm. Kate, who handles the horses, actually called in the fire. She told me two people who matched the Lieutenant and Inspector's descriptions were definitely here earlier this afternoon, but she sent them up to the big house to sign a contract. A far as the vineyard, with the fire here and in the winery behind the house, there is no way to get down the vineyard road until this is under control and it's safe."
"Back up a sec, this Kate, do you think she knew anything about this?"
"Not a chance. She's a local girl, been working with the horses longer than the Garrod's have owned this place."
"Okay, just a thought."
Bill and Norm turned from the deputy toward the house, momentarily mesmerized by the towering flames. After their breakneck journey to get to here, there was nothing they could do.