Title: Firebug
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C.. Not for profit.
Description: There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

Author's Note: Much thanks to my new beta fredsmith518 for all of her valuable input.

Chapter 4

When Ryan and Sandy got to the Dean's office on Monday morning, Ryan was hoping they could get in right away – you know, get it over with – but instead they were directed to wait. There were some other students, including Luke, already waiting outside the office with their parents. Ryan sighed. He guessed he'd just have to wait his turn. At least he could take some solace in the fact that he wasn't the only one being singled out for special treatment.

Ryan nodded hello to Luke then sat down next to him. Sandy greeted Luke's father Carson as well, before sitting on the other side of Ryan. Ryan took a deep breath and settled in to wait. To pass the time, he studied the other students. One was the other kid who got detention from Mr. Schmidt on Friday. He figured that would be why that kid got called in. The others, Ryan didn't recognize. Probably more kids who hated Mr. Schmidt's guts. Although what student who'd ever had him as a teacher didn't?

After a few minutes, Dr. Kim's door opened and a man who looked like a detective called Luke inside. Ryan and Luke exchanged a look as Luke got up and headed into the office with his father. After the door closed, Ryan exchanged a look with Sandy and then settled in to wait some more.

And then some more…

After what seemed like forever, Luke emerged and another student was called in. It seemed like forever, but looking at his watch, Ryan saw that, in fact, Luke's interview lasted only ten minutes. Time went so slowly when you were waiting. Ryan and Sandy both stood up when Luke and Carson came out. The two fathers went off to confer, while Ryan met up with Luke.

"How was it?" Ryan whispered.

Luke whispered back, "Not too bad. There was this cop and this arson guy. They asked me about the model home fire." Luke shrugged. Ryan nodded. That was to be expected. "They asked some other questions about Mr. Schmidt and stuff –"

"Do you have him for math?"

Luke shook his head. "No, thank god. Never have. And I hope I never will. Jackass." Ryan gave Luke a half-smile in agreement. "So anyway, they asked where I was at the time of the fire. I was with my dad." Luke looked over at his father. Ryan followed his gaze. "My dad confirmed it. I went to his place for the weekend, thank god." Luke looked at Ryan and shrugged again. "And that was pretty much the end of it."

Ryan gave Luke a nod and a smile, thinking that Luke was lucky to have an alibi that cleared him. Ryan wished that he was that lucky.

When Ryan was finally called in to the Dean's office for his interview, Sandy was relieved to finally get to it. He could see Ryan becoming more and more tense the more they waited and other kids got called in ahead of him. Sandy was glad, though, to have gotten some good information from Carson. At least he knew who was in there and what kinds of questions they were asking. He didn't recognize the name of the police detective, and he'd never had reason to work with the arson investigator before, but he figured he could work with that.

When Sandy entered the office behind Ryan, the detective and another man (whom Sandy assumed was the arson investigator) were standing behind Dean Kim's desk waiting for them. He and Ryan were directed to the chairs in front. The detective greeted Ryan, then held out his hand to Sandy.

"Detective Mike Lowell."

Sandy took the detective's hand. "Sandy Cohen. I'm Ryan's guardian, and his attorney."

"Sandy Cohen? From the P.D.'s office?"

Sandy gave a minimal nod. "Right. I was. I'm with a private firm now."

The detective nodded, then indicated the man with him. "And this is Arson Inspector Alex Gonzalez."

Sandy shook his hand as well, nodding a greeting. Inspector Gonzalez nodded back. Then everyone took their seats. The detective picked up a file folder from the desk and opened it.

"I assume we all know why we're here."

Detective Lowell proceeded to outline the facts of the case. To Sandy, it sounded like a rehearsed speech. He figured the detective must have gone over this five times already with the other kids. He was glad to hear that the detective's version of events matched the information that he had gotten over the weekend from his contacts. Not that he expected anything different.

After the officer finished his recitation, he flipped through some pages in the file and started in with the questions for Ryan.

"Okay, Ryan." He looked up at the boy he was addressing. "Why don't we start with your arrest last summer, where you were charged with arson for a home fire. Why don't you tell me about that?"

Ryan started to answer, defensively, shaking his head a little. "That was –"

Sandy interrupted. He intended to do most of the talking – as Ryan's attorney – just to make sure that Ryan didn't get upset and say something that… well, something that wasn't really a good idea to say to the police when they suspected you of another crime. And anyway there was no need for Ryan to go over the facts of the model home fire again. The police already had that information.

Sandy told them, "That fire was an accident. Some candles got knocked over. The charges were dropped, and Ryan was released." Sandy indicated the file in the detective's hands. "Ryan's statement at the time, along with Luke Ward's, are in the police report. Everything is in there. Ryan has nothing to add."

Sandy shared a look with Ryan, trying to tell him silently to let him do most of the talking. Sandy interpreted Ryan's return look to mean that he understood and was grateful that Sandy was handling things. Or maybe Sandy was reading a little too much into it. Either way, Sandy intended to continue.

The detective, on the other hand, was looking daggers at Sandy. He looked to be quite unhappy that he wasn't able to get Ryan talking about the other fire. Sandy suppressed a little smirk of satisfaction. He knew how these cops worked, trying to trip up suspects and get them to say something incriminating, even if they didn't do anything wrong. He was determined not to let that happen with Ryan.

Detective Lowell went back to flipping through the file, saying "Mmmm…" unhappily to himself. He finally found what he was looking for. "And you're currently on probation for grand theft auto –"

Sandy interrupted. "That was pled down to a misdemeanor. And yes, Ryan's on probation, and he has complied with the terms of it. You're welcome to talk to his probation officer. He'll tell you the same thing."

Detective Lowell shot a look of pure annoyance at Sandy. "Yes, we intend to."

After a few moments of scowling at Sandy, the officer closed the folder he had been reading and opened up another folder that Sandy recognized as Ryan's school file. He flipped through it, until he got to the page he wanted.

"I see here, Ryan, that you are taking Chemistry this year." He looked up at Ryan, who nodded.

Sandy interjected. "And so are a lot of other students."

Detective Lowell this time didn't even spare Sandy a glance, but continued. "And you have Mr. Schmidt for Pre-Calculus. It says here that you've had a little trouble with him, including the detention that he gave you Friday. Tell me about that."

Ryan looked at Sandy with eyebrows raised, asking if he should answer. Sandy nodded back, hoping that Ryan would keep his cool and just state the facts. Ryan proceeded to relate basically the same information that he had told Sandy in the pool house on Saturday, about defending the other student. The detective asked a few questions, looking for more detail, which Ryan answered. Sandy was gratified to see Ryan stay calm and not go into a rant about what a jackass Mr. Schmidt was, although he figured that was probably what Ryan was thinking. But Ryan was smart enough not to say it aloud. Good.

After that line of questioning was done, Sandy gave Ryan a little nod and a smile to let him know that he did good. Ryan smiled his thanks back.

Then the detective got to the tricky part. "Okay, Ryan, final question. Tell me where you were on Friday at 5:30."

After a quick look at Sandy, Ryan took a deep breath and related his story about leaving school at five o'clock and walking home. Lowell again asked questions, obviously trying to poke holes in Ryan's story, questioning why a sixteen-year-old with his driver's license would walk home, why he didn't call for a ride, and so forth. To Ryan's credit, he kept his cool, again, and just answered the questions, firmly reiterating that he did walk home and why.

At the end of it all, the detective – even without being able to make Ryan admit to anything – seemed pleased. "So, do I have this correct that you didn't see anybody or talk to anybody after you left school until dinnertime?"

"Right."

Ryan looked nervously at Sandy. He knew that it wasn't a good thing that he didn't have an alibi. Sandy tried to send Ryan a reassuring look. He wasn't sure if it worked.

Lowell finished making his notes about the interview and then stood up. Ryan and Sandy followed suit.

"All right, then, we'll be in touch."

Sandy shook the detective's hand. "We'll be waiting to hear from you."

Finally, the interrogation over, Sandy and Ryan exited the Dean's office.

In the hallway, Ryan dropped into a chair, spent. Sandy sat down beside him. All the other chairs were empty now, since Ryan was the last to go in. Sandy was glad of that. He patted Ryan on the arm. "You did good, kid. You kept your cool."

Ryan gave Sandy a look. "Thanks. But really, how do you think it went? That detective –"

"Well... yeah… well…" Sandy sat back and sighed. "It went as well as could be expected. He asked the questions we expected to be asked, right? We gave him the answers. They don't have anything they can prove. There's enough to make you a suspect, but that's it. They'll talk to your P.O., keep investigating…"

Ryan looked away, frowning. Sandy put his arm around Ryan's shoulders. "Look, there's nothing we can do now, until they get back to us. So try not to worry."

Ryan nodded curtly. Sandy knew that Ryan would worry – and brood – but there was nothing he could do about it.

Sandy stood up. "Come on, kid. Let's go home."

To Be Continued