Chapter Five:

A couple of days had gone by. We were still on high alert for a possible public safety threat. I was beginning to be weary when our targets suddenly went quiet. I leaned against the Cafe Wall. I watched the quay quietly. There was a light crowd out and about.

Norman and James came running out of the cafe. "Norman-Man keeps an eye out for danger! However, his danger senses don't detect anything. PontyPandy is safe." shouted Norman.

A loud explosion went off. I frowned. I ran towards the railing. "Help!" shouted Charlie. His boat had suddenly caught fire.

James gasped. "Oh no! Dad!" He then turned around. "Your Norman Senses should of picked that up!"

I put a hand on James' shoulder. "Don't worry, James. I'm going to call Fireman Sam. He'll help your dad."

I got on the radio. "Constable Williams to Emergency Services. Fire spotted on Charlie Jones' ship near the quay."

Rodger that, Constable Williams. The fire service is en route to your location. Be on standby.

I cleared my throat. "Alright everyone! Move back!"

I moved the growing crowd away from the railing. I heard the sound of sirens approaching. Venus rounded the bend. It parked outside of the ORC. Penny and Sam went rushing inside. I kept an eye on Charlie's boat. I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head.

A loud engine tore through the air above me. I caught something metal flying towards the boat briefly. "On..earth?" I muttered.

That thing was going to collide with Charlie's boat. I went for my radio only to notice it hovering over the fire. It fired a flame retardant onto the flames putting them out. It then grabbed Charlie. I watched as the metal object made it's way back to shore with him. Charlie looked to be freaking out.

I immediately got ready for an attack. The flying figure put Charlie down on the quay before taking off. Charlie wobbled a bit. "Charlie!" shouted Bronwyn.

"Dad!" shouted James.

They rushed over to him. I looked back over at Charlie's boat. Titan was already hooking up to it. I got on the radio. "Just so you know, Sam, Charlie is safely on the quay."

Thank you, Malcolm. I'm still unsure of what that was.

"Neither do I, Sam. I am going to question your brother. See if he knows anything."

Rodger that. We'll get his boat back to the quay so you and I can do an inspection. Out.

I walked over to where Charlie was. "Charlie, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Go ahead."

I took out my notepad. "Do you know how the fire started?"

Charlie shook his head. "This is going to seem rather odd but the boat was fine when I boarded this morning. I did hear some tiny scratches behind me. I just thought it was the lobster pods. When I turned around, the pods I was carrying suddenly caught fire."

I wrote that down. "Strange. So you didn't have any open engine compartments? You didn't leave anything flammable near them?"

"No Constable. I made sure everything was safe before I pushed off."

"I see." I closed my notepad. "Well Fireman Sam and I will be taking a look at your boat. I'll let you know our findings."

Charlie nodded. He headed inside the Wholefish cafe with his family. I let out a small sigh. I just have this nagging feeling. Could those people on the beach be responsible for this? I wondered.

I helped Sam dock Charlie's boat. Him and I boarded it. I took a look around. I noticed a pair of footprints coming from the front of the boat. I knelt down by them. "Looks like his boat got broken into."

Sam knelt by him. He examined the footprints. "Those don't look like anyone I know."

"I see." I swabbed one of the footprints. I put the swab into a plastic baggie. "Can you examine the lobster pods? You might be able to spot an accidental fire better than I could."

Sam stood up. He headed over to the pods. He took a look at them. I saw him frown. "The engine compartment is open. Looks like somebody put fuel over the engine to cause it to burst into flames."

"Do you think Charlie missed the fuel tank?"

Sam shook his head. "We refueled his boat this morning." He bent down to examine the engine. He wiped some of the fuel off the engine. He smelled it. "This doesn't smell like it was from this morning."

"So your saying the fire was started on purpose?" I questioned.

"Yep."

I wrote a few notes down in my notepad. I made sure to take pictures and samples. "Thanks for your help, Sam."

"My pleasure. I'll send my report off to the investigation team down in Newtown. I'll let you know what they say."

I nodded. I headed back to the station. Rose was having a conversation with Anika. Both woman looked up at me. Hey Constable. greeted Anika.

"Morning Anika. What's going on?"

Well I was just about ready to tell Sergent Ravani about the lab results from the previous samples you sent me.

I sat down in one of the chairs. I motioned for her to continue. Anika cleared her throat. So I managed to find fingerprints on the Popsicle stick you sent me. The only fingerprints I found on the mug were from Joe. The ones on the stick were made by a guy named Crompton Inglewood.

"Did the database have anything to say about Mr. Inglewood?" asked Rose.

It did actually. It just said he was a former robotics scientist from an organization known as Creakwood. I'll do some more digging. Hopefully I find out more for you guys.

"Thank you, Anika. I've got more samples for you to examine." I said.

Great! Just send them over. I'll send you a copy of the lab results. Keep me posted! Anika then hung up the call.

I looked over at Rose. "Charlie's boat caught fire today. Turns out the fire wasn't accidental."

Rose lofted an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Sam and I examined Charlie's boat. Sam ruled the fire to be caused by somebody behind the scenes. I even have the pictures and samples from the site to prove it."

She nodded. She took my phone from me. She pulled each one of the pictures up on screen. "Hmm, I'm not sure I like the idea of an Arsonist being this close to PontyPandy. We should tell the station to remain on high alert just until we get this case solved."

"Good idea. Who knows if the folks we saw in the cave earlier are going to start another fire." I then rubbed my chin gently. "Crompton...that name sounded familiar. You got the audio I sent you, right?"

"Yes. There was a female in the audio that mentioned a "Crompton". "

"So if we find out who Crompton is working for, we may just have our arsonist."

"Good thinking, PC Malcolm."

Winter came walking in. He looked between the two of us. "What did I miss?" he asked.

"Officer Price, so nice of you to show up. Go ahead and take a seat."

Winter nodded. He quickly sat down. He noticed the pictures I had taken. "Let me guess, our Un-Subs finally stopped beating the bush and actually did something?" he asked.

Rose nodded. "This time they set fire to Charlie's boat. We even have this to worry about." She pulled up another picture. It looked to be somebody flying around in an armored suit.

"Whoa. This is some Marvel levels of crazy." commented Winter.

That was the first time I've ever seen Rose smirk at one of Winter's wise cracks. "You could say that, yes. Whoever it was managed to rescue Charlie before the fire service could."

"So you sayin we have some sort of Iron-man wannabe flying around?" asked Winter.

"Possibly. I don't know if "Flying-Man" has connection to our arsonists though." muttered Rose. "In any case, we should remain on high alert. This Flying-Man may become problematic."

The both of us nodded. Rose sent us out on a patrol. We decided to investigate the cave again. We sat a little closer to the front entrance. I piloted the small drone we had inside. I set it close to the desk that a plump, short male was sitting at. He was playing a newscast. This is Scoop Doley at the scene of one amazing rescue. A mysterious Flying-Man beat the local rescue team to a terrible fire. Word on the street says that this hero is better than Fireman Sam."

Winter let out a soft snarl. "They just got lucky is all." he muttered.

We continued listening. The female voice started speaking again. Well that couldn't of gone better.

Better than Fireman Sam... chimed in Crompton.

Look at all this publicity. I can imagine it being posted on billboards, T-shirts, Baseball caps!

Oh! Oh! Those jiggly things you wave at baseball games! What were they called again?!

Never mind those jiggly things. What we need know is another major rescue. Something to really brighten up the headlines.

I groaned inwardly. "So our Un-Sub has a huge ego problem. Great." I muttered. I piloted the drone out of the cave. I tucked it away in my pocket. "Let's just keep an eye out the next week or so. Hopefully they're bluffing."

"That's what you said last time." countered Winter.

"I know and looked what happened. I really mean it this time. These two are not going to get away with this."