Chapter 7

When Kelly came through the back door he found Alyssa tearing the cabinets and the pantry apart checking for all the things she needed for Sunday. She was preparing for at least fifty and she was going into planning mode.

And Kelly knew after a dozen years of experience that the best thing he could do was get out of the way... and come back in time to do any heavy lifting.

So he kissed his wife and left her to make her grocery list, grabbed is gym bag, and headed for his car.

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Usually a workout helped him to clear his head...to just do something without thinking about it...and that's exactly what he needed.

But it wasn't happening. At least not today.

He was thinking about the little boy. He was thinking about his own kids too, and how it was just dumb luck that some kids ended up with the parents they did. He was still convinced that the woman he saw was probably the mom...and that she had had at least something to do with the kid's death. Even if she didn't start the fire...she probably had...but on the off chance she didn't, she knew that Mason was in there. And she didn't do anything to save him.

It was sickening. He'd give his life for his kids. How could any other parent not do the same?

He had to find out more. He couldn't wait for the cops and the forensics guys to put it all together.

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He rang the bell at 1143 N. Laramie and took a step back. He'd gotten the name of the neighbor from Rich Allen. The man's name was Wayne Hewitt. He was in his fifties...married...worked as a plumber. He had two daughters, both in college...and he'd lived in his house for about eighteen years.

He should have a good sense of the neighborhood.

Hewitt opened his door...and Severide held out his badge.

"Mr. Hewitt? I'm Lieutenant Severide, with the CFD. You mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"I already talked to somebody from the fire department. I talked to the cops too." Hewitt said, confused.

"I know...and I'm not part of the official investigation." Kelly told him. "I was one of the people who responded to the fire at your neighbor's. I don't know if you remember...but I spoke to you...I asked you where the little boy was."

A look of recognition crossed Hewitt's face.

"C'mon in..." he said.

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Wayne Hewitt led Kelly through the house to the back room, which had once been the back porch, but was now enclosed to make a TV room. He gestured to a leather recliner...and took a seat in an identical one beside it.

"What'd you wanna know?" he asked.

Kelly leaned forward in the chair, balancing his arms on his knees. He hadn't really formulated a line of questioning...he wasn't sure the man would agree to talk to him. But they were both hard-working, blue-collar, family men...both fathers...and somehow Kelly just knew that Wayne Hewitt was as bothered by what had happened as he was.

"You were the one who called 911...what happened? Did you...just notice your neighbor's house was on fire?"

"Jaclyn came to the door." He said. "She just rang the bell...once...and when I opened the door she said...'My house is on fire. Call the fire department.' She was calm...she wasn't screamin'... cryin'. Nothin'. So I grabbed my phone and made the call."

Kelly waited. And Hewitt kept talking.

"She was standin' on the porch... and she had the baby...Lexi...in her arms. I hung up with 911...then I noticed Mason wasn't there. I says 'Where's Mason?'"

Hewitt took a deep breath and let it out slowly...like he was trying to maintain his composure. Kelly looked over at him and saw his eyes were tearing up.

"And she says...'He's in the house.'"

"What'd you do?" Severide asked.

"I ran out in my pajamas...I ran over to the house and I ran up the steps. But the door was hot. Door knob burned my hand..."

The man held up his left hand, palm out...and Kelly could see the new skin over what must have been a pretty big blister.

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The fire must have been burning for a while, to get that far. Severide knew there had been accelerant in the bedroom...but the entire house sustained heavy damage. There may have been more than one point of ignition.

"I'm pretty sure I saw her...your neighbor...after I came out with the kid." Kelly said quietly. "It wasn't natural...I've been a firefighter over twenty years...and I never saw anyone so..."

"Detached." Hewitt said. "That's what I'd call it."

"Yeah...that's a good word for it." Severide agreed.

He paused for a moment...

"Did you know 'em...I mean...anything about them?" he asked.

"She's a strange bird."

"Whaddya mean?"

Hewitt shook his head.

"She's always been a single mom. I never seen a man around. My wife thinks she mighta got artificially inseminated...but you can't really ask. Anyway...the boy...Mason...he had some problems. He was kinda slow. And that pissed her off somethin' fierce."

"It's not like it was the kid's fault..." Kelly said incredulously.

"She acts like it was. She was always on that kid. The school he went to...supposedly called DCFS on her...twice."

"What happened with that?"

Why did she even have the kid?

"Nothin'...both times nothin' come of it. They couldn't find a mark on the kid...his clothes were clean...house was clean...there was food...all the stuff they look at, I guess."

"What about the other kid?" Kelly asked. "The little girl?"

Hewitt snorted.

"Huh. Total one-eighty." he said. "You'd think that kid fell down from Heaven, the way she treats her."

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Kelly pulled his car into his driveway, cut the engine...and just sat there.

After his visit with Wayne Hewitt he was more convinced than ever that Jaclyn Fisher had set that fire...and murdered her own child.

If she didn't want him...why didn't she do something else? Anything else? They had places for kids with special needs when their parents couldn't take care of them. There were residential schools...group homes. There was Misericordia. The department had participated in some charity events for them...and the kid's school did a couple service projects every spring.

The point was...there were options.

A knock on the window startled him.

He turned to see his sons looking at him.

"Mom wants to know if you're okay...why you're just sittin' in the car?" Jesse said.

He signaled the boys to back up so he could open the door.

Once he was out of the car he held out his arms to Andy and Jesse. He just needed to hug his sons.

"I'm fine, guys. Let's go play that video game."