The Mysterious Case of the Mayflower Dame

Chapter 2: Playing with Fire

After putting some thought on the case for the rest of the afternoon and typing my ridiculous report on today’s task at the theatre, I started compiling my files until I accidentally bumped and dropped a certain folder. Picking it up, I remembered something important. This is another fire incident that happened three weeks ago in Baker Street. Aside from the common thoughts about Holmes, one of the establishments there was burned to ashes and there were civilian casualties involved. Time-wise, the fire was said to have started around two in the morning and accumulated up to four. It is a good thing that the firemen arrived ten minutes prior to the call on their receivers.

  Just in moments away from infecting other households that were near the vicinity – it took them roughly an hour to distinguish it entirely and securing the area for other dangers that may arise. On the record, five people were dead, eleven injured and the estimated amount of material damage scaled up to seven thousand pounds. The cause of fire was said to be a lit lamp thrown at the building and immediately it spread out like a wildfire.

What’s baffling, just within this month, several cases of fire incidents were filed. All in which had a similar story and cause, the gas leak followed by the spark of broken wiring somewhere within the facilities of the place. Almost every fire has the same cause and most of us including the fire department find it alarming.

  Suspects have been acquired but no evidence to link them or whatsoever, nor is there any witness to prove it. Right now we are raising the ceiling in terms of our investigation because series of fires have sprouted days after that. Numerous casualties have been determined and it is possible that the same culprit is responsible behind all these. A week had already passed and no records of any fire incidents were reported except for negligence and such.

  But amongst all of these events, there is one mark that piqued my interest and that is persistent on all the cases that is linked to one culprit – the places are somewhat related to one another in terms of what they do in particular. I do not know if that is a coincidence or not but I need to track down every piece of detail to get to the bottom of this mess.

  Contemplating with my thoughts about this case, it is almost eleven and I am still in deep waters whether or not I should pass this one. Being an officer can be tiresome if it weren’t for the field investigations and chores given to you by your superiors, other than that it would have been a fine and enjoyable work to do. The concept of this report was to highlight the peculiarity of the incident and the links that were establish to what we expect to happen somewhat in the future of our actions. We have a fire starter out in the community to initiate peril, with very few leads I do not know where this would take us.

*Knock, Knock* corresponding knocking sounds can be heard as if it is being pounded by a hammer.

“My door is made of wood and definitely not a punching bag.” I said as I placed my cigar on the ashtray to fetch whoever is outside.

Opening the door for goodness sake it was Eleanor’s manager Cecil who appears to be tired and sweaty. She must’ve done quite the chore to arrive at this place by foot if not by at a certain distance from where they were. Indicated by the amount of time for her to regain her composure, there certainly is something important to share for her to rush here. Right now I can see that she changed her skirt to something more manageable like pants. She also changed her footwear to a pair of loafers, allowing her to take an extra mile in walking.

“What is it?”

“Eleanor…” catching her breathe still

“Just take a gander and breathe Cecil.” Poor woman.

“Eleanor… wants to see you.” Finally some tangible words to grasp.

“Why is that important?”

“Why are you asking me? Ask her when you two meet.” She does have a point there.

“Tell me the address and I’ll go around 6:30. You can see I am still stuck in my office.”

“I can see that of course.” She is such a poor creature. I better wrap this up to let her recuperate.

“Thank you, is that all?”

“That would be all…”

“Catch your breath downstairs at the lobby. You can sit there for a while after having some refreshments on our cafeteria just on the right side. Get whatever you want and tell them that it’s under my tab.”

“I sure will.” She replied as I closed the door tight and went back to my seat.

  Another meeting for the entire day and this time it is with her. After all these years it is just now that she became interested in someone like me. I cannot add any intentions about this but what I do know is that it has been a lot of years since we’ve last talked, no not even on the phone or letters. We parted ways long ago when I decided to go to military training and her to study theatre. Whatever reason it may be there’s only one way to find out of course.

  I went back to my desk and started to plan how in the world am I supposed to clear all these papers in one go? Eleanor must be bored to ask for my time that she would send her manager to fetch me. With all of the stress filling my noggin, I probably can finish all of this in fifteen minutes. What I have to do is put them in their corresponding folders and shove it inside my desk. I think the space is more than enough due to the fact that I only put my cigarettes and lighter inside it.

  I lit up a cigar and started smoking while clearing my pile of unsorted items. First, I took all the folders that still have their content intact. I can retrace back the missing files and pictures from it and put them all together. Using a paperclip, I made sure that the contents are stuck on a single folder. I kept doing this pace up until I fixed all six folders on my desk.

  Next is to put them inside the desk. I pulled out my personal items from the desk by pulling the entire thing out, and I literally dumped the items on the ground. I grabbed a small sack where I put my cardigan and scarf, removed its contents, and placed all of my drawer’s stuff inside. I hung my cardigan on the back of my door using my trench coat hanger and spun the scarf around the rest of my chair.

   I went outside to see the atmosphere of my office. Given that I was able to somewhat clear most of the rubble I’ve caused, I feel somewhat pleased. Then I pulled my personal kit and went to the bathroom with my ashtray to prepare and see how ravished my face is. The ridiculous part of this is that for the first time, in this month, I was able to use this one for such an occasion. I find it laughable and agonizing because it only means that I haven’t been acclimatized with social events. Too much drudgery in the workplace can be detrimental if left alone, that much said is indeed true. 

  Doing one last spiff on my cigar, I went to the comfort room to fix my hair and brush my teeth. I have to remove some leftover stench from my cigars by gargling some homemade tonic. Changing my outfit to a black long sleeve, I sprayed a bit of classical Paco Rabanne musk on my wrist and neck, wearing a scarlet tie with an arrow pin. I fixed my buttons and made sure there are no unnecessary wrinkles from my folds and waxed my shoe for a tiny bit to remove some blotches of dirt. After that, I went back to my office, picked up my coat, and went downstairs to see how Cecil is.

(To Be Continued)