I said that was precisely what somebody might want me to do.
An angry man chasing a younger man through a neighborhood would make a better video than an investigator examining a dispatch log.
I wanted fewer dramatic images and more verifiable facts.
Mrs. Alvarez nodded, then surprised me with a story about Lorraine.
Years earlier, before Warren became ill, Lorraine had spent Saturdays teaching basic first aid at the community hall.
She was fiercely particular about letting the instructors demonstrate every step correctly.
One afternoon a volunteer deliberately made a mistake to see if the trainees would notice.
Lorraine stopped the demonstration and insisted they start over.
She said that in an emergency, panic could turn an almost correct action into a dangerous one.
I imagined her remembering those words while planning to punch me.
She had known the risk and taken it anyway.
That made her fear more understandable.
It did not make her decision wise.
Late that night, Munroe called with news that the insurer had located a second file from the warehouse.
The security guard’s name was on the printout.
His name was Luis Moreno.
The maintenance worker who disappeared after Bellwood had been assigned to guard the loading dock the same night.
The guard record seemed impossible until Munroe explained the difference between a person’s job and a person’s location on a particular night.
Luis Moreno had worked occasional overnight security shifts through a subcontractor while employed at the Bellwood apartment complex.
He was listed at the warehouse from midnight until six in the morning on the night of the fire.
The Bellwood owners had previously said Luis was on duty at their building until he left early.
Both statements could not be completely accurate.
Investigators needed payroll records, schedules, and witness testimony to establish where he was when the fire began.
The warehouse insurer retained an identity form Luis had signed.
The form gave a forwarding address in North Carolina.
A public record search showed a man of the same name had lived there for years.
Munroe said the police were trying to contact him through appropriate channels.
He asked me not to search for the man or contact his family.
That request was easier to obey after the previous week.
Every time I tried to make a leap on my own, another document complicated the picture.
The following Monday, I returned to my regular library rounds.
