In a town like West Vernal, fires happened for three reasons and three reasons only: You burned cheap and wet wood and never bothered to sweep your chimney. You tried to sidestep common sense by doing your own electrical work. You passed out blind drunk with a lit cigarette in your hand. There wasn’t a single Wilson or Sanford who would have made any of these foolish mistakes⏤and not a single Medford who wouldn’t have made them all. If there was a unifying thread, some common denominator that could explain all three fires in a logical way, it didn’t show itself, but even the uncaring and the unintuitive suspected a bad hand behind it all.

Maggie packed up her laptop, cell phone, paperwork, and headphones, and drove to the coffee shop in the center of town. She ordered her usual items, coffee with half-and-half and a bone-dry Scottish scone, and settled into the large, upholstered chair near the middle of the room. She put her headphones in, opened her laptop, and pretended to work. If people were talking, which they most certainly would be by now, she didn’t want to miss a word. Hiding in plain sight, she looked like just another person listening to music and focusing on a project.

As a black-and-white thinker, Maggie had a theory about everything, and her theory about the truth was that if you wanted to know it you should ask the lowest ranking person involved. Is your company struggling? Don’t waste money on consultants; just ask the front desk receptionist. Division in the ranks? The General will be the last to know what’s going on, while every Private First Class could tell you for a dollar. The people without power may be invisible to those above them, but they watch and assess and analyze those in power as a matter of natural law. This little café in the center of town was where the housewives and retired people spent their days. If anyone would know what was going on it was them, and Maggie was here to intercept whatever communal theories were brewing among the gossiping classes.

After the Wilson fire, Maggie was devastated. After the Sanford fire, Maggie was discouraged. After the Medford fire, Maggie was determined⏤determined to uncover whatever ember was smoldering below the surface of West Vernal.

Copyright 2023 Kesel Wilson (entirely, 100% human-created)

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