Free Shattered Shell by Brendan DuBois

Herald reporter does, and that's why I'm going to clean his clock tomorrow."
    "Good for you," I said, and then I reached in past the advertising circulars and pulled out the file folder. "Here. This is for you. Maybe it will help in some clock cleaning next week."
    She took the folder, gave a quick glance inside, and said, "Okay, I think I should thank you, but what's this all about?"
    "It's stuff I've done research on for an article," I said, letting the old lie slip easily from my lips. "I've looked into the background of the people who had their motels burned these past weeks, trying to find a connection, patterns or something."
    "And?"
    "Didn't find a damn thing."
    "So you're passing it along to me."
    "Thought you could use it, maybe take a fresh look at it."
    That brought a nice smile. "Such confidence you have in my abilities."
    She opened the folder again, took a longer look, and read the names aloud. "Rob Olcott, owner of the SeaView. Been on the beach for five years. The first one, about mid-December. Then there was Karen Spooner. Remember her, that counterculture woman from Oregon? Ran the Snug Harbor Inn, right up to the first week in January. That was a sad one; saw her life savings go up in smoke. Then there was Frank Durant, owner of the Tyler Tower Motel. That burned down last week. Also runs a place up in North Tyler, and he told me that he sleeps there nights, with a shotgun at his side."
    Paula looked up at me. "Not much here on Sam Keller."
    "Well, that one was only a few days ago. Didn't have time to do some digging."
    She ran her thumb across some of the papers. "Looks like you made up for it with the other three people. I recognize some of these documents, from the town and the Secretary of State. But where did you get this other stuff?"
    I took a sip from my orange juice. "You'd be surprised what you can find out with a computer, modem, someone's birth date, and Social Security number."
    She looked at me. "No, I'd be surprised why someone who claims to be a magazine writer goes to this length to find information about motels being burned down. What's the point?"
    "Maybe he or they will start burning down houses for fun," I said. "Or maybe they'll pick a motel that isn't boarded up, that's filled with guests. Either way, I don't like what's going on in Tyler. This is winter, a time to take it slow and easy. Those poor firefighters have enough to worry about without a nut trying to burn down half the beach. Besides," I added, smiling, "all these fires cost a lot of overtime. Consider me just another concerned taxpayer."
    "So you think it's a nut, do you?"
    "If it's a nut, then there's nothing you or me or Mike Ahern or the cops can do about it, until he gets caught or surrenders. But I don't know. Consider it a gut feeling. This whole mess doesn't feel like it's a nut. The motels that have been burned, well, it feels like they were chosen for some reason, something that's not apparent.
    Again, she held up the folder. "Something not in here?"
    "That's right. I've talked some to Diane Woods, a little bit to Mike Ahern, and I've done all that research, and there's nothing there, no connection. I've looked to see if any of them were in financial difficulties. Nothing. Oh, they weren't rich, but all three were doing all right, and I'll bet you that Sam Keller and his wife were doing okay as well. I thought maybe that they each had a secret partner, or maybe a behind-the-scenes person who owned all of the places, but that didn't go anywhere, either."
    "So why the gift?"
    I stopped for a moment as our waitress dropped off the check, which I beat Paula in picking up. I left a hefty tip and Paula smiled. Winters are hard in New Hampshire, and especially hard for those workers dependent on people climbing out of a perfectly warm house and driving through freezing weather for an expensive breakfast.
    I said, "The gift is for three reasons. First, I've got something coming up this week, and I can't spend as much time