Trial by Fire (12 page)

“Get it, and I’ll throw it in the back of the truck.” While Charlie retrieved his
bike, Rick turned to Aram. “I’m sorry about your father, Mr. Goran.”

“Aram. My name is Aram.”

Rick nodded. “I hope he recovers. When I got here that night—”

“You were here?” Aram regarded him with new interest.

“I’m a volunteer firefighter. I was on my way to Clarkson, but I turned the truck
around as soon as I got the call. By the time I got here, the rest of the crew was
doing everything they could, but by then the place was lighting up the sky.” He shook
his head. “I think that’s why Ted didn’t hear at first. Either that or he thought
his ears were playing tricks on him.”

“Ted?” Aram said.

“Ted Winters. Our fire chief. He was on a hose when I got there. I went to spell
him. That’s when I heard it too.”

“I don’t think I understand. Heard what?” Aram asked.

Rick looked flustered. “Your father. The screaming.” He broke off again. “Look, I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have
said that. I didn’t mean to upset you. I hope your dad gets
better. I really do.”

“You’re the person who pulled my father out of the fire?”

“Me and Ted. We did it together.”

“But only after
you
arrived. And you arrived
after
Mr. Winters and some of the others.”

Rick squirmed under Aram’s gaze. I didn’t blame him. Maybe he’d thought Aram knew
everything that happened that night. But one thing he had not known was that someone—Ted
Winters—had heard his father screaming inside the barn and done nothing to help him.
That was news to me too. And it made me wonder, how could Ted not have heard something
that Rick said he heard clearly? Maybe Ted had only pretended not to hear the screams.
Maybe he’d hoped no one else would hear them either. I added Ted to my list of suspects.

Rick seemed relieved when Charlie wheeled his bike over. It gave him an excuse to
break free of Aram’s scrutiny and load the bike into the bed of the pickup.

“I’ll call you later, okay?” Charlie said to me. He looked at Aram. “I’m sorry I
have to go.”

“I haven’t paid you yet,” Aram said. “I was going to go to the bank.”

“You can give it to Riley for me.” Charlie climbed into the truck’s cab. Rick got
in behind the wheel. He didn’t make eye contact as he backed out of the drive.

Ashleigh and I resumed picking. Aram drove into town. When we finally knocked off
for the day, Aram presented us with small brown pay envelopes. Ashleigh said she
would drop Charlie’s off on her way home. She peeked into her envelope and grinned
broadly at what she saw.

“Thanks, Mr. Goran! Any time you need any more help, just let me know.”

He smiled. “You have lived here a long time, correct?” Ashleigh nodded. “Do you know
where this Ted Winters lives?”

Uh-oh
.

Ashleigh glanced at me. What could I say?

“Please,” Aram said.

I guess she figured that if she didn’t tell him, someone else would. She told him
what he wanted to know. I told myself that Aram just wanted more information about
the fire. But I wasn’t sure I believed it.

ELEVEN

When I went back to Mr. Goran’s farm the next morning, Aram was standing in the driveway,
staring at something he was turning over and over in his hand.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

He held up the object he had been handling. It was a key chain with a metal tag attached
to it and a set of keys hanging from it.

“The tag used to be enameled,” he said. “But the enamel was ruined by the fire. It
was the flag of Kurdistan. The fire marshal found the keys. He said they were on
the floor in front of a door that was padlocked.
He says he thinks my father tried
to get out that way first, but he must not have been able to find the right key.
Or he dropped them and couldn’t find them again and then panicked and decided to
try the main door.”

Any of the things he mentioned were too horrible to contemplate. I didn’t know what
to say. As it turned out, I wouldn’t have had time to say anything anyway, because
two cars turned in to the driveway. One was a police squad car. The other was an
unmarked car with Aunt Ginny at the wheel.

Aunt Ginny and the two cops got out of their cars. Aunt Ginny led the way to where
Aram and I were standing. She did not look pleased to see me.

“Step away, Riley,” she said.

“Why? What’s the matter?”

“Step away.” She all but barked the words at me. I stepped away. “Aram Goran, you
are under arrest for aggravated assault.”

“What?” I was stunned.

Aunt Ginny didn’t look at me. She nodded at the two officers, who approached Aram
and handcuffed him.

“You are making a mistake,” Aram said. “I didn’t assault anyone.”

“You were seen in an altercation with Ted Winters in town last evening. There were
dozens of witnesses. You were also spotted fleeing from his barn after dark, immediately
after he was badly beaten. You’d better hope his condition improves, or you could
be facing a murder charge.”

I was stunned. “Aunt Ginny, you can’t be serious.”

“Take him in,” Aunt Ginny said to the two patrol officers. I watched them march Aram
to the squad car and tuck him into the back. “I’ll see you at home later,” Aunt Ginny
said to me before she climbed back into her own car. They drove away.

It didn’t take the local news long to get hold of the arrest story and to start spewing
out details.

There had been nearly twenty people at the Sip ’n’ Bite during the supper rush, a
good portion of them with a clear view of the street. Some of those patrons told
a local news reporter that they’d seen Aram Goran stop Ted Winters in the street
and have what appeared to be a “heated argument” that ended with Ted stalking away
and Aram staring after him
with what one woman described as “murder in his eyes.”

Ted’s wife, Cindy, filled in the subsequent chain of events. She said Aram had come
to their farm the previous night and that he and Ted had another argument. She said
she almost called the police because “it looked like it was going to get physical.”
She went outside with the phone in her hand. When Aram saw her, he left. Later that
night, Ted thought he heard something and went outside to investigate. When he didn’t
come back, his wife went out to look for him. She said she must have surprised his
attacker, because she heard footsteps running away. She found Ted unconscious and
bleeding in the barn. She ran after the assailant, but all she saw were his taillights
disappearing down the road. She said she was sure Aram Goran—she was positive it
was him—would have killed Ted if she hadn’t shown up when she did. The reporter finished
by saying that Ted Winters had been unable to identify his assailant.

I shut off the
TV
.

The whole situation was crazy. Aram’s father had been accused of stealing Clyde Winters’s
farm when all he had done was make the highest bid at a public
auction. Mike Winters
had broken into Mr. Goran’s barn at least twice. Now Aram was under arrest for attacking
Clyde’s son. This had all the makings of a family feud. If only I’d obeyed Aunt Ginny
that night! I would have seen the fire a lot sooner. I could have saved Mr. Goran.
Maybe I would even have seen who set the fire. Everything would be different.

I still didn’t believe that Aram’s father had burned down his own barn. It didn’t
make any sense. Aram didn’t believe it either. He had said as much. And since it
had been ruled arson, he probably thought the same thing I did, that someone with
a grudge against his father had done it. Clearly, he had decided on Ted Winters as
his number-one suspect. Aram must have had nerves of steel to talk his way out of
a hostage situation. He had to be tough, too, to do the kind of work he did in one
of the most troubled places on earth. But would he really have beaten up Ted Winters?
Was he that kind of person?

I rode into town and went straight to the garage where Charlie’s cousin Rick worked.

“If you’re looking for Charlie,” he said, glancing at me from under the hood of a
vintage Chevy, “he’s at home. I heard he’s grounded.”

“Grounded? For being at the Gorans’ place?”

“His mom’s not about to back down, not after what happened last night.”

“You mean Ted Winters?”

He nodded. “Cindy told the cops that fellow Aram did it.”

“I read that Ted couldn’t identify his attacker.”

“I don’t know another soul in town who’d want to beat Ted Winters almost to death.
I think you’re going to be lucky if Charlie is allowed to see you again.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You got him involved out there.”

That wasn’t true. Picking berries had been Charlie’s idea. But I wasn’t about to
tell Rick that. It might get Charlie into more trouble.

“By that logic, you’re as much to blame as I am. You’re the one who got Aram all
worked up about Ted Winters,” I said.

“Me?”

“You told him that you were the one who heard his father screaming. You. Not Ted,
who was there before
you. He might have wondered if Ted just pretended not to hear
anything.”

“And that gives him the right to attack Ted?”

“Of course not.” I couldn’t help shaking my head. “The first time I met you, you
said you couldn’t wait to leave town because of the way everyone thinks around here.
But you sound just like everyone else.”

“I have nothing against the father. Maybe he burned down his own place, and maybe
he didn’t. But this thing with Ted is different. A lot of people saw him and Aram
arguing. It was heated.”

I wasn’t going to convince him of Aram’s innocence without some hard proof. But
that wasn’t why I was here.

“Can I ask you something, Rick?”

He thought about it for a few seconds before saying,“Shoot.”

“What happens if there’s a fire but the volunteers aren’t at home or at work to answer
the call?”

He probably wondered why I was asking, but if he did, he didn’t say anything. “In
the old days, they used to ring a bell, and whoever heard it would show up. After
that, they’d call you at home. These days it’s all done by cell phone.” Rick patted
the back pocket of his
overalls. “You get the call. You say where you are and give
an eta—estimated time of arrival—and we get the truck out as fast as we can with
whoever turns up first.”

“And you weren’t home when you got the call?”

“I was on my way up to Clarkson to see my girlfriend. That’s why I got there late.”

“What about Ted Winters?”

“What about him?”

“Where was he when he heard about the fire?”

“I heard one of the guys say he was out at the cemetery. He’s out there pretty regular,
but this particular night, the night of the fire, would have been Clyde’s seventy-fifth
birthday. Ted was there when he got the call.”

“At the cemetery.”

“Look, I know you and Goran are neighbors, and I can see you’re friendly with his
son. I also know that your aunt is a police officer. But that doesn’t give you license
to cause trouble for people like Ted. He’s a good man. I’ve known him my whole life.
That Aram fella deserves to be locked up for a long time for what he did last night.
And anyone who thinks Ted had anything to do with that fire doesn’t deserve much
better.”