Safe Room Ch. 01

"Uhhh..." said Burnham. "Well, now that you mention it, he had some interest in that. Talked about things like water purification and food storage. But I don't think he was all that gung-ho about it."

"Oh really?" I said, which made Joanne's eyes perk up. "What about you, Jeffrey? Do you do any prepping, survival type stuff?"

"I keep extra food on hand in case of a natural disaster." said Jeffrey. "But again, nothing crazy like they show on TV."

"Okay, thank you." I said. "Detectives? Do you have any questions for Mr. Burnham?"

"Sir," asked Teddy Parker, "did Mr. Burris get the house as part of the divorce?"

"I guess so." said Jeffrey Burnham. "She moved out... then again, she moved out several months before the divorce. Almost a year now, I guess."

"Are you friends with Mrs. Burris as well as Mr. Burris?" asked Teddy. Again I suppressed a smile; that was a great question, and delivered in a strong and timely manner.

"I was... and still am... good friends with both of them." said Jeffrey.

"Is Mrs. Burris dating anyone else right now?" asked Detective Parker.

"Uh, not that I know of." said Burnham.

"That's all I have, sir." said Parker. Joanne had already been talking to Burnham, and had no more questions.

"Okay, Mr. Burnham." I said. "You can go back home, or to work or whatever. If you need to leave the County, much less the State or Nation, let the Police Department know."

Jeffrey Burnham exited as quickly as he could without seeming to be 'hasty'.

"Great questions, Teddy." I said. "So what did you guys think of that?"

"How does he own this house, sir?" asked Joanne. "After a divorce, with no steady income, it would seem?"

"I'll bet... a trust fund." I said. "Probably his parents left money and the house in trust, so that he could get a monthly stipend but can't touch the principle."

"I would agree, sir." said Teddy. "But if I may ask, what led you to that conclusion?"

"Well, it's a matter of divorce courts, which I pray to God neither of you ever have to deal with. My own divorce was amicable, and thank God for that, but that whole system is all but rigged for the wife, especially if there are children. And if the husband wins, it's usually because he had very good and therefore very expensive lawyers. Can Mr. Burris afford that? I... dunno."

I continued: "Ergo, for Mrs. Burris to not come away with the house suggests either a pre-nup, and one hell of a pre-nup at that, or she couldn't get the house because of some other legal obstacle. A trust suggests itself. Add to it that Tim Burris has only irregular work but has money for his prepper hobby... oh yes, that's obvious, is it not?... then a trust fund comes more strongly to mind. I guess Myron and Mary can settle our bet for us."

"No sir!" said Joanne Warner with alacrity. "I am not now betting against you, sir, and I never will."

"Very wise, Detective Warner." said Captain Ross. Cindy turned to me and said "I called the Nextdoor County Police; I have a good contact in their Vice squad." That would be her sister Molly, of course. "They're going to go talk to Mrs. Burris."

"Good." I said. "Okay, guys, keep going. What did you think of that interview we just had?"

"Ohhhh..." said Joanne. "I see what you're driving at. He seemed evasive."

"I get the feeling he does not like Police." said Parker. "Didn't really answer the questions more than maximizing the minimum standard." I chuckled at the joke.

"True." I said. "And that's part of it. But he also was on the borderline of lying to us. I'll guess that both he and Tim are preppers, and big-time preppers."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For the next 15 minutes, the TCPD, Crime Lab, and four Fire Department Firefighters that arrived in the truck I requested, had the experience of watching their Police Commander act in a strange manner.

I went back to that narrow passageway and began tapping on walls. I then walked up and down the main hall doing the same thing. I opened the door to what was the coat closet, and noted how far down it was from the office/study room. There were no doors in the wall of the narrow passage.

Then I began tapping, then banging on the floor of the hallways. I asked Rudistan and Morton to jump up and down on the floor, as my back did not permit me to do that myself.

"Oooh," said Rudistan as he jumped on the floor in the narrow hallway. "This sounds a little different right here. Feels a little different too, like there's less 'give' in the floorboards."

"Exactly what I wanted to hear." I said. I walked into the study room, where the Crime Lab was at work.

"Okay, guys," I said loudly, "anyone find a remote control, especially one that looks strange?" No one had.

I began looking at the bookcase, peering at it. I tapped on the back wall of it, looked closely at the edges. I began feeling all over it and the walls around it for any kind of 'knot' or anomaly.

"I take it you think there's something behind the bookcase, sir?" asked Cindy.

"Yes. Yes I do." I said as I pulled at the end of the bookcase. Cindy helped, but it did not move, no matter how hard we pulled at it.

"Locked into place." I said. "That in itself suggests it's not just an ordinary piece of furniture." The bottom portion had what looked like twelve drawers in a 4x3 matrix. There were also four sections in the top part. I pulled at the middle, and Cindy helped, but the bookcase refused to move.

"Okay, there's a very thin line in the middle here." I said as I closely examined the bookcase. I went over to the desk. "Has this chair been dusted for prints?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Christina Cho. I had on latex gloves as I felt around the desk.

"Sir," said Christina. "We looked. No buttons or anything."

"I believe you." I said. "I'm searching for knots in the wood or for something concealed."

Alas, I found nothing. I sat back, looking at the desk. The papers had been collected, leaving it clean and bare, save for the various smudges where fingerprints had been taken. The desk lamp was the only thing still on the desk, still sitting right in the middle.

Right... in... the... middle. Unmoved.

I tried to pick up the lamp. It did not budge. I felt around the edges but found nothing. There were two buttons on it, for 'on' and 'off'. I began pressing the buttons.

"Find something?" Cindy asked.

"Maybe." I said. "The 'off' button seems to be a bit more tactile than the 'on' button. I began pressing the 'off' button repeatedly. Then I held it down and counted to ten.

"WHOA!" yelled someone as the bookcase began to move. The center was coming outwards, and two lab techs jumped out of the way.

"You found it, sir!" Rudistan said happily. Everyone began clapping as we looked into the maw.

A fluorescent light came on, revealing a small room. The walls were covered with tiles with raised round buttons. Stairs descended going to the right, below the narrow passageway and into the mountainside below and behind the house.

I was about to go into the room, but felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Rudistan right there.

"Sir, you don't really think we're going to let you go in front of us, do you sir?" he said in his jovial voice, but with an underlying hint of absolute seriousness.

"I won't even try to argue." I said, stepping back.

"Hold on!" Cindy ordered. "Something's not right, here. I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy about any of you going down there."

"I agree with that." I said, feeling the edge of Cindy's vibe. "So... before you go in there, Sergeant Rudistan, I want two things: first, secure these doors so that they cannot close. And second, let's get the Firemen in here with their air tanks and masks, to be on standby for us."

The power hinges on the doors were removed, and the doors were propped apart with triangular blocks on the floor and also a long iron bar across the top. "Now that is a crowbar, Ms. Ross!" I said happily as I pointed at it with my red crowbar.

"Sometimes crowbars can be too big, so other women tell me." Cindy replied. Christina Cho broke into laughter at that one. Most of the other Officers just looked at them funny. Meanwhile, I was looking at the tiles on the walls, the patterns of the raised dots on the metal squares. Something about that was nagging at me...

Rudistan and Morton went down the steps. "There's a door down here, sir." said Rudistan. "Looks like a hatch on a submarine, designed to seal tightly. It's locked."

Part 3 - Unsafe Room

"Rudistan!" I called down the stairs. "Is there a black box next to the door?"

"Yes sir." said Rudistan. "No manufacturer name, though. The box won't open, sir."

"Is there a red glass panel on the top of the box?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Rudistan.

"Okay, press the lower left corner button." I said.

"It lit up with nine numbers, sir, not in order." said Rudistan. I called Rudistan to come up the stairs.

"Okay," I said when he got up to my side. "When you get back down there, press that lower left button again. The numbers will come up in a different order. Just press the upper right corner button four times, no matter what number it is. Then press the bottom right hand corner button. That should open the box."

"Once in there," I continued, "you'll see another keypad, with normal buttons. Press the '5' in the middle four times in a row. If a green light starts flashing, press 'zero' and the door should unlock. If a red light flashes, press the '1' button, then run back up these stairs as fast as you can before the bomb goes off."

"I hope you're kidding about that, sir." said Rudistan.

"We'll see if you're ready for the Triathlon, fer damn sure." I replied.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It worked. The door opened. A light came on inside the chamber.

"There's someone inside, sir." said Rudistan. He began going inside.

"Wait!" I called out, but Rudistan and Morton were already inside.

"Cindy!" I yelled. "Get the firefighters! Have them put on their masks and get their asses down here! Move!" Cindy moved, and quickly.

For a moment, I looked at the tiles on the wall. "Johnson!" I said to the Officer with the camera, "get video of these walls for me." Johnson began taping.

It was then I realized something wasn't right... I didn't hear anything down below.

"Rudistan!" I called out. "What's going on in there?" There was no response.

Suddenly, we heard gasping. Morton was at the door, and trying to stagger up the steps. Officers rushed to help him.

"Rudistan passed out." said Morton, who was near that state himself.

"Firemen! Get in there and get him out!" I ordered. The Firefighters, wearing masks and tanks, moved quickly. A moment later they were dragging out Rudistan, his arms over their shoulders. He was unconscious, his face a shade of blue that frightened me...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A few minutes later, Rudistan opened his eyes. The firefighters had put a breathing mask on him to give him oxygen, and they'd gotten him to start breathing, first out out out, then in, then out out out, then in.

"I didn't smell anything." said Morton, who'd been given oxygen, also.

"You wouldn't." I said. "Christina!"

"Sir?" asked Christina Cho. 
"Do you guys have equipment to take air samples?"

"We do in the lab, sir." said Christina. "I'll call them to bring it."

"Tell them," I said, "that we're going to take air samples, and also samples of gas from tanks that we will find down there, as well as the filtration system that we should find."

"Yes sir." said Christina. "What was it? Carbon monoxide?"

"More likely carbon di-oxide." I replied.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"I'm fine, sir, really!" protested Rudistan after he'd sat back up.

"Good!" I said. "That means the doctors at the Hospital will find you that way when they check you out. Guys, take him there now."

"Sir------" started Rudistan.

"That was an order, Sergeant." I said. "And I will be checking with my boss to make sure you got there and checked out okay."

"The Chief, sir? But-------" said Rudistan.

"No, not the Chief." I said. "My real boss. The one on Staff at University Hospital."

"His wife, Sergeant." said Cindy, reinforcing me. "Now go with these guys. Now." Rudistan gave up the protests and went with the Firefighters, as did Morton.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I called Assistant Fire Chief Davies to requisition some air masks and tanks so we could go in, retrieve the body, and take some samples. While we waited for them, I told the gathered officers what happened:

"Okay guys," I said, "some gases are heavier than air. Carbon dioxide is one of those gases. You can pour it from one beaker into another, though you can't see it pouring. It looks like that room was, and still is, full of pure carbon dioxide. It just sat there all this time instead of mixing with other air above it or rushing up the stairs like a more lightweight gas would do."

"So Rudistan and Morton were breathing air with no oxygen in it, and that's why Rudistan passed out?" asked Teddy Parker.

"Yes." I said. "And Morton was lucky to get out of the door, as well. Any more time in there, and this might've been an even worse tragedy than one death..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

J.R. Barnes and Christina Cho volunteered to go in and take samples. Two techs from Tanya Perlman's State Crime Lab also volunteered to go in. The Fire Department people fitted them with oxygen masks and tanks, and told them they had no more than fifteen minutes. That wasn't really true, but the TCFD didn't want them staying very long in there, as they were already overlooking the lack of training by those using the equipment.

They also got the body out of there, and it was taken to the morgue. It would prove to be the unfortunate Tim Burris.

While all this was going on, I continued to examine the tiles in the little alcove room of the house. There was a pattern to those raised dots, I thought to myself, but what is it?...

Part 4 - Cause and Effect

At 3:00pm, Wednesday May 3d, a meeting occurred in Classroom 'J' at Police Headquarters. Present were: Sheriff Allgood, Chief Moynahan, Your Iron Crowbar (me), Deputy Chief Harlow, Captain Ross, Captain Croyle, Detectives Parker and Warner, Myron and Mary Milton, Sergeant Rudistan (who was deemed to be okay), J.R. Barnes, Christina Cho, and Martha the M.E.

Martha went first, so she could leave after giving her report: "He's been dead for several weeks. Maybe a month." said Martha. "Asphyxiation. I believe the theory that the room was full of carbon dioxide is correct, and he died of the lack of oxygen. I can't tell the exact day and time of death, though."

"I might can help with that, sir." said Mary Mahoney Milton. "Tim Burris paid his April bills through the sixth via digital means. But he did not pay the water bill that's due on the 7th, and he paid no bills for the beginning of May. I checked with the power company, and the power consumption after April 7th was static, pun not intended, meaning that the amount of electricity being used stayed absolutely constant. He ran no water after April 7th, either."

"Oh yeah, and the electric clocks in the house were not reset." said Joanne Warner.

"And the last power outage we had was that big sabotage on... what date?" I asked.

"Ohhhhh, April 7th!" Joanne almost squealed.

"Yes." I said. "Do you believe in coincidences, Ms. Warner?

"We can have one, but never two." said Joanne. I gave her a 'thumbs up' signal.

"Sir," said J.R. Barnes, "we found a notebook he was keeping while in that shelter. He wrote that when the power went out, he decided to do a 48-hour test of his shelter system. He was using the air filtration system and the generator that was in the utility room behind the garage. Tanks only go into effect if that system fails. And when the sensors picked up rising level of carbon dioxide, it released air from the tanks."

"What did you guys find in the gas tanks?" I asked.

"If I may tell you this first, sir," said Christina Cho, "we found mostly carbon dioxide in the air of the shelter. Some oxygen and nitrogen, but probably because we started going in and out of there. And that brings me to the tanks: the ones we found that were marked 'air' actually had pure C-O-2 in them. The oxygen tanks had oxygen. And the filtration system wasn't working properly when we tested it... the C-O-2 was not being converted to oxygen like it should've been."

"Nasty." I said. "If it had converted all that C-O-2 to oxygen, Tim would've died from too much oxygen... or a spark would've incinerated him like the Apollo 1 capsule. J.R., anything else in that notebook?"

"No sir." said J.R. "It looks like he went to bed after getting the systems started. An alarm may have gone off, but he collapsed and died before he could get to the control panel."

"Anything else of interest?" I asked. "Contents of the house?"

"We're still going through all that, sir," said Barnes, "but we found that Tim only had two prescription medications in his home: high blood pressure medicine, and Viagra. The blood pressure medicine was in the bathroom that was part of the master bedroom suite. But he had Viagra in the shelter as well as that bathroom."

"Hmmf. Interesting." I said. ""Okay... Martha, thanks for the expedited autopsy. J.R., Christina, you guys did fantastic work to get us this data this quickly. You guys can go." The three of them left the room.

"Okay, Myron, Mary... whaddya got?" I asked.

"Victim's name is Timothy Burris." said Myron. "Twenty-eight years old. Got married four years ago to a Melissa Elberton, their divorce was finalized this past January. No children from the marriage.

"Tim's parents died eight years ago, when Tim was 20." continued Myron. "They'd set up a trust with the house's title deed in it already, and when they died, their money went into that trust. It pays Tim a monthly stipend plus perpetual free use of the house for twenty more years, and then Tim owns it free and clear and can sell it.

"Tim's father, also a 'Timothy', but he went by his middle name of 'Thomas', was a doctor, but I've had trouble getting more data on him. Tim's mother, named 'Martha', had a degree in Political Science from the University of Virginia, and may have worked for various political campaigns, though again I'm struggling to find information very quickly."

"That's okay." I said. "Keep at it, and you'll get something eventually. "By the way, how did the parents die?"

"They died at the same time." said Myron. "But once again, I'm not coming up with much on exactly how. Nothing in the Lexis/Nexis searches, and no death certificate issued by this County or anywhere in this State."

"Ah." I said. "That's starting to make sense. Tell you what, I'll personally handle getting that information through my good buddies in the FBI. So, what about Melissa Burris and Jeffrey Burnham?"

"Melissa graduated from our fair University with a Management degree." said Myron. "She is thirty years old. She filed for divorce, for 'irreconcilable differences', and stated in the complaint that her husband's sexual indifference was a large part of the problem. She couldn't get the house nor the money in the trust fund, so it was a pretty clean divorce process."

Myron went on: "She's had jobs in hotel management, and now works in Nextdoor County. She also lives there now. Her parents are still alive, and live over in Acropolis City. Her father runs a small metals fabrication business and her mother keeps books for it."

"Jeffrey Burnham works for the University Museum." said Myron. "The only interesting thing about him is that he's almost completely off the grid. He pays all of his monthly bills in cash. Only uses a credit card for work-related things. He lives in an RV in the RV park southwest of Town and west of Junction Station, and he pays cash every month for his rent. And as of right now, sir, that's all we have."