Charly had been unable to sleep. A week had now passed since the body incident and during that time darkness had eluded him. As he tossed around for the umpteenth time, he felt the cat crawling across his warm bed.

He opened his eyes groggily, noting the dim sunlight filtering into his room. He yawned and looked toward the bedroom door before squinting frantically.

“Hello Charly.”

He stared at the mirror image that was smiling back at him.

“Can’t you but out of my life mate?”

“Don’t you realise that we are linked? I am so to speak your future projection.”

“Balls! You are certainly a projection all right. A projection of my
coming insanity.”

The image laughed and shook his head.

“I can also remember saying that mate. Look how time flies.”

“What do you want this time? Another brick?”

“Certainly not,” the image replied.

Charly climbed out of bed as Christine leapt onto the floor.

“Out with it then.”

The image wandered to the window and gazed out.

“Not such a wonderful day you know.”

When Charly joined him, he saw the same boring scene.

“Seems alright to me.”

“You think so? You had better answer that.”

The image vanished and Charly stood there rather perplexed.

“Answer what for crying out loud?”

A moment later his mobile rang and he dashed to the bedside cabinet to answer.

“Oh it’s you Nixon. I seem to be awake. Why send a car? I’ll be ready for you.”

He disconnected and opened the waiting wardrobe. He saw the old poncho that a lost friend had once owned and lazily put it on.

As the panda car drew up, he climbed inside the rear.

“You are a sight this morning. Still not sleeping are we?”

Charly smiled ruefully.

“Morning Nixon. This must be an urgent case.”

As Percy drove off the DI filled him in.

“Remember the body thing?”

“How could I forget?”

“The academy had a fire this morning.”

“That is nothing unusual,” Charly replied.

“It is when the damn freezer goes up.”

The reply certainly helped to wake Charly up and when they arrived, he was taken to the suspicious scene.

As with most medical establishments, the academy had its own large freezer. If it did not have one of course, the specimens would surely rot.

This particular freezer was located at the rear and as Charly approached from the internal corridor, the acrid scent was overwhelming.

“The fire chief is waiting for us,” the sergeant explained.

As they arrived, Charly saw the blackened wall of the room and realised a heavy conflagration had erupted here.

“Morning chief,” Nixon said happily. “What’s the damage?”

“You had better look inside.”

When they entered the room, thick black ash coated the floor, walls and ceiling. At the far end, the trays had been gutted.

“Where was the ignition point?” Charly asked.

The chief pointed.

“Seemingly one of the bodies went up. Don’t ask me how though. At minus twenty it should be impossible.”

Charly wandered over and examined the wreckage.

“Any sign of an overload? Burnt out circuit?”

“Nothing,” the chief replied. “Even the automatic sprinkler failed to function.”

“That’s on a separate circuit though,” Charly commented.

“I know that. Even this baffles me.”

“What do you think?” the DI asked.

“You can rule out arson for a start Nixon. No one could have got in here.”

“How else did it start?”

“For the moment sergeant, the explanation eludes me. Probably because I never ate any breakfast.”

The DI chuckled.

“Come on then. I’ll treat you at JO JO’s.”

The cafe on Market Street had opened an hour earlier and as Charly tucked into his sausage and pie, the DI gave him his thoughts.

“Nothing that I know of could cause a corpse to spontaneously combust like that. That is why I called you in.”

“I understand that Nixon. Thankfully nobody was hurt.”

“So what would be your theory?” Percy asked.

Charly stopped chewing and drank his cola.

“Whatever caused that had to generate tremendous heat.”

“I think that is obvious,” the DI said.

“It can also penetrate a metal tray.”

“I follow you so far,” Percy said.

Charly thought deeper still.

“It’s certainly not a natural phenomenon.”

“Are we talking about aliens again?” the DI whispered.

Charly shook his head.

“Not this time my friend. Remember my warning sergeant?”

“About worse to come? Sure I do.”

“I am starting to wonder if it has arrived.”

“So do we ignore this as a one off?” the DI asked.

“I don’t think so,” Charly replied. “I believe we are watching a sequence of finely tuned events.”

“Now I am lost,” Percy admitted.

“Let me explain then,” Charly said. “The vampire, then the werewolf.

That was followed by the corpse, and now we have a mystery fire.”

“So what comes after this?” the DI asked.

Charly looked grim.

“Perhaps checkmate Nixon. Checkmate for the lot of us.”

“That presupposes a purpose,” the sergeant pointed out.

“It certainly does. Someone far more powerful than we are.”

“Now you are scaring me,” Nixon said quietly.

“Sometimes I scare myself mate. Now, back to the present problem. I expect another fire in town.”

“I don’t suppose you could tell me where?”

“If I could do that Nixon, I’d be famous you know. Just watch yourself though. The laws of physics don’t apply in this case.”

This line of reasoning left the two officers more baffled than ever.
They did not realise that not so far away, a certain club owner was in for a rude awakening.

Perky Road was where the gay clubs were located. One of those was a small establishment that went by the name of Latin Light. Of course at this time of morning, the club was closed however, the owner and the cleaners mucked in to get everything ready.

Gerry gazed at all the smashed glass littered over the wooden floor and grimaced.

“Don’t worry mate,” the cleaner said. “We will sort this out for you.”

“I don’t know why they do it,” Gerry said. “The cost of glass has soared.

The cleaner understood and gave a pretty good suggestion.

“Why not use plastic? Can’t break that.”

Gerry shook his head.

“The cliental would never stand for it.”

He wandered into the office and started doing the books. This was a disagreeable chore that he hated, but it just had to be done. As he totalled up, a sudden cry reached him from the dance floor.

He raced out and saw the cleaner enveloped in a swirl of orange flame.

“Crikey!”

He dashed to the fire area and freed an extinguisher. Dashing back, he was astonished to see the cleaner gasping with shock. All sign of
the flames had gone.

“What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know Gerry. It scared the living daylights out of me.

The door opened and Lisa the barmaid entered the establishment.

“Hi guys.”

“Morning Lisa,” Gerry said in greeting.

Noting the extinguisher she asked, “Something up?”

“We don’t know,” the cleaner said. “I nearly got toasted.”

“You’re kidding right?”

The cleaner shook his head.

“I saw that DI at JO JO’s you know. Perhaps I should call him in?”

“Go and get him,” Gerry said gruffly. “He may shed some light on what happened.

The DI and his friends had just left the cafe when Lisa came running up.

“We need your help at the club,” she panted.

“Hop in,” the DI said smartly.

After the short drive, they entered the club and spoke directly to the cleaner and his boss. After finishing his account, the DI stared at Charly.

“You want me to explain that?”

“We sure do,” Percy said. “It’s right up your street.”

“At least we know that the cause may not be as dangerous as first supposed.”

“Has this happened before then?” Lisa asked.

“There was a fire at the academy,” Nixon explained.

“Same kind?” the cleaner asked.

“Not quite,” Charly said. “The place was gutted. “The only connection is that no one was hurt.”

“Except our nerves,” Gerry said in protest.

“I think it’s benign you know.”

“Fire is never benign Charly.”

“Look Nixon. When a guy is surrounded by fire and is not touched by it, that’s pretty benign for me.”

The DI was about to reply when Gerry spotted something circling the dark blue ceiling.

“What in heaven is that?”

As everyone looked, they saw a large ball of red and orange light circling above their heads. As it moved, a short vapour trail followed.

“That is not from around here,” Lisa concluded.

“Whatever is it?” Percy asked.

Charly stared and his agile mind homed in on the only possible explanation.

“It’s a fire sprite.”

Everyone just stared at the short sentence.

“What’s one of those?” Gerry whispered.

“A frequently seen natural spirit,” Charly said. “It’s trying to warn us.”

“Warn us of what?” the exasperated DI asked.

Charly lowered his eyes and spoke in a slow and funeral tone.

“Impending catastrophe my friend.”

The sprite suddenly faded and Charly shook his head.

“Come on you two, we have to follow it.”

They dashed for the door and outside, Charly pointed.

“It’s heading that way.”

“Seems to be in the direction of the station,” the alarmed sergeant said.

The car set off at high speed and as they reached the rail station, a thick black column of smoke rose into the air.

“We are too damn late!” Nixon shouted. “So much for your theory.”

The car lurched to a halt as the fire brigade arrived on the scene.

As the officers reached the track, they spotted flames pouring from the newsagent.

“I hope no one was in there,” Charly hissed as they raced toward it.

The baffled owner was standing outside as they reached his position.

“What happened?” the DI asked.

“I was unpacking the papers when they simply ignited. I don’t understand it.”

“No one else in there?”

The owner shook his head.

“I hadn’t opened, thank God.”

Charly glared at the DI as the firemen moved them away to tackle the blaze.

“My theory still holds mate. Now where has it gone now?”

They raced to the trackside and scanned the morning sky. High above, the sprite circled before diving earthwards.

“It seems to have reached its destination,” the sergeant said softly.

There is nothing over there apart from the waste site,” the DI muttered.

“We had better go there then,” Charly suggested.

They raced back to the car and set off to see what was up.

Foxley waste management had been in business for fifteen years, and had the reputation for safety. Its main function was to recycle farm waste and filter out the resulting odours. On this morning, the great vats of filth were happily mixing the terribly noxious liquid.

As they approached, the overwhelming odour of animal waste hit them like a brick wall.

“It would be here,” Percy said holding his nose.

The car drew up outside the main office, startling the manager no end.

“I did not call the police,” he said as he met them outside.

The DI thought frantically. Quite an accomplishment for this chap.

“We believe there may be a threat to this place. We got a call.”

The manager laughed.

“We aren’t a government concern. Who would do such a thing but a prankster?”

This line of argument silenced the DI but not Charly. His own mind was whirling like a well-oiled machine.

“Is animal waste your only supply?”

“It’s all we take mate,” the manager told him.

“Then I have the explanation.”

“Out with it then,” the DI demanded.

Charly turned on him.

“Animal waste creates vast quantities of methane gas. You know what they say don’t you?”

The DI looked sheepish.

“Don’t light a match.”

“Right mate. If this place went up it would take Foxley with it.”

The manager quickly quashed such dangerous talk.

“We have filter pipes that prevent such a disaster mate. They extract the gas and pump it into underground vats.”

“You have a feedback prevention system?” Charly asked.

“State of the art mate. We thought of everything.”

“Are the valves automatic then?” Charly persisted.

“Only the main one. The secondary system is opened manually.”

“What would happen if it remained closed?” Charly asked.

“Why then...”

His voice trailed off as Charly grabbed his shoulders. Shaking him madly he yelled, “Where is this valve?”

The manager was shaking as he pointed to the north platform. As they raced towards it he shouted, “Clive is over there!”

As Charly reached the platform, he gazed up at the mesh of metal. He bounded up the steps towards a platform and saw Clive lying upon it clutching at his chest.

“I’m having a heart attack,” the man groaned. “Tried to yell but too weak.”

As the officers arrived, he turned and yelled, “Get a ruddy ambulance here on the double.”

“What about the valve?” the DI asked.

Charly glanced up at the metal wheel.

“The damn thing is closed.”

To the right of the wheel, the pressure gauge was just entering the proverbial red zone. Charly grabbed the wheel and turned with all his might. As the wheel twisted, a loud hissing filled the morning air as the pressure began to fall.

The pain stricken worker suddenly tapped his leg.

“That’s enough now mate. I thought we had had it.”

The DI tapped Charly on his bony shoulder.

“Not with him around. Eh Charly?”

Thankfully, Clive’s attack was not too severe. Half an hour later, the ambulance took him away. As he was dropped off at home, the DI shook his cold hand.

“Thanks to you we saved the town.”

Charly smiled then turned grim.

“Don’t count your chickens yet Nixon. What I said earlier still stands. Something far worse is coming our way.”

The DI shook his head.

“You really love ruining my day. Don’t you.”

Charly watched them drive off and entered the block slowly. He inserted the key and stepped inside the short hall.

From the lounge, Christine meowed loudly and Charly screwed his eyes.
The whine was familiar. Usually reserved for known guests.

“Whoever’s here? I have the only key.”

He crept toward the lounge door and bravely stepped inside.

“Hello Charly. Can I have my poncho back?”

Charly stared in utter shock and whispered an old name.

"Grant."

His eyes rolled into his head and he promptly fainted.