The Fire That Wasn't

[SFX: Ventilation fan. Gas valve clicks]

NARRATOR: Elsie reconstructed the fire system. Two smoke sensors normally voted before releasing carbon dioxide. A maintenance mode allowed one sensor and a heat signal from the engine exhaust. Someone had bridged the circuits with copper wire, then warmed the heat probe using a portable galley torch.

ELSIE TRAN: This is ugly work. It would pass one test, not inspection.

NIA CROSS: Who knew Marr would be alone inside?

CAPTAIN ROWAN PIKE: Anyone with the watch schedule.

NARRATOR: The watertight door had not been locked from inside. When gas pressure rose, it pushed the door against a warped frame. Marr spun the emergency wheel, but the red-painted coupling from tank seven had been wedged behind the outer linkage. Once pressure fell, the coupling dropped through a drain slot, leaving the wheel appearing secured from within.

DR SAMIR VALE: He had four minutes. Long enough to call Rowan.

NIA CROSS: Long enough for Rowan to decide not to answer.

[SFX: Galley drawers open. Metal torch rolls]

NARRATOR: The torch belonged to the captain's emergency locker, but Owen's fingerprints covered it. Owen claimed he borrowed it to heat a seized contract stamp. Elsie had signed it out two days earlier for pipe work. Every suspect had touched the tool before it became a murder weapon.

OWEN KELP: You have mechanism, not hand.

NIA CROSS: Then I follow motive. Marr found trafficking and cobalt. Who loses most if he speaks?

CAPTAIN ROWAN PIKE: All of us. Crew, owners, insurers, ports. You want one villain because invoices dislike crowds.

NARRATOR: Nia opened the second ledger beneath ultraviolet light. Between tide marks, Marr had written initials in diluted engine dye: RP approved living ballast. The words placed Rowan at the center of the trade.