By morning the conflagration had reduced the boat shed to a metal latch and a heap of black nails. (conflagration: inferno, great blaze, destructive fire) The initial accusation of arson rested on an errant spark seen after midnight. (arson: incendiarism, fire-raising, fire-setting; errant: wayward, straying, wandering) Neighbors wanted the constable to apprehend the young man who had run away. (apprehend: arrest, detain, capture) His decision to abscond from his weekend job looked like an admission. (abscond: flee, make off, decamp)
One witness was adamant that the flame had seemed to emanate from the locked office. (emanate: issue, flow, emerge) That was conjectural, said Lei. (conjectural: speculative, hypothetical, suppositional) A light reflected in wet glass was hard to place. She found an intact umbrella where all else was soaked. Its owner had arrived after the pumps stopped and before the watchman began his rounds.
The young man came back for the umbrella with his little sister. He had carried her home through the rain. Lei recorded the timing and stopped the accusation. She left the cause indeterminate. (indeterminate: uncertain, undefined, unsettled) The case would have to stay open longer than the shed had taken to burn. (stay: remain, continue to be)