“The exotic setting contrasted sharply with the cheap conference furniture that was a motley collection of military surplus discards and deep discount store purchases. The table was a slab of pressboard on folding legs, surrounded with metal chairs like the kind used in schools. I’d punished my back on cold metal chairs like that for hours in the high school multi-purpose room, then janitors stacked them in a closet to clear the gym for basketball games.

“I picked my way around the folding chairs, exploring the conference room. The area was filled with the distinctive smell that comes from laser printers and in one corner, a laser printer was slipping pages in a tray, spinning out the arsonist’s target list. The long inventory of potential targets was still printing, so I used the time to search the area …

“My eyes caught a small door that I assumed was a closet since the door had a flip latch, not a doorknob. I pulled the thin plywood door open and was hit by dank mildew smell from a basement. Alongside the door frame, an old fashioned ceramic switch was nailed to a wooden beam. When I flipped the switch, a naked bulb glowed on the basement ceiling, giving enough light to see dusty wooden stairs leading downward. I couldn’t make out anything beyond the stairs.

“I felt pulled to go in the basement and stepped downward, sliding my feet from one creaking stair to the next. The dusty wooden staircase led me to the dirt floor of a small room lined by stone walls. Against the walls, empty shelves were layered in fine orange dust. There was only a single cardboard box on the shelves …”