"Officer Bennis, we'll get your story later."
Jacob Brown said loudly, "And she was burned in the attempt, Deputy!"
"Not relevant now. We'll take it into account during sentencing."
"Don't you mean if there is a decision to go to sentencing, Deputy?" Rose said from her corner.
"Of course. This is just a preliminary roundtable. My mistake." She turned her head and addressed the other board members. "We will note Detective Brown has questions about this process.
However, we will take matters up in order. We are not going to use this process today as a way for the two officers involved to get their stories straight between them."
Figueroa said, "Sir, may I ask what the circumstances were that led up to the fire? We came into a situation midway-"
"Which is no excuse."
"I'm not suggesting that it is. But the fire obviously started in that apartment, and there were three adults inside who didn't seem to have made any effort to put it out. Why was Mr. Molitor lying in the middle of the living room floor? If he'd been shot, for instance, I would think I'd be entitled to know that. It certainly wasn't the smoke that killed him. He was down on the floor where the air was good."
"I don't suppose there's any reason not to tell you. We have a reasonably full picture, from the statement of the woman and the statements of the neighbors."
