Last week in the little hamlet of Zacatitos on the East Cape, about an hour North of San Jose, two guys poured diesel fuel on a pile of styrofoam left on a construction site and set it on fire. They also poured oil into a water cistern that was used by the construction workers.

The two men made a clean get away. Almost. What the arsonist didn't know was that a watchman was sleeping at the site. Luckily, he woke up and went to work. He was able to give a good enough description of the two men and the truck to lead to two arrests. Arrested were Eugene Crane, a local carpenter, and Peter McConickle, owner of the construction firm, Oceana Properties.

Crane sang like a canary . He told the cops that he had gone to McConickle to obtain some diesel to torch some construction "rubble". McConickle's story was he thought Crane was just burning some litter to keep the area tidy. In the middle of the night.

McConickle swore up and down he was just there to watch the litter burn.

In a spooky coincidence, McConckle's company had bid for this project against Quick Build, the winning contractor and the owner of the torched property. Joe Nied, owner of-Quick Build, filed a formal complaint with the police. The police report states that McConickle is quite sure he only provided Crane with the diesel fuel, drove him to the site, and watched as Crane torched his rival's construction site nearly killed the night watch man. At press time, Crane has been released on bail and McConickle is still under investigation.

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