The Library Book

After Harry Peak became the main suspect in the Central Library fire, he started revising his story. Each new story differed slightly from the one before. Harry was friendly and cooperative and agreed to take a polygraph test. He then asked to postpone the test, saying he made up all of his previous stories. He suddenly claimed that he wasn’t anywhere near the library on the day of the fire and never visited the library at all. He only knew about the fire, he now said, because he heard about it on the radio. On October 27. 1986, Harry finally took the polygraph test. He answered no to every question that could have implicated him in arson. The examiner found that Harry lied. As for his appearance, Harry claimed that he merely gained weight as a result of discontinuing cocaine use.

Altogether, Harry provided investigators with seven disparate accounts of his whereabouts on the morning of the fire. However, six out of eight library staff members who claimed that they saw a suspicious young man on the morning of the fire picked Harry’s driver’s license photo out of a photo lineup. In the photo, Harry was slimmer and had the mustache that he recently shaved off.