They were planning on letting the police do it.

Well if the police find them quick then the Valar won't need to step in.

They really should not do the thing. It will frighten people and some people might be operating delicate machinery or doing private things or otherwise be bad to interrupt. Also it is important to be able to lie occasionally.

They were not going to do it permanently just while they asked the people if they know anything. And presumably having a murderer on the loose also frightens people and they will not ask them while they are occupied.

No, having murderers at large occasionally isn't actually that weird, people are more or less used to it, the Vala thing is different.

Well the Valar are very personally offended that these people who they said not to murder got murdered and they are determined to help find the culprit if the police can't do it.

They should not do their thing. It is a really really bad idea.

Then the police had better find the culprit!

Sometimes culprits get away! It's a thing.

Well not this time.

They should definitely not do their thing. People will be scared. Announcing that you have the ability to interrupt people whenever and wherever you please is frightening and doing it for reasons they won't agree with makes it worse, even if they don't actually interrupt people in the middle of anything that shouldn't be interrupted, and they don't want to trust Vala judgment on that anyway after the porn incident.

They will give the police a month and then if the police have less invasive suggestions they will maybe consider those first but the murderer very much has to be found there can be no compromise on that.

It could have been an accidental fire.

A month.

If it was an accidental fire no amount of looking will find an arsonist!

If it is an accidental fire then when they've asked everyone in the world they'll believe it.

They REALLY SHOULD NOT DO THAT, ELVES, HELP EXPLAIN TO YOUR STUPID GODS WHY THEY SHOULD NOT DO THAT.

Elves are pretty upset about the murderer but certainly that should be a last resort. How is the police investigation going, what did all the witnesses say -

Witnesses are neighbors who observed that the building was on fire but all figured somebody would probably have already called the fire department and resolved to do so themselves too if it spread.

And none saw the fire set? Or heard anyone talking about doing it? Or know anyone who might've because they wanted the reds to be gone?

No, no, yes but only because everybody wants that.

The Elves think that a sufficiently heroic police investigation might persuade the Valar to back off but that this sure doesn't look like one. People who purchased things usable for arson? What started the fire, they have good forensics, right?

Lots of perfectly innocent things are usable for arson. Their forensics is okay but hampered by the remaining building bits being unclean.

The Valar could maybe make exact duplicates but clean (since freshly made)?

A building that reds actually lived in probably has physical uncleanliness in addition to the invisible kind.