A Hope City Duet

by Kris Michaels

  He squatted near the back edge of the building. “Jonas, look at this.” Jonas walked over and the two men looked at a wadded piece of white cloth. “Do you think he was going to light this and forgot? Or it was supposed to be part of one of the other starters and it blew over here?”

  “I don’t know, but this is the best piece of evidence that we might have to tie to the arsonist,” Jonas said.

  He carefully bagged it, and they searched the area to see what else they could find. The alley was too dark for them to have a good look at the fire pattern on the back wall. “We’ve done about everything we can tonight,” he said. “Why don’t we meet back here in the daylight when we’ll have a better chance of understanding what we're seeing?”

  “I can go ahead and drop this off at the lab. Meet you here about eight a.m.?”

  He nodded, thinking that by the time he got home, showered, and climbed into bed, he would have about four hours of sleep until he needed to get up again. Not bad… he had certainly had less. But the image of Harper lying next to him on her sofa, warm and soft and willing, made the idea of going back to his cold, lonely bed less inviting. Sighing, with no choice, he did exactly that.

  “Have you collected your evidence?” Todd asked.

  Talking to his Captain while driving back to the scene of the fire hours later, Sean replied, “Yes, Sir. We collected it last night. Jonas took it to the lab and is meeting me at the scene so that we can process it in the daylight.”

  “I wanted to let you know that there will be a small group of people there from the IAAI class. I talked to their instructor and they’re finishing the certification for various designations.”

  That announcement would have irritated him at one time, thinking of other people at his crime scene. Now, as a flash of Harper went through his mind, he imagined the training she went through and the necessity for him to cooperate.

  As he pulled around to the back and parked, he saw Jonas already there along with several other vehicles. Walking toward his partner, he glanced to the side, blinking to see Harper standing next to her car as though conjured from his thoughts. She offered a small wave, nervousness moving through her eyes.

  His smile was wide as he walked toward her, and she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Good morning,” he greeted. Her hair was pulled away from her face, but the cold morning breeze tossed a tendril to the side. He battled the desire to reach out and tuck it behind her ear instead of watching her perform the motion herself.

  “I’m at the end of my program, and I suppose it’s odd that I’ve never been on an evaluation site with you before as part of the certification, but I hope this is okay.” Glancing around, she asked, “Have you finished collecting?”

  “Of course, it’s okay. And yes, we collected last night. We’re back here to take a second look in the light of day. To be honest, since our date was interrupted, I’m glad I don’t have to wait to see you.”

  He watched as soft pink tinged her cheeks and her smile lit her face. Glancing down at the hardhat in her hand, he said, “I’ll let you and the others get to work.”

  He and Jonas were not expected to provide instruction and the students were well versed in not getting in the detectives' way. He noticed Harper offered suggestions to some of the other students who were just learning about fire evidence collection. It only took a few minutes to determine that her professionalism and instincts were on point.

  Another man stayed right with Harper, but whether he was trying to see what she was looking at or just wanting to be close, Sean was not sure. But neither settled well with him.

  She moved to the side where some of the other students were and reminded, “Remember to ask yourselves the questions, looking for a yes to any of them. Is it a crime scene? Were there fatalities or injuries? Was there major property loss? Is the cause too complex to determine initially? Is there a clear indication of arson? Is the fire suspicious?”

  He watched with pride as she walked around, pointing out the multiple points of origin, the way the flames licked the walls from the floor upward, the blackened, charred cabinets in the back compared to the counter near the front that was only soaked in water.

  Jonas walked over and smiled at Sean. “Your girl has got it goin’ on.”

  It was on the tip of his tongue to remind his partner that Harper was not his girl, but he hesitated. Her hair was tucked under a helmet for protection. Her boots were comfortable, still on the edge of stylish while being practical. She was wearing dark slacks, allowing her freedom of movement as she bent and stooped in her observations. Her porcelain complexion showed off the slight blush of her cheeks, and her eyes were bright as well as intent on her subject. Her voice was authoritative but soft.

  Staring at her, it struck him right in the chest. Smart. Caring. Beautiful. She might not be his girl yet. But he wanted her to be.

  The fire evidence collection students left, leaving only him, Jonas, Harper, and the other man. Unheeding of the audience, he walked over to Harper. “I hate like hell our date was cut short. How about another lunch today?”

  He kept his eyes on her face, seeing her smile spread and her eyes light with what he hoped was excitement. With his peripheral vision, he could see the other man bristle before stepping back and mumbling that he needed to get to work. It also did not escape Sean’s notice that she never even glanced at the other man’s retreating back.

  “I’d love to, but Sean, you don’t have to have lunch with me just because our evening got interrupted. I know you’re busy.”

  “We’re both busy but spending time with you is exactly what I wanted to do.”

  Her smile beamed brighter, then slowly lessened as she looked around. “Do you think this is him?”

  “I don’t know yet,” he said, wanting to tell her everything but keeping his suspicions to himself. “We’re trying to find a common denominator. The times of the fires. The dates of the fires. The location of the fires.” He looked from the charred rubble back to her face, and asked, “Can I call you later?”

  “I should be in the office for the rest of the morning. Just give me a call whenever, and we can meet somewhere.” She stepped forward and placed her hand on his arm. “I know your job is unpredictable, Sean. If something comes up, I’ll miss you, but it’s fine.”

  “I’ll do everything I cannot to miss lunch,” he vowed. Knowing that Jonas had walked back outside, he leaned down and whispered, “And I’d like to have a chance to finish what we started.”

  Her fingers tightened as she gripped his arm and she sucked in a quick gasp. “I really want that, too.”

  The air left his lungs in a rush, and until then, he had not realized that he was holding his breath until she agreed.

  As though understanding what he was thinking, she said, “You weren’t imagining what I felt for you last night. What I’m starting to feel.”

  Her words shot straight to his heart. “Good to know we’re on the same wavelength, Harper.”

  He knew his reaction might not be professional, but he was unable to help himself. Bending, he placed a quick kiss on her lips before she turned and moved back to her car.

  Stopping at the back of the building, she pointed downward. “Isn’t that crazy? At first, I thought it was a bird’s nest and then saw it was rocks. Weird!”

  Jolting, he forced a smile on his face and watched as she called out her goodbye to Jonas, before climbing into her car and driving away. Fuck, she noticed. Hopefully, she would not say anything since they hoped to keep the strange habit of their arsonist under wraps. Looking down, he stared at it through her eyes. Nest… she’s right. It does kinda look like a nest.

  “Hate to bring you back to earth,” Jonas said, “but I may have found something.”

  Shoving thoughts of Harper out of his mind, he turned and looked upward to where Jonas was pointing. A piece of paper, possibly newspaper, was stuck next to the building, trapped between the brick and an outside light. “If that piece of paper was part
of the accelerant that did not catch on fire but floated upward with the draft, we might be able to pull something off of that.”

  “But what about the spontaneous combustion in the air?” Jonas asked, rubbing his chin.

  “If it didn’t have any of the accelerant on it or only an insignificant amount, that might be why it’s intact.”

  Feeling a spark of excitement, Sean said, “Jesus, if we can get a fingerprint or even a partial, that would be fuckin’ amazing.”

  “I know. We’re going to need a huge break in this case.”

  “Even if there’s no fingerprint, there may be something else we can get from it.”

  Sean retrieved a collapsible ladder from the back of his SUV, and they placed it against the building since he did not have far to climb. Snagging the piece of newspaper with his gloved fingers, he carefully placed it in an evidence bag.

  Climbing back down, the two men looked at each other, a specter of hope in their eyes for the first time.

  16

  Sean and Jonas headed into the laboratory, following the same procedure every time they entered. Jonas was carrying the evidence bag with the newspaper and Sean brought the cardboard box with more glass containers.

  Not wanting to miss anything, Sean followed Jonas into the room where he would drop off his evidence.

  “Hey, Steve,” Jonas greeted the technician. “We’ve got something for you to take a look at.”

  The technician and his partner both signed off on the forms before Steve began taking notes as Jonas spoke.

  “Found this stuck next to a light fixture above where some of the fire origin points were on the building we were checking last night. Our thought is that there might be a fingerprint on it, or if not, then some kind of traceable evidence. We know the arsonist uses paper and cloth when they’re setting the fires and wondered if this piece was caught in an updraft, managing to get away without burning.”

  Steve nodded as he wrote everything down. Stopping, he picked up the plastic bag and held it up, still nodding. “I’ll work on it personally and see what we can get. We’ll be able to tell which newspaper this came from, and if I can pull a print, well—”

  “That’d be fuckin’ amazing,” Jonas exuded.

  “What about other DNA?” Sean asked.

  Rolling his eyes, Steve replied, “You know it can take twelve months to get DNA through the system.”

  “You’re that backed up?”

  Nodding, Steve sighed. “Maybe with this being from the serial arsonist and that’s so high-profile right now… I promise I’ll do everything I can to pull anything off of this.”

  “I don’t know if there’s any chemical analysis that would go along with the arson work that Shamika is doing, but can you check with her?” Sean asked.

  “Absolutely. I’ll work with her, and we’ll see what we can find.”

  Leaving their scrap of evidence in good hands, they continued further down the hall to where Shamika’s laboratory was located. Greeting her, they handed over the box and then Sean explained what had been given to Steve.

  Nodding, she agreed. “It’ll be no problem for us to work together on this.” She reached over to her desk and pulled up a file, saying, “I sent this to you this morning, but I realize you haven’t been in the office yet to receive it. It’s some information about the phosphorus levels along with the carbon disulfide.”

  “Thanks. I’ll read it when I get in. We already had an idea that might be what we were dealing with.” Seeing her furrowed brow questioning him, he continued, “I was with a friend who knows someone in a private lab. He showed us how the two can spontaneously combust.”

  “Why are you going to a private lab?” Her shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. “I know, I know, that’s a stupid question. Hell, they have lighter caseloads and the money for all the cool toys.”

  Sean rushed to assure her that was not what happened. “Honestly, I’m dating someone who’s a fire evidence technician for an insurance company. One of the buildings that the arsonist hit is covered by her company, so she was sent in.”

  “That makes sense. And like I said, private labs don’t have the budgetary restrictions that we end up having... although some aren’t certified.”

  “John gave us a demonstration of the phosphorus and carbon disulfide combustion,” Jonas said. “Gotta admit, it was pretty cool.”

  Shamika was writing down the evidence that had been turned in, and asked, “John who?”

  “John Simpson.”

  She barked out a laugh. “Firestarter?”

  Sean and Jonas looked at each other in confusion, then turned back to Shamika. She waved her hand dismissively, and said, “I went to school with John. We were both getting our degrees for laboratory analysis at the same time. We always called him Firestarter. Remember that Stephen King movie called Firestarter?”

  The two men continued to stare blankly, and she laughed. “Seriously? Okay, I know the book came out in the early 80s and the movie shortly after. It starred Drew Barrymore when she was just a kid.” The two men continued to stare blankly at her, shaking their heads back and forth slowly. “Damn, you two. Anyway, I never met anyone who liked to play with fire as much as John. Any chemicals he could mix together for combustion, he was doing it.”

  Shamika continued to look back down at the papers she was filling out. “I have to admit I learned a lot from him. I actually think our professor did, too. Anyway, I’m sure if he gave you a demonstration, it was good.”

  A few minutes later, they said goodbye to Shamika, and Sean and Jonas walked outside, neither speaking. Making it to their vehicles, Sean turned and leaned his back against his SUV, his arms crossed over his chest as he pinned his partner with a hard stare.

  Jerking his head over toward the laboratory building, he asked, “Anything in there strike you as wrong?”

  Jonas, hands on his hips, tipped his head back and stared toward the sky. Shaking his head slightly, he dropped his chin and held his partner’s gaze. “Yeah, but you know as well as I do that’s nothing to go on. We already know there’s a lot of people that get off on fire but never become arsonists.”

  “I know, and I’m not casting anything in John’s direction other than saying that I’m not willing to overlook the one person who pointed us in the direction of phosphorus and carbon disulfide before our own lab technician was also once known as fuckin’ Firestarter.”

  “We have a shit ton of people we gotta start going through on our list today anyway,” Jonas reminded Sean while shrugging. “No reason we can’t add John Simpson's name to the list.”

  He offered a chin lift before turning back to his SUV and throwing open the driver’s door. Jonas called out his name, and he looked over his shoulder.

  “You going to mention to Harper that you’re looking into John?”

  “I can’t believe you even asked me that.” Sean’s brows snapped downward in irritation.

  Jonas threw his hands up in front of himself. “Sorry, man. I just know it feels good to date a woman that understands your job, but it’s also going to suck that you gotta keep shit from her.”

  Sean climbed inside his vehicle, a sigh crossing his lips. Yeah, it is.

  Sean and Jonas spent the rest of the morning poring over lists of firefighter wannabes, those who had applied but never made the cut to receive a firefighter job. Jonas finally leaned back and shoved the folder away from him, cursing under his breath.

  “This is fuckin’ impossible,” he growled. “Last time Hope City had twenty-five available positions, over a thousand people applied. We know that there’s a good chance that serial arsonists are motivated by revenge, but except for a few of these, nothing is standing out.”

  “That’s why I just keep thinking if we put them in this database, then we’ll have something to compare it with as we start looking at people who are purchasing phosphorus and carbon disulfide.”

  Jonas nodded, but Sean could tell that his partner needed a break. Hell
, so do I. Sighing, he knew he had another hour to go before he had lunch with Harper. “What we need is a way to prioritize these names.”

  Looking over, Jonas asked, “At what stage of the application process did the applicants have to be fingerprinted?”

  “It’s down the line, but I’ll check to see exactly.” Picking up his phone, he called one of the Fire Battalions. “Chief Martin? It’s Sean McBride. Hate to bother you, but we’ve got a question. When applying for a position as a firefighter, at what point does the applicant get fingerprinted?”

  As he listened to the Chief, he noted Jonas’ eagle-eyed stare. Thanking the Chief, he disconnected and turned to his partner. “They set up a written test, and only those that get a certain score can move up to the next level in the application process. The large majority is knocked out in the first phase. That’s followed by a test of agility, which, of course, is a physical test, and that knocks out the next wave of applicants who may have knowledge but not the physical ability to perform the tasks.”

  Snorting, Jonas said, “Hell, most of these people who apply in the first wave have no idea what they’re facing, do they?”

  “They should. All that information is on the website now, easy to access. But you’re right, they want the glory and the adrenaline rush but can’t do the work or have the knowledge.”

  “And, of course, that’s where some of our arsonists come from.” Looking back up at Sean, Jonas asked, “So, the ones who make it to the next level get fingerprinted?”

  “Once they get past the written and physical test, then there’s an interview in front of a board of firefighters. Beyond that is an interview with the chief of the department, and then beyond that is an investigation of their background and a full physical exam.”

  “So, we would only have the fingerprints of those who’ve made it to almost getting an offer of employment?”

  “About seventy percent of all fire department calls are for medical emergencies, not fires. So, firefighters have to be trained in medical emergency response, and in most places, it’s now a mandatory prerequisite. If you don’t already have that, then the applicant can improve their chance of employment by taking those medical emergency classes at a community college.”