A Hope City Duet

by Kris Michaels

  “It’s a possibility, babe.” He reached over and cupped her cheek. “I’m sorry, Harper. I should never have asked you that question.”

  Seeing regret now in his eyes, she shook her head slowly. “No, you’re right. I want you to talk to me about any case. Actually, I want you to be able to talk to me about anything. And as an investigator, I know all possibilities have to be looked at.”

  “I’ve got one more question, and then I promise we're going to put this subject away and just enjoy our evening.”

  Her voice softened. “Honey, ask me anything.”

  “I know you and Sandy go out, often to one of the places where some of the firefighters hang out. Have you ever heard anything that gave you the feeling that someone was particularly enthralled with the idea of putting out a fire?”

  Her head moved up and down slowly as she said, “I know you’re talking about more than just the excitement of having completed a job well done. Right now, I can honestly say that I’ve never heard any of the firefighters that I’ve been around talk about the fire in any way other than they’re just glad it was put out. When someone’s been injured or killed in a fire, there’s a pall that’s cast over them when they come to drink. Otherwise, the ones I’ve been around just seemed to be glad that their shift is over, and no one was injured.” She hesitated, then added, “Sure, some of the younger ones do seem excited. I think perhaps they still like the idea of the big shiny fire truck and the job of coming to someone’s rescue. But that doesn’t seem to last long.”

  Leaning back in his chair, Sean tugged on her arm gently and she rose, moving to him. He settled her in his lap, kissing her deeply. “Dinner was fabulous, babe. And question time is over. Now, let me show you how grateful I am that you’re here… in our home.”

  Leaving the dirty dishes on the table and in the sink, he scooped her into his arms and carried her upstairs, then proceeded to prove his gratitude.

  32

  Stepping out of Harper’s apartment, Sean hefted the box in his arms as he turned to make sure her door was securely locked. Hearing a noise behind him, he looked over his shoulder as Daniel stepped from his apartment closing the door behind him.

  The older man’s face split into a wide smile. “Sean! Good to see you.” His gaze dropped to the box in Sean’s hands. “I told Harper that I would help move anything she needed. I’ve got more time on my hands then either of you and don’t mind helping at all.”

  “Appreciate that, Daniel. This gets most of the things that she wanted right away. She has some other boxes filled with items that she’s decided she wants to give away. We’re also looking at her furniture to see what will go and what we’ll get rid of.”

  Rubbing his chin, Daniel cocked his head to the side. “You know, if there are certain pieces of furniture that she doesn’t want, we can check with the apartment manager to see if he’d like them to stay. Sometimes they get more money if they advertise an apartment that’s furnished or partially furnished.”

  “I hadn’t even thought about that. Thank you. I’ll talk to Harper, and that may be exactly what she’d like to do.”

  “I’ll talk to the manager today and see what he thinks. I’ve got Harper’s number, so I can call her and let her know.”

  “While I’m here, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  “Of course not. I’ve got to check on the door for apartment 2-A, but they’re in no hurry.”

  “I wondered if you knew of specific buildings in this area of town that are empty.”

  “Oh, are you looking to invest?” Daniel asked, his eyes widening. “There’s a lot of condos going into old buildings. If you’ve got the money, could be good.”

  Sean chuckled. “No, I’m just identifying areas in town that don’t have any residences.”

  Leaning his shoulder against the door jamb, Daniel scrunched his brow. “There are an awful lot of storefronts around that I know are empty, but I don’t know about the upper floors. There’s an empty building over on Tartan Square, but I think some workmen are already in it to do some renovation.” His eyes brightened as he said, “There’s a small warehouse over on Shelton Street. Well, I call it a warehouse. I think it used to be a multilevel store, back many years ago. Anyway, I heard that it’s being renovated for condos, but I don’t think I’ve seen any workers over there yet.”

  All the places Daniel mentioned had already been identified and investigated by Sean and Jonas. Thanking him nonetheless, he added, “That’s good information to have. I don’t suppose you know of any smaller places.”

  That request produced another scrunched face from Daniel. “Yeah, I’d have to say there’s probably a lot of those. This older section of town has all sorts of sheds and garages that have been built in alleyways or behind buildings. Those, I don’t go past much to see, so I can’t tell you what shape they’re in.”

  Thanking him again, Sean shifted the box to his left hand and reached his right hand out to shake. “Let Harper know what you find out from the apartment manager,” he reminded. “I know we’re planning on using her bedroom furniture in one of my spare bedrooms, but she’s decided that her sofa, coffee table, end table, plus her dining room set are not needed. We won’t move any furniture that she doesn’t want until we hear from you.”

  “Will do.” Daniel smiled, giving a wave with his hand as he headed toward the stairs.

  Back at work, Sean called Harper and told her he picked up the last box labeled for the move. He also let her know what Daniel had suggested about leaving some of her furniture there.

  “Oh, my goodness, that would be wonderful! If we take my bedroom furniture and can leave everything else, that would save us so much time and trouble.”

  “Daniel said he’d check with the manager and call you later. I’ll let you go, babe. See you tonight.” Disconnecting, he looked across his desk at Jonas, catching his partner's smile. “Yes, yes, I’m domesticated. Hell, with my house, I was domesticated before Harper came along.”

  “Yeah, but you weren’t domesticated with a big smile on your face.”

  Flipping him off, Sean laughed but had to agree.

  Looking back at the papers on his desk, Jonas said, “I finally got the computer to check on the comparison of chemicals with the names we have of current and former firefighters. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, but I thought we could go over it together.”

  “Sounds good,” he said, and the two partners moved to the table in front of the map and evidence board. Spreading the papers out in front of them, they began digging.

  Harper was driving back to her office after dropping off some evidence to John at the lab. She had tried to act normal, but it was hard not to watch every move and utterance that John made. As usual, he was excited to show her something new, while promising to immediately begin work on the evidence she had collected. She hated that Sean’s questions now had her looking at John through suspicious eyes but knew that he had to investigate every angle possible.

  She had just pulled into the parking lot of her office when her phone rang. Seeing Daniel’s number, she picked it up. “Daniel, Sean told me that you would be calling.”

  “I talked to Mr. Zambini, and he said that as long as your furniture was in good shape and the upholstery was clean, it would be fine for you to leave it in the apartment for a thirty day period while they listed it as partially furnished. He said if he finds someone to rent and they don’t want the furniture, then you would still be responsible for having it removed.”

  “I can live with that. I know when I was looking for a place, I would’ve loved to have found something that already had some furniture in it so that I didn’t have to buy everything.”

  “I think you’re right. I don’t think they’ll have any trouble renting the place. I know Sean said he was moving the last of what you needed today. Does that mean I won’t see you anymore?”

  Hearing the wistfulness in his voice, she assured, “No. Actually, I’m coming over after work
. There are a couple of boxes of kitchen items that I’m going to give away. I thought I would take them to Goodwill. I just want to go through them one more time to make sure I’m not getting rid of something I need.”

  “I’ve also been gathering some things that I’m going to give away. If you want to bring the boxes to me, I can take them for you,” he offered.

  Thinking of the time that would save her, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, Daniel, that would be wonderful! When I get there today and check the boxes, I can bring them to your place.”

  “Don’t go to the trouble of hauling them around. You can just leave them in your apartment. I’ve got a master key and can get them sometime. No need to work on your last visit.”

  She spent the afternoon writing up the last of her reports before glancing at the clock, glad to see her day had ended. The wind whipped around her as she walked to her car. Ugh, the heat has been turned off in my apartment. She drove to the nearest coffee shop and bought a large coffee, wrapping her hands around the welcome warmth.

  Arriving at her building, she hurried into her apartment, bypassing Daniel’s door so she could go through her items alone. She set the coffee on the kitchen counter and opened the first box. It did not take long to look through the remaining boxes, double-checking to make sure she was not giving away anything she had wanted to keep. She hesitated over the waffle iron, embarrassed at how few times she had used it. I wonder if Sean likes waffles? The idea of making waffles for him was strong, and she set the appliance to the side, deciding to take it with her.

  Re-taping the two boxes, she walked over to the counter and took a sip of the warm brew as she cast her gaze around the room. Memories flooded her as she emotionally said goodbye to the first adult home she had lived in.

  The shrill sound of a smoke detector cried out and she jumped, knocking her cup of coffee over. Damn! She watched the coffee with its sticky caramel creamer spread across the counter and drip onto the floor.

  She heard Daniel’s door open and his fussing. “Crazy Mrs. Marsden... bet she burned the cookies again.” She rushed to the door and threw it open to let him know she was there, but only the stomp of his boots moving down the stairs met her ears.

  Turning back, she was dismayed at the mess the spilled coffee had made. Damn, I’ve got no paper towels or cleaner. The sound of the smoke detector from the apartment below was still blaring. Grumbling, she wondered if Daniel would mind if she grabbed a few paper towels from his apartment.

  Daniel always closed his door, but she tried it and was surprised when it opened. His apartment was the mirror image of hers and she moved immediately to the kitchen on the left. Grabbing a wad of paper towels from his counter, she opened the pantry to borrow whatever cleaner he had available. Like her pantry, it was lined with shelves but held no cans of food. Instead, it was mostly filled with all the things he would need for work in the apartment building.

  One shelf held a stack of newspapers and a box that contained rags. Another shelf was filled with cleaning products, including drain cleaners. A smile slipped across her lips as she thought of a few of the women in the building always calling him to complain that their kitchen drains were clogged.

  The shelf directly in front of her contained several glass jars filled with clear liquid, chalk resting at the bottom, with white labels on the front. Recognizing the name Hartfield Chemicals, she reached out and turned the nearest jar around so that she could read the label more clearly. P Atomic No. 15 Phosphorus

  Her nerves heightened as her breath caught in her throat. There were several amber-colored glass bottles next to the phosphorus on the same shelf, the same white Hartfield Chemicals labels on the front. Her hand, now shaking, carefully turned the bottle, showing the warnings for flammability and poison, as well as what they contained. Carbon Disulfide CS2

  Heart slamming against her ribs, she stepped back and closed the door as gently as she could, terrified of making any noise or excessive movement. Her hand reached into her pocket for her phone to call Sean when she turned toward the apartment door and stuttered to a halt. Before she had a chance to move, pain exploded against the side of her head, and she crumpled to the floor.

  Daniel’s face held sadness as he looked down at her, slowly shaking his head. “Oh, Harper. You should have never looked in there.”

  33

  “It sure as fuck isn’t like on TV, is it?” Jonas asked, drawing Sean’s attention from the lists he was comparing. “The last girl I dated wanted to know which job on NCIS I had. When I told her I was an Arson Detective, she got all excited thinking that I was either at fire sites or in the lab analyzing everything.”

  Choking back a snort, Sean shook his head. “On TV, everything’s done with a few taps on the computer, all labs come back the same day, and there’s always plenty of underlings to pore over shit like this,” he replied, holding up several pieces of paper.

  His eyes were crossed from looking at names, but finally halted when he came across Haufman. He blinked for a second, the name capturing his attention. Lifting his gaze up from the papers, it hit him where he had seen that name. It was on the door across from Harper’s apartment. Daniel’s apartment.

  He had missed the cross-reference earlier because the list from one of the local chemical companies had a customer by the name of Anthony Haufman. Going back through the list of Hope City retired firefighters, he discovered Anthony Daniel Haufman. His adrenaline kicked in as he immediately turned back to his computer. Seeing Jonas staring at him, he said, “I might have found something. I can’t fuckin’ believe it, but I might’ve found something.”

  Jonas’ attention was riveted on Sean, but he remained quiet, giving Sean a chance to work.

  Sean looked up the address for Anthony Daniel Haufman and discovered that it matched what was in the chemical company’s customer database—and matched the apartment across from Harper’s. With a few more taps on his computer, he searched to see what he could find on Daniel. A simple search turned up several newspaper articles from as far back as twenty years ago relating the heroics of Daniel as a firefighter.

  “Looks like he always managed to get his picture in the paper, didn’t he?” Jonas commented. “Who is he?”

  “He’s a retired firefighter who’s also bought phosphorus and carbon disulfide from Hartfield Chemicals.” Sean twisted his head around to hold his partner’s gaze. “And he’s been living across the hall from Harper.”

  Visibly jerking, Jonas cursed, “Fuckin’ hell, you gotta be kidding me.”

  Picking up his phone, Sean placed a call to Fire Chief Evans as Todd walked out of his office. “Chief Evans, Sean McBride here. I know this may seem unorthodox, but I’ve got to know anything you can tell me about a former firefighter you used to work with. Daniel Haufman. And with full disclosure, my Captain, Todd James is here also.”

  “Sean, I’m not supposed to speak about personnel matters, but I’m assuming since you’re calling this means you need something fast.”

  “Chief Evans, anything you can give us may help us find the serial arsonist sooner.”

  There was a brief pause, then Chief Evans sighed. “Jesus Christ, I hope to God what you’re insinuating is not true.” After another few seconds of silence, Sean thought he was going to have to press, but the long-time Fire Chief finally spoke.

  “I worked with Daniel for years. We came on board about the same time. Good guy, good firefighter. Always available, worked extra shifts. Because we had people all over the place it never dawned on me that he always managed to be where the big fires were, rolling up the hose, and still around whenever the press wanted to talk to someone. He always acted like it was an inconvenience, and we used to tease him about it. Someone even joked that if we were going to do a firefighter calendar, he’d have to appear for each month.”

  Sean, Jonas, and Todd shared a glance. Anticipation curled through him, but his stomach churned. This is going to fuckin’ gut Harper. “Why did he retire when he did?”


  Chief Evans sighed once more. “It started slow. So slow that none of us noticed right away. It seemed like when we would go to a bar at the end of the shift, he was always the last one to leave. A few times when he showed up for work there was a slight smell of alcohol. But hell, you all know what it’s like. No one was going to say anything about someone who drank maybe a little more than they should have. He had a wife at one time… a pretty little thing. But they got divorced, and his behavior became noticeably erratic. He seemed to get antsy when there wasn’t a fire. And by antsy, I mean that he would start drinking. He was caught a couple of times with alcohol at the station and was reprimanded. But the behavior continued, and he was counseled, encouraged to get help, everything that our Fire Chief at the time could think to do. Finally, he showed up to a scene and was stinking drunk. At that point, he was given a choice of being fired or retiring.”

  “Fuck.” Sean scrubbed his hand over his face.

  “Can you tell me what’s going on?” Chief Evans asked.

  Sean looked up at Todd who gave him a short nod. “We’re finally pulling together evidence on the serial arsonist. We have ideas about a profile and have been looking into persons buying both phosphorus and carbon disulfide. Anthony Daniel Haufman’s name came up on both lists.”

  “Goddamn,” the Chief bit out. “I always liked Daniel. This job… like yours, isn’t easy. Some people can take it and build a career, and others get burned, no pun intended.”

  Sean was getting ready to speak when suddenly Chief Evans whispered the word, “Burned.” After a few seconds, he continued, “You know, I had forgotten that Daniel had a nickname. One of the photographers for the newspaper happened to take a picture of him carrying a child he had rescued. The picture had flames in the background and smoke billowing everywhere, and there was Daniel, looking like he rose straight up from the inferno. They put that picture on the front page the next day. The journalist who wrote an article called him the Phoenix. Funny… I haven’t thought about that in years.”