that’s why I went into the job I have, but it’s not. I do think it gives me empathy with those who have had loss due to fire.” Sliding her hand back into her lap, she startled as the server brought their check and a box for her extra food.
As she reached for her wallet, Sean stopped her. “I invited you to lunch. My treat.”
Her lips curved into a gentle smile. “Oh, okay. Um... thank you. It’ll be my treat next time.”
Immediately heartened at the mention of a next time, he smiled.
They walked out of the restaurant and stood on the sidewalk preparing to say goodbye. She suddenly jerked and blurted, “I almost forgot. I have a copy of my lab report for the shed fire from several weeks ago. I know my company hasn’t paid because it was tied into an arson investigation. I thought it was interesting because of the phosphorus with the carbon disulfide. With the level of phosphorus, that wouldn’t be something just from a match. That would be probably a chunk of solid phosphorus.”
At those words, all thoughts of the next date flew out of his mind and he took the lab report from her hand, his gaze skimming over it. Looking up, he asked, “Will you to come with me to headquarters? I’d like you to take a look at some of the other fires we’re investigating if that’s okay.”
“Absolutely, Sean. I don’t know if I can be of any help, but if I can, you’ve got me.”
Ignoring the double meaning of those words, he escorted her to his SUV. “I’ll bring you back for your car later.” With his mind back on the cases, he pulled out on the street, heading to headquarters.
11
Harper had never been inside a police headquarters and wondered if the real thing was anything like the cop shows on TV. Excited to have the opportunity, she followed Sean as they entered through a back door. With her boots tapping out a staccato on the tile floor, they moved through a guard check and sign-in procedures.
“The stairs are back here, but we’ll go around to the elevator.”
Once they exited the elevator, they walked down the hall and she peered around in curiosity. Her dealings with the police in the past had been on the phone, never in the detectives’ lair.
He pushed open the door and led the way into a large room that had several whiteboards around with desks pushed together in pairs. Weaving through, she noted other detectives looked up in curiosity as they walked by. Offering a slight smile, she felt sure they wondered what she was doing there.
Moving toward a pair of desks with Jonas sitting at one, Sean said, “Harper’s got a report on the shed fire that we have in our list of possibly being one that our serial arsonist set.”
Before Jonas could speak, her gaze moved to the board next to their desks and her attention was riveted to the photographs. There were only two of the fires that she had looked at because of her insurance company’s involvement: the warehouse and the shed, whose report she had just handed to Sean. But as her gaze moved around the others, she looked at the photographs and the lab reports underneath each one. The photograph of the warehouse had been moved to the side.
“Could the phosphorus come from a match?” Jonas asked, staring at the report that Sean had handed him.
She turned and looked at both men staring at her, then her gaze darted behind them to where several other detectives had closed ranks. Nerves shot through her. “Please, understand that I’m not a chemist.”
“No, but you have experience in the business,” Sean said. “Anyway, I’d like to hear your thoughts.”
Rubbing her lips together, she sucked in a deep breath. “We know that phosphorus is found on matches, so it’s not unusual to see traces of it in any fire started on purpose. But greater amounts are suspicious. According to my lab technician, if you take solid phosphorus and dissolve it in carbon disulfide, you get a toxic, volatile solution. In fact, exposed to air, it can combust.”
“It would have to be mixed at the site… or transported in an airtight container,” Sean mused aloud.
Harper nodded. “Probably in a glass container. They could dissolve the phosphorus in the carbon disulfide, make sure it was in an airtight container, and could take it anywhere. All they would need to do is pour it onto something flammable,