Chief was right... this is arson... our arsonist. The media had not gotten ahold of the pile-of-rocks calling card that the serial arsonist left, so it would be almost impossible for this to be a copycat arson.
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