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