had grown in frequency. It was far too early to determine if this fire was caused by arson, and if so, if it was part of the serial arsonist’s handiwork.
Jonas walked around, his posture similar as he scanned the area. “Lot of debris…even if it’s here, we might not find it.”
“If his calling card is here, it’ll be outside.” He motioned for one of the patrol officers standing nearby. “Detective Sean McBride, Special Investigations Unit, Arson Division. This is Detective Jonas Miller. I’m lead officer on the arson. Homicide will show up soon. Medical examiner on their way?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hold the perimeter. I don’t want the media all over this, creating a feeding frenzy about the goddamn arsonist before we even have a chance to know what the fuck is going on.”
Nodding again, the patrol officer said, “You got it.”
Stepping carefully over the rubble, he glanced at the body lying sprawled on the concrete floor. With expensive, tailored clothing, the man did not appear homeless. It was equally obvious that his neck had been slashed, the gaping wound visible and a pool of blood staining the floor. Homicide would deal with the whos and whys, so he continued past the body, his focus on the fire residue.
“Christ, what a mess,” Jonas muttered, his gaze on the man on the floor.
“Yeah, but at least it’s not ours.” We’re here to analyze the heart and soul of the fire, not the dead man on the floor. Jerking his latex gloves on, he stepped back.
Jonas turned away from the body and gazed toward the back wall. “Looks like the origin is the window. I’ll take the left.”
Partnered together for several years, they needed little speech between them as they collected evidence. Determining the pattern they would search, they began at opposite ends of the warehouse and moved toward the origin.
He worked from the right wall toward the window and collected fingerprint samples on the sill and where the window had been slightly pushed upward. This isn’t like our man.
Kneeling, he pulled plastic and glass containers from his evidence kit. After collecting ash and other samples of rubble near the origin, he snapped on the airtight lids and labeled them according to where they were collected. He also pulled out strips of chemical color tests to look for the makeup of any accelerant residue.
“Did you hear the rumor that the Captain is thinking of getting a canine trained for accelerant detection?” Jonas asked as he crept along the other wall, his light illuminating the burn patterns.
A flash of the bomb-sniffing dogs that he had seen work when he was in the Army flew through his mind. They were fuckin’ amazing. And expensive to train. Sean let out a rueful snort, continuing to scrape evidence into jars. “Yeah, and where the fuck are the funds for that gonna come from? I can’t remember the last time we got our hands on new equipment.”
Jonas’ chuckle indicated his agreement. “I’m heading outside to look on the back wall.”
Still in a squat, careful to not disturb the debris but collecting the best samples possible, he startled at a familiar voice.
“Well, if you’re here, why the fuck am I? Someone said this was a homicide.”
Standing, he grinned as he watched Brock King step forward. At over six-and-a-half-feet tall, Brock was hard to ignore as he towered over most of the others around. “About time you showed up, King.” He jerked off his gloves and moved forward, wrapping his arms around his best friend in a hearty hug. “How have you been, man?”
“Not bad. How’s your mom and dad?” Brock slapped Sean’s back a couple of times before they broke apart.
The McBrides and Kings had lived next to each other since he and Brock were toddlers. According to the tale their parents told, they had been best friends from the time they first laid eyes on each other. He had not seen Brock in the old neighborhood recently, but with their work schedules, that was not surprising. “They’re good. Hey, did you hear both Rory and Erin are out of the Army?” The two men stood with their hands shoved in their pockets, eyes avoiding the dead body nearby.
“No, I hadn’t heard. Are they coming home, or are they spreading their wings and conquering the world outside of Hope City?”
“They’re home. Erin’s just out and moved in with Mom and Dad until she knows what she wants to do. Rory was discharged last month. In fact, he’s already volunteering with the