Page 42 of Built of Flames

He worried that if the arsonist was escalating because of Bella’s return, that the purpose for the fire might escalate too.

Once the three of them were upstairs, they moved through the smoke directly to the far end of the hallway. Mitch held out his hand before they got too close and then approached the door carefully. The smoke wasn’t too thick, so he checked the frame visually and with his hands. He didn’t find a trip wire or any kind of device hidden.

When he turned, Christo was doing the same, and Roberto was inspecting the floorboards.

Nothing.

And they hadn’t heard anything either. The radios weren’t working. In the last fire, they’d found jammers hidden in the ceiling. Mitch knew they’d find the same today. Roberto motioned them into the rooms and showed he would be the visual go-between.

The smoke was thicker within the room and Mitch had to step a few feet inside before he spotted the hole in the far corner of the office. He held out a thumbs-up to Roberto and then moved to shove the desk toward the corner.

He knew Christo would find the same.

The bulky uniform made his movements slower than usual, but he was used to the gear, so it wasn’t long before he was on top of the desk and pulling the camera out of his pocket.

It wasn’t smart to take a cell phone into a fire, but the department had bought several small cameras to assist in investigations. Christo had insisted they keep them in the engines and Mitch had grabbed it on the way inside.

Smoke was thicker in the ceiling, and Mitch didn’t want to hoist himself up in case it was rigged. Instead, he turned the camera to video and then held it up in the space. He aimed it in one direction and then slowly turned in a full circle.

When he was done, he pulled down the camera to see the images he’d captured.

At first, there was nothing, but then the video turned to show a large pipe bomb. On the side of the bomb, someone had used bright yellow paint to draw a happy face.

They’d also written the words,Too Late!

Adding Fuel To The Fire

Bella leant back against the table and studied the data she’d added to the board.

There were so many connections that the squad had talked about before they’d headed to the fire. She hadn’t been able to record them on her spreadsheet.

She’d wanted to go with them. To have their backs and help keep them safe. But that wasn’t her job. Not anymore. Her job was to figure out where the arsonist was going to strike next and to stop him.

Unless she was too slow, and the arsonist had caused today’s fire. That seemed ridiculous and a little paranoid, but she couldn’t suppress the feeling.

A lot of the team had connections to the fires, which wasn’t surprising in a small town. That was why Mitch hadn’t jumped in to agree with her theory right away.

Now that she’d had a little closure with her father and returning to the firehall, maybe she’d have more clarity. Her eyes kept drifting to the same fires. Many serial arsonists chose a date that was relevant to them. But these weren’t the same.

A thought struck her, and Bella pulled out her phone and her calendar app. She input each of the late August fires. All had occurred on a Thursday. The final Thursday of August.

Was that the connection? Not the date, but the day.

Bella chose a green marker and put a dot above each of the Thursday fires. Then she set about checking the other fires on the board.

Most were on weekends, with Saturday being the most popular, but she found another few on Thursdays. Connections or coincidences?

Bella texted Tansy and asked for her friend Tess’s number. She confirmed that Tansy had spoken to Tess about her and the case. Bella wasn’t a fan of cold calls, but had gotten more comfortable doing them over the past couple of years.

“Hello.”

“Hi Tess. It’s Bella Martinez calling. Tansy’s friend. She said it was okay to call you.”

“It is. I hear you’re an arson investigator.”

Bella smiled. The woman’s voice was gentle, and she imagined the woman to be the same. “I am. I have a potential serial arsonist working in a small town. This isn’t an arsonist working in the normal way. Most use the same type of ignition points or have some other pattern, but this one is different.”

“How so?”