Page 48 of Built of Flames

Oh shit. “She thinks it’s a firefighter?”

Bella's face told him he was right even before she answered. “She thinks it’s the most likely answer. It makes the traditional ways of identifying an arsonist almost useless.”

Because it was the repeated patterns and actions that usually got them caught. If Tess was correct, he’d worked with the arsonist for years. It would be someone Bella had worked with as well.

Someone on their team was a firebug. And probably an adrenaline junkie. And smart enough to get away with it for years.

The information narrowed their pool of suspects, but the thought of digging into his team looking for a traitor made him feel ill.

He rubbed his hands over his face and studied the data again. In his gut, he knew the women were right. They’d found the key.

One of their own was the arsonist.

Into The FireHall

With a heavy heart, Bella created a new spreadsheet.

Suspects.

To avoid adding names, she created the template first. She had built templates for other reasons, other professions. But never for firefighters and never for people she knew.

Name. Age. Marital Status. Children. Grandchildren.

Then she listed each fire by the number she’d assigned, and which firefighters were on shift.

On the job injuries. Family injured/killed in fire. Close friends. Enemies.That was probably too big of a word for most people, but it might work in the arsonist's case.

Work reprimands.That one gave her pause. Anyone else working the case might consider her a suspect. Especially if it turned out the arsonist held a grudge against her father.

Date quit. Date retired.

Off-hours jobs.

Then she listed all the buildings and businesses connected with the fires.

With their schedules, firefighters often picked up part-time jobs or hobbies for their off-days. Maybe one of those would provide the key.

Knowing she’d probably add more columns later, Bella sat back and took a few deep breaths. Now for the hard part.

Adding names.

She had to be impartial, so she started with her own name. Then Christo and her father. Mitch. And Roberto.

Blinking back tears, she stood up from the laptop and walked around the room. Her fire cabin. The lab where she planned to recreate fires in order to learn more. A place she hoped to find ways to improve firefighting techniques. Find ways to make buildings safer. Maybe even create more fabrics that would make life better for firefighters.

And now she was using it to investigate people she liked. Some she loved. It made her feel like a traitor.

For years, she’d been angry. Her family and Mitch had hurt her. The way they’d treated her had left her feeling flayed and useless.

But underneath it, she’d never stopped loving them. Including her dad. Which was why his actions had hurt so badly. Even when she’d been at her angriest, she would never have believed her father capable of burning buildings.

Blinking back the tears, she returned to her laptop and deleted the names. She wasn’t going to pretend she was okay with any of them being a suspect. To hell with being impartial. This wasn’t an official case. She wasn’t getting paid. If she wanted to follow her gut, she’d follow it.

Feeling better, Bella started inputting names. Some people on the list she considered friends, but she added them anyway.

If she was following her gut, she should prioritize.

She reorganized the names with the people she didn’t like near the top and the ones she trusted near the bottom. She’d put the ones she didn’t know well in the middle range. Mitch had access to past schedules, so she’d get that once he was finished his conversation with the Midnight Security team.