Chapter 28

TWENTY-EIGHT

J ulio scanned the conference room in the FBI office off the side of the PD building. Looking for Samantha. She and Romeo should be here already—he was surprised she hadn't beaten him here.

Special Agent Addie Franklin smiled at him. "Good morning, Captain. Feeling better?" She might've been up in the night with her young child, but she certainly didn't show it.

"I'll feel better when we catch this guy."

"The detective isn't with you?" she asked.

"She and her partner took Samantha's sister to the airport. She decided to go on an impromptu trip to see their parents."

Addie nodded. "Wise choice. You didn't manage to persuade Samantha to go with her?"

"It didn't even occur to me to ask if she would." He frowned. Should he have? Maybe the dislocated shoulder was affecting his judgment. But who could blame a guy for that?

"Another wise choice, Captain." Addie saluted with her coffee mug. "She's a police detective. She needs to do her job."

Julio didn't really know what to say to Addie about that. Though it seemed as if she thought she'd given him some sage advice.

In order to get coffee, he had to move out of someone's way, given he was in the aisle between the wall and the chair backs, which were pushed up against the table. He grabbed a mug, which was difficult given he was basically one-handed with his arm in a sling.

He'd been right about the pain. He'd awoken in the middle of the night, needing the pain meds the doctor had prescribed him. Julio would be on desk duty for a while, but no way was he giving up this case when this guy had tried to kill him and Samantha.

He took a seat.

Across the far end of the table, Special Agent Addie Franklin looked through the papers in front of her. A couple arson investigation and police admins sat to one side, down from a police lieutenant in uniform.

"We aren't all here, but we don't have time to waste." Addie glanced at the clock on the wall. "I believe we're missing Captain Tennet and our two Intelligence Division detectives. Is that all?"

The FD admin said, "Captain Tennet hasn't shown up to work yet this morning."

Julio frowned. It was past nine already. "Have you tried calling him?"

The older woman nodded. "He also isn't answering his phone. I spotted Sergeant Deerdan on my way in, and she said she'd send a couple of uniformed officers over to his house."

"Good idea," Julio said.

He figured everyone was wondering if the guy was their arsonist's latest victim. As much as he didn't exactly get along with the Dominic Tennet, he didn't wish ill of the guy.

He looked around. Flipped his phone over on the table. Still nothing from Samantha, and no sign of her. On the phone, she'd been worried about him being alone on the street. Enough she wanted to make sure he was protected.

He had checked behind him periodically on the drive over here, watching for a tail. But he hadn't seen anyone. Wherever their arsonist was today, he wasn't watching Julio.

Which made him wonder if the guy was watching Samantha.

"All right, then. Let's get started." Addie stood. "I've been comparing the profile I came up with to the incidents so far. At least what we can attribute to this guy." She glanced around. "A profile isn't a fact sheet. It's a living thing that grows and changes as we add information gleaned from his actions, and things like this manifesto." She tapped her index finger on one of the papers.

Julio figured all of it came together to paint a unique picture.

She continued, "Your ordinary pyromaniac wants to set as many fires as possible. It's a compulsion. A thrill, watching flames consume the fuel."

"If that was the case with this guy," Julio said, "we would have a lot more smaller fires and test fires on our hands."

"That's the thing." She glanced at him. "There are. But we had to go digging in the last five years of fire department reports looking for them."

"Arsons?" Julio said.

"Most were listed as accidental, or mechanical. Not arson or anything close to being intentional."

He frowned. That made sense why Tennet hadn't brought them to the taskforce's attention. The arson investigator hadn't ever investigated those fires. Even if he had, firefighters on scene often trampled key evidence. Or cleanup destroyed what remained of a time device or whatever had ignited to start the fire in the first place.

"We found them by searching specifically for records that mentioned issues with the HVAC or fires anything like what Richard Sylvana set."

"How many?" the FD admin asked.

"A dozen," Addie said.

"You think they were practice fires?"

She looked at him. "I think he's been working on this project a long time."

Julio swallowed too much hot coffee at once. He didn't like the idea of being a target. Where was Samantha? Maybe she was suffering the aftereffect of what had happened and needed help. Romeo had better be there if that was the case.

Addie continued, "The guy we're looking for is more than your average pyromaniac. He's highly intelligent. Strategic. He's a high-functioning sociopath, the kind of person who blends in enough you'll let down your guard. People aren't irrelevant to this guy. They aren't just too stupid to live if they get in the way of one of his fires. They are tools in his plan. Selected and then discarded."

The FD officer in the room looked up from making notes in his folder. "To what end?"

"He's a serial killer. One who knows enough about fire to pull this off. He's made it his specialty, in fact. Part of his psychosis. He considers himself unique among his peers. A step above."

The PD admin said, "Don't all serial murderers think that?"

"Yes," Addie said. "But this one has the knowledge base to pull it off."

Julio said, "That's terrifying."

"It should be." She looked at him, an impassive expression on her face. "Because he's focused on you right now."

Julio had been afraid of that.

"For starters, he had fire knowledge. He latched onto a method, following in Sylvana's footsteps. Next, he recreated the man's history."

"Too bad Sylvana is dead."

Everyone looked at the door, including Julio.

Romeo strode in holding a paper coffee cup in each hand. He came around the table and set the second one in front of Julio. Then took the seat beside him.

Where was Samantha?

Before he could ask, Romeo said, "We paid a visit to the prison. Richard Sylvana was found dead in his cell this morning. Cause unknown, but it didn't appear to be foul play."

Addie wrote something on her paper. "Thank you, Detective." Then she said, "First, the method. Then, religion drove him. Now, he's latched on to you and Detective Jesse." She pinned Julio with a stare.

"That's what I was afraid of." Julio figured anything they'd gathered so far could've been strategically planned in a way that was designed to throw them off.

He needed time to think it through, and people around him to do that with. In a way he couldn't do in a meeting like this. He needed to throw spaghetti at the wall, as it were. See what stuck.

Fine. Julio just wanted to work through it with Samantha.

Was anyone going to blame him for that?

"To what end?" Romeo said. "If my partner is still in danger, I need to know what I'm up against."

Addie tipped her head to the side, very slightly. "It'll be big. He wants recognition."

Another thing Julio was afraid of.

"I'll be looking for a complied list of possible suspects by the end of the day." She eyed Romeo. "We need to start somewhere and we can narrow it as we go."

"How do we avoid implicating anyone and everyone until we can get closer to the prime suspect?" Julio asked, tapping his coffee cup.

"Right now, anyone is a suspect. Even the people in this room." Addie lifted a file. "I have arson investigators going over the school and the firehouse. I'm sure you want to look at both, but there's another scene as well."

"Another fire?" Julio got up and rounded the table to grab the file from her.

Addie nodded. "Two days ago, a church across town burned down. It's not one of the mainstream congregations. They cater to more of a fringe crowd."

"Want me to interview the pastor?" Romeo offered.

"My thoughts exactly, Detective." Addie nodded. "I look forward to what you come up with. Report on my desk by lunch. Time is running out." She looked around the room. "This thing is heating up."

The meeting broke, and people started to disburse around the room.

Julio grabbed his paper cup of coffee and caught up to Romeo at the door. "Samantha?"

"She hung back to talk to Sergeant Deerdan," Romeo said. "Pretty sure the boss isn't so happy about Samantha being back at work today."

Julio winced. "Neither of us will be doing much." He figured he'd last until lunchtime at most, even just walking through fire scenes. But that was why they had a taskforce and it wasn't just him and Samantha working this case.

Romeo led him down the hall toward the rear of the building. "They were back here by the door. Deerdan was going out when we were coming in. I think she keeps tabs on our GPS."

Julio eyed a maintenance cart up against the wall. Wherever the maintenance person was, he couldn't see them.

"The guy was replacing tissue boxes and whatnot. Guess he's in the bathroom now." Romeo pushed through a heavy set of double doors.

The scent of motor oil and exhaust fumes hit Julio like a wave. The partially covered garage was open on three sides, and full of rows of black-and-white police vehicles, vans, and even a couple of golf carts. But no cops.

He looked around, but it was obvious Samantha wasn't out here.

Romeo strode down the middle of the motor pool, looking around.

The door behind Julio swung open, and a rotund male officer rushed out, breathless. "Why aren't the cameras working? What's going on?"

As if Julio had any idea.

Romeo said, "Over here!" and raced between vehicles. He ducked out of sight, then called out, "We need an ambulance!"

"I'll call for one." The officer rushed back inside.

Julio caught up to Romeo, skidding to a stop and slamming into the corner of an unmarked muscle car. Pain roiled through his shoulder, and he winced. But it wasn't Samantha lying on the ground.

Sergeant Deerdan gasped and started to sit.

"Easy." Romeo pushed back against her shoulder. "Don't try to move too much." He tugged off his jacket and pressed it against her abdomen, which was soaked with blood.

Julio crouched beside her. "Ambulance is on its way. What happened?"

Did this have something to do with the cameras being out?

Deerdan gasped. "He stabbed me and took her. Why didn't someone see?"

"Take it easy. Don't try to talk." Julio touched her shoulder.

The back doors opened. He stood in time to see two EMTs race through.

"Over here." Julio waved to them. "She's been stabbed." He crouched again.

Deerdan grabbed his arm with surprising strength. "You have to find her. He's gonna kill her."

"Who?" Julio had to shift out of the way of the medics.

Deerdan frowned. As if she thought he should already know. "He took her." Her eyes rolled back in her head as she passed out.

Romeo dragged him out of reach, now without his suit jacket, which he'd used to put pressure on the wound. "Come on."

"Where?" Julio said. "Who took her? Rome , where is Samantha?"

Her partner's expression made Julio's heart squeeze in her chest.

"I have no idea."