Page 21 of Burning Justice

Gemma snapped another shot. “The rainbow sheen?”

“Exactly. It’s everywhere. MEK is only slightly soluble in water.” Sure enough, Brett detected occasional whiffs of MEK’s acetone-like smell. Even if he hadn’t, Blaze sniffed at the puddle, then tried to pull Brett deeper into the building, back to where the burned sofa still sat in the center of the warehouse.

“Why doesn’t he sit?” Gemma asked. “I thought he was trained to do that when he alerts on accelerants.”

“He’s trained to find the source of the odor, not the odor itself. He’ll keep searching to find the strongest scent, and that will be where the fire started.”

“There are more empty cans.” Jose led the way, pointing to burned cans on the floor. As with the other ones, most of the labels had been burned off. “This one still has a partial label.”

Gemma crouched in front of the can. “MEK. Seems to be this guy’s accelerant of choice.”

“Looks like,” Brett agreed. Despite the discarded cans, samples would have to be taken. Only gas chromatography could confirm the accelerant by comparing it to reference chromatograms of known flammable liquids. “Sometimes we can pull partial prints from scalded or sooty containers, but since he was wearing gloves, it’s a moot point.”

“Hicks forwarded me the video from the front door camera.” Jose tucked the clipboard under his arm. “Is the ATF officially investigating this fire?”

Brett met Gemma’s gaze. “This fire may be connected to the Torrance Lane fire.”

Jose’s brows rose. “No kidding.”

“Nope. We’ve got a suspect we’re looking to talk to. If it pans out, I’ll keep you posted.”

They continued walking past partially melted shelving and remnants of the various inventory that was all but destroyed.

Gemma took more photos with her cell phone, and he appreciated not having to tell her what to do. “Take a look at that.” Brett pointed first to a burn pattern on a section of corrugated metal wall that had survived, then to another metal can on the floor.

She snapped another photo. “Burn pattern?”

He nodded. “This is where he threw accelerant on the wall and it dripped down to the floor, making this inverted, cone-shaped rundown pattern.”

Occasional creaking had him looking around to verify the walls weren’t about to cave in on them.

“Brett?” Gemma touched his arm. Even with gloves on, the light contact was enough to make the hairs on his forearm stand at attention. There was definitely something simmering between them, something that could easily derail his concentration, if he let it. And lead to disaster, as usual. “Is that body still here?”

“The coroner removed it. We still don’t have an ID. Maybe Aldrich can tell us who he was.”

Blaze led them to a rack of lumber, most of it burned beyond what would be considered usable. When Blaze sat, Brett fed him a treat. “Good boy.” More burn patterns on the floor and another discarded can. A metal drain ran along the length of the warehouse. Chances were the drain would contain significant quantities of accelerant, washed down there by suppression water.

“Even without lab results,” Jose said, “I’m confident making an official statement that the cause of this fire was anything but accidental. That video Hicks forwarded is the clincher.”

“Revenge is the most common motive for a serial arsonist.” Brett quickly recapped Gemma’s and his disgruntled employee theory. “If Johnny Nash set this fire, he’d want to stick around to watch his achievement, to gain the satisfaction. When arson is suspected, we usually have someone film onlookers at the scene of a fire.”

Gemma scrolled through photos on her phone. “I didn’t see anyone that night other than us, fire and police personnel, and Logan Hicks.”

“It was dark out. Maybe whoever set the fire was here. Maybe we just didn’t see him.” Brett tugged Blaze back to the door they’d come in. “I’ve got an idea.”

“Hey, wait!” Gemma called out. “Where are you going?”

“Hunting,” he threw back over his shoulder. At the doorway, he set down the evidence kit. “Seek,” he said to Blaze, pointing outside.

Sniffing the entire time, Blaze led Brett to the edge of the parking lot. From there, he followed his dog behind the warehouse. When he’d expected Blaze to pick up the same scent trail that had led to the tree line where he’d cuffed Gavin Aldrich, his dog veered off, still heading to the trees but on a path fifty feet to the left.

Behind him, Gemma and Jose followed. He stopped to unhook Blaze’s leash, then pointed again. “Seek.”

When Blaze took off, Brett started to run, wanting to keep his dog in sight. At the edge of the trees, Blaze sat.

His dog had just alerted.

Brett ran to the trees. In front of his dog’s paws was a metal can. Unlike the others in the warehouse, this one wasn’t burned. The label was in pristine condition.