Page 2 of Serial Burn

“Of course.” Nathan paused. “Can I ask what you saw that makes you say it was arson?”

“Let me do this one time.” She waved over Fire Chief Kurt Laramie.

“What do you have, Jesslyn?”

“I was just explaining a few things to Nathan and wanted you to hear as well.”

Chief Laramie nodded. “Go on.”

She turned toward Nathan. “Fires usually burn upward and outward. They create a V-shaped pattern.” She pointed to the smoldering, blackened structure. “There are multiple V-shaped patterns inside. So what would you deduce from that?”

“Multiple starting points,” Nathan said.

“Give the man an A.” She sighed. “And the detection dog alerted to an accelerant. Which could mean nothing more than someone stored cleaning products together, but you don’t store those in the pulpit, Pastor Graham’s office, the kitchen, and the nursery.”

He winced. “Someone deliberately burned the nursery?”

“They did.”

“That’s a special kind of evil,” he muttered.

“Part of me wants to take it as a message of some sort. Another part, the rational part, knows it was just a good place to make sure the fire spread hot and fast since the nursery was next to the kitchen—in which all of the gas burners had been turned on.” She shrugged. “And in the nursery, you have things like baby oil, wipes, plastic or vinyl mattress covers, and more. Stuff that burns fast and hot. Whoever did this was determined this building was going to burn to the ground. But, here’s the kicker. What’s interesting is the purple stains.”

“Why is that interesting?” Nathan asked.

“It indicates a specific kind of accelerant. One that’s homemade and easy to make, relatively safe to handle, but I’ll know more once I talk to Marissa at the lab.”

“You think this is a one and done?” the chief asked.

“If it’s a hate crime and they simply wanted to burn the church down to make a point, then ... maybe. Or maybe they’ll hit another church. No way to tell right now.” She turned to Nathan. “You get to investigate and figure that part out.”

Chief Laramie patted her shoulder. “I’m glad to have you working this one, Jesslyn. Your dad would be proud of you.”

“Thanks, Chief.” He and her dad had been good friends, and the chief had welcomed her into the role of fire marshal with open arms. He walked off and she chewed on her lip.

She guessed her dad would be proud. She could only take the chief’s word for it.

“How do you do it?” Nathan asked, breaking into her thoughts.

“Do what?”

“Your job. James told me about your house burning down when you were a child and losing your family. I can’t imagine. And then you have to face fire every day?” He shuddered. “I hate fire. Don’t even like bonfires.”

She was surprised he brought it up. Her past wasn’t a secret, but it did seem to be a taboo topic for almost everyone around her. “I’ll admit, it’s not easy,” she said, “but I wasn’t there when it happened.”

“Sometimes imagination is worse than the actual thing.”

“True.” She cut him a glance. “And mine is an educated imagination. I’ve studied the case notes. I know exactly what happened. I know how they died, what they might have suffered. I just don’t know who did it.” She nodded to the church. “But this? It’s my job, my passion. One I chose as an attempt to honor my family. An arsonist killed them and was never caught. I can’t describe what that feels like. I never want another child or family member to go through that.” She blew out a low breath. “Each fire reminds me of why I do what I do.”

“Makes sense.” He went silent for a moment, and Jesslyn waited for him to get around to asking whatever he was thinking about. “I caught the interview you did a couple of days ago. The plea for someone to come forward with new information that would lead to the capture of the arsonist before the twentieth anniversary of the fire.”

“You saw that, huh?”

“You did a great job. Your love for them and your passion for justice came through loud and clear—especially your intent to keep looking until you found the person who killed them.”

“Oh. Yes. I probably should have toned that down a bit.”

It had been the first time she’d publicly spoken out about her family’s deaths, and the surge of anger and grief that had swept over her caused her to lose a fraction of control over her emotions. She’d jabbed her finger at the camera. “If you’re alive, I just want you to know that I’m still searching. You killed my family twenty years ago. They didn’t deserve that and neither did I. I hope you can’t forget that night. I hope it lives with you and torments you each and every hour of each and every day. You may think you’ve gotten away with it and that people have forgotten, but I’m here to say you haven’t and people haven’t. In fact, I have a plan to make sure everyone remembers that night. Remembers my parents for all the good they did before their premature deaths. Remind the world that my sisters never got to grow up. My dad was one of the most prolific builders in this area, and he and my mom had a dream. I bought a building that will help fulfill that dream. They wanted to create a youth center where any and all are welcome to have a place to go after school. In doing that, my parents will be remembered for their dream of changing lives for the better, while you will be caught and punished for what you did. Because I will catch you and that’s a promise I intend to keep.”

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