By tiinaj1
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters: The Numb3rs group or Jack & Rachel O'Malley who are based on a series of books by Dee Henderson. Danny & Mark are mine though as are the people they got away from.
R is for Rage:
Don moved through the burned out shell of the building carefully walking along the walls and avoiding the center of the floor. Shining his light toward the floor, he watched as the pattern moved across the room, up the walls and onto the ceiling. He noticed how the fire had burned deep into the wood, chewing it up before moving onto a new area until it reached the windows where it had burned through the frame and shattering the glass.
"Don!" Jack O'Malley moved toward him. "Thanks for coming. I thought you might want to see this. "
"Arson?" Don asked, looking around. Jack nodded and putting a hand on his arm, motioned him toward the exit.
"Yeah. The arson investigator just got here and he's gonna check it out. Unfortunately, this fire is similar to several others we've had this year." Jack shook his head. "The investigator has a lot of work ahead of him.
'If it is arson and it's connected to the other fires like I think it is, then this guy has just escalated his behavior. We had a body in this one." Jack took off his helmet as they stepped out of the building. Running his hands through his hair and then picking up a water bottle, he took a long drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "There's not much left of him.
'Look what I found inside." He held up a cap with the insignia of the Skid Row Fire Department. The navy cap had obviously seen better days. The edges of the bill were frayed, holes were burned into it in various places and where the fabric of the cap was still intact there were streaks of dirt and grease. It was sealed in a plastic bag.
"Skid Row?" Don looked at Jack. Giving a silent whistle, he raised his brows. "That's a rough neighborhood."
"Yeah." Taking a key, he opened the compartment where evidence was put for safe keeping. He put the cap in, signed and dated the evidence tag and then relocked it. Turning, he faced Don. "Cole thinks it might be a kid. If it is, he may be out of control.
"I've got to give this key back to the inspector. I'll see you later?" Jack held out his hand to Don. "You up for dinner tonight? My shift ends at 6."
"Sure, actually why don't you come over to my brother's for dinner tonight when you get off? We'll be barbecuing." Don said shaking his hand and then turned and walked toward the Suburban.
"See ya then." With a wave, Jack turned back toward the building and disappeared inside, stopping to put his helmet back on.
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Don walked up to the front door of his brother's house. Carrying a couple of cases of his favorite beer he walked in and called, "Hey guys! Where is everybody?"
Following his nose and his dad's voice in the kitchen, "Hey Dad, how ya doing?" When his dad moved out of the way, he stuck the beer in the fridge and grabbed a cold one, popped the cap and took a long drink.
"Hey, I invited a friend to join us tonight. Is that OK?"
"Sure Donnie. Who is it? Anyone I know?" Alan finished the tossed salad and handing it to Don he said, "Why don't you stick this back in the fridge. When will your friend get here?"
"Should be soon. He's a fire fighter and his shift ended at 6. We have a case that we're both working on and we need to compare notes."
"OK, wait till after dinner though, huh? Let us enjoy our food first and you guys can unwind a little too." Alan moved to the back door and opening the grill, he checked the steaks he had been grilling for the fajitas they were having tonight. Pulling them off the grill along with the blackened peppers, he put them onto the plate he had set aside earlier. Walking back inside, he pulled the tortillas, avocados, tomatoes, onions and jalapenos out. Putting everything on a tray, he handed it to Don to put on the table where he had already put out the dressings for the salad.
Both men looked up when the back door opened and a tall muscular young man walked in. Don moved forward and held the door open as Jack shouldered his way in the door carrying a huge watermelon. "I come bearing gifts!" Jack said with a wide grin.
Alan smiled, "It'll be time to eat in a few minutes boys. I just need to slice the meat." Pulling out a knife he started slicing the meat diagonally. Putting the plate on the table, he shook hands with Jack and told him to help himself to a beer and then make up his plate. "We'll eat outside. Charlie should be here in a little bit and after we eat, you guys can talk."
The men sat in their chairs on the patio watching the stars in the sky and talking quietly. Don and Alan had beers in their hands and Jack was working on his 4th bottle of water. After a long day fighting fires he needed to replenish the water he had lost in the suffocating heat of the flames.
The sky was full of stars, twinkling and sparkling above them. Charlie stood over the Koi Pond and sprinkled the food and watched as the fish swam to the surface and pecked at the food before turning and swimming away. Occasionally, he leaned down and spoke to the fish and pulled a weed here and there.
Jack leaned back in his chair and heaved a sigh. Linking his hands behind his head, he stretched out his legs and then turned to Don. "I'm stuffed, I don't think I could have eaten another bite."
Don grunted, and stretched out his own legs. Lifting his beer to his mouth, he tipped his head back and took a long pull from the bottle. Wiping his mouth on his hand he lowered the bottle and rested it on his thigh.
"What did you find at the Parker house?"
Jack scrubbed his face before dropping his hands. "Well, there's plenty of evidence of arson. The arson investigator found a book of matches in the living room. There were fingerprints all over the place, both patent and plastic. It's like he didn't try to hide what he was doing."
"Who's the Investigator? Rogers?"
"Yeah, he's good. He'll find who did this."
Don put his bottle on the table and then turned toward Jack. "You said it might be a kid. Why do you think that?"
Alan turned from watching Charlie and looked at them. "A kid? A kid started this fire?"
"Possibly, there were very small footprints in the dirt outside the house, fingerprints around the door, on the knob and also on the gas can. The technicians will make casts of the footprints and if they prepare all the evidence correctly, we'll havehim. The problem with kids is they usually aren't in AFIS."
"What makes these kids play with fire?" Alan asked.
"Well, there are many reasons people play with fire. With children it starts with a fascination with fire, sometimes it escalates due to a death in the family, a desire for attention good or bad, neglect, abuse. It can be any number of things. Sometimes, it gets out of control and the kids are too scared to ask for help to put the fire out," Jack answered, "and sometimes people end up dead.'