Flames raged at the sky, reaching for the stars above, hazing them in a veil of thick black smoke. Raphael trained his camera lens on the crowd behind a strip of yellow crime-scene tape, and clicked off a couple of shots. Hidden in darkness behind a dumpster, he was able to get a clear shot of the group of people near the crime scene. Thank God for Donny's camera, Raphael thought.

He pulled back from the viewfinder and turned to watch the fire devour the vacant house, consuming the last of its corpse like a hungry animal…out of control. Fire department practice burns drew pyromaniacs; he just hoped the pyro would show his face so then he and his brothers could get a face to the killer.

Steam billowed into the air as the fire crew opened the valves on their hoses, turning water loose on the flames and ending their fiery feast. Raphael turned back to the crowd, which had begun to disperse, feeling some of their disappointment as they disappeared into the darkness one by one, their excitement put out along with the fire. Raising the camera, he stared through the viewfinder and adjusted the focus. The woman whose image he dialed in stood on the fringe of the scene, dressed in a long white gown.

Raphael squeezed off a shot and lowered the camera, intrigued by her presence, dressed like an angel at such a hellish event.

"Raph!"

"Yeah," he turned toward Leo walking toward him.
"You get what we needed?"
"Let's hope. This blaze drew some strange ones…maybe we caught an image of our guy. We'll compare them with the ones Donny took the other night. Maybe we'll get lucky."
"Let's hope so." Leo patted his brother's should before taking off to climb the escape fire ladder and onto the rooftops. Nonetheless, he was heading back to the lair. Raphael turned back around, determined to figure out more about the woman. He scanned the remains of the crowd—she was gone.

Disappointment rattled through him as he let the camera drop and hang from the strap around his neck. Absently rubbing his sais, Raphael followed suit behind Leo. Thoughts barreled through his mind as he gracefully jumped the rooftops and headed toward home.

The New York arsonist was still out there, burning, and he had to be stopped before someone died—again.

The next day…

"We need to find her and get some information outta her," Raphael leveled his gaze on his brothers who all settled down to meditate in the dojo. Tension would around his nerves. He needed to get out and fight like he needs the air in the room.
"Do you want my expertise?" Donny questioned, his eyes still shut in concentration.
"I ain't gonna accept anything but you saying we are going to get out of here. We've been down here for weeks on end. We ain't gonna find the damn pyro if we just sit here."

Raphael got up and started pacing. Anger began to refuel him. "We got a shitload of pictures and in each one of them that same damn woman! You can't tell me that's a fuckin' coincidence!" Leonardo cleared his throat, "Well for one watch your language when your in the dojo. We're supposed to be focusing, Raph. Running out into daylight without a plan is just stupid."

Before Raphael could object, Mikey sighed loudly and fell back onto his shell. "UGH, this is so boring! For once I actually agree with Raph. I'm no more meditating than Donny is actually wanting to watch cartoons with me. Leo you have to give us time to just BREATHE."

Leo looked at all of them, and all three were showing the same facial expression. Desperation. It was true… Leo wanted to keep them from venturing out to the top just in case the arsonist followed them back and endangering their home. The arsonist had already killed once. Leo's hands clenched tightly when memories began flooding his mind. Their father was murdered. It was hard enough to keep Raph caged in, but Leo desired vengeance.

Raphael growled in frustration when Leo didn't speak up, he was annoyed that every time they bring up the topic of going topside, their damn fearless leader closes up. Instead of picking a fight like he always did, Raphael left the dojo and headed toward his room. Ignoring Mikey's calls for him, Raph shut the door behind him and stared at his 'home'. Or…what was left of it. After the fire, he and his brothers were able to salvage most of their belongings and Raph saved his punching bag and his numerous weights. Instead of a bed it was merely a pile of blankets. A low growl escaped Raph. He felt like a mutt. He was so tired of living in hiding and barely getting by. He marched over to his dresser and took out a picture he took a week ago when it was his turn to investigate a fire.

Raphael studied the woman in the picture like he did every night. He memorized every inch of the mysterious lady till he could pick her out in a crowd. There was something weird about how she always appeared at each of the fires… the woman in white—the same woman.

"Who is she?"
"Doctor Savannah Dawson," Raphael jumped when he turned around and saw Donny leaning against the burnt doorframe. "I did some research on her when you first started showing me the pictures of her. She's a local psychologist. The fire department has used her on some tough cases. She apparently can find out the truth from the records I scraped up."
"So..she uses her mind?"
"You could say that."

Raphael didn't like embarrassed grin on Donny's face or the feeling there was more to the story than he was willing or able to share.
"I did a background check going back ten years. She grew up in Atlanta, moved here 5 years ago. She's a model citizen, well respected…"
And beautiful, Raphael thought and felt a jolt of irritation rattled his nerves. "How do you explain her presence in four pieces of footage taken at the arson scenes, and again at the practice burn?"

Donny shrugged, "I can't."
Raphael clenched his jaw. "Well then Leo should let me do what I do best. I can find out more if he just let me out! If she's innocent, that's just one more person off our list. I can ask her questions while she's blind-folded. If anything, I'll watch, see what I can pick up."

Donny straightened and crossed his arms with a smirk, "There's more to this isn't there, Raph? I've been watching how insistent you are when there's a fire. You're always the first one to go out. You like her don't you."
Raphael's brows shot up and he quickly recovered by returning the grin, "Nah. You know me bro, I wanna just figure out who the fucker is that killed dad. Besides, I'm a TURTLE."

Donny laughed and walked off, Raphael could have sworn he heard him say "too bad". Shrugging that off, Raphael went and sat on his bed and leaned against his thighs. Staring intently at the floor, Raphael thought over everything he knew so far:
The arsonist set off the three fires in a week…same MO, same general area. The woman caught on the camera hovering nearby at every scene was a break Raph couldn't afford to ignore. It was instinct, he could feel it in his bones. Arsonists enjoyed babysitting their creations. Was she any different? He'd have her confessing before the day closed, then he could finally get revenge and let his past go… until then he would always have hate in his heart.

Raphael picked up the TV remote and turned on the tiny television set that sat on a couple of boxes a few feet from him. He couldn't get the woman's image out of his head. He studied her face, framed in waves of long, dark hair. She had a heart-shaped face and full lips. Slight, willowy build. Hell, she looked like an angel, in a devilish sort of way. He couldn't see the color of her eyes, but he could almost imagine they were a heavenly shade of blue, though he didn't know where the thought came from.

Female arsonists were a rarity, but they did come along every now and again. Raphael could feel the excitement tumbling in his gut—this could be their big break. Their first big step at figuring out who murdered their father. Raphael clenched his fists, he couldn't afford to blow this with his temper but he knew every step they got closer his rage would build. Besides, the only good pyro was an extinguished pryo, even if catching him took second place to actually putting out the flames.

If they didn't get to dad first.

Raph gritted his teeth and left his room. He decided to go topside at the moment and he knew where Savannah would be. After every fire, he would always find her at the park sitting in the swing—looking lost and in a daze. He would watch her from a distance and try to understand her; like why would she be at every crime scene?

Of course, Leo would be furious to know that Raphael always snuck out to see her, even if it was for only 30 minutes. He was memorized by her. Nothing was going to stop him from doing what he felt was best. Not even a sizzling pyro in her nightgown…