Chapter 4: A Tragedy Remembered
An arm like a crowbar caught Gratz around his throat. "Sorry, Danny can't play any more. We have to go back to work," Steve snarled in Gratz' ear.
Steve released the man and moved toward Danny, but both officers kept their eyes on the volatile firefighter.
"We'll talk again when you don't have your boyfriend with you, Williams," Gratz snarled.
"I think he's delusional, Steve," Danny commented. "Did he not notice me slamming him on the ground without your help?"
"Maybe you gave him a concussion. Short term memory loss," Steve suggested. "Or maybe he's just a glutton for punishment."
"A glutton for punishment who will be enjoying his suspension if he doesn't get back to work and stop hassling police officers." Captain Harmon James scattered his men back to work with one cold glare, then he transferred the glare to Five-0. "And don't you two have something to do besides picking fights with my men?"
"Hey! Danny didn't start it," Steve protested.
"No doubt. Gratz is a bully. Having him on my shift is spoiling the rest of the boys." The captain watched his men begin to roll up the hose. "But he's brave as a lion, not afraid of fire at all. He's rescued dozens — three children at once from one house. Sometimes I think he enjoys fires a little too much."
When James moved away to consult with the captain of Station 25, Gratz drifted back as if to resume his quarrel with Danny. Bacadi followed, trying to tug him away, but it was Mick Harnett's appearance that stopped the fight before it restarted.
Harnett sent the fireman back to work with one sweeping glance. The engineer outranked the others and had an air of authority they didn't question.
"Jake, you're an idiot," Harnett told Gratz. "Do you think he only arrests children and people smaller than he is? He's used to handling big lugs like you."
Giving Danny an apologetic look, Bacadi dragged a grumbling Gratz away.
When they left, Harnett turned to the Five-0 officers. "Doesn't look like you broke him, detective."
"Next time I could just shoot him," Danny offered.
"Tempting," Harnett said with a twinkle in his eye. "But I don't think the captain would approve."
"Bacadi doesn't seem so bad."
"No." Harnett's eyes grew sad. "Blake won't interfere with an arson investigation, especially when kids are involved. His wife and daughter died in a fire while he was on duty on the other side of the island."
"That's awful." Danny could hardly bear to imagine the man's pain. The detective didn't want to think of his own little girl dying in a fire.
"Speak of the devil," Harnett muttered, as Bacadi returned without the others.
"Detective, I think I remembered something," the firefighter said. "There was a guy at the second fire, asked a lot of questions but was really vague about who he worked for. I didn't talk to him today, but I think I saw him, wearing a bright yellow shirt. Hard to miss him, really." Bacadi gave a subdued smile.
"Thanks for the information," Danny said, noting down the facts. "Did he give a name?"
Bacadi frowned in thought. "Ericson, I think."
That will make Chin and Kono happy. Nothing like a name that can be spelled twenty different ways, Danny thought with a mental sigh.
The fireman looked over his shoulder at the smoldering school.
"It must be hard," Steve said gently.
"I guess Mick told you." Harnett avoided his comrade's eyes. "Yes, little kids in danger from fire, it reminds me of my daughter. I was at work, fighting a warehouse fire. My wife went to light the stove. She didn't realize there was a leak in the gas line. She had a cold. She couldn't smell it." Bacadi paused and swallowed twice before he could continue. "She was killed in the explosion. My daughter was on the other side of the room. She had third degree burns. She screamed from the pain until they sedated her and even in her sleep she whimpered. They did everything they could, but she died three days later." Bacadi swallowed some more and wiped his hand across his eyes. "You said you have a daughter, detective?"
Danny nodded. "Her name is Grace. She's a fifth-grader at Sacred Heart."
"Treasure every moment with her," Bacadi urged. "You never know…" He turned abruptly and walked away.
Chin and Kono had come up in time to hear Bacadi's sad story. The group watched the slump-shouldered man go.
"We've got a lead," Chin said to break the mood. "The news guys remember a stranger hanging around, wore a yellow shirt today."
"Good," Steve said. "Bacadi remembered him, too, and gave us a name — Erickson."
"No idea of the spelling, of course," Danny added, but his thoughts were obviously elsewhere.
Steve clapped his partner's shoulder. "Lets get back to headquarters. I've got a lot to tell all of you." To Danny specifically, he added, "I'll drive so you can call Grace."
"When do you not drive?" Danny demanded, but he already had his phone in his hand.
The Five-0 foursome assembled around the smart table in the war room.
"I've got to go, Monkey," Danny told his daughter. "Everybody's waiting for me."
"Bye, Gracie," the other three chorused, loud enough for the girl to hear. She giggled and Danny put her on speaker so she could say goodbye to her uncles and auntie.
"Bye, Danno, love you," she finished.
"Love you more," her father replied with a smile, as he turned his phone off.
"OK, what have we got?" he asked.
"What did you learn from the arson investigators, Steve?" Chin asked.
"Our arsonist has a working knowledge of chemistry," Steve answered. "Anyone notice an unusual odor at the burned school?"
"Smelled like an Italian restaurant," Danny answered.
Kono nodded vigorously. "Garlic," she said. "It smelled like garlic."
"I've smelled it before when we were familiarized with napalm in the Navy," Steve said. "Garcia said that's a characteristic smell of burning white phosphorus."
"Phosphorus?" Danny frowned remembering long ago high school chemistry. "That catches fire when it's exposed to air, right?"
"Right." Chin remembered even longer ago chemistry lessons. "You have to keep it underwater."
"A-plus, guys," Steve answered. "So, what do you know about potassium — I mean pure, elemental potassium."
"Ooh, my turn," Kono said, raising her hand like a schoolgirl. Her chemistry lessons were more recent than Danny's or Chin's. "You do NOT put potassium in water. It reacts violently. It can even react to the moisture in the air. I remember my teacher Mr. Brennan saying it was tricky to work with it in Hawaii where we have so much humidity."
Steve clapped his hands. "Good job, class," he said. "Our arsonist is using chemicals to make a delayed action trigger, so he's far away when the fires start. Did you see the chemical detectors Garcia and Hizey were using? They detected high levels of phosphorus pentoxide and also potassium hydroxide. This tallied with their findings at the other fires. These compounds are created by the combustion of phosphorus and potassium respectively. They think the arsonist is putting potassium, probably coated with oil, in something like a pill capsule. Then the capsules are put in a glass jar of water with a significant amount of phosphorus in it. Then the whole thing is left amid flammable material, such as the paper storage closet at Sanders Elementary."
"So the time release capsule melts." Danny said, then interrupted his own musing out loud. "How long would it take? If it's a pill capsule, those start releasing medicine right away, so that wouldn't be much of a delay."
"Garcia thought it was some kind of homemade gelatin capsule that would melt gradually. He didn't think it could be a very accurate timer and he didn't think you could make one that would last more than two days. Two days was his top limit, probably a lot less," Steve said.
"OK, so the gelatin melts," Danny said.
"The potassium comes in contact with the water and bursts into flame," Kono continued.
"The violent reaction breaks the glass jar, letting air reach the phosphorus, which also bursts into flames," Chin contributed.
"The burning potassium and phosphorus ignite the paper at Sanders, the cleaning supplies at Nopu and at least three boxes of gasoline soaked sawdust hidden at various points at Manoa — and suddenly a school is on fire," Steve finished.
"That's a nasty time bomb," Danny said.
"Not really a bomb," the Navy commander said. "It's an incendiary device with a chemically activated time-delayed trigger."
Danny rolled his eyes. "That's fine for courts and reports, but are we really going to say all that every time we discuss the case?"
"I vote with Danny," Kono said. "Time bomb works for me."
"Or fire bomb," Chin added.
The military man was peeved at the imprecision, but accepted it was shorter. "Whatever we call it, it's dangerous. It burns super hot and water will only make the potassium fire worse," Steve warned.
"Aiming it at elementary schools — it's fiendish," Danny said, biting his lip, feeling the same anxiety as every parent of every schoolchild in Honolulu.
Kono put her hand on his arm. "He hasn't hurt anyone yet," she said. "We'll find him before he does."
"I don't know," Danny said. "Maybe he knew this was an in-service day, but any other day, there would have been kids trapped in that wing of the school. He's escalating, and you know what that means."
"He'll strike again," Steve said solemnly. "And he'll strike more viciously."
"And children will be in danger," Danny finished.
To Be Continued
Serious Author's Note: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! It probably won't work. It probably will burn your fingers off. This is based on a little Internet research, seven seasons of "Emergency!" reruns, a little "Mythbusters" and memories of long-ago chemistry class. And my class was longer ago than Chin's. I am not a chemist and did not consult with a chemist in the writing of this story. This is fiction. Treat it as such. Thank you.