Chapter 7

A Break in the Case

Detectives Vaughn and Nolan went to Chief McConnikee's office after the fire at Adkins' place was put out. That fire almost killed another fireman, his family and sent two to the hospital.

The first thing they wanted to know if there had been any link between DeSoto, Adkins, and Stanford. Chief McConnikee had his secretary bring in some files and he looked through them. He shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, gentlemen. I can't find any correlation between the three firemen. They all work at different stations in different parts of the city. They have not worked any wrecks or fires together. The only thing they really have in common is they all have families and work for the department."

"Maybe's this guy's got something against firemen in general. Maybe he's not after any specific station or person," Detective Nolan said.

"So you think this guy was injured in a fire or even lost someone and he's blaming the whole department," Chief McConnikee said.

"Chief, have there been any fires recently where someone died?" Detective Vaughn asked.

"The last one was about two months ago." He leaned back in his chair as he remembered the fire vividly. "As I recall, it started about two in the morning by a young boy playing with matches. The parents were asleep and by the time we arrived, the house was fully engulfed. There was no way to gain entry." He leaned forward and sadly said, "The boy was lost. He was gone before we even got there."

"You keep saying 'we.' We're you on scene?" Detective Nolan asked.

Chief McConnikee nodded his head. He put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. "Yeah, I was there. There are a few things in this line of work you never forget." He took a deep breath, "and a few things that haunt your sleep and keeps you up at night. Watching the medics pull that boy out of the house was one of them."

"How did the parents react?" Detective Nolan asked.

"Like anyone who just lost their three-year-old in a house fire. They were both burned pretty bad trying to get to the boy. I believe the mother is still in a rehab facility."

"What about the father? Where's he?" Detective Vaughn asked.

"I'm not sure. He was in the burn unit at UCLA. Hold on a minute." Chief McConnikee picked up the phone and asked his secretary to track down a Kevin Feinman. He hung the phone up and said, "It won't take her long. She's good at what she does."

"What can
you remember about the father?" Detective Nolan asked. "I know he had to have been upset, but did he make any threats or anything like that?"

"He was upset we couldn't save his son and he was worried about his wife. I was in charge of the scene and had my hands full directing the men." His phone rang and he picked it up. "She did. I didn't know that. Thanks." The Chief hung the phone up. "Well, I think we have your suspect. I just found out that Mr. Feinman was released from the hospital two weeks ago and he's been at his wife's side every day."

"And," Detective Vaughn asked. He shifted positions in his seat.

"She died two days before the DeSoto fire from an infection."

Both detectives jumped to their feet. "Do you have a picture of him?" Detective Nolan asked.

"Sure don't. Sorry."

"That's okay, Chief. We appreciate your cooperation and I promise you and your men that we will find him," Detective Vaughn said.

"And until then, tell your men to be careful," Detective Nolan added.

"I will and thank you both."

"How are the two firemen that were injured last night?" Detective Nolan asked.

"One is going to be out a while but is expected to make a full recovery, the other one is still critical."

"I'm sorry, Chief. And I'm sorry we suspected one of your men in the first place," Detective Nolan said.

"I know you were just doing your job. Tough world we live in, huh?"

"You can say that again, Chief," Detective Nolan said. He opened the door and the two detectives left.

The detectives went to their station to find out what they could about their latest suspect. It didn't take them long for the computer to spit out a picture and information on Kevin Feinman. He was a tall, thin man who was thirty-two. He had dark brown curly hair and brown eyes. Before the fire, he had no visible scars and had never been in trouble with the law. He was married for nine years and they had one child, Kevin, who perished in the fire. He worked as a mechanic and owned his own shop. They discovered that he had been burned on his arms, torso and face. His wife had burns on her arms and face along with her legs and some minor burns on back. She had inhaled a lot of smoke and had been on a respirator. She was doing better until she developed an infection and died. Their son, Kevin Jr., had been playing with matches on the couch while his parents were sleeping, just as the chief had said. Their next course of action was to find out where Kevin Feinman was now. They knew this man was filled with grief and pain over losing his son and now his wife.

Detective Nolan decided to start their search by talking to Feinman's doctor at UCLA's burn center. What the detectives found out was that Feinman was adhering to his doctor's orders and attending physical therapy in between visitations with his wife. That was until she died. When his wife died, according to his doctor, Mr. Feinman quit the physical therapy and became very angry. The doctor had not seen him since and said that Mr. Feinman had been staying at hotel near the hospital called Oceanside. The detectives thanked the doctor and left.

Detective Nolan asked the clerk what room Feinman was staying in. The clerk was hesitant at first but finally told them that he was in room 201. He also told the detectives that he hadn't seen Feinman in over a week. Detective Vaughn asked for, and was given, the room key. The detectives didn't really expect to find Feinman there. They started searching the room for anything that might tell them where he was. Vaughn walked into the kitchen and said, "I think I have something here."

Nolan entered the kitchen and looked at the notebook that Vaughn had found. "Oh my God. Where in the hell did he get this?"

"I don't know but we'd better make another visit to Chief McConnikee."

They closed the door as they ran out of the room and quickly jumped into the car. Detective Vaughn was driving and Nolan put the tear drop red light on top of the car and turned on the siren. The next thing that Detective Nolan did was to pick up the mic, "Dispatch, I need you to get Chief McConnikee on the phone and tell him to stay in his office. We have to see him right away. Tell him it's a matter of life and death. And I want someone to stake-out Feinman's hotel room." He put the mic back in its little silver slot after he received a ten-four. "I hope he hasn't left yet."

"If he did, we'll just track him down."

They parked the car in front and ran to the chief's office. Detective Vaughn handed him the notebook he found. "This has the addresses of every man on the department along with which shift they work. With this information…"

"We know, Chief. He can go after any of them," Detective Nolan said. He reached for the book and McConnikee handed it to him. "See these dates on the side?" The chief nodded. "Those are the dates of the other three fires. Today is the next date. The fires have all been started at night and your men have been at home. Maybe we can narrow this list down a bit."

"How?"

"For starters, I don't think he will go after anyone who's working. Let' eliminate today's shift.

"B-shift is on duty today. But that still leaves a lot of men on that list. You can't possibility have someone at every house."

"No, no we can't but what we can do is beef up patrols…" Detective Vaughn started to say.

"Wait a minute. Which of the men on the list have families?" Detective Nolan looked up from the notebook and glanced at his partner. "All the men had families, right?"

"That should narrow it down more," The chief said. He picked up a pen and started to put check marks by the men who had families. The list was still long but it was shorter.

"That's about as short as we can make it. Let's call the captain and beef up patrols on the remaining houses. Chief, it might be a good idea to call everyone on that list and tell them to be on the lookout for anything suspicious tonight," Detective Nolan said.

Detective Vaughn picked up the phone and called his captain. He said he would send over the addresses of the remaining names on the list. He also explained that Chief McConnikee would be calling his men to warn them.

It didn't take long for every member of the fire department to get the word to be careful. The men on duty were ready to respond in an instant if a call went out. Some of the men who were off duty and had families sent their wives and kids to a relative's place, some stayed the night in a hotel and some stayed at home with their families but kept them in one room. No firemen in the county slept.

Roy was pretty sure he was safe because his house had already been burned but he wasn't taking any chances. Johnny stayed the night and everyone was in the living room. Captain Stanley sent his wife and kids to her sister's house. His wife wanted to stay but gave in to his rather strong request in the end. Mike Stayed with him so he wouldn't be alone. And that's the way it was throughout the whole department. The men who didn't have families stayed with the ones who did to be there for them ready to help if the arsonist stuck.

While the firemen were making their plans to send their families away or stay at home, the police were busy too. They had the names and addresses of the firemen that were the most at risk of losing their house that night at the hands of a deranged madman. They were making their rounds in the usually peaceful, quiet neighborhoods. Many of them had volunteered to come in or stay late. Each officer was watching for anyone who looked out of place or anything else that caught their keen eye.

It was approaching 0230 and was all quiet at Sam Danko's house. He was a fireman who worked the C-shift. He was married with twin six-year-old boys. He put the boys to sleep in sleeping bags in the living room. His wife, Mary, and two co-workers, Randy and Joe, were sitting at the kitchen table. "Look, Mary, why don't you get some sleep? You can sleep on the couch. There's no need in all of us losing sleep."

"I took a nap this afternoon when we decided to stay here. I'm fine." As soon as the words left her mouth there was a crashing sound in the living room followed by flames and a lot of smoke. The boys woke up and started screaming.

"Mary, go out the back door!" Sam yelled as he ran toward the twins.

Mary didn't leave the house. Instead, she watched as Randy grabbed the fire extinguisher that he brought with him and quickly put the fire out. Joe picked up the phone and called the fire in.

In less than a minute they all heard a police siren. "Mary, take the kids in the bathroom and lay on the floor." Sam whispered in her ear. "In case there are any shots fired I want you all safe."

Mary nodded and put an arm around each of the boys as she led them to the bathroom. They were scared but the boys did as they were told. "It's going to be all right. The fire's out and the police are here," she said to the boys as they went into the bathroom off the master bedroom. They huddled together on the floor and leaned against the wall.

Sam, Randy and Joe went out of the back door and around the side of the house. They wanted to keep out of the way of the police. As Sam peeked around the corner he saw two uniformed officers putting handcuffs on a man he assumed was Kevin Feinman. He walked toward the officers followed by Randy and Joe. Sam didn't say anything to the man as he was being put into the patrol car but Feinman said, "Why. Why couldn't you save my son and wife? Why did I live? I lost everything." Feinman was crying as the patrolman closed the door.

"Looks like we got him. You fellas can get some sleep now," The patrolman said.

"Thank you," Sam said as he smiled the officer. "I'll call our chief."

Sam walked to his front door followed by Randy and Joe. Once he was inside, he called for Mary and the boys. They all hugged each other. "I'll call the chief," Randy said. Sam just held his family close and nodded.

The alarms went off at every station announcing that the arsonist had been caught. The men at every station clapped and cheered. None of them wanted to go to another brother's house fire.

The next morning Roy and Johnny pulled up the parking lot at the hospital to see Chet and Marco and were met by Captain Stanley and Mike. "I'm sure glad they caught that Feinman guy," Johnny said to Captain Stanley and Mike as he opened the door and went inside.

"So am I," Mike said. He pushed the button on the elevator and it stopped at the third floor. They stepped out of the elevator and went to the nurse's station.

"Excuse me, can you tell me how Chet Kelly is today?" Johnny asked the pretty, blonde nurse sitting behind the desk.

She looked up from her paperwork and said, "He woke up late last night. He's in some pain but he's doing much better. You can see him if you'd like. I believe Marco Lopez is your friend also?" The men nodded. "Mr. Kelly was moved into his room earlier this morning. They're in room 307."

"And the smoke was so thick…" Johnny heard Chet say as he opened the door.

"So how thick was it, Chet, ole buddy?" He asked as he smiled and pulled up a chair.

"Well, it was thick enough to put me here."

"Word has it you'll both be back to work in no time," Captain Stanley said.

"I sure hope so, Cap. I'll go stir crazy sitting at home," Marco said. "Hey, I promise to come by and make you some of my homemade enchiladas while I'm on leave."

"Now that sounds great, Pal," Captain Stanley said.

It was another eight weeks before Captain Stanley was able to line all his men up for roll call. He walked up and down the line and smiled at each one of them and shook their hands. "I can't tell you how proud I am of each and every one of you men. We have always been a family here and I for one am glad to see our family back together. "Chet…"

"I know, latrine duty," Chet answered.

"Not today, Pal. Today, I want you help Marco check the hoses." The captain assigned Johnny to latrine duty, Roy was to clean the apparatus bay and it was Mike's turn to cook.

After the captain dismissed everyone, Roy said, "Don't forget tomorrow night I'm having a cookout at my new place. We finally got all the boxes unpacked and I even bought a new BBQ for the occasion."

"All right," Johnny said as he clapped his hands together.

Captain Stanley smiled as he watched his men break formation and start their chores. It was the best day he'd had in quite a while.