Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Chapter 10—Cross Jurisdictions

Dave Benton dutifully watched the computer screen as he clicked keys. "Got 'em on now."

Horatio stood next to the ponytailed A/V tech and faced the monitor. "Thank you, Mr. Benton. This is Lieutenant Horatio Caine with the Miami-Dade Crime Lab. Am I speaking with Dr. Singletary?"

The man on camera had black hair, glasses, and spoke with a thick Minnesota accent. "Lieutenant Caine. Dr. Michael Singletary with the Twin Cities Crime Lab. I'm glad we could finally talk. Just curious. What's the temperature there in Miami?"

Horatio smiled. "Seventy-five degrees."

"Fifteen here."

"Something I don't miss about New York." He now leaned forward and held his pen. "First, I want to thank you for working with us in reopening the Johannsen case."

"This made front page news all over the state, Lieutenant. Was quite a shock to a lot of people." He patted a white evidence box. "Unfortunately, right now we don't have a lot to go on. It's your garden variety cold case. Witnesses have since moved or died. The property itself was bulldozed and is overgrown now."

"Dr Singletary, a family is dead, and there's a lady here in Miami who would like to know the truth. And if there is a killer on the loose, it's never too late to bring him to justice."

"I agree. You know, Senator Johannsen was pretty popular, especially in that part of the state. So how can we help?"

"Why don't we look at the evidence and determine how the fire department ruled this an accident?"

The man flipped through some pages. "I'm reading a certified copy of the fire chief's report here. It says that the fire started in the chimney, in the forward area adjacent to the living room wall. It was a standard brick and mortar chimney. Inspector determined that there was a weak spot in the mortar."

"Photos?"

"The task bar on the bottom of your screen. Click on the icon on the left. We digitally enhanced all of these photos."

With his fingertip, Dave moved the icons while Horatio watched. Several black-and white-photos came to life on the screen.

"First photo's on your left, my right. If you look here, this was the point of origin."

Horatio studied the charred wall. "How high up is that from the floor?"

"Seven feet, ten inches. Too high up for any normal human being to reach from the living room."

The Lieutenant made a circular motion. "Dave, get a close-up of that area."

Dave touched the picture and zoomed in.

"Dr. Singletary, is that an indent in the wall at the point of origin?"

"It is. It's bowl-shaped, and we estimated that it's about two inches deep."

"So maybe that area couldn't be reached from the living room. How about inside the chimney? Why would there be an indentation there?"

"That's a good question. In chimney fires that are caused by a weakness in the mortar, there would normally be a pushing-out of the wall, not an indentation."

Horatio could feel his suspicions rising. "I'm told that the fire spread too quickly for the Johannsens to get out. Yet Mrs. Johannsen was able to go inside and barely get out alive."

"That's my understanding as well. If you click on the icon to the right of the photos I downloaded, you'll see that our computer lab ran a time lapse of what happened in the house."

Dave pulled up the next icon. The screen came to life with a blueprints of the Johannsen house.

"We scanned in the original blueprints of the Johannsen house. In the top right is a timer that shows how quickly the fire spread. Bear in mind that this was 1986. No smoke detectors, and the furniture was polyurethane foam. Banned for sale in Minnesota in 1990."

Horatio nodded. "Yes, because of its flammability. Play that footage, Dave."

"Here is where the fire started. Once it penetrated the wall it reached the ceiling and flashed over quickly. It was that flashover that caused the drapes and the furniture to ignite. Now as you know, the polyurethane foam causes toxic fumes. Not just that, but the inside of the house heated up pretty quickly."

Horatio simply stared at the time-lapsed diagram.

"Lieutenant?"

"What was the COD for Steven Johannsen, Doctor?"

There was a long pause at the other end.

"Dr. Singletary?"

The man flipped through more pages. "Lieutenant Caine, because the fire was ruled an accident, everybody just assumed smoke inhalation." His voice sounded weak. This didn't sit right with him either.

Horatio sounded more determined now. "And the children?"

"Same thing."

"How old was Joshua Michael?"

"Ten. Elizabeth was eight."

"The report stated that Joshua's body was found in his bedroom closet."

"That's right."

"Dr. Singletary, hiding in the closet from a fire is more normal behavior for a child under five. In their minds, if they can't see the fire, the fire can't get to them. Are there any autopsy photos?"

"Give me a moment. I have to scan and download them."

"I'll wait."

Horatio's blue eyes probed every detail of the fire photos—the direction of the fire, the rooms, the area around the chimney, and even the children's rooms.

"Okay, Lieutenant Caine. Click on the icon to the right of the computer analysis."

Horatio clicked on the link. Every detail of the bodies looked like they had died from smoke inhalation. "Dr. Singletary, there's just one thing that bothers me."

"How can I help?"

"I spoke with Mrs. Johannsen. As you know, she was gone from the house when the fire started. She'd gone down the street to get a gallon of milk. According to her, when she came back, she realized it was their house that was completely in flames. According to the time lapse program, from the point of origin the fire took several minutes before the fire would flash over and become deadly. Steven and the kids could have gotten out of that house in time."

"I'd think so. The fire was in plain sight, and they could have easily gotten out."

"She tells me that she thinks there was someone else in the house. She said that she heard screaming and couldn't see her family, so she ran into the house to find them. When she was in the living room, she reported being pulled from behind. The doctor at Dade County General has confirmed that Mrs. Johannsen was indeed stabbed in the throat."

Dr. Singletary looked more troubled as he put his hand to his chin. "Hold on." He thumbed through more pages. "Eyewitnesses said there was a blue car parked across the street and down the block about the time of the fire. Nobody thought anything about it, being Thanksgiving and all. But they paid particular attention to this one because somebody was sitting in it."

"Nobody got a license number?"

"Neighbor said it was a blue 1980 Chevy Monza with a Canadian license plate."

There was silence in both labs for a few minutes.

"Who made the 911 call?" Horatio finally asked.

"It was actually a different neighbor. He smelled the smoke and at first thought someone had an outdoor firepit going, but then he heard explosions."

"Dr. Singletary, where are the bodies now?"

"Buried at the Thief River Cemetery."

Horatio watched the screen thoughtfully. "What else did you want to tell me?"

His brown eyes darted between the pages and the screen. "I'm scanning through the case. It seems like the investigation was stopped."

"Why?"

"Doesn't say. It looks like the findings just come to an abrupt end."

"Dr. Singletary, I'm going to meet with Mrs. Johannsen. I'd like for your forensics team to go back and sift through that property. No detail is too small."

"I can arrange that."

"Also, I need the name of the company who cleaned their chimney as well as who was in charge of that investigation. I would also like to see about having the bodies exhumed. I think they can tell us what someone might be hiding."