The Children's Corner

Chapter 51

Smoothing out the central fold, Rick lays The Ledger on the kitchen counter. "There was another fire last night."

Kate looks up from her breakfast. "What burned?"

"Several businesses in a strip mall: Barb's Beauty Stop, The Greenery, and Prints O'Plenty. But this time, someone lost her life. Apparently, the owner of The Greenery was in the habit of staying late to monitor the night-blooming plants. She died of inhaling smoke and toxic fumes."

"Did the fire start in her store?"

"According to this, the blaze began in Prints O'Plenty and spread through Barb's to The Greenery. Some beauty products can go up like fireballs. In Mother's shows, I remember the crew keeping a fire extinguisher handy in case flames broke out while hair was cemented in place. And Kate, want to bet that Prints O'Plenty was a favored source for gracing walls with cute furry friends?"

Kate shrugs. "I wouldn't know. I've never been there. I prefer to make my artistic finds at community shows and in curiosity shops."

"Yeah, I've always wondered about the lady in purple you brought from your former apartment. Community or curiosity?"

"Community, the Lower East Side before gentrification. I was on a call down there as a rookie, and I saw a guy on a street corner painting. He had that piece ready to sell, and I fell in love with it. But Royce, my training officer, and I couldn't fit it in our unit. So he called a buddy who came with a paddy wagon. That added a case of beer to the price of the painting. But it was worth it."

"It was if it made you happy, but back to our originally scheduled program." Rick pulls his phone from a pocket in his plaid overshirt. "Checking the Prints O'Plenty website. And here's the cuteness connection." Rick turns his cellphone so that Kate can see the screen. "The store hawked a veritable cornucopia of animal adorability. Kate, if you get on this as a murder, our investigations will converge. And my research could give you a headstart in collaring the culprit."

Kate looks over Rick's shoulder at the newspaper article. "The fire's within the 12th's jurisdiction, and the F.D.N.Y. hasn't officially made an arson call yet. So no one in the N.Y.P.D. would be assigned. If the arson inspector backs you up, I'll talk to Montgomery about giving me the case."

Sitting across from Kate in the 12th's conference room, F.D.N.Y.'s Lt. Delia Burton sips her coffee. "This is incredible! Firefighters do pretty well in the kitchen, but we don't brew anything as good as this."

"My husband bought a top-of-the-line professional machine for the bullpen breakroom after he declared our coffee the worst he'd ever tasted. And to tell you the truth, he also has a theory about the motive of the arsonist."

"Oh yes, Richard Castle, master of convoluted plots. I'd heard he consults with the N.Y.P.D."

"He does more than consult. His theories can be out there, but he's been instrumental in solving a lot of murders. His stories often lead to the truth."

Delia takes another appreciative sip. "Well, if they're as good as the coffee, I'm listening."

"Rick thinks that the arsonist is burning down places that sell cute animal pictures to prevent people from adopting pets they can't care for."

Delia barely avoids a spit take. "Detective, no insult to your husband or you, but how can you buy that?"

"At first, I didn't. But," Kate unzips her folder and passes documents to Delia, "these are accounts of recent fires. In every case, the structures involved either displayed or sold unrealistic portrayals of animals. That includes Prints O'Plenty. So whether or not you buy Rick's guess as to the arsonist's motive, that element connects all the fires."

Delia carefully examines the articles and attached research Kate handed to her. "I see that. From these, it appears that we have a serial arsonist."

"Who just became a murderer," Kate adds. "And your department has the findings from all these fires. So, where do we go from here?"

"I'll be looking for common threads besides the animal portraits: ignition devices, accelerants, and burn patterns. I can pass on what I have on the death resulting from the spread to The Greenery. If you investigate from the perspective of a murder, we can compare notes and see what we get."

"Sounds like a plan," Kate agrees. "But I'll need to walk the scene at Prints O'Plenty to determine methods of entry and any other clues I can spot to the perpetrator."

"All right," Delia allows. "If we go right now, I can take you through."

"Now will work great, but I'd like to call Rick to go with us. He has a gift for picking up on strange details."

Delia glances down at Rick's research. "From what you've shown me so far, I wouldn't doubt it. OK. Call him. He can meet us there."

"Lots of broken glass," Rick notes. "But not from a break-in. It shattered outward." He turns to Delia. "The result of the fire?"

Delia nods. "Yes, but not just the flames. It flashed over. The heat may have destroyed a lot of the evidence."

"We might still be able to find signs of forced entry," Kate suggests. "The metal of the lock didn't melt, and I don't see any scratches. Can we look around back?"

Delia leads the couple to a concrete walk between stores. "This way."

Rick whistles as they come around the building. "What a wreck! The dumpster was blown across the alley. And it looks like the back door was blown outward, too."

"Which could mean it wasn't locked," Kate points out. She shines her mag lite on the breakage. "The lock is still intact. It was the frame that went. I don't see any signs of picking here either. The killer could have had a key. Maybe he knew the owner or worked here."

"So you're assuming it's a male?" Rick asks.

"Ninety percent of arsonists are," Delia puts in.

"Which gives us a 10% chance it's a misguided female," Rick asserts.

"Either way, the person who started this fire is a murderer," Kate declares. "And if they had a key, someone at Prints O'Plenty might know them. I'll need to question the owner and all the employees."

"Right," Delia acknowledges. "Ready to go in? The slab under the flooring is concrete. It didn't burn, but it cracked. So watch where you're walking. And we tested for toxic gases. The air is breathable, but there's ash on everything. Disturb it as little as possible." Delia leads the way inside. "There's not much left." She points toward one wall. "That file cabinet is fire-resistant up to 1700 F for an hour. You might find something in it."

Donning gloves and holding a pair out to Rick, Kate signals him to join her checking out the protected drawers' contents. "Some of these got scorched on the edges, but we can read most of what's here."

"They look like personnel records," Rick observes. "We got lucky."

Kate snaps a picture on her phone before pulling out a folder. "We'll only be lucky if there's something here worth reading. Let's take them back to the precinct. If you've got time, we can go through them there."

Rick checks his watch. "I have a few hours before Lily's finished with her school day. But it's almost lunchtime. So if you want to head for the 12th, I can stop and pick up some burgers to sustain us while we forage for clues."

"Double fries."

"I hear and obey."