Page 72 of Inferno

“He’s a serial killer. One who knows enough about fire to pull this off. He’s made it his specialty, in fact. Part of his psychosis. He considers himself unique among his peers. A step above.”

The PD admin said, “Don’t all serial murderers think that?”

“Yes,” Addie said. “But this one has the knowledge base to pull it off.”

Julio said, “That’s terrifying.”

“It should be.” She looked at him, an impassive expression on her face. “Because he’s focused on you right now.”

Julio had been afraid of that.

“For starters, he had fire knowledge. He latched onto a method, following in Sylvana’s footsteps. Next, he recreated the man’s history.”

“Too bad Sylvana is dead.”

Everyone looked at the door, including Julio.

Romeo strode in holding a paper coffee cup in each hand. He came around the table and set the second one in front of Julio. Then took the seat beside him.

Where was Samantha?

Before he could ask, Romeo said, “We paid a visit to the prison. Richard Sylvana was found dead in his cell this morning. Cause unknown, but it didn’t appear to be foul play.”

Addie wrote something on her paper. “Thank you, Detective.” Then she said, “First, the method. Then, religion drove him. Now, he’s latched on to you and Detective Jesse.” She pinned Julio with a stare.

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Julio figured anything they’d gathered so far could’ve been strategically planned in a way that was designed to throw them off.

He needed time to think it through, and people around him to do that with. In a way he couldn’t do in a meeting like this. He needed to throw spaghetti at the wall, as it were. See what stuck.

Fine. Julio just wanted to work through it with Samantha.

Was anyone going to blame him for that?

“To what end?” Romeo said. “If my partner is still in danger, I need to know what I’m up against.”

Addie tipped her head to the side, very slightly. “It’ll be big. He wants recognition.”

Another thing Julio was afraid of.

“I’ll be looking for a complied list of possible suspects by the end of the day.” She eyed Romeo. “We need to start somewhere and we can narrow it as we go.”

“How do we avoid implicating anyone and everyone until we can get closer to the prime suspect?” Julio asked, tapping his coffee cup.

“Right now, anyone is a suspect. Even the people in this room.” Addie lifted a file. “I have arson investigators going overthe school and the firehouse. I’m sure you want to look at both, but there’s another scene as well.”

“Another fire?” Julio got up and rounded the table to grab the file from her.

Addie nodded. “Two days ago, a church across town burned down. It’s not one of the mainstream congregations. They cater to more of a fringe crowd.”

“Want me to interview the pastor?” Romeo offered.

“My thoughts exactly, Detective.” Addie nodded. “I look forward to what you come up with. Report on my desk by lunch. Time is running out.” She looked around the room. “This thing is heating up.”

The meeting broke, and people started to disburse around the room.

Julio grabbed his paper cup of coffee and caught up to Romeo at the door. “Samantha?”

“She hung back to talk to Sergeant Deerdan,” Romeo said. “Pretty sure the boss isn’t so happy about Samantha being back at work today.”

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