What Burns Within

by Sandra Ruttan

  “Similar scenario on July eight,” Ashlyn said. “Isabella Bertini went missing. She disappeared from her own backyard, where she’d been playing with her sister. As simple as a ball rolling into the trees behind their home, and she never came back. The ball was found a few feet from the Bertini family property.”

  “The Bertinis have since put in a fence,” Tain added. “Same day, another fire here.” He pointed to the next location. “Same accelerant, same thing with the angel on the door.”

  “July twenty-fifth, another arson. Only this time, we didn’t have another girl go missing. Julie’s body was found at the scene. The fire was in Coquitlam, the lead investigators on the abduction cases worked from Burnaby, coordinating with Robinson, who was still in charge of the arson investigation then.” Ashlyn shrugged. “And maybe the scene could have been handled better. We don’t have much to go on.” She tacked a picture of Julie Darrens’s body up beside the date.

  “Before that, though, we had another arson, same pattern,” Ashlyn continued. “This one happened July eighteenth. No abduction and no body.” Tain circled the place on the map where that fire had occurred. “And you’ll note, no pattern emerging with our fire locations either. They’re all over the place, just like the abductions.”

  “Someone who feels comfortable moving around,” Craig murmured. Just like his rapist.

  “August eighteenth. Taylor Brennen goes missing from a fair. We have another arson.” Ashlyn turned and looked at Tain, who marked that location on the map with a number 4. “We’re still working leads about Taylor’s abduction.”

  Tain nodded. “I took a statement yesterday from a man called Iggy Klipper. He claims he saw Taylor at the fairgrounds without her brother. He said that she was approached repeatedly by a clown and also by a vendor selling jewelry.”

  “Did he see her go with either of them?” Daly asked.

  Tain shook his head. “He didn’t think much of it at the time, and he went out of town that day, to do a small fair in Victoria. He got back, saw her picture in the paper—”

  “And came in to alleviate his conscience,” Daly said.

  “At least it’s something we can follow up on,” Ashlyn said. “And the critical factor is that on that day, we didn’t just have a girl go missing. Isabella Bertini’s body was found at the scene of the fire.”

  She removed more photographs from the file and tacked them up beside that date. “Exhibit A. A photo of a marking drawn on the wall near where Isabella’s body was found.”

  “The sacred heart, a religious symbol,” Tain said. “Also the name of the school that Taylor Brennen attended.”

  “I thought you hadn’t been able to identify the markings originally,” Daly said.

  “We didn’t,” Ashlyn answered. “Carl Parks remembered what it was and phoned. Tain checked it out, and sure enough—”

  “Carl Parks?” asked Craig. “What did he have to do with this?”

  “He pulled her body from the building,” Ashlyn said. She pointed at the next date. “That leaves us at August nineteenth. Lindsay Eckert is abducted from a recreation center in south Coquitlam. This is caught on video. Our guy is prepared. Looks like he managed to undo her necklace to lure her into the hallway. He kept just out of sight of the security cameras and grabbed her from behind, using a fire door that had a broken alarm mechanism.”

  “This guy knew who he was going after, how to get her alone and how to remove her without attracting attention,” Tain said. “Same day, another angel arson here.” He drew a number 5 on that location.

  “How did the guy know Lindsay would go into the hallway for the necklace?” asked Craig.

  “It was very important to her. A sterling silver necklace bought for her by her grandmother. She evidently never took it off,” Ashlyn answered.

  “But how would he know that?”

  Ashlyn shook her head. “We’re open to suggestions. So far, there are only a few things that seem to connect the girls, and they’re a stretch. A couple were Brownies and then Girl Guides, different packs. We have Catholic schools and public schools, but none of the girls attended the same school. They had different hobbies and interests.”

  “One thing that does connect these two,” Tain said, pointing at Julie and Taylor, “is Alex Wilson. Alex Wilson took the school photos of them that have been running in the newspapers.”

  “What else is special about him?” asked Craig. “That seems pretty weak for naming him as a suspect or a link.”

  “He’s the guy who found Taylor’s brother at the fairgrounds. Instead of taking him to police services there, he called 911 and drove him here,” Ashlyn answered.

  Craig whistled. “That is interesting. Anything else to go on with this guy? What does your gut tell you?”

  “That he’s got nothing to do with the girls,” Tain said. “He came in and voluntarily provided his fingerprints so that we could eliminate him from our investigation into Lindsay Eckert’s death.”

  “Mr. Wilson is also a member at the recreation center where she was abducted from,” Ashlyn told Craig.

  He frowned. “Mr. Wilson seems a bit more connected than any completely innocent person should be. What’s your plan?”

  Tain sat on the arm of a chair. “Well, I wasn’t entirely honest about the reason we wanted his fingerprints. Wilson is guilty of something, but what, I don’t know. He left his job as a photographer—”

  “A job that had him traveling around from school to school, church group to church group, Brownie packs, what ever—” Ashlyn circled a large area on the map with her finger—“all over this part of the lower mainland. He’s a guy who feels comfortable with all the areas the arsons and abductions have been in.”

  “But you don’t like him for this?”

  Ashlyn glanced at Tain, who turned to Craig. “Ashlyn hasn’t met him yet. My gut tells me no. I think he prefers boys, which is why he was so freaked out by being alone with Nicky.”

  “I’m going to talk to Nicky,” Ashlyn said. “And once we know why Mr. Wilson stopped working as a photographer, we’ll decide whether to bring him in again. We have nothing at this time to connect him to Isabella Bertini, though.”

  “Still, three girls out of four.”

  “My guess is, three girls out of five,” Ashlyn said.

  Daly and Tain both snapped their heads to look in Ashlyn’s direction.

  “Hear me out,” she said, holding up her hand.

  She taped the June, July and August calendars to the wall, the pertinent abduction dates circled, as well as the dates bodies were found. “I’ve marked the abductions in blue, the body recoveries in black and the arsons in green. If you count the days between Julie’s abduction and Julie’s recovery, you get exactly forty full days. Same thing with Isabella.” She tapped July 18. “I think he took another girl here.”

  “Why?” Daly asked. “Why wouldn’t she be reported?”

  “I can think of a few reasons. She could be a pseudo-street kid, one who’s been brought up hard, parents don’t care. Or she’s been mistaken for a runner.”

  “Possible,” Tain said as he glanced at Daly.

  “The thing is, forty is a number with religious significance. I did some checking. Some people think it’s the number of days required to prove devotion and dedication. There are all sorts of biblical references to forty.”

  “It rained for forty days and forty nights,” Craig said, “and Moses prayed for forty days.”

  “Right. So, take that, plus the fact that he built funeral pyres under the room where Isabella’s body was left, and in the building where Julie’s body was found, and he’s hanging angels on the doors outside as though they’re some guardian or something, plus the sacred heart drawing near Isabella’s body—”

  Daly leaned forward, his face buried in his hands. “Okay. Fair enough. We have to look at the possibility this guy is some religious nut.”

  “No sexual trauma to the girls. My guess is this guy thinks he’s preservi
ng their innocence. He takes them for forty days of testing.”

  “And then they pass the test, and he sends them to heaven,” Craig said, feeling the distaste in his mouth as his jaw twisted. “Sick.”

  “But that still doesn’t explain to me why you think another girl went missing July eighteenth,” Daly said. “I can’t send people around knocking on doors over the whole city doing a head count.”

  Ashlyn pulled out five photographs. “The contents of the bundle retrieved near the table Isabella’s body was found on. Five metal crosses. The first one—” she taped it up beside Julie’s information—“inscribed Deborah, July twenty-five. The second one engraved, Ruth, August eighteen. The remaining three are inscribed, Hannah, August twenty-eight, Martha, September twenty-eight, Delilah, no date. If these are to commemorate their deaths, our next victim has just under a week to live.”

  “And she was abducted July eighteenth,” Daly said. “He’s got three girls.”

  “And all we’ve got to work with is Alex Wilson, chasing up this clown and the jewelry vendor from the fairgrounds, and tracking who made those crosses,” Tain said. “Hopefully, they were distinctive enough that someone will remember the order. But they could have been done anywhere this side of the Fraser River.”

  There was silence in the room. Ashlyn finally sat down, near Daly, removing her juice from the drink tray.

  Craig surveyed the particulars and glanced at Daly, who shrugged. Craig stood.

  “June fourteenth. Karen Chalmers is raped.” He made an X on the map, marking the location. “July eighth, Sara McPherson. July twenty-fifth, Stephanie Bonnis. No rape reported yet for July eighteenth, and we’ve got no abduction report for that date, just an arson.” He held up his hand as he glanced at Ashlyn. “Not that I doubt your theory for a second. That girl is out there, just like my rape victim is still working through denial.

  “Cindy Parks is raped August eighteenth. August nineteenth, Lori Price is raped. She fights him. He leaves, rapes Nitara Sandhu and kills her.”

  Craig marked the locations on the map, all as varied as the abduction reports and arsons. “I’ve been trying to figure out what linked these women. Obviously, there was no geographic connection. He wasn’t favoring blondes, brunettes or redheads. He crossed ethnic lines. The only thing that appeared to be common to all of them was that they lived in detached houses, and he seemed to know when they would be home alone, as though he’d been watching them.”

  He set down the dry-erase marker and picked up a different color, starting at the top. Beside each case date except July eighteen, he wrote a number. “Any guesses?” Craig watched as they all looked over the information, first Tain and then Daly shaking their heads. “Ashlyn? If anyone figures it out, it should be you.”

  Her brow wrinkled. “Station numbers?”

  Tain’s eyes narrowed, and he pulled out a file, glanced at the list and then the numbers on the board. “How do they connect?”

  “They were all girlfriends or wives of men who were on the fire departments called out to those arson fires.”

  Craig sat down, and Tain moved off the arm of the chair he was still perched on, slumping back into the seat. He rubbed his temples with both hands. “I haven’t got a fucking clue how this all connects.”

  “You and me both,” Ashlyn said. “Abduct girls to purify them for heaven, set fires for no apparent reason at all half the time, and then go rape women? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Didn’t you have another rape reported yesterday?” Tain asked.

  Craig nodded. “But there’s a lot about it that doesn’t fit, and our victim wasn’t cooperative with us doing an investigation of the scene. Evidence destroyed before she called it in. Plus, she was beyond calm. And the MO doesn’t match the other cases.”

  Daly leaned back in his chair. “That case doesn’t seem to fit. Regardless, there’s as much reason to believe the rape cases are connected to the arsons as there is to believe the arsons connect to the abductions. The arsons seem to be the link. Okay. It looks like you three are working together now.”

  “What about Lori?” Craig asked.

  “You can’t be serious? You can’t let her back on this,” Ashlyn said, her eyes wide as she stared at Craig and then Daly. “Not since she’s been raped.”

  “It might not be up to me,” Daly replied. “If it is, she’ll be on medical until fall.”

  “Don’t you have some pull?” Ashlyn asked.

  “I used up a lot of influence getting Tain on the abduction cases and keeping him there. Look, Lori’s booked for holidays in September anyway. If Hawkins knows what he’s doing, he’ll keep her at home where she belongs.”

  “It’s been bad enough with the abductions and arsons,” Tain said, looking at Craig. “Please tell me you have something to go on.”

  “No prints in the system, so far DNA has only been recovered from Lori’s rape kit, and we haven’t got results back yet.”

  “But these women are all girlfriends or wives of firefighters?” Ashlyn asked. “I take it you mean live-in girlfriends.”

  Craig returned Ashlyn’s gaze and nodded.

  “Then what you need is to join the fire department and get yourself a girlfriend.” They all looked at her. “Seriously. The only link you’ve got is the fire department. My job was supposed to be hanging out, being around, keeping my eye open for anyone showing signs of stress, who might be responsible for the arsons. If all your victims had a tie to the fire department, it’s possible the rapist is a firefighter. Someone in there, someone who knows all of them, knows where they live.”

  “It would make sense,” Tain said slowly. “Wouldn’t firefighters know when a unit’s been called out to a big fire too?”

  “So they’d know when a particular guy would be on a call, leaving his wife or girlfriend at home alone….” Daly nodded. “Ashlyn’s right. You need to get inside the department, but I’m not so sure about needing a girlfriend.”

  “Think about it. Craig goes through all the motions a rookie would. You’ve got the house, so that’s no problem. Maybe you can flush this guy out, make him tip his hand.”

  “What about the firefighters who’ve had contact with Craig and know he’s a cop?” Tain asked.

  “They’re all on leave,” Daly said. “I can make sure they don’t come back. If we do this.”

  “Look, it’s just my opinion, but Craig would fit right in. He just needs a girlfriend who would get noticed.”

  “You,” Tain said quietly.

  “Me?”

  “You’ve been around those scenes. You know a lot of the guys, and I’ve seen the way they look at you. Trust me, you come in ‘off the job’ for a day with Craig on your arm, and he’s joining the department…. Our guy won’t miss that. Plus you know these cases. No sense bringing in someone new who would need to be brought up to speed. You and Craig have worked together before.”

  Craig glanced at Ashlyn first, then Daly. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t like the idea of putting Ashlyn in as bait.”

  “You could have a unit watching the house every hour she’s at home alone. Silent motion detectors to alert them if anyone tries to enter. Our guy wouldn’t know, but Ashlyn could have an earpiece to alert her, and the team watching the house would have instant notification if someone broke in,” Tain said.

  “There’s no guarantee he’d even go after Ashlyn,” Craig said. “It could be just as valuable from the perspective of her evaluating the scene. If she goes through all the motions with me, she can have more access to the other firefighters and everyone who connects to the department. That would give her a chance to see if anyone seems suspicious. Everyone I come in contact with, we do a check on, regardless.”

  “And if you put it out there that Ashlyn’s on leave as disciplinary action for her stunt the other day, then she’s got a perfect excuse for not being at work,” Tain added.

  Daly frowned. “I don’t know. How will I explain it to Paul Quinla
n?”

  “Tell him it’s out of your hands, ordered by the bosses.” Craig glanced at Ashlyn. “It makes sense. You have the perfect excuse for pulling her off the case right now, from external appearances anyway. She’ll still be actively on duty, but she already knows a lot of these guys, which gives her a head start. Our rapist has attacked another police officer, so he’s not likely to be scared off. Every single person I cross paths with, right down to Paul Quinlan, gets their name run through the system.”

  “It sure as hell beats sending out a memo to all the firefighters asking them to not leave their wives at home alone,” Tain said.

  “Tain’s right. We’re working with some pretty thin leads, and if this guy holds to form, next week we’ll have an other arson, another rape and another body on our hands,” Craig said.