A Touch of Memory and Revenge

9. Serial arsonist?

Isabella Pierce parked her car at the empty spot and rushed out of the car immediately. This was the second house that was burnt down within the space of three weeks, it was no coincidence that this had happened again.

She lifted the yellow tape and bent slightly so she could pass. The officer standing guard at the crime scene moved to stop her from entering but paused when she flashed her identity card. 

“ SID … “, she hissed, walking past him over to the crime site. She heard him asking what the SID was doing here. Well, this was the second fire case in three weeks, so the force thought it wise to call in the special intelligence division.

“ Who is in charge here!”, She asked, her voice a bit loud so everyone could hear her. The man who obviously was in charge walked towards her.

The moment Isabella saw him, she groaned. Detective Hayden was not an easy man to work with. The police force had it’s finest and he was one of them.

“ who’s asking?”, detective Hayden asked, approaching her. There was no need for her to introduce herself, because they knew each other both personally and work wise. He had been her senior at the academy, before she was pushed over to the SID.

“ Detective Hayden..” , she greeted.

“ Agent Pierce… “, he called her, scanning her with that intense gaze of his.

One fact that was so common in the force was his dislike for her and her obvious stubborn streak. She would never give into any one much less the douchebag standing in front of her. 

“ I heard they called in the big boys, didn’t think you were one of them?”, he mocked her.

Isabella snorted, he always tried to get under her skin anytime they crossed paths. When will he grow up, she thought.

“ Well I’m here, what’s the status of the situation? “, she asked, ignoring his initial jab. She saw how he clenched his jaw in annoyance that she probably didn’t respond to his insult. He needed to learn that she was bigger than him and they were from two different divisions even though they were still in the police force.

“ House burnt down. Fire department helped to stop the fire from spreading. Nothing survived”, he told her.

She turned sharply to look at him, “ that’s all? “, she asked.

He arched an eyebrow at her, “ what else do you want to know. There’s no way to figure out any other thing until forensics are done”, he hissed.

 Whoever would suggest  that the crime investigation division and the special intelligence division works together was going to be killed by her. She couldn’t even imagine how they would cope in the given circumstances. The two divisions were highly respected in the force and as much as she hated to admit it, had the very best agents working for them.

“ you can’t tell me that’s all you were able to discover after being here for what, four hours!”, she gritted.

“ Now that you’re here, I would love to see you discover something. The floor is all yours…”, he told her pointing towards the burnt building and walking off.

She sighed, he had the best hands working for him and he couldn’t even know more. She doubted that he didn’t have more information. He just didn’t want to share it with her. 

She shook her head. The rivalry between the two divisions was legendary. They always wanted to out do one another. 

“ I had better get what I want myself”, she whispered.

Isabella walked over to the officer at the evidence collection stand and grabbed a pair of gloves, “ any survivors?...”, she asked him.

He shook his head, “ none that we know of. They are still searching though”, he informed her.

She looked over at the burnt building, there was no way anyone would have survived the fire. If the entire house had been brought down, except this person escaped before the fire started, then there was a chance.

She looked around the street for any CCTV cameras.

“ That camera, where’s the footage?”, she asked pointing at the camera facing the house.

The officer followed her direction, “ it’s been sent to the headquarters. Everything there has been wiped out though. I think they are trying to retrieve the lost data”, he explained.

She frowned, that was the same thing that had happened with the first case. The security cameras footage had been wiped out and nothing was found. Now she knew that it was planned, the footage had been tampered with.

Isabella wore the nose mask and entered what had to be the entrance of the building. Everything was burnt down as expected. She looked around the room looking for any clue. Moving further into the house, she nodded at the men doing their work.

“ How many victims?” , she enquired.

“ two…a man and a younger woman. We found them in their rooms, tied to the bed post”, he told her.

Isabella closed her eyes for a second. what a gruesome way to die. How could someone do this. The fact that they were tied down was an indicator that there was a culprit and that it was intentional.

What could they have done to deserve this, “ the bodies have been taken to the lab for test…”, he told her.

She nodded, moving to the next room. The place looked like a studio. One of the victims must have been a painter, because she saw cans of paints in the room. She was about to move out when she stepped on something. It made a crushing sound and that caused her to stop. She lifted up her foot and bent down to examine the object.

“ Have this room been checked?!” , she shouted over to the guys in the other room.

“ no!”, someone shouted back. She pulled out the evidence bag in her pocket and gently picked up the object placing it into the bag and zipping it up.

She lifted the bag to look closely at the object. It looked round, like a wire that was bent to form a round shape.

“ What is that?” , detective Hayden asked, startling her.

She released a breath, “ probably his signature…”, she whispered.

Detective Hayden snorted, “ are you suggesting that this is a case of arson. Signature?”, he quipped.

She spared him a glance before looking back to study the object. It looked so simple, yet well crafted. The object was crafted by someone who knew how to use wires to make objects. 

“ are you suggesting that it is merely a homicide case?”, she retorted, standing up on her feet.

“ There’s not enough evidence to rule that possiblity out”, he stated.

“ look around you Hayden, what other evidence do you need”, she muttered.

The entire room was set ablaze. Nothing had survived. If it was a mistake, then half of the house would have been burnt down, not the entire House.

“ this is without doubt a case of arson Hayden”, she concluded, walking out of the room.

She heard Hayden following her, “ we need to find out if there is any family member that was not in the fire last night. And why this person chose to burn down the house even when he could have killed the victims”, she said.

“ They were stabbed before the fire.”  Hayden mumbled behind her.

She cringed as she stopped in her tracks and turned immediately to look at him.

“ Jesus gracious, woman!” he exclaimed.

“ don’t do that again”, he added, pushing her slightly out of the way so he could pass and walk out.

She Chuckled, “ we could always settle our differences in the ring you know. I promise to treat you well and go easy on you…”, she laughed as she followed him outside.

He shook his head, “ only you would promise to go easy and then break the person’s arm two seconds later”, he scoffed.

She laughed, he still had not forgotten about their last match before she was transferred to the SID. Actually, that had been the main reason why they had transferred her, for beating up her senior.

He had had it coming for a long time and she had been so glad when he accepted her offer for a duel. it had started off friendly, though she had every intention of making him pay for all the jests and mockery he had thrown her way the past years.

Isabella had been so shocked when he cried out after she had grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulders. That was a minor defensive move that he should have known how to stop, but yet he allowed her to throw him over her shoulders.

“ it’s not my fault that you have chicken hands…”, she fired at him.

He paused and gave her the finger, “ fuck you!”, he shouted over his shoulders as he walked away.

“ Right back at you” , she returned.

The best part of working in another division was that she was not under any law that she had to obey other seniors from other divisions, she sighed.

“ Goddam it!”  she muttered.

They victims were already dead before the fire started. This could be a serial arsonist.

"Shit!", They fucking had a serial arsonist on the loose.