Chapter 8 chapter eight

Red clicked on pictures of the last few arson attacks in the city and superimposed them on the map. "Three months ago a block in Woodside Park was marked for demolition with long-term vacant apartments. More to come, from Hillingdon to Briston, Hammersmith To Ellington, everywhere, the list is long. In just over three months, there have been seventeen cases. Now it is the eighteenth, and..." Red clicked on the flickering new information package. "The fire brigade has just confirmed that the same iconic modus operandi was used." "I was about to ask about it," McKenzie said. "I mean, could this be a copycat?"

Upon hearing this, Reid pulled the information package to the center of the screen and opened it.A long list of items itemized and photographs showing lighter fluid cans, boxes full of lighters, and a box of Bryant May long matches. "It's the same modus operandi every time, it's always Northang Loo liquid lighters, it's always a box of 30 lighters, it's always Bryant May long matches." "But these are readily available, boss. They are available in any major supermarket. So anyone can imitate the practice." "Only with their knowledge, Jim. The details have never been made public. Assuming the same man did it, I think it's plausible."

"Or the same gang," Terry said. Red and McKenzie turned their heads at the same time and asked, "Group? More than one person?" "I was just thinking about what to say," Terry said. Reid was noncommittal, and turned his gaze to another new information package, marking the key points. "It seems that the firefighters also found footprints stained with lighter fluid and size 12 running shoes at the scene. The prisoner walked out, and it can be inferred that he had entered the scene and entered through the back door. According to the calculation of the distance from the steps, the prisoner's height About 183 to 193 centimeters."

Terry asked, "How much in feet? Boss?" Red opened the calculator on the screen. "Six feet to six feet four." "I finally have a clue about the goal," McKinsey said. "The prisoner is tall and has big feet." "Barry and Jess will also receive these materials," Red said. "And the fire brigade will explain all this to them, but I dare say they must have one ear in and one ear out. Maybe some of us can still come to some conclusions." "Looking at the map, all the locations appear to be random. There is no apparent pattern," McKinsey said.

“When we were training in the U.S., they kept teaching us that any case that looked random was never really random,” Terry said. "There's always a pattern." McKinsey nodded in agreement. "And there are eighteen cases, not one or two. This makes it easier for us to find patterns in Gu Zhong. Boss, can you mark the locations in chronological order?" Red pressed a few keys on the keyboard, and all the locations were assigned a prominent white number, from one to eighteen.The three of them gathered around the screen and studied it intently. "Boss, try the circle hypothesis?" McKinsey asked.

Red pressed the keypad a few more times.A large blue circle appears on the screen, enclosing all the locations.Then a smaller circle appeared within the larger circle, and the smaller circle expanded to the north of the river, centered on Finchley. "Assuming this analysis is accurate, he lived a long way from our jurisdiction," McKinsey said. "There are only three fires in the inner circle. And they're all early, so it's likely..." "We can't send Barry and Jess to the north of the river to find out, can we?" Terry Miller looked at the map on his mobile phone and quickly scrolled the screen with his fingers. "I mean, how would we feel if Waterford or Oakwood sent a team down our precinct to poke around?"

Red nodded reluctantly in agreement. "You are right, Terry. The most appropriate way is to inform Waterford or Oakwood first, and tell them our doubts. We will go to the other side of the bridge to investigate if necessary. Now let the people in the jurisdiction Let's get rid of it." Terry stared at the phone screen. "Boss, can you superimpose the subway map on the case location map?" Red pressed a few keys, and the subway map popped up.She enlarged the map, pulled out the map of the case location, and then made the subway map transparent and overlaid it.When she was done, she took a step back.

"Hit it!" said Terry. "This is your law!"