Chapter 9 Flames of the night

In our line of work, the real rest may be the day we go to the grave. This sentence was said to me by the teacher who brought me into the industry, an outstanding detective expert.He has closed his eyes and really fell asleep now, but I am still working hard for my career. On the evening of March 17th, I was wandering the streets of Des Moines with my girlfriend. This is something I promised my girlfriend for a long time but couldn't do it.For me, who works for the Des Moines Police Department, it is really a pleasant thing to have such an evening to walk and go shopping with my beloved.

Therefore, when I saw the thick smoke billowing in the distance, I was quite helpless.I bet my phone will be ringing in less than three minutes. "You're not a firefighter. Are you also responsible for a house fire?" My girlfriend knows me very well, and she knows what I'm thinking at the moment. "But what if it was a man-made arson case?" Of course, I can only say this secretly in my heart, and I don't have the guts to say such a thing in front of my girlfriend. However, my phone rang two minutes later. "Jeff, where are you?" Inspector Harry's voice came from the phone, with a hint of anxiety.

"I'm taking a walk, but I know what you want from me, I'll go right away." Hanging up the phone, I smiled at my girlfriend guiltily, then jumped into the car and drove towards the place where the smoke rose and go. The place where the fire broke out was an apartment near the University of Iowa in Des Moines. On the way there, I heard the siren of the fire truck screaming, and it seemed that they were moving quickly. I arrived almost at the same time as the fire trucks, as flames were pouring from the windows of an apartment building.The firefighters have started to fight the fire step by step, and I stand aside anxiously waiting for my colleagues to arrive.Because with an intuition, I can feel that this fire will not be as simple as a fire.

There are two places where the fire started, one is the doorway, and the other is a window. This window is on the side of the road. It was discovered by a passer-by when it was igniting, otherwise it would not have caught fire in such a short time. Come fire truck. The fire was extinguished within an hour, and smoke and dust filled the apartment complex.Colleagues finally arrived, and we started investigating without stopping for a minute.Enduring the scorching air and smoke, I scoured the building carefully. At the door of one room, I found a charred body.And there seemed to be other people in the bedroom inside, so I groped into the room based on my feeling, trying to see if there was anyone on the bed.Then, I discovered the second victim.

Next to one of the bodies was a driver's license that identified the deceased as Laura Watson, 29. "Bring out both victims." Someone outside said hello, and I recognized Harry's voice. The sky, which was still red just now, suddenly turned dark. Next, we will conduct a thorough investigation of the fire scene, and find out the unknown secrets hidden behind the pile of ashes. If a fire is to burn, it must have at least three elements: air (oxygen), fire source, and combustion medium.It should be said that water has its source, and fire has its root. In the end, we still have to find the root of the fire.

I had sketched it out before lifting the two victims out.I have recorded the position of the corpse in the fire scene and the objects around the corpse in detail one by one. This is what we need. With it, we can study the environment of the deceased and some conditions leading to death.For example: the back of the corpse is reserved for the gate. It should be said that the deceased flocked to the gate, but she turned her back to the gate instead. At this time, the meaning of the gesture of the deceased must be considered. Seeing that there was fire at the gate, I couldn't escape, so I turned my body over and ran in from the gate, which meant that the fire started at the gate.If there is a combustion accelerant at the scene of the fire, it means that the fire is most likely a case of deliberate arson.Accelerator is a substance that can make a fire grow bigger. If someone smells gasoline at that time, or sees the smoke rising first, that is what certain accelerants are doing to help the fire.If it is gasoline-assisted combustion, then there should be smoke coming out first, and then there is a bang, and the flames burst up directly, which is the characteristic of arson.

I also made detailed notes of the postures of the two dead men.In this way, we can analyze whether the deceased had the possibility of escaping before the fire broke out, that is, whether the two of them could escape from the fire. The aftermath work was proceeding in an orderly manner. Detective Inspector Harry asked me to take a record of the pedestrian who was the first to report the crime just now, and then brought other colleagues into the apartment again. "The fire happened at 23:35 on March 17... At that time, a small room on the second floor of the apartment partitioned by wooden boards suddenly caught fire..."

The person who reported the case just now told me that he was the first to discover the fire.He said that he had just come back from outside to participate in a celebration, and his partners were still watching a performance somewhere at this time. "What is celebrated in Iowa in the United States on March 17?" I asked. "No one has forgotten this event, but you police have forgotten it. It really shouldn't be. It's St. Patrick's Day." The passerby replied. "So, can you tell me more about the situation at that time?" "I happened to be walking downstairs to the apartment building, and suddenly I saw fire coming out of the window of the west room on the second floor. Also, the glass windows on the upper floor seemed to be burned and fell off. My first reaction was that something happened. When there was a fire, I immediately called 911. I told them, no, an apartment building near the University of Iowa was on fire, so send a fire truck over here to put out the fire. Not long after that, a fire truck arrived here. But..." The passerby hesitated for a moment and then said, "I saw smoke coming out of the window first, and then the fire, and the appearance of the fire was terrifying."

"Please tell me, what color was the smoke you found?" I continued to ask.Sometimes, due to the lack of air circulation at the fire site, large strands of thick smoke will often come out before the flame is emitted. However, due to the different burning substances, the colors of the smoke can also be said to be various.Such as: wood burning is a kind of black gray fire smoke; when oil is burning, its color is a kind of black smoke; if it is oxide and nitrogen burning, it will show a yellow color. Brown smoke; and phosphorus and magnesium burning, that is white smoke.I now want to ascertain the point of ignition, that is, the place where the flame is found, or where the fire spreads from this point to other places, and the burning medium as a basis for analyzing the fire point.

"It seems to be a thick black smoke..." The pedestrian hesitated and said. "Okay, thank you for your cooperation. Please leave your contact number. If there is any situation, I will visit you again." I understand in my heart that if what he said is correct, then this is a man-made arson case. Not long after the pedestrians left, Harry and his colleagues came out of the apartment. This time he was holding a bucket in his hand, which he said was found at the scene of the burning apartment. "A bucket like this can be placed in the garage, or it is more suitable to be placed in the storage room. It seems that some people behave very strangely. He prefers to put things in the storage room in the apartment. In the living room, whether this is reasonable or not, I believe everyone has their own reasons. However, I found it in the foyer of this apartment, and I think it is very suspicious. Going in from the foyer, turning right again, it is A room with a window right on the road, that's where the fire came from," Harry told me.

In the following investigation, we found other things in the living room. The color of the burning marks of the items in the living room was darker than that of other rooms, which may indicate that the darker the color of the marks, the longer the burning time.Usually, the burning time of the fire point is the longest, which is judged by the degree of burning of the items in the room.Of course, there are exceptions, that is, if the fire point triggers the combustion of flammable materials near it, it will appear that the fire point is not as serious as other places, so that the real fire point is covered up. While investigating the source of the fire, we also investigated the surroundings of the apartment.This is a detached apartment. It is far away from other houses except that the windows face the road.We analyze whether the criminals have convenient conditions for arson, such as the problem of obtaining local materials, etc.?Especially at the back of the apartment, it has a wider view, that is to say, there used to be a lawn behind the window, but now this lawn is not so much grass because of the cold season, and it is neat on the whole.It can be said that this is a university-based environmental facility. There are no factories, gas stations, or shops nearby. Most of the pedestrians here are school employees and some students.But stepping out of this university living area, it's hard to say.The circuit of this apartment has just been overhauled, so it should be said that there will be no problems.Of course, there are no objects flying in the wind that can start a fire in the apartment. So, what was the kindling of this fire?Could it be that bucket?What did it hold?Where did the bucket come from?Who brought it in?Before, who kept this bucket?If the barrel was needed on this university campus, where would it be located?How did it appear in the hall instead of the room?With such a series of problems, we have to figure them out one by one. This is a red bucket. Its shape is a bit like a vacuum cleaner.However, if the red bucket is also equipped with a handle and you hold it in your hand, you would think it is a vacuum cleaner.In fact, it is used to hold oil. Therefore, we continued to investigate and understand the people around this apartment, who was most likely to use that bucket, and who was holding it before the fire, from another unknown person The place is brought inside the apartment.If it is said that I carried it, I have to consider what I am carrying it for?What is the use of it.I think, if we don't figure out this problem first, then we can say that at least our way of solving the case is still in an unclear state. And the college students in the apartment said they never brought barrels or anything like that into the apartment.They were living in the same apartment that was on fire and are now being relocated elsewhere temporarily as our investigation is not complete.The three of them also said that the oil drum should appear in a repair shop or a garbage dump. We also have a general understanding of why there were no students living in this apartment on the night of March 17.It was that St. Patrick's Day that saved them, and that night, all the college students didn't celebrate it in the apartment, they chose a better place, and they watched the trumpeters lined up in front of them on the street.College students told me, "We had a great time outside that night, but the only thing that didn't make us happy was that our apartment caught fire, and who the hell did that, and burned two beautiful young girls to death."