Jill Jackson - 04 - Watch the World Burn by Leah Giarratano Read Free Book Online

them in his direction since he’d joined the group.
    Vrisakis paused for a moment, staring right at him. Finally, she shrugged and continued. ‘Yes, we are certain that it was deliberately lit,’ she said. ‘We got nothing from the tablecloth, but the victim definitely had accelerant on her blouse.’
    Vrisakis took a breath to continue, but Gibson spoke first.
    ‘Actually,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid we are going to have to ask you to leave now, Mr Berrigan.’
    Troy looked to Hutchinson. Not now – please! He was finally learning something about how this could have happened. Hutchinson raised a hand to the back of his neck, rubbed. He gave Troy a half-smile. Troy sighed.
    ‘Sorry, buddy,’ said Hutchinson. ‘She’s right. It’s time to go. You understand.’
    ‘I’ll wait in the kitchen,’ said Troy. He could use the time to freeze some of the perishables – he might be able to save at least some of the money this place was going to bleed for the next few days.
    ‘Actually,’ Gibson said, moving towards him, ‘it might be better if we meet you in the lobby.’
    ‘Say, in half an hour or so,’ said Hutchinson.
    Emma Gibson tried to keep the irritation from her eyes as she walked Berrigan to the door of his restaurant. It wasn’t his fault her partner was so soft on protocol. And what the hell was he doing bringing Jackson to the hospital, for crissakes. Emma hated that Jackson had no operational responsibilities right now. It was heaven when Jackson had been undercover – she’d had no time for Scotty at all. Now she was back, and much too close to him. Emma wondered whether Jackson would ever succumb to Scotty’s infatuation for her. On her way back to join the others at the table, she pictured them together at the hospital that day. She felt like hissing. Maybe Jackson already had.
    Emma rejoined Scotty and the fire investigators at the table. Better get this meeting going properly, she thought, praying that Captain Andreessen didn’t ever find out that they’d begun it with a civilian sitting in.
    ‘So you know for a fact now that accelerants were used,’ she said to Vrisakis. ‘I was thinking that there had to have been some kind of fuel up around her face. I can’t believe how badly burned it was.’
    Vrisakis frowned. ‘Yes, but there’s something else,’ she said, furrowing her brow and turning to face Gibson. ‘It’s about the face. The fire pattern indicates that some type of accelerant was used, but it’s not the methyl alcohol we found on her clothing.’
    ‘What?’ said Scott Hutchinson, lifting his head from his police-issue notebook. ‘There were two different accelerants? What else was used?’
    ‘We don’t know,’ said Chin. ‘We’re still trying to find out, but I doubt we’re going to.’
    Scotty turned to Vrisakis, held his hand out, his whole face a question. Help me understand this, his gesture read.
    ‘Hospital treatment of the victim confounded the chemical trace,’ she said. ‘And there was not a lot of material left to work with. Most of the skin on the victim’s head was pretty much burned away.’
    Gibson winced.
    ‘So how can you be sure it was a different accelerant?’ asked Scotty.
    ‘Flame pattern, ignition temp, odour,’ said Chin. He stood with his hands behind his back, a soldier at ease. Vrisakis had her hands in the pockets of her dark slacks.
    ‘I really don’t understand this,’ said Gibson. ‘How is someone supposed to have poured flammable liquid all over an old woman and no one sees anything? And what odour – I mean, I didn’t smell anything but a burned body, and the fireys at the scene said the same thing.’
    ‘Well, as to the odour of the accelerant on the blouse,’ began Chin. He sat down stiffly, sitting on his hands. ‘Methyl alcohol in its pure form has only a very slight scent, which is of alcohol. It would have been very difficult to detect in this environment.’ He pulled his hands out from under him and