No One Heard Her Scream Read Online Free PDF Page A

her height, with thick dark hair and skin the color of rich mocha. His eyes were almost black, and he possessed a piercing stare, the kind that unnerved the guilty. But for those having the pleasure to work with him, he showed warmth and good humor in his gaze. A diligent investigator and a thorough one. She liked him from the first day they had met, several years ago.
    "Hey, Rick." She lowered the beam of her flashlight, leaving his face partially lit. "This case is gonna be tough enough. Glad you're working the fire. How's it coming?"
    "Getting close to wrapping up, but I've got something for you to see. Follow me, Becca." He waved a hand and led her through the burned rubble.
    He took her toward a back door and into the bright sunshine. Becca shielded her eyes with a hand, but it felt good to be out from under the oppressive darkness of the charred Imperial. Parts of her skin were caked with a layer of dust. Feeling gritty, she ran a hand over her chin, only to find her gloves smeared with soot. No telling what she'd find on her white blouse. J ust great! She'd clean up in the car. It wasn't her day. Becca filled her lungs with fresh air and let Rick talk.
    "Arsonists believe fire destroys evidence, but not if an investigator knows what to look for. They forget only the vapor burns, not the liquid part of the fuel. So if any material is saturated with an accelerant, the wetness prevents the cloth from burning, leaving behind evidence for us to connect the dots. If we match the fabric to something on the premises of a suspect, we've got a link to the crime scene."
    "So what have you learned so far?"
    "I've been examining patterns of burn, the structure of the building itself, the ventilation factors, and what fuel loadings were available. The Imperial was a veritable powder keg waiting for someone to strike a match." He brought her toward a large garbage receptacle set too close to the back wall of the building. "But I found some 'pour patterns' in and around this Dumpster. They look promising."
    He squatted near a pile of trash and pointed, continuing with his preliminary findings.
    "Incendiary fire. A candle ignited the blaze and served as a time delay. It looks like some type of liquid accelerant was used. More than likely gasoline, but I'll confirm that when I run it through the gas chromatograph. See here? It burned in a way that remained visible after the fire." Rick pointed to the burn pattern, or rather, the absence of burn. "I'm still collecting evidence, enclosing what I find in airtight containers to prevent cross contamination and keep the integrity of the accelerant intact. But so far, this looks like arson, deliberately set."
    Arson added a wrinkle of complication, but a thought registered in her mind.
    "Guess if the fire hadn't happened, we might never have found our Jane Doe buried in the wall. Whoever set the blaze may help us find justice for our murder victim. At least we have a shot at it. Kind of an interesting turn of fate, I'd say."
    The irony appealed to her. Becca handed her helmet to the fire investigator.
    "I'll leave the stylish headgear with you. Send me a copy of your findings. And thanks, Rick."
    "Will do." He nodded and headed back into the building.
    Normally, the owner of the Imperial Theatre would be considered a strong suspect for a fire caused by arson. As a rule, the fraudulent act was committed to collect insurance money, especially if the policy amount exceeded the value of the real estate. That fit the bill for the Imperial in its current state of disrepair. But if the property owner had anything to do with the body buried in the theater, an arson fire would be the last thing the owner would want. An arson investigation would only shed light on a very deep, dark secret.
    The pieces to this puzzle didn't make sense—yet. But there was nothing like a good mystery. No matter how her investigation proceeded, the owner of the Imperial Theatre would be high on her interview list.
    Becca