Chapter 38

 

The abrasive clatter of the phone jarred Bart from a deep sleep. As he fumbled for the receiver, he looked out the window and saw only the glow of the full moon.

“Who is it?”

“Sorry Bart. This is really important.”

Tallman’s voice brought him fully awake.

“What?”

“We’ve got a real mess up here in Dayton. Our arsonist attempted to torch another building and someone blew him up. Then one of my men iced that guy.”

“Blew him up?”

“Yeah, looks like the arsonist was holding a container of gasoline when he was shot, and the damn thing exploded. It really made a mess of him.”

“Jesus, Harry, who was he?”

“Not a clue. Don’t even know if it was a he or a she. Not enough left to make any kind of I.D. The exploding gasoline pretty much took off his face and the front of his body. Looks like a hundred fifty pounds of charred hamburger. Do you want to come up and see the scene for yourself?”

“I’ll be there as quick as I can. Where are you in Dayton?”

“Just get ready. One of my guys is heading up. He’ll pick you up in about twenty minutes and fill you in on the way here.”

At eighty-five miles an hour, the drive north took about three quarters of an hour. During the ride the trooper briefed Bart on the night’s events.

A vague suggestion of the coming dawn peeking over the eastern horizon when Bart emerged from the cruiser and walked to a cordoned-off area in the middle of the road where Tallman and two men were talking.

“Morning, Bart. These two detectives were staking out the building last night. Tom Keller,” he said, gesturing toward the younger of the two, “heard an explosion and was the first out of the car. Billy Dawson turned on the headlights and covered him. When Billy got out of the car he saw a really big guy running from the building with a gun in his hand. The gunman was running straight at his partner. Billy warned him, but he just kept coming, so he took him down.”

“Any idea who the gunman was?” Bart asked.

Tallman shook his head. “Not a clue. He had no ID, not even a wallet. We know he was close to the arsonist. He was probably the one who fired the shot that killed the arsonist and caused the gas he was holding to explode. The front of the big guy’s clothing and his left hand were burned. Luckily, his right hand, the one holding the gun, was unharmed, so forensics was able to get some good prints. Maybe we’ll catch a break and get a match.”

Tallman turned to the detectives. “Why don’t you two start interviewing the tenants,” he said, “while I bring Bart up to speed?”

Keller and Dawson headed back to the building.

Tallman pointed to the gray Ford. “I have a thermos of what was once hot coffee in my car. Why don’t we go there and talk?”

Inside the car Tallman filled a pair of Styrofoam cups with the tepid brew.

“You think the guy who was killed in the basement was Ilona ’s uncle or father?” Bart asked.

“It’s still too early to say. For now, we’re still trying to figure out if the deceased was a man or a woman. The size and build match up with the height and weight of the driver Sgt. Klein ticketed outside of Cincinnati, but there are probably hundreds of people, men and women, in southern Ohio that fit the same general description. Another problem is we don’t have any idea of her father’s height or weight. He could be the same size as Arpad, or not. As soon as they open, I’ll have Motor Vehicles get me the physical information off his Ohio driver’s license. If his height and weight are substantially different than the uncle, there’s a good chance that the uncle is our dead arsonist.”

“So what do we do now, sit around and wait?”

“Nope. There’s plenty to do. Chances are the arsonist arrived by car. In a couple of hours, when most of the neighborhood residents have left for work, I’ll bring in some uniforms and check the license plates on the cars that are still here. The arsonist probably didn’t park too far from the building, judging by the amount of supplies we found at the scene. We should be able to identify any cars with Ohio plates quickly; out of state plates will take a bit longer. Probably finish the plate check before noon. While we’re doing that, maybe some of the building’s tenants will be able to tell us something about the guy Billy shot. I’ve already put a stake-out on the Hungarian’s house in Loveland, so we can see who’s there and who’s missing. If the uncle is there, we know it’s not him. If the father’s at home, he’s in the clear. We don’t know if the arsonist came alone. He may have had an accomplice who took off when the shooting started and is trying to get back to Loveland, or is on the run. With a little bit of luck our stake-out may be able to fill in some of the blanks. Of course, if everyone’s at home, then they’re all clean, and we have to go find ourselves a new tree to bark up.”

“If it looks like it’s one or more of the Hungarians, are you going to move in right away?”

“Probably not. I’ll watch for a while and see what they do.” Tallman picked his cup off the center console and drained the last ounce of lukewarm coffee.

“Why not just pick them all up if the arsonist turns out to be Arpad or Laszlo?”

“Not yet. We’ll continue to carry the arsonist as a John Doe, at least to the media. The family will know he’s dead but they won’t know we’ve identified him. They may just panic and do something stupid we can capitalize on. Problem is, just because they live together doesn’t prove they’re all involved. We need supporting evidence, and there’s also the matter of degree. Did any of them have a hand in the fires, did they conspire, or did they have knowledge of the crimes before or after the fact? Did they buy the gas used in the fires or provide the plastic bottles? We have to be able to prove individual guilt. From what you told me, it sounds like Laszlo is a player, probably the team captain, but where do the brother-in-law and the two women fit? We still don’t know, and right now we have nothing we can pin on Laszlo if Arpad was the arsonist, or on Arpad, if it turns out Laszlo was our firebug. So we wait, and watch, and hope they panic and screw up. And while we’re waiting, we dig for more evidence.

“One big thing we have going for us is they’re amateurs. Damn good amateurs, but no way professional criminals.”

Bart looked quizzically at his friend. “How can you call them amateurs after so many really successful fires?”

“I doubt if they are involved in any criminal activities except the series of arsons. They have a reason for what they’re doing, and it likely doesn’t involve monetary gain. Most likely it’s a grudge or vengeance thing.”

“Okay, but how does that help you, Harry?”

Tallman refilled their cups.

“A skilled career criminal considers every move before he makes it. If things go wrong, he’s less likely to panic, less likely to make stupid mistakes. For example, our arsonist has hit the same type of target several times. A pro would have varied his pattern, might have mixed in a few fires at buildings not owned by the Russians, hoping to throw us off the scent. He might have waited longer between some of the fires, or started more than one fire the same night. He would have crossed the border into Kentucky or Indiana, to confuse us. Unpredictability is the key. Our guy didn’t do any of that, and now he’s dead. Sure, pros get caught too, but they don’t make it this easy for us.”

“I’ve got to hand it to you, Harry, you’re good.”

“Elementary, my dear Watson,” Tallman responded, and both men laughed.

Bart looked at the building. “I don’t see any fire damage on the outside. Was there any interior damage?”

“Very little. It looks like the arsonist was interrupted early in his work.”

“Well, thank goodness for small favors.”

“Your company may find this a hell of a lot more than a small favor. This could very well be the last of the Caspian fires.”

“God, I hope so. But even if we’re off the hook, I want to stay with this to the end.”

 Tom Keller approached the car.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I think we’ve got something. We’ve interviewed four tenants so far, and all of them told us the same story. The company, I guess they mean Caspian, stationed the big guy in the basement every night for the past few weeks. Billy is talking to another tenant now, but the information will probably be the same.”

“Great. See what you can find out about him; his name, if he was always there alone, where he lived, anything at all.”

“Will do.”

Tallman turned to Bart. “The pieces are starting to fall into place. Looks like the Russians had the same idea as us. Stake out the remaining buildings and wait for the arsonist to come to them. All it took was a little patience.”

“Can they do that, legally I mean?”

“They have the right to protect their own property. But I have a feeling we’re going to find the big guy didn’t have a permit for the gun he was carrying. Right now I have detectives checking out the remaining buildings. If we find the men guarding them are also illegally armed, we’ll have a lot more than a simple gun charge against those individuals. Kalakov and his partner will be in some serious trouble. You can’t illegally arm a personal army. The State of Ohio frowns on that.”

“You think the guards will tell you where they got their guns?”

“They’ll sing like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir if the alternative is several years as guests of the state, then deportation.”

“You don’t have any immediate plans to make any arrests in Loveland, so I’d like to try and contact Ilona and see if I can get together with her again.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do, Bart? It really got to you last time.”

“Am I sure I want to? Actually, I’m positive I don’t want to, but it’s got to be done. Like you said, Harry, It’s important we identify everyone who had a hand in the fires and the deaths. I can still see that young Russian blowing his brains out. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

“You know, we do occasionally catch the bad guys without your help.”

“Sorry, Harry, I didn’t mean to sound like such a pompous ass. Believe me, it’s not an ego thing. It’s just something I have to do.” 

“I understand, and in spite of what I just said, you’ve been a major asset on this case, and I’m glad you’re willing to stay with it. Just don’t put any more hurt on yourself than you absolutely must.