Fireproof

job if he has a job, low self-esteem, low IQ, social misfit, yadda yadda. I’ve seen these profiles before. They don’t tell us jack-shit.”
    “Sounds like you already have your own profile,” Racine said, but Maggie could see Racine’s sarcasm was lost on Ivan. She even thought she saw the detective take a step forward as if in Maggie’sdefense. Maybe she could hear the throbbing in Maggie’s head. It had started as soon as she’d left Ganza.
    “I think he’s older,” Maggie said when she knew Ivan wasn’t expecting her to say anything. Maybe that’s why she continued, “The fire chief’s report mentioned a chemical reaction being the starting point.”
    “That’s right. The fires have been too quick and the heat too intense. There haven’t been any other accelerants used.”
    “But it smelled like gasoline was poured in the alley.”
    “That’s the exception. Incidentally, he didn’t start the fire on that side of the building. He uses materials he finds at the site. But he brings whatever the hell he’s using to start the chemical reaction.”
    “No timing device?”
    “Haven’t found one yet. But all that fits a pyromaniac’s profile, right?” Ivan said with a smirk, as if goading Maggie. “Goes along with an impulse disorder. He gathers whatever he finds to start the fire—rags, newspapers, garbage. Doesn’t really think about it or plan it. Just needs to satisfy his impulse, relieve his sexual tension and his desire for the thrill.”
    Maggie suppressed a sigh of frustration. Was he serious or simply having fun with her? She studied his face and decided he was making fun of her and of profiling. “Pyromania” was a term psychiatrists and defense attorneys loved to use. In reality, few arsons on this scale had been blamed on an uncontrollable impulse or an irresistible urge to start fires to “relieve sexual tension,” as Ivan put it.
    “But you said he has to bring the chemicals,” she pointed out. “Hardly impulsive if he’s toting around whatever it takes to create such a combustion.”
    Ivan shrugged. “So what’s your profile?”
    He looked pleased to put her on the spot, shifting his weight and crossing his arms. Behind them sirens wailed along the streets. Police whistles directed traffic. Overhead, they could hear a helicopter, still too far away to tell if it was a life flight or cable news crew.
    “He’s educated,” Maggie said. “A chemical reaction that includes that sort of timing, as well as the correct proportions, is not something he learned in the Boy Scouts or surfing the Internet. I’d guess it was part of his job at one time. Maybe it still is. He’s someone who doesn’t attract attention. He can blend in. He looks like he belongs.”
    “Right. And what kind of job combines chemicals to start fires?” Ivan was skeptical.
    This time Maggie shrugged. She wasn’t the arson expert. She wanted to say that perhaps someone with the ATF—perhaps a fire investigator like himself—should be able to examine and determine that part of the puzzle.
    “So what does he drive?”
    She almost rolled her eyes. They were always so hung up on a vehicle that they could stop by throwing up blockades. Maggie shook her head. “It won’t matter because I think he parks away from the site and walks several blocks.”
    “Humph. You’re not giving me anything.”
    “Okay, here’s something. Have you checked the surrounding ERs?”
    “Emergency rooms?”
    “Check for chemical burns. Whatever he’s using might burn his skin or even discolor it.”
    “Great. So we look for a guy older than twenty-five who’s educated, in good enough shape to walk several blocks, and maybe has—what, like purple fingers or something? That’s supposed to help me?”
    “Hey,” Racine said. “It’s more than we had an hour ago.”
    “Except these two fires change things a bit,” Maggie continued.
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Churches instead of warehouses. And in the middle of the day. If he knew there were people inside he’s no longer a nuisance offender who likes to stand back and watch the chaos or read the headlines the next day. The fact that there were people inside changes his motive.”
    “What about the victims in the last fire?” Ivan asked.
    “He may not have known about the person inside.” Although Maggie knew that if the skull was bashed in the way the woman’s face was in the alley, then chances were the victim inside the building was not