1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 190 Waiting for a Fire
There was some silence in the office.

Theodore looked around at everyone and continued:
"Moreover, resisting the perpetrators requires immense courage."

"Most victims are instinctively filled with fear of the perpetrator."

"After being set on fire, it is normal for the deceased to instinctively run away in the opposite direction."

He glanced at Detective O'Malley:
"As you said, rushing towards the arsonist and trying to burn him to death is itself very abnormal."

Detective O'Malley didn't quite agree with Theodore's explanation:

"If the arsonist had taken Frank hostage, shouldn't she have called for help?"

Theodore shook his head:

"She might try to call for help, but she won't be able to make a sound at all."

Seeing everyone's confusion, Theodore opened the autopsy report:

"The flames on the deceased's body started burning from the head."

"The autopsy report showed that the deceased's mouth, throat, and respiratory system were severely damaged."

"The temperature of gasoline combustion is extremely high. Before the deceased could even cry for help, the high-temperature gas she inhaled had already severely damaged her respiratory tract, rendering her unable to speak."

The bald firefighter nodded in agreement.
"The temperature when gasoline burns can reach 3600-5400 degrees Fahrenheit (about 2000-3000 degrees Celsius)."

"This temperature far exceeds that of a typical fire scene."

He looked at the others and said in a deep voice:

"Many people trapped in the fire are unable to call for help and can only wait for our search and rescue."

Detective O'Malley paused for a moment, then asked Theodore:

"Was this all part of his plan?"

He further explained:

"Did he deliberately light Evelyn Shaw's first, just to prevent her from making a sound?"

Theodore believes it is possible, but cannot be completely confirmed.

Detective O'Malley, however, seemed quite convinced that the arsonist had done it on purpose.

He muttered a couple of curses under his breath, then briefed everyone on the latest developments at the Fourth Precinct.

Actually, there hasn't been much progress.

Frank Kowalski remains missing, with no trace of his whereabouts.

Harold Shaw remains missing.

The arsonist was never caught.

Yesterday afternoon, their branch chief was summoned by headquarters again because of this case.

During this sensitive period, the fact that a madman who commits live incineration remains at large is a direct challenge to the nerves of all officers in the DC Police Department.

Who knows if he might suddenly have a mental breakdown and start burning people alive during the day, or go and set fire to some landmark building.

If this gets out of hand, the consequences could be unimaginable.

This morning, the deputy commissioner of the 4th Precinct instructed Detective O'Malley to select officers and prepare to establish a special task force to investigate the case.

Detective O'Malley also brought the answer to Theodore's question from yesterday:
“I asked the colleagues in charge of the survey, and no one seemed particularly active.”

"However, many people have shown curiosity about the case, and quite a few have asked what happened."

Theodore nodded to him, not surprised by the answer.

After confirming that the arsonist had run over Evelyn Shaw with his car, he was fairly certain that the arsonist did not live in the vicinity.

After Detective O'Malley finished his presentation, he asked Theodore for the results of his investigation.

Theodore pointed to his desk.

The 15 fire accident investigation reports were spread out on the table.

Everyone crowded around, each taking a copy to look at.

The bald firefighter was most familiar with these reports and identified which one he was holding with just a glance.

He picked up several reports in succession, and finally looked at Theodore with a puzzled expression, not understanding the connection between them.

He now seriously suspects Theodore is about to pull out a crystal ball.

After reading the report, Detective O'Malley, like the bald firefighter, looked at Theodore with a puzzled expression.

In his view, this was just a routine fire accident investigation report, and he found no connection between it and the arsonist.

Theodora passed a whiteboard:
"Based on the arsonists' motives and behaviors, arsonists can be divided into six types."

Bernie and Billy Hawke put down their reports at the same time, took out their notebooks, and began taking notes.

Detective O'Malley was a beat slower, but he also took out his notebook.

The bald firefighter looked around, somewhat bewildered.

Theodore stared intently at him, talking incessantly:

"The first type is the retaliatory arsonist."

“Revengeful arsonists are the most common type.”

"The core motivation is revenge, it's about venting anger."

“They viewed arson as a weapon, specifically used to attack those they perceived as having harmed them.”

The bald firefighter felt uncomfortable being stared at, so he awkwardly moved to the side to make room for the middle.

Theodore followed his gaze to the side and continued his introduction:

"The second type is the excited arsonist."

“Excitement-driven arsonists derive sexual satisfaction, a sense of thrill, a sense of power, and attention from the act of arson itself, watching fires, and even participating in firefighting and becoming heroes.”

"They are obsessed with fire."

He emphasized: "Excited arsonists are typical repeat offenders."

"They might set fires multiple times to repeatedly experience that thrill."

Detective O'Malley realized what was happening and asked Theodore:

"You mean arsonists fall into this category?"

Theodore briefly looked away from the bald firefighter and glanced at Detective O'Malley:
"Arsonists are not just excitable types."

Detective O'Malley looked puzzled.

Bernie thought of the classification of criminals and asked Theodore:
"Just like the classification of criminals, a particular criminal could be a mixture of multiple types?"

Theodore thought about it and felt that the two could be compared in the following way:
"Yes."

“These categories are not entirely mutually exclusive; an arsonist may have multiple motives at the same time.”

“Retaliatory arson may also have an element of excitement.”

“He may have started arson simply out of personal grudges and revenge, but he experienced excitement from arson and quickly became addicted, starting to set fires frequently and becoming an excitement-driven arsonist.”

Theodore's gaze returned to the bald firefighter:

"The third type is the destructive arsonist."

"The main motivation of destructive arsonists is to cause destruction, vent boredom, or express widespread anger and frustration, and try to regain a sense of control."

"The fourth type is arsonists who seek profit."

"They profited through arson."

"The most common method is to burn down one's own house to defraud insurance money."

The bald firefighter couldn't stand Theodore's gaze any longer; he felt he had to do something.

He nodded and echoed:

"We've encountered this several times."

He didn't look at Theodore, but turned to look at the others, his face serious.

"In such cases, insurance companies will send investigators to conduct an investigation."

He pointed to the report on the ground:
"The fire accident investigation report is an important criterion for insurance companies to determine whether or not to pay compensation."

"They sometimes even try to influence the report's conclusions."

Billy Hawke asked him curiously:
"How will it affect us?"

The bald firefighter's eyes immediately locked onto him: "That's way too many."

"They will try every possible method to avoid losing money."

"I've encountered them several times..."

Theodore asked him:
"Is this why the error rate in fire accident investigation reports in the Northeast region is as high as 3.6%?"

The bald firefighter was speechless for a moment.

Theodore stared at him, steer the conversation back on track:

"The fifth type is the extremist arsonist."

“They often set fires for ideological, political, religious or social reasons, with the aim of creating fear, sending a message, intimidating specific groups, protesting or instigating change.”

"Arson is just one of their methods; it's their public declaration."

"The last type is the concealed arsonist."

“Their primary objective was not arson, but rather to destroy evidence at the scene, interfere with the investigation, or delay the discovery of the main crimes.”

Theodora took another whiteboard and drew a question mark in the center:

"We currently know that the arsonist is a repeat offender."

"His past crimes have not been investigated."

Detective O'Malley interrupted Theodore's analysis, asking him how he determined that the arsonist had never been caught.

Theodore offered an explanation:
“Once a serial offender is arrested, his criminal skills will deteriorate due to the interruption of his imprisonment.”

“If an arsonist has been arrested and imprisoned before, there will be a break in the evolution of his criminal methods.”

"However, in this case, the arsonist's methods have been continuously evolving."

Theodore emphasized:

"Live burning is an extreme form of violence and a typical example of excessive killing."

"From arson of buildings to burning people alive, it is a typical escalation of violence."

"When flames are used to kill directly, it means that the killer's methods have evolved to their peak."

Detective O'Malley looked at the bald firefighter with skepticism.

He trusted the bald firefighter more than Theodore when it came to fires.

The bald firefighter couldn't provide an answer.

He's busy right now.

Bernie just handed him a new notebook, and he's frantically copying down his previous notes.

Theodore's analysis of arsonist types was something he had never heard of before, nor had anyone ever thought of it.

He didn't know if this classification was comprehensive or not, but he was very clear about its accuracy.

He randomly selected a few fire scenes he had experienced, plugged them into Theodore's classification, and immediately found the corresponding type.

This made him realize that he had to write down this classification method and bring it back with him.

This may be a greater gain than his role as an expert consultant.

Theodore glanced at the bald firefighter who was writing furiously, then looked away.

He pointed to the reports on the table and the floor:

"Because of the nature of fire, arsonists often prefer to commit their crimes in familiar areas."

“We screened fire accident investigation reports from the past three years in the Northeast region and found 15 reports of arson that were wrongly judged as accidental or spontaneously caused fires.”

Theodore emphasized in particular:

"These 15 reports are only the identifiable misjudgments; there should also be some unidentifiable misjudgments among them."

Detective O'Malley's gaze shifted to the pile of reports:
"Do you believe this involves a case committed by the arsonist in the past?"

Theodore gave a more cautious answer:
"It may exist."

He selected two reports from the table and waved them in his hand:

“I profiled the arsonists in these 15 reports.”

"For example, the profiles of the two arsonists are very similar, which suggests that they were committed by the same person."

Detective O'Malley felt he understood Theodore's thoughts to some extent, but not entirely.

Billy Hawke had already realized what was happening and pointed to the two reports in Theodore's hands:
"Boss, are you planning to use the similar profiling of arsonists to find out what cases they've committed before, just like you did with these two fires?"

Bernie's focus, however, was on something else.

He picked up the remaining 13 reports and looked at Theodore to confirm:

"You mean, you've profiled all the arsonists in these cases?"

"Three days? 15 people?"

Theodore nodded.

Bernie forced a smile and silently put down the report.

Others don't know how difficult profiling is, and have no concept of the speed involved.

Bernie, however, knew all too well how terrifying that speed was.

At this moment, a long-forgotten thought resurfaced.

They even claimed it was a method anyone could learn!
Theodore profiled 15 people in three days!

It was just based on a report, without even going to the scene, seeing the victims, or getting an autopsy report. At most, they just chatted with the firefighters who had personally experienced the firefighting!

Is this some kind of pretense?
Theodore, unaware of what was wrong with Bernie, looked at him with concern.

Bernie remained silent, only managing a stiff smile.

Theodore Bernie's IQ fluctuates normally; he's currently at a low point.

Detective O'Malley was somewhat excited, even eager, as he pressed Theodore for answers:

Have you found him?

Which one did he do?

Theodore shook his head:
"I do not know."

Everyone was stunned.

Theodore explained:

"There is a very significant difference between live incineration and burning buildings."

"When flames are used to kill directly, especially to burn people alive, it means that the arsonist's hatred, desire for control, and sadistic tendencies have reached their peak."

Detective O'Malley asked Theodore:
"Do you believe the arsonist acted out of personal vendetta against Evelyn Shaw?"

Theodore corrected him:

"I believe the arsonist is currently in a state of extreme anger."

"He needs to set a fire immediately to release his anger."

"Because our plan to set the dead on fire was interrupted, his planned emotional release was forced to stop."

"Even though the arsonist has shown considerable restraint in his past arson history, that restraint is gradually collapsing."

He glanced at the calendar, calculated the time, and continued his analysis:
"It's been almost four days since the cremation of the dead, he should be getting impatient soon."

Theodore picked up all 15 reports and looked at everyone:

"I'm waiting for this fire."

"If this fire was a regular arson, he would definitely choose the same method as before."

For the past three years, he has had all the identifiable hidden arsonists at his disposal.

Detective O'Malley understood Theodore's strategy, but thought it was highly unreliable.

He asked one question after another:

"What if the arsonist had burned a person?"

"What if the arsonist's past cases weren't on your radar, or hadn't been uncovered?"

"What if he didn't commit arson?"

(End of this chapter)