1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 196 What Unexpected Incident?
Detective O'Malley was somewhat excited.

Knowing that the arsonist was likely an electrician, he had never felt so close to him.

Detective O'Malley made several phone calls and contacted the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers through some personal connections.

He contacted a board member of the DC chapter.

The board member was happy to help and quickly found the list, asking Detective O'Malley whether to send it to the precinct or send someone to the branch office to pick it up.

Detective O'Malley asked if he could finish reading the list over the phone.

The board member told him somewhat awkwardly that the list was a bit long.

There are more than four hundred people in total.

Detective O'Malley could only thank the other party and, after ending the call, contact the patrol officer on the other end to retrieve the list.

The patrol officers who were supposed to retrieve the list were still on their way, but Detective O'Malley had already given up hope of getting the list.

According to Theodore's analysis, the arsonists gave them at most three days.

Detective O'Malley quickly returned to the conference room.

Bernie asked him about the list.

Detective O'Malley shook his head and explained the situation.

Everyone fell silent as they listened.

Three days is clearly not enough time to survey more than 400 people.

Theodore steered the conversation back to the case.

He summarized last night's fire:

"The arsonist used his expertise to disguise the fire as an accident caused by a short circuit."

Theodore looked at the bald firefighter:

“In the vicinity of Brentwood Road and Thomas Street, the electrical wiring is severely aged, so it is quite normal for such accidental fires to occur frequently.”

"The arsonist chose to set the fire here, making it difficult for anyone to detect."

Brentwood Road is almost entirely within the jurisdiction of Fire Station 13.

The bald firefighter was writing furiously, completely unresponsive to Theodore's words.

His mind was completely blank; he had no idea what Theodore was talking about.

He had given up thinking and was simply recording what Theodore said, intending to study it slowly later.

Theodore stared at him with some confusion for a moment, then continued:

"Based on the above analysis, my profile of the arsonist is as follows."

"The arsonist was a white male, between 30 and 40 years old."

"The arsonist was familiar with the area around Brentwood Road, and he likely lived in that neighborhood or worked primarily in that area."

"The arsonist set fires by faking short circuits in the electrical wiring, especially in last night's arson case, where he loosened the terminals while the circuit was powered on."

"This is an operation that is very difficult for ordinary people to perform; if you are not careful, you will be electrocuted and die."

"Only professionals can operate it skillfully."

"The arsonist was likely an electrician or an apartment maintenance worker."

In the case of Alan Brennan, the perpetrator, Robert Hayes, was an apartment maintenance worker, but also worked part-time as an electrician.

After a pause, Theodore continued:

“The arsonist had a stable job or family to protect him, his daily social interactions were not significantly abnormal, and his neighbors may even have a high opinion of him, praising him for his gentle, quiet, and polite personality.”

"He is not very proactive in communicating with others and is usually quite quiet, giving the impression of being reliable and composed."

"The arsonist harbored a very strong sense of anger."

"This anger may stem from life stress, financial stress, or family conflict."

"He suffers from a long-term sense of frustration and loss of control in his life. He is unable to control his life and can only gain a temporary illusion of control and vent his anger by setting fires."

"This is also the core reason why he committed arson." "The arsonist was a hybrid arsonist who was both excitable and destructive."

Theodore paused at this point.

After giving everyone ample time to process the information, Theodore began releasing the second profile:

“Over the past few days, we have reviewed fire incident investigation reports from the past three years in the Northeast DC area.”

Everyone, including the bald firefighter, looked up.

Detective O'Malley, no longer absorbed in the thought of the four hundred-plus people, asked Theodore with some urgency:
"Have you reached a conclusion in your comparison?"

Theodore nodded and pointed to the bald firefighter:

"With the help of technical consultants, we selected 15 reports of arson disguised as accidents."

“I have made a brief profile of the arsonists in these 15 unusual reports.”

"The arsonist's profile in the fire that occurred on April 28, 1958, is similar to that of the arsonist in last night's fire."

He directly published the profiling results:
"My profile of the arsonist in this fire is as follows."

"The arsonist is a white male, possibly between 25 and 45 years old, and may work in electrical, construction, or factory-related fields."

"The arsonist was highly organized."

“At the time he chose, there was no one in the row house, so he had plenty of time to make the arrangements.”

"The arsonist chose to disguise the fire as an accident."

"The target they chose was Thomas Street, where the wiring is in a similar condition to that of Brentwood Road, and is severely aged."

"A fire here caused by a wiring problem would not arouse any suspicion or surprise anyone."

"Based on the above profile and analysis of the report, I believe that the arsonist in this fire was a hybrid type of arsonist who was both excited and destructive."

After Detective O'Malley finished taking notes, he raised a question:
"But what does this have to do with Evelyn Shaw?"

Theodore and Detective O'Malley exchanged glances, and Theodore said in a deep voice:

"The arsonist was very familiar with the area around Thomas Street and Brentwood Road, and he usually chose targets within these two areas."

"Arsonists are adept at using accidents to disguise their crimes, and the accidents they choose are usually electrical wiring problems."

Arsonists enjoy setting fires.

"Fire is where his connection with the first victim intersected."

"On the night of April 23, a fire broke out at apartment 121, northeast section of Brentwood Road. The first victim was not in the apartment."

"She was on the night shift and didn't get home until late at night, which is when she witnessed the fire."

Detective O'Malley realized what was happening and stared at Theodore in surprise.

He felt somewhat incredulous:
"You mean, the fire was started by an arsonist?"

"Did Evelyn Shaw see the arsonist?"

Detective O'Malley pointed at the bald firefighter and offered his rebuttal:

"Michael saw the fire; it was just an accident."

Theodore was puzzled at first, but then looked in the direction Michael was pointing at the bald firefighter and realized that Michael was referring to him.

He shook his head, reminding Detective O'Malley:

Arsonists are adept at disguising fires as accidents.

Detective O'Malley opened his mouth and asked the bald firefighter:

"Michael, are you sure that fire was an accident?"

The bald firefighter looked up blankly and met Detective O'Malley's gaze:

"What? What accident?"

(End of this chapter)