“We have a potential lead,” Allina spoke up.
“Well, why didn’t you start with that?” Heidi demanded.
“Because you were busy throwing question after question at us.” Allina smirked.
Heidi just glared. “So what do you know? Who is it?”
“Since we think the original fire may have been deliberately lit, we went back to the people in her life at that time,” Allina explained.
“And you found someone?” Heidi interrupted.
“Maybe,” Jonathon answered. “We’re not sure yet, but we found someone worth looking into.”
“Who is it?” Heidi interrupted again.
“If you’d stop interrupting, I would have told you already,” Allina snapped irritably. This case was getting to her, too, only for different reasons. While Jonathon feared for the safety of his fiancée and his family, she was reminded of the crime that had ruined hers. He knew his partner and her family worked every lead tirelessly in the hope that they would find Grace and bring her home. Jonathon also knew that every single case reminded her of her family’s situation, he didn’t know how she stomached turning up to work each day. His personal brush with crime had at least had closure, but what Allina and her family went through was one big question mark.
“Sorry,” Heidi muttered. “Now put us all out of our misery, please, and tell me that you know something that’s going to wrap up this case.”
“The family that lived across the street from Naomi’s family back then had three kids, aged thirteen, fifteen, and seventeen, two boys and a girl. The girl was the middle child, she used to babysit Naomi and her siblings quite frequently,” Jonathon told their boss.
“The older boy, Harry Caucchi, had some troubles, he had been expelled from two different high schools, so he spent most of his time just hanging around his parents’ house,” Allina added.
“So why do we like him as a possible arsonist?” Heidi asked. “Sorry, just curious, not interrupting.” She gave Allina a small smile.
“He had been expelled from school for starting fires. Hewasan arsonist,” Allina replied.
“At the time, the fire was deemed to be an accident so no one ever looked into the possibility that he might have started it,” Jonathon said.
“But now we know someone switched out heaters that night and started that fire deliberately, so I think it’s time we looked into him.” Heidi’s brown eyes sparkled. “If his sister babysat for the children, he would have had access to the house. What about the photos? Of Naomi? Could he have had access to them?”
“I guess so.” Allina nodded slowly sending her blonde curls bouncing around her head. “I suppose it depended on when they got them printed. The photo from Oscar Yla’s murder scene was taken just a couple of days before the fire. They could have gotten them done immediately so there’s definitely a possibility he could have swiped them. I'm just not sure about the family picture taken after the fire. The family had already moved by then, so they were no longer living across the street from the Caucchis. How would he have gotten the family photo he left at Anthony Zeeke’s murder scene?”
Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Jonathon brought up what had been bothering him. “Let’s say that he did swipe the pictures of Naomi before he set the fire. Why take pictures of her? I mean, she was eight years old, and he was seventeen. What possible reason could he have for stealing pictures of a little girl?”
“I think we all know the answer to that,” Allina replied gently.
Unfortunately, he did know the answer to his own question. He just didn’t like it.
“Is it a possibility, Jonathon?” Heidi asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered slowly. It made him sick to even think about this as a viable possibility. “Clara never said anything, or even hinted that her sister may have been abused. But Naomiiskeeping secrets which we thought were about the fire, but maybe it was this. I can't think of another reason why Harry would take pictures of her. And it might explain why he came back now. If he was attached to her, he could have a reason to come back for her now.”
“Where is Harry Caucchi?” Heidi abandoned her chair and began to pace the room in a near frenetic manner as she grew excited.
“As he got older his obsession with fires grew too. He was arrested several times for arson but didn’t do much prison time as most of the fires were minor. Until his last one, or last one that we know about,” Allina explained. “He started a fire that wound up killing someone. He did a fourteen-year prison stint.”
“When did he get out?” Heidi asked.
“Eleven months ago,” Jonathon replied. “Plenty of time for him to track down Naomi, then start harassing her. Maybe the letters were him building up his courage to come for her, I mean she’s not still a little girl anymore. Then he decides it’s time and starts killing people, he’s already caused the deaths of three people with his fires, so we know he’s okay with murder.”
“Do we know where he’s staying?” Heidi asked.
“No. We have a couple of addresses we can look into but nothing concrete,” Allina answered.
“Okay, Sam’s got Naomi covered, but we don’t know that he’s going for her next. You two need to be careful, either of you could be targets.” Heidi eyed them both. “Clara and Aggie are also viable targets. What are we doing to keep them safe?”
“We’re going to move them someplace safe until this is over, neither of them was happy about it, but that’s just too bad, this guy has proved he’s dangerous.” He and Clara had argued heatedly about this last night, but there was no way he was risking his fiancée’s safety, so he had put his foot down. “Sam sent his best guy to watch over them so that Nick’s free in case Sam needs help with Naomi. This man is not going to lay a hand on anyone in my family.”