“Look, the place had been electrically upgraded. When fire reached the wires and insulation was degraded by heat, the ground wires came in contact with each other. The circuit failed, the wires arced and the circuit breakers tripped,” she said. “That’s exactly what I would expect to happen whether the fire was set or not. It’s hard to say. There’s a lot left to look at, and of course the labs will do their thing. But whatever got that fire going, got it going fast. You can tell from some of the flooring. There’s a sharp demarcation between really deep charring and the unburned wood, and that means hot and fast.”

I remembered wood near the body looking just as she had described. It was alligatored, or blistered black on top, versus slowly burned all the way through.

“First floor again?” I asked as my private suspicions about this case grew darker.

“Probably. Plus, we know things happened fast anyway based on when the alarm went off and what the firefighters found seventeen minutes later.” She was quiet for a moment, then went on, “The bathroom, the possible hemorrhage in tissue near her left eye. What? Maybe she was taking a bath or shower? She’s overcome by carbon monoxide and falls and hits her head?”

“It appears she was fully dressed when she died,” I reminded her. “Including boots. If the smoke alarm goes off while you’re in the bath or shower, I doubt you’d take time to put on all that.”

Lucy turned the volume up even louder and adjusted the bass. Bells jingled with drums and I oddly thought of incense and myrrh. I wanted to lie in the sun with Benton and sleep. I wanted the ocean to roll over my feet as I walked in the morning exploring the beach, and I remembered Kenneth Sparkes as I had seen him last. I envisioned what was left of him turning up next.

“This is called ‘The Wolf Hunt,’” Lucy said as she turned into a white brick Shell Food Mart. “And maybe that’s what we’re on, huh? After the big bad wolf.”

“No,” I said as she parked. “I think we’re looking for a dragon.”

She threw a Nike windbreaker over her gun and BDUs.

“You didn’t see me do this,” she said as she opened her door. “Teun would kick my ass to the moon.”

“You’ve been around Marino too long,” I said, for he rarely minded rules and was known to carry beer home in the trunk of his unmarked police car.