The Subtle Art of Brutality

“You got me thinking Delilah Boothe now. It fits.”

“Like anybody before now?” I ask.

“Little bit. My eyes have been creeping towards an ex-boyfriend of hers from high school. A guy by the name of Blane Tapolski. Right after they graduated he went into the pen for setting fire to another kid’s car. Unoccupied, if you’re wondering. I guess the victim dated Tapolski’s older sister and the relationship went sour. The kid smacked her a time or two and Blane decided to even the score.”

“Did Abigail break up with Shitski to date Tyler?”

“Shitski? You mean Tapolski?” Riggens asks.

“RDB calls anybody with a Polish last name ‘Shitski,’” Clevenger says. “He’s that kind of asshole.”

“Oh. Well, kind of. Abigail was dating Tapolski their senior year, they graduate, Tapolski sets the fire, she breaks up with him, gets subpoenaed to testify against him in court, offers nothing relevant—they’d already broken up so it’s not like he told her about it—he goes off to the clink, she dates and marries Bellview.”

“Shit,” I say. I draw it out on the board.

I step back and think to myself. The word MOTIVE screams. What is it? I tap it with the marker and tap it again. Riggens and Clevenger stand there, pondering also.

taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap

“One person,” I say.

Clevenger: “On the surface. Yes. One person.”

“Who?” Riggens asks.

“It’s pretty obvious,” I say. I write “Delilah Boothe” under the word M

OTIVE.

45

“So you think your missing person is our arsonist?” Riggens asks.

“Not entirely, no. But looking at these three fires, yes.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“There’s still motive. I can see revenge against Derne for evicting her and the Bellviews for buying what she thought was her place—”

“And killing Pierce White,” Clevenger says.

“Yeah, but why now? Why not burn his shit to the ground also?”

“Three different arsons, three different MO’s. Maybe she’s more clever than we give her credit for,” Clevenger says.

“Maybe.”

“Her mom?”

“Not her own mother,” I say. “She took her in. She was doing what Derne was not. I’ll have to talk to her again and see if there is something she’s not telling me that would make me think Delilah would do this.”

We stare. Clevenger takes the dry erase marker and writes “Pierce White” under the three arsons and draws a box around it. BODY COUNT: 1.

Under all that: TOTAL BODY COUNT (SO FAR): 4

“We should look into her other boyfriends,” Clevenger says.

“Yeah.” Riggens says. “Maybe she’s on a cock-slaughter-fest.”