Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

This film is based on a true story.

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

It's all about fire. In my 11 years as an arson investigator,

I've come to understand this.

The young and old, we all love to watch things burn.

It's mesmerizing. It's hypnotic. It's even magical.

But, for the arsonist, the magic becomes an obsession.

POINT OF ORIGIN

Grandma?

Kenny, where are you?

Kenny, don't!

-Grandma? -Stay where you are.

-Kenny? -Grandma?

Grandma?

Gonna be here awhile, Junior.

-Who was the first company here? -Truck 52 made entry.

They did the search and rescue?

Yeah, their inside man was the first one in.

Let me think this through.

How many rescues were there affected?

Over 20 people. All out of the west side.

East entry would have been pointless.

Yeah, but I don't get it.

The fire exit is on that side. Why didn't they make it?

Inhaling the smoke short-circuits the brain.

Made them go around in circles.

Just a couple more feet, and they would have been right out the door.

How many fatalities? We got four confirmed dead.

The incident commander said an employee, a shopper,

an older woman, and...

-A child. -Yeah, we got a little kid.

Professor? Let me ask you something.

Turn on your video camera, Junior. I want a record of this guy's work.

But the chief thinks it started in the electrical system.

It was arson.

-You think the chief's wrong? -Absolutely.

-Okay, if you say so. -No, not me. Just the bodies.

Come here. It was so hot he couldn't open his eyes.

My God.

-Pry the mouth open. -What?

Open his mouth, and pull the tongue forward.

Are you serious?

You wanna learn this? Come on, it's okay.

There's always a first time.

Gonna be okay.

Open his mouth. Pull the tongue out.

Note the erythema at the back of the throat.

The throat is swollen shut by the heat.

They suffocated as they were burning.

-You okay? -Yeah.

-Do you ever get used to this? -No.

Not when it's a kid. It's horrible.

-Hey, Lt Hines. -Geez, here we go.

-We'll take it from here. -We're not done yet.

There are dead bodies, which means now this is our circumstance.

-John, please, don't argue with me. -I'm not arguing with you.

But you can't destroy the crime scene.

What crime scene? My investigators told me this was an electrical fire.

Your investigators are wrong.

This is arson, and I have to establish the point of origin.

I don't care what you have or haven't established.

I have to recover bodies.

I would listen to the man, if I were you, Lt.

I wasn't talking to you, kid. And turn that damn camera off.

What the hell are you doing here, anyway?

This fire isn't even in your jurisdiction.

Now get out of my way.

Stop, let's all calm down. John is right.

If you guys come romping through here,

how's he gonna gather any evidence?

This was an electrical fire. You said so yourself.

John is the expert. And if he says it's arson then it's arson.

Some wildfires still are burning in Southern California tonight,

after destroying more than 500 homes.

Three fires spread today through Carbon Canyon, Glendale

and Santa Barbara. They were probably set by arson.

All together, 3,500 acres.

Nearly 400 houses and businesses were incinerated.

After touring the site, the governor declared a state of emergency

and 250,000 dollar reward for information,

leading to the arrest of the alleged arsonist.

The fire quickly spread through the brush,

as helicopters dropped flame-retardant chemicals.

This is the third devastating fire in this area in the past two years.

Arson is suspected in two more fires in California. One in Orange County,

and this one in Glendale that destroyed over 40 homes.

Canvas the ridge. Over there.

Hey, Professor, I got it.

-Witnesses up here. -Set up the perimeter.

I'm sorry. This is a total disaster.

Everything about the location. It's just one big mess.

It's a goddamned nightmare.

-I'd walk away from it right now. -What?

Think about it. Malibu mansion. Sounds good, right?

What the hell you talking about?

Fires. Your wife's gonna love you for a very long time.

-Ocean view... -Jesus, man.

Sell real estate on your own time, Hollywood Mike.

Darcy? I can't hear, you're breaking up.

God damned cell phones. Divorce ain't cheap.

-You don't need a place, do you? -Nah, I need a woman.

-What's going on? -We established the point of origin.

-Professor found a device. -Already? You're shittin me.

-Hey, big John. What did you find? -Look at this.

It's been rigged to keep the flame burning.

Plungers jammed down here with wire.

Yep, found one exactly like that a month ago.

Brush fire Griffith Park.

He s graduated to torching neighborhoods now.

-Good work, John. -Got it, Chief.

John, found a witness.

Come on, Junior!

Yeah, something like that.

In fact, it's really very good. You're quite the artist.

And you say you never saw him before in the neighborhood?

No. And I know everybody on the block.

I saw him sniffing around the Pierson's place.

Gave these big parties, it was just him.

Excuse me, Mrs. Fin. Let's get back to when you first saw him.

I had just made myself a lemonade. Let me think.

That's it. Just picture it in your mind.

Yeah, it was a nice day,

and I saw this strange car out in front of the Pierson's.

It was an old, beat-up station wagon.

And I watched it for a minute, and then this guy got out.

Tell me again. What did he look like?

He was tall. Had floppy red hair. Good-looking kind of guy.

Think real hard for a minute here.

Maybe his hair could have been reddish brown?

-Does that make sense? -Yeah, maybe.

It wasn't that long either.

Mrs. Fin, the guy that we're looking for,

from what we've gathered from other witnesses

his hair was darker.

-Almost black. -Darker? Yeah.

Yeah. It could have been darker.

Do you remember what he was wearing? Did he have a chain around his wrist?

Maybe a blazer? A tie? Blue tie maybe?

That I think about it, you're absolutely right.

You are absolutely right.

He did have darker hair, and he was wearing a suit.

A jacket. And a tie too.

And I remember a gold bracelet around his wrist.

-You sure he was tall? -No.

He was a thin, little, wiry kind of a guy with curly, dark hair.

And he had dark, little, beady eyes.

Mrs. Fin? You're an asset to your community.

-That was very interesting. -Yeah, I'll say.

You want me to carry that, Lynette?

I can't believe you were describing me.

Actually, I was describing somebody far better looking.

I'm sitting right in front of her.

She was telling us what we wanted to hear.

Remember what I taught ya. Always test the witness.

Let me get the door for ya.

So, Professor, what are you gonna give the press, huh?

I'll give them what they want. The truth.

At the press conference in Glendale,

Captain John Orr announced he will lead an investigation

into the College Hills fire.

46 homes have been lost. Another 20 are severely damaged.

The scale of this destruction is truly massive.

Are you thinking arson, Captain?

Yes, that's definitely something that we have to consider.

That's my John. Always the star.

-Daddy, you're on the news! -Sorry I'm late.

Hey, hon. Look at that.

Look at you. So, movie star, are you hungry?

Yeah. I'm starving.

Hi, Carrie.

Carrie's not talking to me?

You won't let her go to the movies with Marty on Friday night.

All my other friends can date when they're 15.

Why do I have to wait till I'm 16? My mom said it was okay.

I don't care what your mother says.

We've been through this how many times?

The rules are the rules. You got two months to go.

I think you can wait two months, can't you?

Come on, please. Be nice to me. I had a tough day.

Tell Marty you're gonna call him back.

-How do you know it's Marty? -He always calls at this time.

Please, tell him you're gonna call him back, and sit down.

I wanna have some family time. Please.

Hey, Marty.

-Come here, you. How are you? -Okay.

What did you think?

-Did I make sense? -Yeah.

-You sounded really cool. -I did? Thanks.

What's a serial arsonist?

Someone who likes their cereal very hot.

But you know what? It's time for bed.

Come here. I love you.

-Did you do your homework? -Yes, daddy.

-I'll be in to tuck you in, okay? -Okay.

Good night.

These fires feel like they're getting closer.

College Hills is right around the corner.

Two families from the girls' school are actually moving out.

Really? The DA started a task force. He's even bringing in a Fed.

-That's good. -No, it's not.

I don't need any help from the ATF.

So, you re not gonna be on the task force?

No. The ATF is a bunch of bureaucrats disguised as bomb experts.

I'm better alone.

And besides, I'll be swamped with College Hills.

Marty said he saw you on the news.

He called to make sure we were watching it.

Really? Aren't you glad you took the call?

Yeah. He said you should get a make-up artist.

What?

Who will make you look less of a creep.

Very nice. Like mother, like daughter.

-Hey, you. Thank you. -You're welcome.

Wait. 1, 2... What's up?

Sooner or later, Carrie will go out with boys.

-You'll have to get used to it. -I know.

I would just rather it be later than sooner, that's all.

-Don't stay up too late. -I have to finish up these reports.

-You promise? -Yeah.

You could have that instead of doing paperwork.

I know.

How's it going?

Keith? Whatever happened to what's her name ?

-Who you talking about? -Abbey.

You're talking about Ambria. Nothing. Forget it. It went bad.

-What happened? She was so nice. -Yeah, she was real nice.

-Until she blew me off. -She blew you off?

-What happened? What did you do? -I don't know.

She says to me that things got weird

because we saw each other at work every day.

And then they put her on the task force,

and forget it, then it was over. That killed it.

-Why? What's the big deal? -You don't know?

-Know what? -Wait.

Watch it.

-You don't really know? -Know what?

You're not gonna believe this, but Mike Matassa, ATF,

asked me to be on the task force, and Chief Gray approved it.

You're kidding me?

I thought he was too, but he said I was highly recommended.

Look at you, moving up. Congratulations, that's great.

Why am I moving up? That's what I wanna know.

-Why pick me? -'Cause you're good.

-Plus, you had a good teacher. -No, I had a great teacher.

That's true, but Camello's already on the task force.

I know he's not gonna put me up for it, 'cause Mike only thinks of Mike,

so it's got to be somebody else...

Congratulations!

I knew it was you. Thanks a lot.

-I got ya, didn't I? -No, you didn't, but thanks a lot.

-This is an incredible opportunity. -You make the most of it.

-I'm gonna make you proud. -I know you will.

I know you're up to your ass in work around here,

but I would till love to bounce ideas off ya.

All right.

You know what fire they're starting me on?

They're starting me out on the McWallis fire.

-Really? -So any pointers you can give me.

Anything you can do, just help me out.

You're gonna do just fine.

But I'd still like to get some pointers. 'Cause you're the guy.

The arson epidemic sweeping the Los Angeles area rages on unchecked.

As the interagency task force sifts through the evidence,

firefighters have been overwhelmed by a series of retail fires.

The latest to fall victim was Glendale's McWallis gift shop.

I did what you asked and called McWallis

for over an hour this morning.

You were right on the money about the stuffed animals.

But the place was really soaked, Junior.

That's why I wasn't near the point of origin, it got washed away.

You should see if anybody found anymore of these.

-Go through all your old cases. -I already did.

I went through everything. I couldn't find any devices.

It turns out that there was an eyewitness at the McWallis fire.

You're kidding?

He didn't see much, but we got a police sketch out of him, anyway.

-And? -Look at this.

This is old lady Fin's first sketch. And that's the McWallis guy's.

Stick a goatee on Mrs. Fin's sketch,

and look, it might as well be the same guy.

-The old lady wasn't so nuts. -No. I stand corrected. Good job.

Excuse me. No smoking in the store.

Concentrate on the wife. She's gonna close the deal.

And don't show him anything unfurnished. He's got no imagination.

Hey, Hollywood Mike, you gonna be up for an Academy Award?

Mike was a tech advisor on a TV movie,

the director threw him a line.

He just recognized my natural talent.

-Yeah, right. -Thank you.

My name is Mike Matassa.

I'm going to be leading this task force for the ATF.

With me from the Los Angeles fire department

are Glen Lucero and Mike Camello. Both of whom I believe you know.

Ambria, will you pass out those sketches, please?

Also, I've asked your premiere arson instructor, John Orr,

to drop down and give us a profile.

But, seeing as it's ten after, let's just begin.

-Hi. -Big John.

How you doin'?

-All right, let's get started. -We already have, John.

Great, thanks, Mike.

So I can see that the sketches that you have in front of you

are from two eyewitnesses who ID'd the torch

as a white male in his mid-30s. Typically, these guys are loners.

They have trouble with relationships, with their jobs.

Generally, they've been setting fires their whole lives.

Usually because of childhood trauma. This is not your typical case.

What makes this case special is that he's setting these fires

in residential neighborhoods, crowded retail stores.

He's setting them in broad daylight.

And he's setting them in stores that are mostly patronized by women.

Why women?

He likes to see them panic, to see them run. He gets off on it.

And what we're dealing with here

is a very high level of self-confidence.

He's using a time-delay device.

So, he's gone by the time the fire is started.

It's my guess that he's returning to the scene of the crime

to watch the fire. He's volunteering information,

so it's crucial when you arrive on the scene, you check out the crowd.

See if anybody looks out of place.

I also believe he loves the thrill of the chase.

That's a motivating factor.

Thanks, John. Appreciate the profile.

I'm not done.

What I'd like to do now is move on to...

Unless you're in some kind of hurry.

You asked me to come down here, and I'm just giving your profile.

-No hurry. Carry on. -You sure? Where was I?

You were talking about the check the surroundings,

and check everyone at the sight.

Right. If you wanna catch this guy,

you must recognize that this is about ego. Not fire.

It's interesting what you're saying, the whole childhood trauma thing,

and getting off on the panic. But how does ego work into this?

Think about it, Junior, he feels superior to us.

He's setting these fires in broad daylight, in the same area.

-He thinks we're fools. -We're not.

And we're gonna catch him. That I promise you.

Start looking for some more of these.

That place is so cluttered. It's always been a firetrap.

No. This is no accident. I bet this was another arson.

Arson?

Everyday there seems to be another fire around here.

Luckily there's a fire station right around the corner.

Here comes the ladder truck. The whole engine company's here.

Those people inside are search and rescue.

They're supposed to be the first ones. There they are.

See the guys in the orange hats? Watch, they're gonna vent the roof.

Gonna what?

They're gonna cut a hole in it, so the fire has a place to go.

Lets all the smoke out.

How come you know so much about fire?

I'm a fireman.

Look. The fire's hungry for air now.

It needs air to breathe. To live, just like us.

The fire's gasping for breath.

Here she comes. Come on.

Yesterday, a lead arson investigator up in Kern County,

Clarence Hyde, saw our bulletin and contacted me

with some very interesting information.

Why don't you walk us through it, Clarence?

We had a series of retail fires a few years back.

At one of them, a Craft Mart, we found an incendiary device

similar to that which was described in your memo.

It was stuffed inside a foam-rubber display.

The device failed, and didn't cause much damage,

but it gave us a fingerprint.

That's great. Tell us you got a match.

No. I ran it through the system,

I even checked with Cal ID in Sacramento, but we came up empty.

If Cal ID can t trace it, it's no good to us, it's a dead end.

No, it's not necessarily a dead end. When we put the fires on a map,

they made a nice little line right down Highway 99,

pointing right down here to LA.

That's a busy road, and you gotta understand

that these fires all happened over one weekend.

Which is unusual. Scary part was that I knew a lot of the men

that were traveling between Fresno and LA that weekend.

Because they were firemen.

LA firemen heading up to Fresno for the arson conference.

Hang on there, buddy. You gotta be careful what you re saying here.

Why? There are bad cops, but not bad firemen?

No, it just seems really unlikely to me.

I put together a list from the conference,

but that's where it ended.

I couldn't zero in on one suspect because I had 200 names.

I'm sorry, but if you sat me down and started making accusations,

that would really piss me off.

-You worried, Mike? -What?

Are you worried?

Yeah, right, cuff me now 'cause I'm your guy.

Could be. Everyone in this room knows how to make a time-delay device.

If you don't, I got a class starting in 20 minutes.

It s an ugly thought, Mike, but it's possible. He's right.

What do we have? Seven fires the weekend of an arson conference.

Clarence, you'll get us that list of names as soon as possible.

All who attended are suspects.

Every investigator. Every fireman. Everyone.

John?

You told Lori you were gonna come upstairs and read her a story.

She won't go to sleep.

I'm coming, I just need to finish this report.

Are you gonna stay up all night again?

Maybe. We're narrowing down a list of suspects.

I gotta lot of work to do, honey.

-John? -What?

What's wrong?

Nothing. But you've gotta spend some time with your girls.

I'm not even their real mother.

But I'm closer to the kids than you are.

Every night you come down here and we don't see you until the morning.

As soon as this case is done, I'm all yours, I promise.

Are you getting obsessed with this guy?

No. Come here.

-God, you're beautiful. -You're changing the subject.

Do you know how much I love you?

Maybe you need to remind me every now and then.

I love you.

Hey, beautiful. You need somebody to buy you a beer?

No, thanks, officer.

-Officer? I look like a cop? -Yeah.

I'm not a cop. I'm Aaron.

Stop the press.

-What about you? -What about me?

-That's a really nice shirt. -Fuck off!

Let me shoot this thing.

-Fellas, you got a minute? -Yeah, what's up?

-Ambria, can you give me a cup too? -Kinda busy right now, Keith.

That's all right. I'm just trying to cut back right now anyway.

You remember the fabric store fire we had a week ago?

A couple years back, there was another fabric store fire,

up in Atascadero.

-Sure, so? -So I looked in the file.

It turns out that there was a whole rash of arsons the same weekend.

Just like Hyde had in Kern County. Identical MO. And guess what?

Fires all took place weekend of Symposium Four?

How the hell did you know that?

It was an arson conference. I was there.

I want everybody at that symposium

crosschecked against the list from the Fresno conference.

Any names that come up on both of these,

I'll check with the print from Craft Mart.

Let's check with Atascadero. See if they recovered any devices.

-You got it. Keith? -Yeah?

-You and Ambria? -Yeah.

It was just for a while, then she met somebody else.

Smart girl.

Fortunately, there weren't any fatalities at College Hills.

But 46 homes have been lost. Another 20 are severely damaged.

The scale of this destruction is truly massive.

-Are you thinking arson, Captain? -Yes.

That's definitely something that we have to consider.

We've had over a dozen calls so far, but no real leads.

-Nothing that we would consider hot. -Could we be talking serial arson?

Yes, we could, that's a theory that I'm mulling over.

John Orr. The man who would be king.

Bye-bye.

Hey, fellas, what's up? What do you got?

Close the door, will you?

What's up with the cloak and dagger meeting?

-This can't go beyond us. -You ID'd the print?

We narrowed the list of suspects down to 10 names.

Investigators that were at both conferences.

-And? -The print belongs to one of them.

-Already. Who is it? -It's John Orr.

Right, of course it's John Orr. Why didn't I think of that?

Why didn't I come up with that answer?

-Stop fucking with me. Who is it? -We're not kidding.

No. I can't believe that.

I can't believe it either, but the print's a match.

I don't care that the prints match, that's ridiculous.

Somebody made a mistake.

It only takes six points of comparison for a positive match.

-And how many did you find? -13.

-13? -13. Not much room for error there.

Hey, wait. I bet John handled the evidence.

You know how he always shows up to everybody's fires.

He's a workaholic, Matassa.

No, that's exactly what I thought, so I talked with Hyde.

Asked him if any outside investigators came by

to offer help that day. His answer was a very emphatic "no".

Keith, all these fires have the same MO.

We even went back and examined the hardware store fire.

Where the little kid died.

Orr was arguing with Hines that day trying to tell him it was arson.

-John was right. -Now you're calling him a murderer?

Did you ever wonder why John was so good

at finding these time-delay devices?

Because you're good at your job that makes you a suspect?

John was my partner. There's no way.

I know him better than you, man. There's no way that he was the torch.

I've known the guy for years too, but we can't ignore the facts.

Ignore the facts. Mike.

They have two sketches of the same perp.

None of the pictures look like John. What about that fact?

I don't care what you guys say.

There's a big fuck-up, and I'm gonna find it.

It is essential that you don't say anything to him.

Do you hear me?

-Don't threaten me, Matassa. -Let's calm down.

-You taking this awfully easy. -No, I'm not.

There's still a lot of gray here. But Mike's right.

Mike's right. Stop sucking up to the fucking AFT.

-You're a fireman, for Christ sake. -You can't tell John about this.

-Where are you going? -I'm going to John's.

-I'm going to snitch on you. -This is no joke.

I'm going home, if that's all right with you, big guy.

-Don't go near him. -Fuck you, Matassa.

What are you up to, baby, you don't smoke? Come on.

What are we doin' now?

Talk to me.

Where does she think you are right now?

I'm just curious what Wanda thinks you're doing

while you're fucking me.

She probably thinks I'm putting out a fire.

You are putting out a fire. Just not the kind she thinks.

Come on!

-We're not done here yet. -Sorry, my mind's somewhere else.

It's not your mind I'm after.

I know. But my ass has gotta be someplace else, too.

What's the matter with you today? You're no fun.

-I feel like I'm being played. -What are you talking about?

Whoever's setting these fires, is doing it to push my buttons.

I feel like this guy's messing with me.

You really think he's a fireman?

Yeah, and I ve got this weird feeling that it's someone that I know.

Police. Did you call?

-What? -The police.

-Did you call, ma am? -No.

We got a call about a noise in the hallway.

-Would you please come to the door? -I didn't call the police.

-Let go! -Come here, you bitch!

Let go of me, fucking asshole. What are you doing? Let go!

Move it! Before I blow your fucking head off!

No! Please, stop!

Look what you made me do.

Shut up!

What are you doing?

Somebody please help me!

I don't wanna die.

Matassa, what happened?

We got a two-roomer started in the living room. One fatality.

-What are you doing here? -I got paiged.

Where were you?

What do you mean, where was I? I was in the area, why?

Lucky you got here so quick.

Hey, Professor. They're on their way down to St. Anne's.

Who is?

This kid was acting like a hero, and he got burned up pretty bad.

Did you get to show him the sketches?

No, the kid was in shock, didn't get a chance to.

He can barely breathe.

I don't think he's in any mood for interviews.

Matassa, you guys closing in on anybody yet?

We're working on it. We ve got it under control.

It doesn't look like you got it under control.

You got another victim here. It's totally out of control.

Why don't you guys stop fucking around,

and find this guy before he kills somebody in my family.

-Somebody in your family? -Yeah.

Believe me, we wanna catch this guy every bit as much as you do.

Then fucking do it! Got enough fucking guys.

What's he doing here anyway?

He's doin' his job. Just like everybody else.

We were there like ten minutes.

Suddenly he shows up telling me he's been 911ed. What's that about?

You don't know what you're talking about.

Then you tell me. Why was he there? He burned that building.

It wasn't him. You're wrong.

-I know where he was. -Yeah? Where?

I followed John this afternoon, I tailed him to a motel.

He's having an affair.

-You happy now? -No.

Just cause the guy's getting some on the side makes him a pyro?

We've got a fingerprint. What don't you understand about that?

Run that print again because it's possible

that he handled the evidence after it was logged in.

John shows up at fires. That's what he's about.

-He's obsessed with arson. -Exactly.

Bullshit! You're using a 7-year-old fingerprint

to build evidence against a guy who practically founded my department?

I don't care what he founded.

I'm getting authority to put him under surveillance.

It's as simple as that.

God damnit, I hate that prick.

He's just trying to nail somebody. Anybody.

I would love nothing more than to see you prove John's innocence.

But, until then, Matassa he's just a stiff.

It's all about following ATF procedures. That's all.

I hope you're not siding with ATF against one of your own.

Don't give me that shit.

Besides, if he is the torch, he's not one of us.

I'm John Orr from the Glendale fire department.

-How are you feeling? -I've been better.

Sorry about what happened.

That was a very brave thing that you did.

A very stupid thing.

No. I understand you were at a party across the hall?

Yeah.

How are your eyes? Can you see okay?

-They hurt like hell. -But you can see?

-No, I'm not blind. -No, of course not.

I'm gonna show you something.

-Have you seen this man before? -Is that the guy who did it?

Why don't you tell me?

No. I've never seen that guy before.

Why would somebody do something like that?

That's a good question.

You tell yourself that arson is a problem for firefighters.

But the reality is it affects each and every one of us.

As long as there are people who get their thrills

from the relentless destruction of fire,

support for the heroes of the Glendale arson unit is vital.

Every dollar counts.

When we apprehend an arsonist, and we get him off the street

we're saving lives. Make no mistake,

your contribution is helping us defend your neighbor's businesses,

and even your families homes.

At this very moment, we are closing in

on the serial arsonist who has been terrorizing Los Angeles.

On behalf of the Glendale arson unit,

I wanna thank each and every one of you for your support.

Every dollar counts. So please give. Thank you.

Thank you.

I gotta hand it to you, John. You are a hell of a fundraiser.

Thanks, Chief.

-Keep up the good work. -I will.

-Thanks. We'll get their money. -We need it.

Your wife is here, John.

I'm so glad you're here. What did you think of the speech?

You said she was going out of town.

She was, she heard I was giving the speech, and she wanted to be here.

You know how proud she can get.

No, I don't know how proud she can get, John.

-You look beautiful. -Thanks.

I like this dress.

-Hey, baby. -Hi.

How are ya?

Kate, this is my wife, Wanda. Wanda, this is Kate.

Wanda, your wife. I've heard so much about you.

It's nice to finally put a face to the name.

We work. She's with the LAPD. We work together on fires.

-That must be very exciting. -It can be very exciting.

-It's a pleasure to meet you. -It's a pleasure to meet you.

-That's a very beautiful dress. -Thank you.

It is a nice dress. Usually I only see her in uniform.

It's nice to see her dressed up.

Hey, John.

-Hey, Keith. -How you doin', Wanda?

-How's my favorite bachelor? -Striking out.

It must be my cologne or something.

-Can you take a picture of us? -Yeah, sure.

-Why don't I just scootch? -No, come on.

Scootch in, Kate.

Get what you wanted?

Take one more. I think my eyes were closed.

Wait.

Can't wait till we get to do this in our own bed.

Me, too.

Careful with that. It's part of the costume for the boys play.

Really? My God, that's next week, isn't it?

You're really going all out this time, aren't ya?

You have no idea. It's gonna be great.

Can you hand me my smokes? Please.

-This really is a nasty habit. -No. You're my nasty habit.

Maybe not so nasty today?

I'm sorry. I've got some things on my mind.

Hey, John, how's it goin'?

What the hell are you doin' here? You slumming?

Nah, Wanda told me you were gonna be down here,

so I thought I'd come over.

You're always working so hard. Amazing.

I dropped by to tell you that they're running that print again.

In case you wanna know.

-Really? -Yeah.

-Why? Was there a match? -No, we're still waiting on the lab.

My old desk.

That was a great speech you gave.

You had those fundraisers right in the palm of your hands.

-Thanks. -No problem.

Did you ever meet Hyde before he came down to the task force?

Like maybe around the time of the Bakersfield fires?

I don't think so. Why?

Too bad. I was hoping to get a little info.

Something to grab on to.

Is there something you wanna tell me, Keith?

No, John, I'm just like you.

I'm looking for a needle in a haystack. That's all.

Now I'm John. No longer the Professor?

-You got a suspect? -No. No suspect yet.

But I keep remembering what you said.

About what?

That the only way you're gonna catch this guy

is that you recognize that it's about ego, and not fire.

There's the guy with the ego, Keith.

Looks like the only way we're gonna catch him is if I do it myself.

Marty?

-Can I speak to you, please? -Yeah, sure, Mr. Orr.

-What is it, Dad? -It's okay, honey.

-You mean privately? -Yeah.

No, not at all.

-It'll just be a minute. -Dad?

It'll be just a minute. Let me ask you a question.

-What are your intentions? -My intentions?

Towards my daughter.

-Planning to get married? -Marriage? I'm only 17.

So you're not planning to get married in the near future?

-Heck, no. -All right, good.

I have no further questions.

Don't need to have any further conversation.

You answered my question.

Stop fidgeting, man.

Matassa, this is Keith. What's going on?

Nothing. Just sit tight.

-That's it, Mr. Orr? -That's it.

Buckle up, honey.

-Is there a problem, sir? -Sorry?

-Is there a problem? -No.

We don't have a problem at all. There isn't going to be a problem

to long as my daughter is a virgin on her wedding day.

-You understand? -Yeah.

-You have a good date. -Thank you, Sir.

-Drive safe. -Yes, Sir.

-This is it. He's on the move. -Copy that.

Shit. The antenna's broken. He can see it.

Hold your position.

What just happened?

He found it. He spotted the tracking device.

Camello, let him go. Don't try and follow him.

Who's this? Put Kate on the phone, please.

Mom, it's for you.

Hold on a second. Work on your bow.

-Kate. -John.

My boys have their whole class here. It's crazy.

You're not gonna believe this. Someone's following me.

I'm being tailed. I found a tracking device under my car.

It's Wanda. She's obviously hired a private detective.

-You gotta tell her about us, John. -You're probably right.

Wait a minute!

-John, are you okay? -Holy shit!

I'm okay. I'm fine. You're right.

It's not Wanda. This is not something Wanda would do.

It didn't show up there by magic.

Remember I told you that I thought these fires

were being set by a fireman? They think it's me.

I'm telling you, this tracking thing,

it was put there by a private investigator that your wife hired.

-I see this kinda thing all the time. -It's not Wanda. I'm telling you.

These bastards think it's me.

Carrie really had a good time with Marty.

-You think so? -Yeah.

That's good.

It was very nice of you to let her go.

You're such a softie.

Sweet dreams.

-Drop the fuckin' gun. -You?

Yeah. It's me. Thought I wouldn't figure you out?

It took you long enough, Professor.

You can kiss my ass.

You're nothing! Nothing but a loser!

Mommy? Grandma?

Wanda! What the hell are you doing?

Put it down.

John. I can't believe this.

You stay down here almost every night,

and you've been writing a book.

You said you were doing your reports, trying to stop these fires.

I was. I am.

I started writing to get inside the mind of the arsonist,

and this book just evolved.

Why did you lie to me?

-Why? -I wanted to surprise you.

Sorry.

-Did you like it? -What?

What did you think of the book?

Tell you what I thought about the book?

Yeah. What'd you think?

Wanda!

I think your hero is a lot like you.

And I also think he's having an affair.

-Wanda, this is fiction. -Are you having an affair?

I wrote that to spice up the character.

To make him more interesting. This is just a novel.

Answer my question.

I can't believe you're asking me this.

I wrote this book for you and the girls.

Tell me what you thought.

I think it's a bit too close to home.

Actually, I think it's creepy. It's creepy.

What's creepy?

The rape. I didn't know pyromaniacs are also rapists.

Some are. For some, fire's like sex.

Why are you looking at me like this?

Why did you write this kind of book? Are you unhappy?

No. I love you, Wanda.

I would never do anything to jeopardize that.

It took me four marriages to find you. You're my soul mate.

You're the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.

You're the woman I want to make proud.

Do you have any idea what this family means to me?

What you and the girls mean to me? I'd never do anything to hurt you.

What do you mean, you want off?

Just think of it as a conflict of interest.

Have a seat.

Don't give me that old Feds vs. the locals cliche.

No, it's nothing like that.

There must be a good reason to want to get off the task force.

If I tell you, you gotta keep it confidential.

Okay, shoot.

Matassa's building a case against John Orr.

John Orr? You gotta be joking.

He's the best arson investigator we've ever had.

He trained half the guys on the force.

He taught you, for God's sake.

Chief, we got a print. And the print's a perfect match.

-What am I supposed to do with that? -What about the police sketches?

We interviewed the College Hills lady, and John was right,

This lady is totally unreliable.

We got two sketches that are just a coincidence.

This makes his book a whole lot stranger.

-What book? -Can you believe it?

John actually wrote a novel,

and then he had the balls to show it to Chief Gray.

-What's it about? -It's about an arsonist.

A serial arsonist who turns out to be a fireman.

And Gray never said anything about it?

He read the first few pages, and then the profanity made him stop.

But he said that if he thought about it, Orr's fictional arsonist

probably was based on the police sketches.

We gotta get this book. Let's concentrate on that.

How we gonna do it? We can't just ask for it.

-He trusts you, Keith. -No, not anymore.

I saw him the other day, and he knows we're on to him.

Remember what he said. He said it's about ego, not fire.

Camello, it's simple.

These movies you work on, there's a fire marshal, right?

You get one to tell John that he'll give the book to a producer.

Feed the ego.

Thanks a lot. It's my baby. Take care of it.

You let me know. As soon as you hear something.

You're not gonna believe this. He bought it.

I'll get it to you soon as I can.

Please. Don't hurt me!

He couldn' t have known all this.

I can't believe he wrote all this down.

Every day it seems like there's another fire around here.

Look at that, they're gonna vent the roof.

-Do what? -They're gonna put a hole in it.

So the fire has a place to go. It lets the smoke clear.

-Can you feel the heat from here? -Yeah.

It's exciting, isn't it?

How come you know so much about fire?

I'm a fireman. I'm John. John Orr.

We investigated a lot of the fires in this book.

He had you investigating his own fires.

Yeah. He investigated his own fires.

That's how he found all the devices. They were his.

If John really did the things in this book,

what about the rape of that girl?

What do you mean it doesn't ring true?

The villain's too over the top. Just for your information,

I'm investigating a case right now

where the arsonist is the arson investigator.

No, I appreciate your reading it.

Thank you.

That's the third rejection. I got it out to two other people.

To two other agencies, and they're not even returning my calls.

Don't give up on it, Dad.

There's a lot of other agents out there.

Thank you, Carrie. Goodbye. I love you.

Love you too, Daddy.

I appreciate that. That's very nice coming from you.

You have a good day. I love you.

Don't move, John! Stay where you are!

-Put your hands away from your gun! -What's going on?

In the air. Nice and easy. Get your hands up, John.

I will shoot you, John.

John, what's going on? What are you doing?

Daddy!

Stay where you are.

Get your hand away from your gun.

You're under arrest for arson.

We're gonna take you down to the station, John.

We'll explain everything, but first we're gonna read you your rights.

This is nuts.

You don't have anything on me. This is crazy.

-How 'bout a print? -How many prints?

How many? That's all you have to say?

-We've got your book, John. -My book is fuckin' fiction.

You've got the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can and will be used against you

in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney...

Those are for my classes!

Don't look at me, John.

Keith. Look at this. Look how many guns this guy has.

Ron, get a picture of this.

All these videos. It's a library of all his fires.

Look at this.

Jesus, it's Ambria!

When I look in front of me, I see only clouds.

What am I supposed to believe?

I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me the truth.

Wanda, honey, it's nothing.

I've seen these kinds of screw-ups at work all the time.

I'm gonna have this cleared up in a heartbeat.

But I need you now.

You didn't seem to need me

while you were screwing around with your policewoman.

That's over. That was nothing. You know I can't live without you.

I'm your wife, of course, I will stick by you during the trial.

But then, I want a divorce.

You're just...

You're just scared now.

But don t worry, soon everything is gonna be like the way it was.

We have to stand together on this.

Together? How am I supposed to do that?

How am I supposed to defend you?

You don't have to say anything. They have no case.

You know I love you. Don't you?

Don't you?

When this is over, I'm gonna get my divorce.

It's gonna be you and me and the kids.

It's gonna be just like we talked about.

-I need to know you're by my side. -Yeah.

You take care of your little sister. I'll be home in a blink of an eye.

I love you.

Mr. McCann, three counts of arson, 10 years each,

do you have any comments?

We will appeal. This entire trial was built on a fictional manuscript

and we will appeal.

What about the possibility of a homicide conviction?

You have my statement. I'm confident that after all the facts are in,

my client will be exonerated.

The truly great investigators step inside the mind of the arsonist.

They get right in his skull and look out his eyes.

This is what the task force was never able to do,

but they had to nail somebody,

so with a four-year-old fingerprint and work of fiction,

they built a case against me.

The truth of the matter is that an arsonist

managed to set thousands of fires without ever leaving a trace.

He taunted them, and they never got close.

You can't help but admire that.

Eventually, the arsonist was identified.

After examining all the evidence,

the jury found John Orr guilty as charged.

He is now serving four life sentences

for the deaths in the hardware store fire.

The year after Orr's conviction,

arson fires in the Los Angeles area dropped 75 percent.

His arrest sent shockwaves through the L. A. area fire departments.

It is believed to be the worst case of serial arson

in Southern California history.

If you want to catch this guy, you must recognize that it's about ego.

POINT OF ORIGIN