BENN
The boarding house near Odall's eats, where Anabelle was killed. Torched by a firebomb of some sort.
The Lorelei--the façade scorched but nothing else destroyed. And no one badly hurt. And Benn's team found signs of a firebomb there, too, similar to what was used on the boarding house but perhaps smaller. No witnesses reported actually seeing the arsonists--but strangers coming and going at odd hours would hardly be unusual in a brothel and a bomb might be concealed.
Reports of the other fires come trickling in to Benn's house by runners sent from the gendarmes, one at a time until , by the time the weary investigator has finished his late breakfast, he has received word of no fewer than ten fires in the city:
The boarding house where Anabelle was murdered
The Lorelei
two private residences on Fifth Street
a gain silo on the riverfront--still smoldering...
the Cathedral of Ezra (minimal damage to an outbuilding)
the abandoned house in the River Quarter where Sara , Raen, and Kat fought monsters and goons (the report sounds as if this arson was in daylight hours--possibly, the report is describing Raen's magical attacks?)
a print shop belong to Benn's friend, Thom
and a home in the Gundarakite neighborhood
No fatalities, but several injuries. The reports don't indicate firebombs, or any specific origin for the several fires.
A note from Captain Thibault invites Benn and his party to confer about these blazes, if the party so wishes.
Another message arrives after Benn's meal. Without Hornsby, Benn is left to meet callers at his own door.
The boy who hands it over is not one of the kids who'd given messages from the gendarmes, this morning.
He doesn't hang about after depositing the message in Benn's hand, but skedaddles without even waiting for a tip.
Unfolding the paper, Benn sees words stamped in a variety of typefaces, jumbled together: