“Can I get a hold of you?” She pushed harder.
“I will get in touch with you.”
Katie stepped toward the trees as he disappeared. She heard footsteps, but the man was gone. She wasn’t sure if the meeting was good, bad, or indifferent.
After a few more minutes, while Katie digested what was said, she shivered from the realization they were being watched—possibly by more than one person.
TWENTY-FIVE
Thursday 0705 hours
Katie updated McGaven about her meeting with Buck and they pondered on what it all meant as they waited for John to let them know he was ready for them.
“You have to realize that maybe this is all a ruse,” said McGaven.
“Ruse?” She giggled. “I don’t think I’ve heard that word in a long time.”
“You know—like a scam, ploy, or some type of hoax to divert you from the investigation. Maybe he’s feeding you disinformation.”
“I know what ‘ruse’ means—my partner, a walking talking thesaurus.”
“I’m serious Katie. I think we should take anything he says with a grain of salt.”
“I hear you… and yes, we’re following leads that we’ve been given,” she said. “What’s with the term ‘grain of salt’?”
“What about a grain of salt? That sounds like forensic terminology to me,” said John, smiling as he joined thedetectives. He carried several folders and two computer memory sticks. Katie noticed he looked tired. “You ready?”
“Yes, we’re ready,” she said.
“Lead on,” said McGaven.
They entered the large forensic examination room. Katie wasn’t sure but the room looked more cluttered with evidence than the last time she had been in there.
“I will send you photos of everything discussed today,” said John. “Let’s start with the fun one.” He led the detectives to the trap apparatus that had been dissected into quarters and cut crosswise to reveal the long metal threaded rods giving the branch more strength and stability to do its job.
“You may think it’s fun, but that thing could have taken our heads off,” said McGaven.
“Yes, it could have. It was constructed with a moderate amount of skill. Meaning that whoever devised it was intent on harm—not just scaring people away.”
Katie shuddered.
“That’s ominous,” said McGaven.
“It was actually genius. The person who prepared this made extra sure that everything used was mostly from the environment—with the exceptions of the fake leaves and a few items from the hardware store.”
Katie and McGaven took a closer look.
“Why those long metal rods?” she asked. “And not screws or some type of rivets?”
“Good question, but screws, nails or any other type of fastener would most likely cause the branch to splinter and lose strength.”
“Okay,” said McGaven as he wrote down some notes. “I’m assuming local hardware stores sell these by the millions?”
“You might want to check stores that sell supplies for construction work,” said John. He eyed the detectives. “But I bet there’s a surplus of these on site.”
“We can have the supervisor meet us there to unlock some of those storage containers,” she said. “And find out who had keys and access. It’s a place to start. Whoever built this had to have engineering or construction knowledge and expertise.”
“And if the supervisor says no?” said McGaven.
