"Is he going to my car?" Whitney asked. "I don't know if the file is in there or not. I might have left it at the office."
"It's okay," she said, growing more suspicious of Whitney by the moment. "We'll figure it all out. How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? Were you injured by the explosion?"
"My ears are still ringing. And I hit my knees pretty hard on the ground. I need to call James's wife." She dug into the purse sitting next to her and pulled out her phone. "I need to talk to her before she hears what happened on the news."
"Of course, go ahead." She stepped back as Whitney made her call, her gaze moving down the street to the silver sedan. She'd thought she'd see Max nearby or inside, but he wasn't there, and then she glimpsed him running down the street, as if he were chasing someone.
She moved away from Whitney, following in his direction, not sure what he'd seen or who he was after, but she needed to find out. She moved into a fast jog, finally catching up to him at the end of the block. He was breathing heavily as he stared in frustration across the busy intersection.
"Who were you chasing?" she asked.
"I saw a very tall man with black hair staring at the building. I think it was the guy from Cray's building. When he saw me, he took off, jumped into his car, and disappeared into traffic. But this time, I got at least a partial plate." He rattled off a couple of numbers and letters, along with the make of the vehicle.
"Hang on." She pulled out her phone and asked him to repeat it, then sent the info to Wes. "This is good, Max."
"We'll see how good it is. He could have jacked that vehicle, and he might have already dumped it a few blocks away."
"That could still give us a clue. What about Whitney's car? Did you see anything inside?"
"Her doors were locked, and I saw no evidence of a file on the seat or the floor. I was about to come back and ask for her keys when I noticed the man looking at the building with a pleased smile on his face."
"If it was the same guy who killed Jonas, then the bombings are definitely connected."
"We know they are, Kara," he said, not a hint of doubt in his voice.
"We do," she agreed. "I also wonder if Whitney's early exit was just good luck, or if she knew she needed to be out of that building at a certain time."
"She definitely stumbled over her answers, and her car was locked."
"Let's talk to her again." They made their way back down the street, but Whitney was nowhere in sight, and her car was now gone. "She disappeared fast, but she shouldn't be difficult to find."
As she finished speaking, she saw Jason and Tyler get out of a black SUV and head straight to Ridgemont. "My team is here," she murmured.
Max gave a curt nod. "I'm going to take off."
"You should stay. You're part of this investigation."
"I doubt your team wants me to be a part of it, and I need to speak to Dominic. We'll catch up later. Let me know if you get a hit on the car. Or if you find Vincent Castellano."
"I will," she said, turning her head as she heard her name called. She walked down the street to meet up with Tyler. "Did Captain Ridgemont fill you in?"
"He did. Jason is talking to Damon Wolfe now as well," he said, motioning toward Jason, who had met up with Damon, who had just arrived on the scene with several other agents.
"This is connected to the café bombing," she told him. "I don't know how yet, but Max thinks he saw the man from Cray's apartment on the street here, smiling with pleasure at the destruction. That ties this blast to the last one." She paused. "Did you find Vincent Castellano?"
Tyler shook his head. "Wasn't home, and the super said she hadn't seen him since last weekend. She thought he might be out of town. His employer said he's been out sick all week, but he's definitely not sick at home. She let me into his apartment, because I don't think she likes him very much, and it looked like he hadn't been there in a while. She didn't let me do much of a search, had second thoughts about that when I started opening closet doors, but I found nothing noteworthy."
"Every lead we have disappears," she said in frustration. "Including a woman from the Building Department, who had the good fortune to come outside to allegedly retrieve something from her car before the bomb went off."
"Allegedly?"
"Her story had a lot of holes in it. But I have her name, and she shouldn't be too difficult to find. She was anxious about her boss, so it's possible she went to the hospital. I want to go there next and see if I can talk to any of the people who had minor injuries."
"Good idea. So, how far away were you when this happened?"
"Two blocks away. Near enough to feel the impact, but not close enough to see anything."
"You were with Malone?"
