After that, they kept circling. Every time, they landed back in the same spot. They still didn’t know whether Thad or Mi Cha had been the target. And they still had no motive for anyone to come after them.
They needed a break in the case before someone else was killed.
30
FAITH HAD LOSTtrack of time. Was it still Sunday? Had it been only one week since she’d gotten this case?
The faces around this table had become dear to her. One in particular.
Lord, is this why you brought him into my life? To help me see my own issues through his? Is it possible we can merge our messes and somehow come out better for it on the other side?Faith picked up another taco. She was two bites in when Zane’s phone rang.
Everyone stopped talking, stopped eating, and openly stared as he answered it.
“Thacker.” He listened for a moment. Then he started typing furiously. “No way. What?” More typing. “Who do you know at ATF out there?” More nodding. “Perfect.” Zane sat back in his chair. “You’re sure? This week? Okay. Yeah. Man, I owe you. Maybe my life. Literally. Holler at me tomorrow when the ME’s done. Yeah. Will do. Thanks.”
Zane set the phone on the table and shook his head. Whatever that call had been about, it had shocked him. Faith wanted to respect his need to process and then share, but if he didn’t hurry up—
“Spit it out, man. We’re dying over here.” Luke was sitting to Faith’s right, and she gave him a grateful smile.
“That was my buddy in Seattle. He got my message, grabbed an investigator friend from the sheriff’s office, and went to pay Mi Cha’s friend a visit. Found him dead. Their coroner estimates the time of death was sometime on Friday.”
“A nice, natural death?” Gil clearly didn’t expect the answer to be yes.
“Not even close. Evidence of torture.” Everyone around the table winced. “When they cleared the house, they found a workshop—but not your regular woodworking workshop. This was a bomb-making workshop.”
There was a collective intake of breath.
“And?” Faith prompted.
“My buddy has a friend at ATF. They’re already on scene. He was able to tell the ATF team about the possible connection to our case. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear from them soon. They’re already checking to see if they can find matching components to the bomb that killed Thad and Mi Cha, assuming it was her, the bomb that killed Jared, and the bombs on our cars. He said we could have preliminary results as early as this week.”
Faith wanted to scream. As early as this week. If they were very, very lucky. Next week, or even next month, was more likely. She understood protocols and methods and how crucial it was for labs to follow their procedures, but they didn’t have time for this.
“He did have one specific piece of information though.”
“You’re killing us slowly, man.” Luke glared at Zane.
“I’m waiting for the email.”
“You could give us a hint?” Tessa asked the question so sweetly that if you only heard her say it, you would think she was the gentlest creature in the world. But if you saw her face as Faith did, you would be afraid. There was some next-level crazy lurking under there, and based on the way Zane’s hands lifted in apacifying motion, Faith suspected he knew exactly how bad it could get.
“Hang on.” Zane widened his eyes at Tessa. “It’s coming.”
Tessa leaned toward Faith and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’m going to kill him myself if this lasts much longer.”
Zane crowed with delight—or was it relief?—when an image filled his screen. “I’ve seen that before.”
Everyone stood and crowded around Zane’s laptop. It was a bomb. Faith knew that much.
“So have I.” Luke’s confirmation came with a slight shudder that Faith doubted anyone but she had noticed.
“What’s special about it?” Jacob removed his glasses and focused his attention on Luke and Zane.
“That’s the bomb that was under Zane’s car.” Luke spoke with certainty.
“How do you know?” Jacob pushed back. “It looks like a block of C-4 with some wires.”
“Yes, but it looks exactly like the one under the car. And this”—Luke pointed to a spot on the screen that showed a particularly nasty mass of wires—“is what convinced me that we had to move away from the car as fast as we could.”
