“That’s why you’re here. To do the work and make him look good?” Wes asked.
“I have a job to do. And at this point, he doesn’t interfere,” Hartung said.
“The parents are picking up their children starting at 0900. I want a go at them once more before they leave. They all should have hangovers and headaches. Would you like to join me?” Wes’s brow quirked.
Keith chuckled. “Yeah. Clearly, from your findings earlier in the week, they’ve been using the cabins as a drinking spot. This is fairly isolated. I’d like to know how they knew they were here.
“Virginia State Police are heading here to run the crime scene. The coroner’s office is picking up Mr. Marx and Mr. Conway’s bodies, as well as the newborn.” The lieutenant looked down.
“Good. We need that DNA ASAP.” Wes didn’t mention he’d taken a sample. “Keith, I’d like you to visit the Knolls again. This all happened on the edge of their property.”
“They’re my next stop.” Hartung pressed his lips together.
“When we were in the market to purchase the forty acres between us and the Knolls, we encountered a bidding war. Our legal people were told that some of the town council objected to our intent to buy. No one would admit to anything when we asked directly. I was planning to head to the local business owners meeting when the FBI picked me up. My XO Chris Paulsen went in my absence, but I look like an absent leader.”
Keith shook his head. “And if you tell them where you were…”
“Yeah. Now let’s roll the tape. Last evening, while two of Chase Security’s tactical teams were training, lasers were shined in their direction, causing three members to be involved in a serious fall.
“Twenty minutes later, a group of investigators, while searching for the perpetrators, found eight high school students in the cabin beside the one that burned down the evening prior. We found them in possession of five lasers with pinpoint focus, two cases of beer—Bud Light. Four bottles of white wine, two bottles of tequila, a bottle of Fireball, a bottle of vodka, plus multiple nickel bags of pot.
“In the process of a continued search, an eight-person squad moved toward the third cabin. As best as I can put it together, when Marx opened the door, it exploded toward him and Conway, killing them. The third man in received serious burns and fractured ribs.” Wes detailed the other injuries. “At the time we were evacuating the injured, one of our helos crashed as it was coming in to land after its tail was destroyed. NTSB is on their way in. Thankfully, no one was injured.”
“Two of your deputies were present at the time of the explosion with a supervisor to investigate underage drinking. Who called it in?”
“It came in as an anonymous call. It’s blowing like a gale with heavy rains and flooding. Nothing is moving, and someone calls in youths drinking.”
“Report said your people handled those kids well.” Hartung smiled.
“What did they think? We were going to use brass knuckles and thumb screws? They were a bunch of intoxicated kids. I doubt they realized what they did, and I don’t think they were responsible for the explosives,” Wes said, irritated.
Keith held his hand up. “No…I was trying for a compliment. What I do know is it doesn’t make sense—the call. And the explosives. I think they were there for your people. I think the kids were lucky. Bomb squad and fire marshals spoke with Kip Brennan. We should know more this afternoon. What we need to figure out is why does someone want you either away from or occupied with that area?”
Wes rubbed his knee. “I didn’t think of the occupied thing. If my focus was there, where wasn’t it?”
“The newborn. We need to wait on the coroner. I think it was found by chance,” Keith said. “My people will be joining your crime scene exploration this morning.”
Keith opened his briefcase. “The body from the fire was twenty-three-year-old Amber Totten. She went missing sixteen months ago from a bar in Leesburg. She was a social worker at the Coventry School.”
Wes maintained a poker face. That was the same school Eleanor worked at. “Cause of death?”
“Amniotic fluid embolism to the brain. She was postpartum. The medical examiner found three X’s carved deep into the dermis. Almost to the muscle. She also had multiple deep injection marks to her buttocks. Still waiting on the tox screen. But this is not a typical cause of death for a homicide. No signs of pre-mortem trauma.”
“God, was the baby we found hers?” Wes’s eyes widened.
“Waiting on the DVA.”
“VICAP come up with anything?” Wes asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. Within the last five years, they found twenty-seven missing under similar circumstances and ten dead all with similar medical causes. I’ve requested the files from each jurisdiction. But I was talking with my dad. He reminded me of a case from an FBI bulletin from sixteen or so months ago. I forgot about it; my wife’s mom died, and we were out of town.
“We got a bulletin from the FBI about five years ago, a pair of Leesburg sisters went missing out of a club in Fredericksburg. Fifteen months ago, one of the sisters was found in a barn, scantily dressed and hypothermic. When I inquired about that case after we had our second death, I was told the witness was no longer cooperating, and it was the FBI’s position she was likely involved. But with little evidence, they decided to wait her out.”
“They told you or provided a file?” Wes’s jaw ticked.
“Arrogant asshole. Spoke to him. I got the feeling he was blowing smoke. He didn’t seem to be empathetic to the woman,” Hartung said.
“Keith, did he say why they thought she was involved?” Wes asked.
