Nothing. No permits filed, no contractor visits logged, no building inspections scheduled or completed.
Whatever he'd been doing, he'd been doing it off the books.
"James, call Morrison. See if Duluth PD has had any contact with Bellamy recently. Complaints, welfare checks, anything."
While James made the call, Isla continued digging. She found Bellamy's vehicle registration—a 2015 Ford F-150, gray, registered in his name. She pulled traffic camera footage requests for the area around Access Point 7, hoping to find evidence of his truck near the scene last night.
The footage was still being compiled, but preliminary results showed several vehicles in the vicinity between midnight and 1 AM. She'd need to review them all carefully, but at least they had a starting point.
"Morrison says they did a welfare check on Bellamy about two months ago," James reported, ending his call. "Neighbors complained about strange noises coming from his house at night—grinding sounds, electrical humming, something they described as 'unsettling.' Officers knocked on his door, talked to him briefly. He was polite but refused to let them inside, said he was doing some hobby work in his garage. No probable cause to push further, so they left."
"Hobby work," Isla murmured. "In a garage that's drawing enough power to worry his neighbors."
She pulled up Google Street View, looking at Bellamy's house from the outside. It was a modest single-story structure in a quiet residential area, with a detached two-car garage that looked slightly newer than the main house. The garage had no windows, just a solid roll-up door and what appeared to be heavy-duty electrical conduits running from the main house to the garage structure.
"I want to see inside that garage," Isla said.
"We'll need a warrant."
"Then let's get one." Isla started compiling their evidence—the text messages to Langford, Bellamy's termination for unauthorized system access, his specialized knowledge of thermal systems, the suspicious activity at his house. It wasn't conclusive proof of murder, but it was enough to establish probable cause for a search warrant.
She was reaching for her phone to call the Assistant U.S. Attorney when James held up his hand, his expression changing as he read something on his screen.
"Isla. Bellamy's neighbors. One of them filed a more detailed complaint with the city three weeks ago." He looked up, his blue eyes intense. "She said she saw Bellamy surveilling people in the neighborhood. Taking photos of residents, recording their routines. She thought he might be planning a break-in or stalking someone."
"Did she report it to police?"
"She tried. Filed a report with Duluth PD. But without any actual criminal activity, they couldn't do much beyond making a note of it." James scrolled down. "The neighbor's name is Cindy Kim. She lives two houses down from Bellamy. According to her statement, he would sit in his truck across the street at odd hours, watching people come and go, writing things down in a notebook."
Isla felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. Surveillance. Documentation. Obsessive monitoring of behavior patterns.
This was looking less like a simple revenge killing and more like something calculated and methodical.
"We need to talk to Cindy Kim," she said. "And we need that warrant for Bellamy's house. If he's been preparing for this for months—"
"Then David Langford might not have been his only target," James finished grimly.
The implication hung in the air between them. If Bellamy had been surveilling people, documenting routines, planning methodically, then what they were looking at might not be a single murder driven by workplace grievance. It might be something far worse.
Isla pushed away from her desk, adrenaline cutting through the exhaustion that had been creeping up on her. "Get me everything you can find on the other two people Langford named in his complaint—Thomas Sanders and Rebecca Whitmore. Iwant to know if they're safe, if they've had any contact with Bellamy, if they've noticed anything unusual."
"On it." James was already typing.
Isla pulled out her phone and dialed Kate's direct line. The call connected immediately.
"Rivers. Tell me you have something."
"We have a suspect. Russ Bellamy, former thermal systems technician fired six months ago for unauthorized access to the tunnel network's digital controls. He has the knowledge to modify the temperature systems, and he was named in a formal complaint filed by our victim three weeks ago."
"Evidence placing him at the scene?"
"Text messages from a burner phone luring Langford to the tunnels. We're working on getting traffic camera footage confirmed. And there's concerning behavior—neighbors reporting surveillance activity, excessive power usage at his residence, refusal to let police inside during a welfare check."
Kate was quiet for a moment, processing. "That's probable cause. I'll call Judge Henderson, get you a search warrant expedited. How long until you can be ready to execute?"
Isla glanced at the clock. 7:43 AM. "Two hours. I want to review Bellamy's background more thoroughly, talk to the neighbors, make sure we have our case built before we show up at his door."
"Good. Coordinate with Morrison, bring tactical support. If Bellamy is our killer, he's demonstrated a willingness to torture and murder. I don't want you walking into a situation without backup."
