He glanced at Emily. “And yes, I found information to support this. Our guy had a boyfriend. It took a lot of digging, but I found these pics loaded up.”
Sure enough, Hiller stood behind another man, both of them smiling into the camera and Hiller had his arms around the other man.
“So, either scenario doesn’t work? What if he were a bisexual?” El asked.
“That wouldn’t work because the person pushed to annihilate the object of his obsession wouldn’t have time for a real relationship. Or at least one this deep. And truth is, if he were bisexual and hiding that from the CIA, he would be more likely to kill off the same sex partner, rather than the female he was obsessed about.”
“Wait, wasn’t there DNA found?” Eden asked.
“Yes, there was, and they were all identified that way,” Emily said. “But it wouldn’t be hard for a man like Michael Underwood to slip into the computer system to change that.”
The puzzle pieces were linking together and he looked at Miko. “You think he was the killer?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “He actually fits the profile of a family annihilator very well.”
She was keeping her voice low and modulated, something he appreciated. If this theory proved to be true, Lila had a lot more to deal with.
“Since I don’t have the background any of you all do, can you explain that?” Jenner asked.
Miko nodded. “And the spies have no idea what I’m talking about. They think they know everything, but they do not.”
“Fine, explain it to all of us then,” Ian said.
“Family annihilators are always the kind of guys that most would say he was such a good family man or woman. They seemingly support their families, but inside the family, they are much different. There is little support for the spouse or children behind the scenes.”
“I went back through some of Lila’s school records. Her father never showed up for any parent-teacher conference. Which, sometimes that means that parent might not have a job he or she can take off to come to the meetings,” Emily said.
“But her mother was the higher-ranking analyst, right?” Jenner asked.
“Yeah, and let’s be honest,” El said. “If the dude wanted off, he could get it. He wasn’t in the field. He had what could be considered a somewhat normal high level DC job. They are encouraged to act like they have a regular government job, meaning they show up for things.”
“And her father didn’t,” Miko said. “So, when I was profiling Lila, I started to see a pattern. She praised her mother. She barely mentioned her father. Then there were the money problems.”
“The Underwoods were in a lot of financial trouble. Well…Michael would have been if Eloise divorced him. I wondered why they kept all their money separate. They’d been married about fifteen years,” Emily said. She was raised in a very tight knit family, so he understood the disbelief in her voice.
“I know a lot of people who do that in the business,” he said, glancing at Eden, who nodded.
“So we have a man in financial trouble, a marriage that was falling apart thanks to his arrogance?—”
“How do you know that?” Jenner said interrupting Miko.
“I read his performance reports. His superiors were questioning his loyalty.”
“To his country?” Ian asked. Lila might not have picked up on it, but she was twelve. What do you notice about your parents at that point in your life?
She nodded. “You know spy organizations will flag any money issues because that could make the subject open to blackmail.”
The back of his neck tingled once more, but he ignored it. He was becoming obsessed with Lila. The only way to protect her was to keep his head in the game.
“This is all interesting,” Jenner said in a voice that told Ian he did not, in fact, think it was interesting. “But what does it have to do with our case?”
Emily made a noise of irritation. Ian looked at her. “What?”
“The initial blood typing showed the person who died in the bomb—the adult male—had B-positive blood.”
“And?” He asked the question even though he knew the answer.
“Michael was O-positive. All of the Underwoods had the same blood type.”
