“So who is he?” Ryleigh asked.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Kelsey said.
“Along with what happened to Gates.” Ryleigh let everything they’d learned so far run through her brain but didn’t come up with an answer as to where the guy might be.
“Maybe hewasinvolved in setting the bomb,” Kelsey said. “Maybe even set them both, and no one was supposed to die, but when Gates heard about the body, he went underground.”
Finn nodded. “Sounds possible, but why leave his vehicle behind?”
“It’s a very distinct model,” Ryleigh said. “Maybe he ditched it to fly under law enforcement’s radar.” She looked at her phone.“Kelsey, have you called Russ with this information?”
“I tried,” she said. “But got his voicemail and had to leave a message to call me. Oh wait, he’s calling me back now. Got to go.” Kelsey ended the call.
Finn jumped up and started pacing. “Okay, so Keenan is dead. How do we start looking for Gates or an unknown bomber?”
Finn’s fidgeting made Ryleigh nervous, and she got up too. She strode around the room pondering the leads. A few minutes of pacing and she stopped next to Finn. “My first thought is the video footage.”
“But Russ reviewed all of it, and there wasn’t anyone who didn’t have a legit reason for coming to the office.”
“True.”
“Then do we need to start looking at people who had a legit reason for being there or just focus on Gates?” Finn asked.
Ryleigh’s phone rang. “It’s Russ.”
She answered. “I assume you talked to Kelsey.”
“I did,” he said. “With Keenan dead, there’s no point in hanging out at the motel, so I’ll send Carla to lockup until we can figure this all out and head back to my office.”
“Shocking news, right?” Ryleigh asked.
“Yeah. If Gates isn’t our victim, he could be our bomber. I put out an alert on him, but without his current vehicle, it’ll be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.”
“We should’ve done a better job,” Ryleigh said. “We thought we knew where he was so we haven’t been looking for him. That stops now. We can have Nick and Colin try to find credit card activity for him. Maybe for a hotel or rental car. Or maybe he owns another vehicle.”
“I just ran his particulars through DMV,” Russ said, his radio squawking in the background. “Only vehicle registered to him is the Jeep Gladiator, but I’ll text Colin and Nick to start looking for other details.”
“Let’s hope they find something soon.” She looked at the clock and the time was nearing eight p.m. “We only have about twelve hours before you have to call in the feds.”
“Don’t count us out yet.” His intensity and determination flowed through the phone. “We still have time to find a last-minute lead, so let’s get after it.”
23
Finn couldn’t take any more of sitting and looking at a computer. He and Ryleigh had dug into the Sovereign Earth members provided by Colin. For a solid hour they’d reviewed internet articles, trying to find out who could be behind the bombs. Ryleigh was in her element, but he was an action guy, not a sit and ponder guy. He’d been spoiled by analysts who’d done this work for his team—presenting him with the problem and the details behind it. Then his team formed a plan and executed it. The exact opposite of this drawn-out investigation without many leads.
“I can’t sit here anymore.” He got up to pace, instantly releasing tension with each step.
Ryleigh peered at him over the top of her laptop. “There’s got to be a lead in here somewhere.”
He spun to face her. “But where? We’ve looked at each ecoterrorist on Colin’s list and none of them give us any reason to believe they would suddenly become bombers.”
“Doesn’t mean they didn’t do it.” She crossed her arms as if for emphasis on her statement’s validity. “I think it’s time to have Nick and Colin switch their focus to a nationwide search of Sovereign Earth members who embrace any type of violence.”
More research, but at least Finn didn’t need to do it. “Agreed, but it feels like we’re starting over.”
“Not totally.” She shook out her arms. “We’ve eliminated a lot of things, but I get your point.”
He went back to the table and rested his hands on a chair back. “More research will take time. Time we don’t have. I know Russ hoped to resolve this by morning, but doesn’t look like that’ll happen.”
