“Next to Dr. Dunbar is her assistant, Shawn Fortune.”
A skinny guy with thinning hair saluted.
“Then we have Sierra Rice, trace evidence and fingerprint analysis, and next, her assistant, Chad Powell, and lab tech, Jeremiah Paulson.”
Sierra’s blond hair hung over her shoulders, and she flashed a kind smile. The guy with thinning dark hair and a slight build was very forgettable. Not so with Jeremiah, who was tall and wiry, and his red hair would’ve competed with yesterday’s fiery flames.
“To his right is Nick Thorn, who I believe you have been communicating with,” Blake continued.
Nick’s close-cut beard matched his brown hair, and the cocky angle of his head said he wasn’t a guy who was used to being forgotten.
“Second row left side we have Ainslie Houston, crime scene photographer, and the guy next to her is her husband Grady Houston, expert in everything that goes boom.”
Grady laughed and waved his hand, but Ainslie rolled her eyes.
“Next to him is our latest hire, Trent Ingram. He’s a ballistics, firearms, and explosives expert too and works with Grady, but his forte is explosives.”
“Good to meet you both,” Trent said but smiled at Ryleigh. A smile she returned for the dark-haired guy with a heavy five-o-clock shadow.
“Last but not least, we have Chelsea Vale, our new crime scene photographer.”
The curvy woman wore her hair in french braids, resembling Avery’s, and had a girl-next-door face covered in freckles.
“That’s it,” Blake said. “I don’t expect you’ll remember all the names, but we’ll help you out if you forget. We should begin with the recovery of remains.” He turned to the team. “Let’s get things set up.”
The team disbursed, including his wife, heading for the vans, but he remained in place. “I’d like a quick tour of the property while they unload supplies and set up a command center that I will pilot.”
“We’ll be glad to show you around,” Ryleigh said.
“Do you need protective gear?” he asked.
“We’re good.” Ryleigh dug blue booties and gloves from her suit coat and handed a set to Finn.
“Then let’s get after it.” He started down the incline.
Finn didn’t have a hard time believing this guy to be a former sheriff or as someone who could coordinate this high-profile team. And he could easily understand why Ryleigh suggested bringing in this team. No doubt they could cover a lot of ground and get answers far faster than any government agency with limited resources could do.
At the bottom of the incline, Ryleigh held out her hand toward the destroyed structures. “Finn, why don’t you lead the tour. You know the buildings better than I do.”
“Start where the bomb detonated,” Blake said. “That way I can get Kelsey going first thing.”
“That would be the back.” Finn paused to put on his booties as did the others.
He skirted well around the first two buildings, memories of the hot flames from yesterday coming back. He didn’t really fear death. A guy who deployed as a SEAL couldn’t and do his job well. He could have a healthy respect for staying alive though. And he did have his list of ways he would never want to go. Number one being tortured by the enemy, and number two, in a fire where the smoke didn’t kill him before the flames took over.
He stopped next to tall stacks of unprocessed logs that had survived the fire. “Understanding the process here should help you see why the bomb was set where it was. It starts with the loggers. They cut the trees to size in the field, but when they arrive here, they go into the de-barker, which is the big green machine you see just down the road.”
“What do they do with all the bark?” Blake asked.
“It’s turned into wood chips and sold.” Finn pointed at a collapsed conveyer belt. “The log then goes via this conveyor belt if it were still standing inside this back building. If the crew isn’t ready for the log inside, it’s stacked in these piles until they are ready. However, they don’t keep a massive inventory of logs on hand as they dry out when sitting here.”
He gestured at the collapsed structure. “First step inside the building is for the worker to square off the log using a computer-aided machine. Then it moves on to building two, where a laser is used to make sure they’re the right width. Then they move on to building three, where they’re graded and sorted into stacks that are ready to go off to the supplier. Gonna cost the owner a pretty penny to replace those computer-aided machines.”
“So the bomber started in the back building because if the equipment was destroyed it would stop the entire process,” Blake said. “And the victim is in that building?”
Finn nodded. “Follow me.”
Blake looked at Finn as they walked. “From what you told me, no one was supposed to be onsite. Do you have any idea why this person was here?”
