“Darnell, ask him if he has a copy of the 911 call.”
Darnell relayed Vaughn’s question.
“Send it. And get the other vics printed already!”
They were running out of leads. Aaron Treadman’s security card had been used to gain access to the gas. Someone—probably also using Treadman’s still active credentials—had overwritten the security footage. Darnell had implied that building the rooms within the barn was an easy task. Could be done in an evening or two by a non-skilled laborer.
No one noticed cars coming or going last night. No vehicles left at the scene.
It was possible that Aaron himself was behind all of this and had just lost at his own game, but Vaughn didn’t put much stock in this half-brained theory.
Whoever put all this together had to have a modicum of intelligence, foresight, and planning.
Locking yourself in a room filling with hydrogen sulfide gas didn’t fit this truncated profile. Nor did prime numbers. What the hell is with the prime numbers?
“Take a listen.”
Darnell played the recording.
The voice on the line was clearly altered, distorted. The highs and lows condensed.
“Gas leak. Ten dead.” The voice—probably male, but that too could have been changed—spat the address next. Then the call abruptly ended.
“When was the call made?”
“This morning. 1:32 a.m.”
“And Dr.Button said that the victims died at 1:30,” Vaughn noted.
“Plus/minus thirty minutes,” Darnell said, imitating the ME’s nasal voice.
“Still, the person called either right before, right after, or during the gas leak.”
No, it couldn’t have been Aaron Treadman. No cell phones were found at the scene.
“Let me guess, the 911 call came from a burner phone?”
“Burner phone,” Darnell confirmed, staring at his screen.
Unlike their depiction in popular TV shows, burner phones could be tracked. Each phone was equipped with a unique IMEI number. Calls made from a particular cell, irrespective of a SIM card or lack thereof, could be traced back to the device. Moreover, the location of a device that dials 911 was also automatically tracked to the nearest cell phone tower and the position triangulated in case the person was in distress and unable to tell the operator their address.
“You have the data on where the 911 call was made from?”
“Delaney.”
“When we find out where, we should do a drive by. I doubt—”
“Delaney.”
“What about canvassing local hardware stores? See if anyone loaded up on drywall and lumb—”
“Delaney.”
“Trying to find the victims’ cars?”
“Delaney.”
“Looking at the victims’ shoes?”
