Chain Reaction (18 page)

When Mrs Fitzpatrick answered the knock on the door, she immediately turned to Lucinda, extended her hand and said, ‘I’m Tara Fitzpatrick. You must be Sergeant Colter.’

‘No,’ Lucinda said, shaking her hand, ‘I’m Lieutenant Pierce. And this is Sergeant Colter.’

‘Oh,’ Mrs Fitzpatrick said, without offering a palm to Robin, ‘do come in.’

Lucinda looked over at Robin and nodded – the sergeant sure nailed that one.

Mrs Fitzpatrick called up the staircase, ‘Ellie, they’re here.’

As a young, frail, pale girl walked down the stairway, it was obvious why her brother felt she needed protection. Long straight hair hung in her face like a shield from the outside world. Every step she took seemed tentative, as if any loud noise would make her run for cover. She looked more like a fifth grader than a freshman in high school. Her eyes stayed focused on the floor as she muttered, ‘Hello.’

‘Sit down, Ellie, and speak up,’ her mother said. ‘They won’t bite; they just want to ask you a few questions. Lieutenant?’

‘Hello, Ellie. I’m Lieutenant Pierce. Sergeant Colter wants to ask you a few questions about your friend, David Baynes. Sergeant?’

‘He’s dead,’ Ellie said with a sigh.

‘Yes,’ Robin said, ‘we’re sorry that you lost your friend. We want to know, did you write David a note before he died?’

‘Yes,’ she said without looking up from the floor. ‘About a week before.’

‘What did you write?’

‘I asked him to make Kev stop.’

‘Stop what, Ellie?’

‘Sticking stuff in my locker.’

‘What kind of stuff?’

‘Dead bugs – mostly cockroaches,’ she said through curling lips.

‘Just bugs? How did you know he was the one who did that?’

‘He stuck them in envelopes with notes. He said he’d set a bomb in there to stink me out.’

Robin and Lucinda exchanged a look of alarm. ‘A bomb, Ellie?’ Lucinda asked. ‘Are you sure about that? Did you keep any of his notes?’

‘Yeah, I’m sure but I didn’t keep the notes,’ she said.

‘Where is your locker, Ellie?’

‘By the office – well, it was – it was blown to pieces in the explosion.’

‘What’s Kev’s last name?’ Lucinda asked.

‘And where can we find him?’ Robin added.

Ellie lifted her head for the first time and looked at the two women, one at a time. ‘If you’re thinking Kev blew up the school, you’re wrong. He wasn’t talking about that kind of bomb; he was talking about a stink bomb. He’s just a pest, an annoying geek. He wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t do that.’

‘His full name and address, Ellie,’ Lucinda ordered.

‘Kevin, Kevin Blackwood, but his address won’t do you any good; he’s still in the hospital.’

‘Still? How long has he been there?’ Lucinda asked.

‘Two weeks.’

‘That’s a long time. What’s wrong with him?’

‘He’s stupid,’ Ellie said.

‘Ellie!’ Mrs Fitzpatrick scolded. ‘That is not an acceptable word.’

‘Well, he is, Mom. He jumped off Creekview Bridge on a dare and broke every bone in his feet and his legs, too. That’s stupid.’

‘We’ll need to verify that,’ Robin said.

‘His house is just two doors down,’ Mrs Fitzpatrick said, pointing east.

‘I’ll be right back,’ Robin said.

‘Ellie,’ Lucinda said, drawing the girl’s attention back. ‘Did you know any of David’s friends?’

‘My brother,’ Ellie said. ‘But David wasn’t really my friend; we didn’t hang out or anything. He’d just help me if I had a problem.’

‘Do you know anyone who had a grudge against David?’

Ellie shrugged. ‘No.’

‘What about Fred Garcia?’

‘Who?’

‘The groundskeeper who died.’

‘Oh, Mr Fred, yeah. He was really nice.’

‘Do you know any kids who were angry at him?’

‘Mad at Mr Fred? No. Everybody liked Mr Fred.’

‘Do you know any kids who were angry about school?’

Ellie laughed with a bitter edge. ‘Lots of them. But I don’t know anybody who knows how to build a bomb – I didn’t think David did. Nobody tells me nothing.’

‘No one tells you
anything
, Ellie,’ Mrs Fitzpatrick said, correcting her daughter. ‘But I sincerely doubt that statement is true.’

Ellie rolled her eyes. ‘I got homework. Is that all?’

‘Yes, thank you, Ellie,’ Lucinda said, handing her a card. ‘Call me if you think of anything else.’

Ellie shrugged and walked upstairs.

‘Thank you for coming, Lieutenant,’ Mrs Fitzpatrick said. ‘I doubt that sergeant could have handled the interview so well.’

‘I did not come here because I had any concerns about how Sergeant Colter would handle the interview with your daughter, Mrs Fitzpatrick. I am here because we could not trust you.’

‘Excuse me!’

‘Sergeant Colter’s very professional, very competent and very bright. I know it is difficult for you to look at the color of her skin and believe that, but it’s true.’

‘I never—’

‘Spare me,’ Lucinda said and walked out the door. Returning to the car, she was joined by Robin a few minutes later.

Leaning against the car, Robin spoke through Lucinda’s open window. ‘Yes, indeed,’ she said. ‘Kevin Blackwood has been in the hospital since a week before the explosion. His grandmother was there and she said he still has more surgeries before he has physical therapy to walk again.’

‘Well, that sure was a dead end. Let me know if you find anything else.’

R
eturning to the Justice Center, Lucinda worked on a handwritten report about her morning’s hunting expedition. Across the top of it she wrote: ‘For Captain Holland’s Eyes Only.’ In the middle of writing about her interview with Tilly Campbell, she picked up the phone and called Marguerite Spellman. ‘Hey, Spellman, am I remembering correctly that you said the explosion at the high school might have been caused by a fertilizer bomb?’

‘I thought you’d been taken off of this case, Lieutenant.’

‘I’m just curious. Someone said something to me today and I was wondering if I should report it to the lead investigator, that’s all.’

‘Knowing you for all these years, I can’t help but think that you are spinning the truth a bit but I’ve never been very good at stonewalling you, have I, Lieutenant?’

‘No reason to start now, is there? It might look suspicious.’

Marguerite laughed. ‘Yes, that is what I said at the scene and in fact, since then, I’ve gotten confirmation – the explosive substance was ammonium nitrate, a commonly used fertilizer.’

‘Thanks, Spellman. Good to know.’

‘Someday I’ll get the whole story, right?’

‘Scout’s honor, Spellman,’ Lucinda said and hung up the phone.

That meant that Lucinda still had to include Tilly on her suspect list, even though her instinct told her that it was a very long shot. Brittany Schaffer would go on the top of the list for the moment. On the other hand, Chet Bowen was so unlikely it was laughable.

Captain Holland raced past her office door, shouted, ‘Whoa,’ then stuck his head through the opening. ‘My office, now, Pierce,’ and he was off again.

What now?
Lucinda wondered as she grabbed her incomplete report and followed him down the hall.

As soon as she set foot in his office, Holland said, ‘Where is Special Agent in Charge Jake Lovett?’

‘I don’t know, sir.’

‘Do you have any idea where he was planning to go today?’

‘No, sir. I got a message from him saying that he might not get back tonight but he didn’t say where he was going.’

‘Are you holding out on me, Pierce?’

‘No, sir. If it was part of the investigation, he wouldn’t have said anything to me on the phone. He wouldn’t want anyone to know he was violating orders to leave me out of the loop.’

‘Are you saying he thinks his phone’s tapped? Is this pure paranoia or does he have something to back that suspicion?’

‘He does think his phone might be tapped. When I questioned him on that point, he told me that when the FBI and ATF are working together, anything is possible.’

‘Yeah, he’s got that right,’ Holland said with a nod. ‘But you have no idea of where he might have gone.’

‘No, sir. What’s going on?’

‘No one has been able to reach him for hours.’

‘Hours?’ Lucinda said. She whipped out her iPhone and punched Jake’s name on her favorites list. Her heart sank when it went straight to voicemail. ‘Hey, Jake, just as soon as you can, call me. It’s important.’ She looked at Holland. ‘Nope, I couldn’t get him, either. When did anyone last talk to him?’

‘He called his office and said he’d be on the road and wouldn’t have the best reception at all times, but that was almost five hours ago. They’re getting a bit frantic and called over here, asking for you. They settled for me since you weren’t here.’

‘Do they know what he was working on?’ Lucinda asked.

‘They said he was involved in the search for Connelly.’

‘What happened to Connelly?’

Holland ran down the bizarre events of that morning, from the visit to Dr Singh’s office to the taking of two hostages.

‘Hostages? You’ve got to be kidding. Is that just the FBI’s language or is ATF seeing it that way, too?’

‘We all are, Pierce. Our police department is lead on the search for the man. So far, nothing. Lovett was supposed to be helping us out.’

‘Who’s in charge here? Have you spoken to whoever is in charge?’

‘Yes, I ordered him to make finding Lovett a priority but he went over my head and got the order countermanded.’

‘Call dispatch. See if they know anything about where Lovett was going or what he was doing today.’

‘I should have thought of that,’ Holland said as he snatched up his phone. He asked, listened and jotted down a few notes. ‘Thanks,’ he said and disconnected. ‘He went to the regional ATF office to see if anyone there had any idea of where Connelly might have gone. He never reported back.’

‘I’ll go there and see what I can find out.’

Holland slid the notations he had just made across the desk. ‘Here’s the address and name of the officer manager. Just call me if you go anyplace else. I can’t have you disappearing on me, too.’

‘You got it.’

‘I’m serious, Pierce.’

Lucinda was already out in the hall but she hollered back, ‘Yes, sir!’

Lucinda popped the bubble light on top of her car and tore off to the ATF office. When she reached the federal building, she bristled with impatience as the guard at the gate checked her identification and called in to confirm. As the gate slowly started to rise, she fought off the urge to ram right through it.

Would the office manager be cooperative, she wondered as she waited for the elevator, or would she get nothing but bureaucratic crap? She hated just standing around – but eight flights were a bit too much to handle.

Lucinda burst into the office, startling Maggie Lazarus to her feet. Lucinda held up her badge before Maggie could press the silent alarm. ‘I’m here about FBI Special Agent in Charge Jake Lovett.’

‘What about him?’

‘No one has seen or heard from him since he left to come see you. Did he get here?’

‘Yes. We talked about Agent Connelly and where he might have gone.’

‘What did you tell him?’

‘The only place that he indicated was a new lead was the cabin that Agent Connelly’s brother owns over at Smith Mountain Lake. Give me a second and I’ll pull up the address,’ she said as she sat down in front of her computer and tapped on her keyboard. Maggie jotted it down on a piece of paper and handed to the lieutenant.

‘Thanks. If you hear from Lovett, or hear anything about him, call me or Captain Holland at the police department,’ Lucinda said.

When Maggie nodded, Lucinda headed out the door, down the elevator and back to her car. She punched the address into her GPS, reported in to Captain Holland and hit the road heading west.

She’d just finished the first fifty miles of her journey when her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen and saw Jake’s name. Was it actually Jake or was someone else using his phone?

J
ake stayed down but moved toward the rear of the car, brushing bits of glass and debris off his clothes as he went. ‘What the hell’s wrong with you, Connelly?’

‘Nothing. It’s the rest of you all who are wrong.’

‘The rest of us. Jeez, Connelly, I come out here to help and you shoot at me. Damn, you shot your own freakin’ car.’

‘Don’t bullshit me, Lovett.’

‘If I didn’t come out to help you, then why the hell didn’t I bring back-up with me?’

A moment of silence and then Connelly said, ‘You still have to throw out your gun. No need to put your hands on your head but I can’t have you coming out here and shooting me.’

‘OK, OK,’ Jake said. ‘If I toss out my revolver, will you stop pointing that shotgun at me?’

‘I will as soon as your weapon is tucked into my waistband.’

Jake knew it was a risk to give up his weapon but it didn’t seem as if he had any other choice except to start firing and hope he survived. He didn’t much like his chances and he didn’t care for the idea of shooting another member of law enforcement.

‘Still got you in my sights, Lovett. Don’t try anything,’ Connelly said. ‘OK, you can come out now.’

Jake stood and saw the shotgun still aimed right at him. He ducked down and shouted, ‘C’mon, Connelly, we had a deal.’

‘All right,’ Connelly said. ‘Listen, I’m opening the breech.’

Jake heard the distinct sound and stood again. He didn’t take his eyes off Connelly, alert to any sudden moves, as he walked out from behind the SUV. ‘OK, brief me on what’s going on.’

The two men walked inside as Connelly ranted about the Muslim terrorists he had inside the cabin. Jake didn’t argue with a single one of Connelly’s crazy assertions; he just nodded his head.

‘There they are,’ Connelly said, pointing into the kitchen. ‘Those bastards were casting spells and bringing curses down on my head.’

Jake shook his head. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You had to have been out there long enough to hear them. You heard that gobbledygook, didn’t you?’

‘Oh, that. Jeez, Connelly, they were praying. Weren’t you, guys?’

The two men appeared very confused but nodded at Jake just the same.