Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Kara's lungs burned as they made their way through the panicked crowd rushing toward them, but eventually they got to the end of the block and around the next corner, where a scene of destruction arose before them.
The blast had shattered a mid-rise building under construction in a residential neighborhood.
Out of the six stories, the top three floors were engulfed in flames.
Scaffolding had collapsed onto the street, with twisted metal and wooden planks scattered across the pavement.
Windows were blown out, glass glittering on the sidewalk like deadly confetti.
Smoke and fire were visible through multiple openings, black and thick, blotting out the afternoon sky.
There were already emergency vehicles on the scene, with more arriving by the second—fire trucks, ambulances, police cars.
Crews from the FDNY were on their way into the building while other units attacked the fire from the outside.
The police had established a perimeter, officers pushing the crowd back, as well as evacuating people from the buildings on either side of the damaged structure.
They made their way through the crowd, flashing her badge whenever someone tried to stop them, but they could still only get so far, the last officer directing her to the scene commander, where a man in an NYPD captain's uniform stood amid a cluster of police vehicles, talking into a radio.
She recognized him not from her days on the force, but from his relationship with her uncle.
Captain Hank Ridgemont played cards with her Uncle Danny every other Thursday.
He was a good cop, twenty-five years on the job, and had worked his way up from patrol.
He was also someone who'd stood by her when many people had not.
She wanted to talk to him, but the priority now was getting people out of the building and putting the fire out, so she and Max stayed clear of the emergency operations but close enough to see what was going on.
"What the hell?" Max muttered, his gaze moving from the fiery scene to her. "Is this connected to the café?"
She didn't know how to answer that question. "I was just thinking that the bomb at the café definitely had Samantha's name on it, but now…"
"Maybe this was construction related. A gas pipe explosion or something..." He turned his gaze back to the scene as firefighters were bringing people out of the building.
Most were wearing reflective vests, a few with hard hats on. EMTs rushed to meet them, triaging on the sidewalk.
"At least there are survivors," she said, feeling good about that, until she saw one person being carried out on a stretcher and rushed to a waiting ambulance.
She swallowed a knot in her throat and called Jason, explaining what little she knew about the explosion. "I'm waiting to talk to the incident commander," she finished. "I'll hopefully get more information from him."
"I'm on my way," Jason said.
"Okay."
Max was on his phone when she finished the call. She gave him an inquisitive look. "Who were you talking to?" she asked.
"A woman who works with me. I asked her to see what she could find out about this building."
"As in whether it's tied to Dominic?"
Max's gaze hardened, and so did his jaw. "That would be one question."
"If this building ties to Dominic, and he ties to Samantha, then these explosions are connected."
"Which is a big if," he said.
She wasn't so sure that was true. Dominic had a global empire, but he also had buildings in New York, and this could be one of them. As the urgency of the scene diminished, she made her way to Captain Ridgemont.
"Kara," he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I was a few blocks away when I heard the explosion. I'm concerned it may be tied to the one at the café on Monday. I'm the agent in charge of that investigation. Can you tell me anything about what happened here? Was it a bomb?"
"It appears that way. Probably located on the fourth floor. That's where most of the serious injuries occurred."
"How many people were inside?" she asked.
"Six."
Surprise ran through her at his response. "So few? On a construction site?"
"It was inspection day. Most of the crew wasn't here.
Two victims with minor injuries were treated on scene.
Four were sent to the hospital, two critically.
Several people on the street suffered injuries.
I don't have that number at the moment. One of those was a woman who works for the building department.
She had just walked out of the building when it blew up, so she knew how many were inside.
" He tipped his head to a disheveled woman sitting in the back of an ambulance.
"There's a lot to unravel. We'll have a longer conversation later. "
"Of course. Thanks, Captain."
As he moved away, she and Max headed toward the ambulance, where a woman covered with dusty debris and some blood on her forehead stared in shock at the building.
"Ma'am? I'm Special Agent Reid with the FBI. And this is Max Malone. Can you answer a few questions?"
The woman looked up, her eyes red-rimmed but focused. "I—yes. I think so."
"Can you tell me your name?"
"Whitney Holden. I work for the Building Department. Administrative assistant." Her voice shook slightly. "I was here with the inspector. James Cooper."
"What happened, Whitney?"
"It was a final inspection. I came back to our car to get some paperwork we'd forgotten to take inside, and I was about to go back when the building blew up.
I—I don't know what happened. And I'm afraid James is badly hurt.
" Her voice broke. "I saw them put him in an ambulance, and it looked like he had been burned. Do you know if he's okay?"
"He's on his way to the hospital. They'll do everything they can to save his life," she said soothingly. "Can you tell me who else was inside?"
She cleared her throat, struggling for composure.
"There were five besides James, the general contractor and his foreman, and subcontractors for plumbing and electrical.
When I left them, they were on the fourth floor.
" Whitney looked at the burning building, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"I was in there minutes before. I could be dead right now. "
"But you're not," she said firmly, drawing Whitney's gaze back to her. "You're okay. And you can help us figure out what happened so that whoever did this doesn't get away with it."
Whitney drew a deep breath. "How can I help?"
"Who owns this building?"
"Wexler Properties. James has inspected their buildings before. The construction is always very good. He never has problems with them."
"Did he have any problems today?" Max asked. "Anything he thought wasn't up to par?"
"Not when I was there. It seemed routine. We spend all day, pretty much every day, at job sites. I never imagined something like this could happen."
"How long have you worked with the inspector?" Kara asked.
"Two years." Fresh tears spilled over. "He's a good man. James really cares about making sure buildings are safe."
"Did you see anyone else on site or when you came out to the car? Was anyone standing out front, looking at the building?" she asked.
"There were people on the street when I came out, but I didn't pay them any attention." Whitney took a breath. "Do you think someone was watching the building?"
"That's what we're trying to find out."
Whitney looked at the crowd that had gathered behind the police tape to watch what was going on. Then she shook her head. "I don't remember anyone in particular. I'm sorry. I want to help."
"Did someone send you out of the building?" Max asked. "Or did you suddenly realize you were missing paperwork?"
Whitney started at his question. "Uh, James asked me for something, and I couldn't find it. I thought I'd left the folder in the car."
"Was it in the car?" she asked, because there didn't appear to be anything in Whitney's hand.
"I—I don't know. I had just opened the car door when the explosion happened."
"Where's your car?" Max asked.
Whitney's gaze darted down the street. "It's that silver sedan in the loading zone."
"The one with the door closed?" Max asked.
"I—I think I closed it when I got up. I was knocked onto the ground. I was dazed. I don't remember exactly what I did. Why are you asking me all these questions about the car and the file?"
"We're just trying to set up a timeline," Kara assured her as Max headed down the street.
"Is he going to my car?" Whitney asked. "I don't know if the file is in there or not. I might have left it at the office."
"It's okay," she said, growing more suspicious of Whitney by the moment. "We'll figure it all out. How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? Were you injured by the explosion?"
"My ears are still ringing. And I hit my knees pretty hard on the ground. I need to call James's wife." She dug into the purse sitting next to her and pulled out her phone. "I need to talk to her before she hears what happened on the news."
"Of course, go ahead." She stepped back as Whitney made her call, her gaze moving down the street to the silver sedan. She'd thought she'd see Max nearby or inside, but he wasn't there, and then she glimpsed him running down the street, as if he were chasing someone.
She moved away from Whitney, following in his direction, not sure what he'd seen or who he was after, but she needed to find out. She moved into a fast jog, finally catching up to him at the end of the block. He was breathing heavily as he stared in frustration across the busy intersection.
"Who were you chasing?" she asked.