Chapter Two
Thayne and Jarrett drove down to San Diego in Jarrett’s olive-green Jeep Wrangler.
It was such a nice day, they decided to leave the black rag top down and drive down Pacific Coast Highway after passing the hustle and bustle of south Orange County where they could truly enjoy the majesty of one of the world’s prettiest coastlines.
They arrived at the San Diego Police Department’s Northeastern Division headquarters where they were scheduled to meet with Chief Willis and the ATF’s own investigator, Ada Carrillo.
Investigator Carrillo met them at the reception desk and smiled at them, shaking their hands.
“I’m glad you’re here but you should know, the police chief is very upset that this happened.
The Marine Corps isn’t too excited about it either.
Some of their family members were the ones hurt in the explosion.”
“Do you want to fill us in on the details before going in there?”
Jarrett asked, cocking his head toward Chief Willis’s office.
The petite investigator glanced between them, looking serious.
She blew out a long breath.
“I know he’ll have something to say about the investigation.
It’s probably better if we talk in his office so I don’t have to repeat myself.
He’ll probably want to fill you in on the evidence gathered so far.”
Jarrett nodded and glanced over at Thayne. “Okay.”
Thayne nodded back and the two of them followed Carrillo into Chief Willis’s office.
The dark-skinned man hung up the call and waved the three inside as soon as he spotted her in the doorway.
“ATF Special Agents Evans and Wolfe, sir,”
Carrillo said, introducing them.
“They’ve driven down from LA this morning.”
Willis stood up and shook their hands.
“Have a seat, folks,”
he said, “Has Investigator Carrillo filled you in on the explosion?”
“Not in detail, sir.
We just arrived,”
Thayne said, taking a seat in front of the chief’s desk as Jarrett and the investigator took the others.
“The only thing we know is that something happened during a fireworks show out at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and that there were injuries.
Our SAC gave us a thin file but it’s sadly vague in the details.
He just told us you had an incident where some spectators were injured during a fireworks demonstration?”
“Yes, that’s correct.
Some spectators and one of the crew who was setting up the show.
Each year, the base puts on a show for military families and the neighborhood is always invited.
Somehow, there was an explosion after the fireworks had been unloaded and set up by the men and women the base uses.
In this case, a professional crew of licensed pyrotechnicians was hired to put on the show.
And I suppose I should tell you now, this is now going to be considered a murder investigation.
We’ve just been notified that the pyrotechnic operator in charge of setting up the show has just died.
He was previously listed as gravely injured but he succumbed to the blast damage he suffered this morning.”
“Gregory Mason?”
Investigator Carrillo asked.
Thayne watched the color drain out of her face.
Chief Willis consulted a file on his desk and nodded.
“Yes, that’s right.
You knew him?”
He turned intelligent brown eyes up at her.
She looked very distraught.
“Yes, very well.
I just signed off on his continuing education for his license renewal last month.
I knew Greg was the lead out at the base but I didn’t realize his injuries were that severe.
This is terrible.
I know his wife as well.
She works shows with him sometimes.
God, I hope she wasn’t one of the injured.
I haven’t even had the chance to go out and interview anyone yet.”
“So he’s generally a cautious man?”
Jarrett asked.
“Absolutely, and he was just as picky about the people he hired to work with him.
I was really hoping to be able to pick his brain about this.”
“Investigator Carrillo, has the base used this crew before?”
Thayne asked.
Carrillo frowned and sat back in her chair, as Willis pursed his fingers in a pyramid in front of him.
He looked thoughtful.
“That’s the strange thing,”
she said.
“Yes, is the short answer.
They’ve used this crew a dozen years in a row.
The Marine Corps hires the same crew every year because of the increased security on base since 9/11.
Even though the crew goes through a vetting process and background checks, it is almost impossible to weed out every potential threat.
The base is more thorough than most venues would be due to the classified nature of some of the technology on the base.”
“As you may or may not know, Miramar is the home of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing which is the aviation element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force,”
Willis added.
“I actually did know that,”
Jarrett said.
Thayne glanced at him and the expression on his face told him that his partner was intrigued.
He smiled back at Thayne.
“Then, as you know, in a professional fireworks show the display company has to have a current ATF Class B, 1.3G license through the state of California and anyone handling the fireworks has to be licensed, not just the operator who is listed as an EP on the permit,”
Investigator Carrillo continued.
“In addition to the security at the Marine base, the truck transporting the fireworks has to be licensed to carry HAZMAT materials by the Department of Transportation.
Even the route they take from the pickup of the fireworks to the delivery to its destination must be approved.
This adds another level of security since the driver has to be HAZMAT certified as well.
The cargo is placarded on all four sides of the truck and trailer.
There are a lot of folks involved in the transportation, storage, setup, and the fireworks display itself,”
she said.
“While I do believe accidents happen, it’s important that you examine the evidence I’ve seen that points to sabotage.
In fact, it might be better if I take you out to the base and show you where and how the explosion happened so you can see for yourself.
It helps to put things into perspective.”
Jarrett decided he was going to like Ada Carrillo very much.
“That’s probably a good idea,”
Chief Willis said, standing up.
“Ada is very good at her job and our department is comfortable enough with her knowledge of the case to let her take you out to the base.
We’re a bit shorthanded around here and lending you even one officer to show you around the incident scene is really unnecessary since Investigator Carrillo is perfectly capable of being a liaison here.”
“Fair enough,”
Jarrett said.
“Thank you, sir.”
Thayne, Jarrett, and Carrillo stood as well, shaking hands with the chief as Carrillo led them out of the captain’s office.
They took the elevators down to the ground floor and followed the petite investigator out the door.
Thayne smiled at Ada.
“He seems to like you.”
“Yes.
Well, I do a lot of work with the SDPD,”
she said, pleasantly.
“They are comfortable with me, like the chief said.”
They walked out into the parking lot.
“My Jeep is here if you want to ride with us,”
Jarrett said, pointing to his vehicle, parked in a visitor’s spot.
Investigator Carrillo smiled.
“Actually, if you’ll follow my car, I’d appreciate it.
My husband is a Marine out at the base and we don’t live far from there.
Alfie has permission to conduct us onto the base and I can go home directly afterward if I have my car.”
Jarrett smiled. “Alfie?”
“My husband, Captain Alfredo Carrillo.”
“Better get my salute ready, then.”
Jarrett joked as they walked Carrillo to her Audi station wagon, parked in the first row.
“You were a Marine, I take it,”
Carrillo said to Jarrett before turning to look at Thayne.
“And here I had you pegged for the jarhead.”
Thayne laughed.
“Nope, my partner holds that title.”
“The Few.
The Proud.
The Marines.
You know the drill,”
Jarrett said.
“But I only achieved the rank of lieutenant.”
Carrillo clucked her tongue.
“Not bad.
Alfie only has a couple ranks on you.”
“Beggin’ your pardon, Investigator Carrillo, but you’ve never been in the military, have you?”
Jarrett asked with a snicker.
Her eyes widened just a little and then she sent him a wan smile.
“Okay, I get it.
He outranks you so he can order you to walk the plank or something, right?”
Jarrett turned to Thayne when he burst out laughing.
He grinned at him before turning back to her just as they stopped in front of a gold Audi.
“Yeah, somethin’ like that,”
Jarrett said with a grin.
“Okay, just follow me, special agents,”
Carrillo said over her shoulder before climbing into her vehicle.
Jarrett and Thayne walked back to the Jeep and climbed in.
“It’s about a ten-minute drive to Miramar from here,”
Jarrett said as he started the engine.
“You’ve been there I take it?”
Thayne asked.
“You remember that night down in Santa Monica when I told ya I’d been out to California before?”
Jarrett asked, pulling the Jeep out onto the street behind Investigator Carrillo’s car.
“You mean the night I first kissed you?”
Thayne asked.
Jarrett looked over at Thayne to find the man’s tongue lodged firmly in his cheek.
“You mean the night I kissed you?”
Thayne chuckled.
“Yeah, whatever.
It was fucking hot, that’s what I remember.”
“It was.
I’d been dreamin’ ‘bout getting you naked for a month by then.”
Thayne’s eyes narrowed.
“You never told me that.”
“Didn’t have much time to do that, Special Agent Wolfe.
All I could think about was touchin’ you.”
Thayne reached across the Jeep’s console and put his hand on Jarrett’s thigh.
Jarrett glared over at him and then put his eyes back on the road.
“I told you, this is a ten-minute drive.
You do somethin’ to get me hot and bothered now, and I’m gonna punish ya for it later.”
“Okay, okay.”
Thayne laughed and pulled his hand away, turning to stare out at the scenery.
The route to the Marine base was much like the rest of southern California.
It was a lot of desert disguised by palm trees and green landscapes.
The turquoise sky and puffy white clouds set off wheat-colored rolling hills on one side of the highway and the bright blue Pacific Ocean on the other.
“It sure is pretty here.”
Jarrett had to agree with Thayne’s appraisal of the view as they drove.
San Diego was a beautiful place.
He decided he’d have to bring him back when they had a long weekend where all they had to do was lie out on a beach all day and fuck in a pricy oceanfront hotel room all night.
Within ten minutes, Ada Carrillo was turning onto the road leading to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Jarrett had been here only once before and that had been almost ten years ago.
At the time, he was being sent over to Pearl Harbor on the first leg of a mission which would take him to Indochina with a final destination of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
To be precise, it was where a high-level Chinese target was hiding out in the huge city.
Jarrett had been forced to meet up with a very unsavory asset for the CIA, who was acting as an informant.
The man had inadvertently sent Jarrett and the asset’s CIA handler into a trap.
Not only had Jarrett’s target escaped when a well-placed bomb went off, but he and the CIA operative had barely escaped with their lives.
Jarrett had stayed in the stinking, crowded metropolis waiting to get another shot at his target way too long and had a distaste for anything Vietnamese ever since.
He’d eventually taken out the bad guy but he’d been in a foul mood for weeks afterward.
Jarrett’s feelings weren’t logical but that’s just the way his mind worked.
If he spent his life trying to think on shit too hard, he’d never go anywhere or do anything.
That didn’t mean Jarrett followed orders blindly either.
He did as much research as he could before a job; he just took whatever precautions he could when he did them… well, with the exception of rappelling off LA skyscrapers.
He snickered and Thayne looked over at him.
“What?” he asked.
Jarrett glanced at his partner as they idled behind Carrillo’s car at the base’s guard gate.
“I was just thinkin’ about the expression on the perp’s face when he figured out I was gonna use him as a counterweight.”
Jarrett couldn’t help but grin like an idiot when Thayne frowned behind his aviators.
“I should kick your ass for doing something so stupid,”
he grumbled.
“Yeah, I know.
But it was fun as hell.”
“Asshole.”
Carrillo’s car moved and Jarrett chuckled before pulling the Jeep up to the gate, producing his ATF credentials for the uniformed Marine.
The man examined them closely then handed them back and took Thayne’s ID as well.
He checked it over thoroughly and handed it back.
“Okay, sirs.
Proceed after that car,”
he said, after scrutinizing the backseat.
The Marine pointed to Carrillo’s car and they followed her into the parking lot and pulled into a space beside hers.
She met them at the back of her car.
She was smiling.
“It’s only a short walk to the administrative offices where Alfie will meet us,”
she said, pointing to a building flying an American flag and the red Marine Corps standard in the distance.
“So, you’ve been here before, Special Agent Evans?”
Jarrett nodded as they walked.
“Just once.
As a stopover to a mission overseas.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“A mission?”
“I was a sniper, ma’am.
The Corps sent me where they needed me.”
“It sounds like an interesting life,”
she said, a little note of awe in her voice.
“Interesting enough,”
Jarrett replied.
“But I’m happy to be working for the ATF now.
At least it keeps me Stateside.”
“Are you married? I imagine traipsing around the globe must be hard on a spouse.”
Jarrett’s stomach turned a little at her question.
If the truth be told, Jarrett had never considered settling down with anyone.
Hell, he’d never dated anyone long enough to do so… not that marriage was ever in the cards for gay men until only recently.
He glanced over at Thayne to find his thoughtful gaze on him, waiting for a response.
He and Thayne were sleeping together but would he call them committed? He wasn’t with anyone else and he was comfortable with Thayne, so maybe that would fit someone’s definition as a commitment.
Though they hadn’t talked about it recently, he knew Thayne wanted him to move into his apartment but they were too new to speculate about where the whole thing between them was going.
He didn’t even know if he’d consider this a relationship… outside of the bedroom and at work anyway.
He did know that screwing his partner was a really bad idea but that seemed to define Jarrett’s life, right? He was still alive after all the bad decisions he’d made.
Jarrett was a man who truly lived life day to day.
He didn’t know what the future held for them.
For now, they were lovers and that was enough for him.
He was pretty sure Thayne felt the same way about things.
He gave Thayne a little smirk before turning back to Carrillo as he snapped out of his musings.
“No, ma’am.
Never stayed in one place long enough to form them bonds to be honest.”
She nodded, seeming satisfied with his answer which relieved Jarrett since it was the only one he was able to give.
“Well, as long as you’re here, I’ll give you a little background on Miramar.
The base is about 23,000 acres but it was about half that size when the US Army acquired the land during WWI.
It was called Camp Kearny back then and was used primarily as a training facility for troops.”
Ada Carrillo was an interesting person and she seemed to like to chatter.
Jarrett wondered whether it was because she was upset by what had happened on the base where her husband worked.
Too close to home, maybe? Jarrett couldn’t be sure but he was a lover of history, so he absorbed her words like a sponge.
“Charles Lindberg’s plane, The Spirit of St.
Louis, was built in San Diego and he used the parade deck here to practice take-offs and landings before the airstrip was built,”
she continued.
“That was before his famous solo flight across the Atlantic.
The base has been used by the US Air Force and NASA and it’s been used as a Navy Fighter Weapons School as well.”
“That’s right! I forgot Top Gun was filmed here,”
Jarrett said.
He glanced over at Thayne who seemed to be soaking in all the information as well.
He pointed his finger at Thayne.
“Come to think of it, you remind me of Maverick.”
“Hey, that’s Iceman to you,”
Thayne said with a grin.
Carrillo laughed.
“You two are comedians.”
She sobered a little as they walked along.
“Unfortunately, last year, the Fighter Pilot training ended with the phaseout of the F-18s.
The base has existed almost a hundred years and gone through a lot of changes over the years.
First Army, then Navy with NASA in between.
As for Alfie, he’s a Marine Corps aviator with the 3rd so I’m quite proud.”
“It sounds like it.
Thanks for all the information, Investigator Carrillo,”
Thayne said.
“Please.
Call me Ada, Special Agent,”
she said pleasantly.
“As far as information goes, I’m an investigator.
I’m a fact geek I suppose.”
They both chuckled at that.
“Thank you, Ada.
I’m Thayne and this is Jarrett.
I’ll be nice and not tell you what I call him,”
Thayne said, sounding quite amused with himself.
Jarrett looked over to find his eyes twinkling.
She snorted quietly as they walked up to the base operations office.
Thayne opened the door, allowing Ada to pass through first.
Once they were through security and the metal detector, Jarrett spotted a tall Hispanic man waiting for them.
He was dressed in a typical pressed and polished Marine Corps service uniform, green slacks, khaki shirt, khaki tie and tie clasp, captain’s bars, and a garrison cap, pointed on both ends.
Most Marines called the cap a piss cutter and Jarrett had always appreciated that term even though he’d spent most of his Marine Corps service wearing cargos or tac pants for practical purposes.
It wasn’t like anyone was going to care what he was wearing while he was lying on his belly as long as his aim was true… and it always was.
****
Captain Alfredo Carrillo bent to his wife and greeted her with a peck on the cheek and a little hug.
Thayne noted his affection for her by the way he lightly caressed her shoulders with both hands.
He realized that this was Carrillo’s place of work so even that small gesture might be frowned upon by his superiors but he didn’t seem to let it bother him.
Ada was beaming as her husband took her hand and led her over to him and Jarrett.
“I’d like you to meet my husband, Captain Alfredo Carrillo,”
she said proudly.
“These are ATF Special Agents Thayne Wolfe and Jarrett Evans.”
“Hello, nice to meet you.”
Thayne reached out and shook Alfredo Carrillo’s hand and greeted him.
Up this close, Thayne noted the gold pair of wings he wore over a line of ribbons on the left breast of his uniform, noting his rank of Marine aviator.
When Carrillo turned to shake Jarrett’s hand, he narrowed his eyes and hesitated for just a second before smiling.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
“I’m not certain, Captain.”
Jarrett replied with clipped tones denoting the man’s status as a superior officer.
“Semper Fi.”
Thayne felt a shiver of honest to God admiration course through him as he watched his partner’s usually relaxed composure as he came to attention.
His very tall frame suddenly seemed even taller as he stood straight.
He relaxed only when Carrillo nodded.
“Semper Fi, Evans.
I take it I may have run into you around here on base at some time in the past.
You’re not still active duty?”
“No, sir,”
Jarrett replied.
“My service was up two years ago but in answer to your question, yes.
I have been here once before.
I don’t remember you, sir, but then again I was only here long enough to jump a transport headed overseas.”
“Headed to where?”
Thayne watched Jarrett meet the man’s inquiry head on with a tiny shake of his head.
His expression looked regretful.
“I’m sorry, sir, that’s still classified,”
Jarrett replied, gracefully.
Alfredo Carrillo nodded, looking Jarrett over even harder.
“Yes, now I know, Evans.
You were a sniper and from what I hear, a damned good one.”
Thayne watched Jarrett closely.
“Yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.”
“No need for all that formality, Special Agent.
You’re retired from the Corps now and Ada tells me that you men need to be shown around the scene of the incident.
If you’ll both follow me outside, I’ll take you out to the parade grounds where we’ve preserved everything for you.”
“Thank you, Captain.
Investigator Carrillo tells us there is some evidence pointing to the incident being a crime and not just an accident,”
Thayne said as they walked.
“Yes, well, my Ada is very thorough,”
Carrillo said, sparing no words.
“We didn’t suspect sabotage at first either but then my wife pointed out certain things.”
“We’ll get to those but tell me why you didn’t suspect sabotage,”
Thayne said.
“Honestly, we were skeptical that a criminal could have gotten onto the base to sabotage the fireworks display and we thought it must have been a horrible accident.
But I suppose that’s why you folks are here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jarrett sounded as skeptical as Thayne was.
They walked out into the warm summer air and Captain Carrillo directed them over to a golf cart.
“This will save us time,”
he said.
They all climbed in and took the golf cart out to the parade grounds.
Thayne looked around noting the various structures on the base as he rode in the backseat with Jarrett.
In the distance the loud whoop whoop of a helicopter could be heard coming closer.
Thayne put a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up to see a massive black helicopter approaching.
It was one of the largest helicopters Thayne had ever seen and as it got closer, the sound of it was almost deafening.
He leaned over to Jarrett and shouted over the noise of the rotors.
“What is that?”
Thayne asked.
Jarrett gave him a smirk as he leaned forward.
“It’s a helicopter.”
Thayne rolled his eyes.
“Don’t be an ass.
What kind?”
Jarrett’s chuckle was drowned out but he was grinning, showing off those dimples Thayne loved.
He leaned toward Thayne again.
“That’s a Sikorsky UH-60 but you’ve probably heard it called a Black Hawk,”
he said loud enough to be heard over the helicopter rotors.
“Used ‘em a lot in Iraq and Afghanistan most recently but they’ve been around more’n twenty-five years.
Been used in every major conflict goin’ back to the early 80s.
They’re a damned fine work horse and real reliable in the field.”
Captain Carrillo drove them away from the area where the huge helicopter was landing but Thayne kept his eyes on it as it slowly lowered itself to the tarmac, kicking dust and dirt up into the air from its massive whirring blades.
He marveled at how heavy the thing must be and the technology it must take to keep something like that in the air.
He’d always been fascinated with all things mechanical.
It’s one of the reasons he’d been so excited to see all the weaponry Jarrett’s friend, Tate Heston, had given him when Roberto Virgil Romero had been chasing them.
Unfortunately, the weapons hadn’t exactly been legal and they’d been confiscated when he and Jarrett had been airlifted to the hospital with bullet holes in them.
They drove up to an area cordoned off with yellow caution tape and Thayne spotted the remains of a very large fire among a pile of ashes and what remained of the firework detonation.
Thayne had read the report on the incident while Jarrett had driven them over this morning, though seeing it was much better than reading through the report Stanger had given them.
The thin file said that sometime shortly before the firework show was to begin, the display had exploded.
That must have been when the lead, Gregory Mason, had been gravely injured along with several spectators.
Looking over the scorched earth which must have been thirty feet in diameter and the circle of debris that more than quadrupled that size, the explosion must have been massive.
Several sets of bleachers were set up about 800-900 feet away and Thayne wondered how anyone in the public could have been injured sitting at that distance.
They stopped and got out of the golf cart and Carrillo led them over to just outside the roped off area.
“As you can see, it was a massive explosion,” Ada said.
Thayne glanced at Jarrett who was staring at the pile of debris and then over to Ada.
“Do you know how all of this works, Ada?”
Thayne asked.
“I get the general idea but I haven’t been involved in a fireworks investigation since my training at the academy almost nine years ago.”
He glanced at Jarrett who just shrugged.
“Don’t look at me.
I’m new to all this.
Learning it in training is a lot different than seeing it in person,”
Jarrett added.
Ada smiled.
“I’ll do my best to explain what I’ve learned.
This very large rectangular board with the remains of what looks like tubes in the center of the scorched area, is called a launching system.
In very large fireworks displays like this one, that board will have launch tubes attached, as you can see the remains, here.”
She pointed to several scorched tubes that had been blown apart.
“Those tubes should be pointed straight up into the air so that they don’t get launched out toward a crowd.
The launch tubes are where ball or cylinder shells are placed as part of the setup.
Then those individual tubes in the launching system are hooked up to an ignition board with wires leading to an ignitor or what industry professionals called an electronic match.
The e-match is then attached to a firing panel, sometimes called a pinboard.”
Ada spoke with great knowledge and talked with her hands, making it seem easy for a layman to understand as she pointed at the remains of what she described.
Everything had been blown to hell as one would expect in a massive explosion.
“As you can see, there are the remains of some launch tubes that are slanted, almost pointed toward the bleachers.”
“So, they were aimed at the crowd rather than bein’ aimed straight up in the air?”
Jarrett asked, sounding incredulous.
“Well, yes.
But it remains to be seen whether they toppled sideways during the explosion or whether they were intentionally set up that way.
It would be very hard to go unnoticed by someone doing setup,” Ada said.
“So this lead person, Mason…, he couldn’t set it up that way and have it go unnoticed by the other members of the crew?”
Jarrett asked.
Ada frowned, shaking her head.
“I have a hard time believing Greg Mason would do that and yes, anyone involved in the setup would have to have been blind not to see it.
It could have been anyone involved in the setup if it really was sabotage, but that’s what I’m having a hard time with.”
“Anyone in the crew you mean,”
Jarrett added.
“Well, yes.
The public wouldn’t be allowed near the display during setup or prior to the launch.
And this display was set up as an electronic launch.”
“As opposed to a manual launch?”
Thayne asked.
Ada nodded.
“Yes.
In smaller fireworks displays, the pyrotechnics experts would launch shells manually, but in a large display like this, they are hooked up to a central board which is then programed to launch the various colored ball or cylinder shells in a timed detonation.
Large displays are sometimes choreographed to music.
That type of show is called a pyro-musical and in a show of this size, it would have to be set up way ahead of time.”
Jarrett squatted and examined the launching system and Thayne watched him swivel and look back at the bleachers.
He seemed to be studying the trajectory of the shells that had gone into the crowd by virtue of where the remnants of the tubes pointed.
“With the crowd that far off, how is it that there were so many injuries?”
he asked, pinning Ada with a questioning look.
“The explosion happened right before the show so a lot of families were watching the setup,”
Ada explained.
“So there would have been a lot of witnesses to what Greg Mason or the crew was doing,”
Thayne conjectured.
“Yeah, but they wouldn’t know what they were lookin’ at,”
Jarrett argued.
His face was as serious as Thayne had ever seen it.
“Witnesses stated that they were told to stand back,”
Ada said, “but we get a large crowd and it’s difficult to control everyone.”
Thayne sensed the investigator took the incident very personally.
Whether it was because she knew the lead fireworks expert, or because she had been responsible to make sure that the licensees were trained and had passed their continuing education classes, he couldn’t be sure.
What was clear was that she was becoming somewhat short-tempered and Thayne noticed her glance at her husband more than once, probably for moral support.
“The truth is I find it hard to believe Greg Mason would have let anyone get close if he was on top of things,”
Ada said, stiffly.
“He knew the danger to the public.
That kind of mistake is rare when a professional crew is putting on a show.
You might find that kind of carelessness with hobbyists who sometimes go out of their way to take rather large risks to try to outdo each other, but professionals are much more careful.
Their livelihood depends on them maintaining their licenses and safety is always the top concern with handling explosives as you both know.
I can’t believe Greg Mason would have been so lackadaisical.
He ran his crew like a true professional and they knew he had high expectations of them.”
Thayne noted her frown.
She’d obviously respected Mason very much and he could tell she felt his loss.
She walked them over to a pile of debris a couple of hundred feet away which was much closer than the bleachers.
Along with scorched earth, the stench of smoke remained in the air, though less so than it had been when they were standing right beside the site of the detonation.
It was sickening to know that some spectators had been injured where they stood.
Thayne could clearly see remnants of what must have been fireworks, and the remains of medical intervention… the cap of a needle, gauze pads stained with blood and soot, and a rubber tourniquet littered the area.
This spot must have been where at least one patient had been treated by paramedics or fire personnel.
It was chilling to see.
“Son of a bitch,”
Jarrett swore and Thayne turned to see him squatting again, staring down at the ground several feet away.
When Thayne walked over, he saw a well-loved rag doll with the remnants of singed red yarn hair where a child had dropped it.
Droplets of blood stained the ground beside a woman’s tennis shoe which had been abandoned nearby.
Thayne put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath, glancing out over the horizon as anger pooled in his gut.
“How can someone do this to another person intentionally?”
Ada suddenly asked, as if she’d thought about it for the first time.
“He must have known there would be families here.”
“You’d be surprised what one person can do to another,”
Jarrett said through gritted teeth.
His jaw was set rigidly and his anger was palpable.
“But this ain’t no war zone.
This is innocent life and this bastard’s gonna pay for his crime if it’s the last thing he does.”
Thayne wanted to reach out and touch Jarrett’s shoulder but his partner took away that option when he stood and strode away from them, back toward the site of the explosion.
“He gonna be okay?”
Ada asked after Jarrett was out of earshot.
“I imagine so.
This probably puts him right back in the Marine Corps if I were to hazard a guess,”
Thayne replied grimly.
Ada nodded, glancing at her husband as he stood beside Jarrett just outside the yellow police tape.
“I hear that.
Alfie did three tours in Afghanistan and he still wakes up with nightmares.
I don’t know what it is he had to deal with over there but whatever it was, he doesn’t share it with me.
It’s one reason they’re so close to their buddies in the Corps.
No one else can understand what they went through but another one of them.”
Thayne nodded as he squatted, looking over the site from the perspective Jarrett had seen it when he’d been there.
A crushed Coke can, a crumpled newspaper, an empty tube which once had cotton candy around it, and two tiny rolled-up yellow papers lay among the other detritus.
The atmosphere had been carnival-like with kids and families having fun.
He stood back up and glanced over at Ada.
“We have photos of this site for later reference?”
She nodded.
“Yes, of course.
I can send you back to LA with copies.”
Thayne watched Jarrett’s back as he stood with Captain Carrillo, wondering what he could say to make him feel better.
He knew something about the site got under his skin and as far as buddies went, Thayne got that too.
What Ada had said went for cops and firefighters as well.
The brotherhood existed for that purpose.
There was a high rate of divorce among men and women in uniform for that very reason.
Not all spouses could cope with the nightmares, the mood swings, and the closeness those who sacrificed had to their brothers.
Thayne turned, walking beside Ada as they went to join her husband and Jarrett.
“So besides the cockeyed launch tubes, what else might make this sabotage and not an accident?”
Thayne asked as they walked up to the two men.
“Well, for one thing, the crew has a perfect safety record, having never had an accident like this before and the lead, Greg Mason, had been putting on shows for twenty-five years.
He only had two new interns on his crew this season and he would have done an extensive background check on both before hiring them.
That’s in addition to the background check that we do when we license anyone who handles fireworks.
And yes, before you ask, Special Agent Evans, I did review their applications and have them ready for you to take a look at back at the SDPD’s offices.”
Thayne watched Jarrett narrow his eyes as he stared at her.
The tension between the two of them was now palpable.
“Okay, so, I know that you’re not basing this investigation on the say-so of possible suspects so please tell me why we should be willing to give Mason the benefit of the doubt on your say-so.
Please tell me what I’m missing, Investigator Carrillo,”
Jarrett growled.
“To me, it seems Mason is the most likely suspect.
He ultimately had control over this scene.
You may have known the guy for a long time but that don’t mean he ain’t the primary suspect.”
Thayne frowned at his partner, resisting the urge to reach out and punch him for his tone alone.
“I wasn’t basing my investigation on the say-so of possible suspects, Special Agent Evans,”
she said curtly.
“Actually, out here you can see that most of the evidence has been destroyed by the explosion.
If someone had tampered with the display, then it would be nearly impossible to tell.
Since the dead man was on the pyrotechnic crew, it’s hard to believe that one of his coworkers could have pulled anything off in front of him.
The fact is, there’s also the note which was delivered to the base commander’s office in which the perpetrator took responsibility for the sabotage.
I should think that’s worth looking into.”
Thayne’s jaw dropped as his partner gaped and threw him a disbelieving glance.
The way his body coiled as if he wanted to scream was as impressive as it was frightening to watch.
“I see,”
Jarrett gritted, “Could have probably said that to begin with.”
He shot Thayne an angry glance.
“Was that in the file you were reading?”
His partner looked like he wanted to spit.
“No it wasn’t.”
“What?”
Ada said.
Her voice rose.
“I thought you knew we had a note.”
Thayne and Jarrett both shook their heads, incredulous.
“We had no idea, Ada.”
“Well no wonder you look like you want to take my head off,”
she said, looking almost relieved as she shook her head.
“Now I feel very foolish.”
“We need to see that note.”
Jarrett spoke through gritted teeth.
“Might have saved us a hell of a lot of time.”
“Now see here…”
Captain Carrillo began.
“Captain, perhaps you can show us that note,”
Thayne interrupted him, doing his best to diffuse the tension.
The last thing he wanted to see was Jarrett’s foul mood be the cause of bloodshed between Jarrett and Carrillo, especially when Ada was so apologetic.
Something had set Jarrett off, that was for sure.
Now was not the time or place to try to get to the bottom of it however.
Carrillo looked over at him.
“No problem, Special Agent Wolfe.
It seems we’ve wasted precious time here.”
Thayne watched the man turn on his heel and stomp off as Ada walked after him.
He glanced over at Jarrett.
“Good going, jerk.”
Jarrett glared at Thayne.
“Fucked up day, Wolfe.”
Without another word, he turned and stalked after Ada and her husband.
Thayne was stuck bringing up the rear, feeling a hell of a lot out of sorts as the day just turned to shit.