Chapter 9
Athena shot to her feet and crossed to Travis. “Show me the report.” This changed everything.
“I just printed a copy,” said Ice, as he led her into the bullpen. Athena had probably received the same e-mail but had been too engaged reading the interviews to notice.
Karen rushed from the printer with pages in hand and passed them to Athena.
Standing in the middle of the office, she studied the report, reading portions aloud.
“Cause of death, cranial blunt force trauma. No soot or smoke particulates identified within the tracheobronchial tree or lungs … Estimated time of death approximately one hour prior to thermal exposure.”
“Like I said,” Ice repeated. “He was dead before the explosion.”
“The medical examiner has declared the manner of death as homicide based on these findings,” Athena said.
“It would still have been homicide if his death was a result of the fire, as we already know it wasn’t an accident,” Hernandez added.
“But we still don’t know whether the murder and the attack on the Gulf Allied Chemicals office were related or coincidental,” Karen offered, biting her lower lip, hands clasped before her.
“We must pursue both possibilities,” Athena instructed. “Campbell, were you able to get anything useful from the security footage at Gulf Allied?”
“Everything from the office building cameras was either destroyed or severely degraded,” Campbell said. “Their system is so old it doesn’t even back up to the cloud. But I was able to scan through everything from the front gate security cams.”
“Agent Paulson isn’t here to do the magic he does, so I’m counting on you.
It’s tedious, but go through and make a still of every vehicle that enters or leaves, and compare them to the employees’ DMV records—extra points if you can make a positive ID on the drivers.
Shoops, have you gotten the warrants for the Green Resistance membership roster and a search of Cody Rivers’ residence?
” It was too late to request a tap on his phone, as he would have alerted any potential suspect within moments of her and Bach leaving yesterday.
“They came through just before the autopsy report,” she said. “But the judge only granted a search of Rivers’ home for records relevant to the Green Resistance and bomb-making materials.” She handed the paper to her boss.
“That’s fine,” Athena said. “I don’t care about unrelated offenses. Since our detective friend is taking a day off—”
“What’s that you say?” Elyan Bach strolled in as if her office were his playground. The lingering musty scent of cigarette smoke clung to his cheap suit.
Athena frowned and grumbled, “You came.”
“Joint investigation, Assistant Special Agent in Charge,” he said with a half-smile and a twinkle in his eyes. He hadn’t shaved again and had visible signs of fatigue. “You’re here, I’m here. Though I must say you look well-rested this morning.”
Athena presented an aloof expression. “Maintaining a proper sleep regimen is essential to optimum performance on the job, Detective Bach. Take note.”
Turning back to Karen, she said, “Conduct an in-depth background search on Federal Inspector Jeff Nolan. See if you can find anything that might point to someone who’d want him dead other than Charles Whitmore.
Then run our two CEOs and their family feud history.
I want to be ready for our interviews tomorrow. ”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Ice, Hernandez, start looking up known bombers and arsonists,” Athena directed.
“See where they are now and then spread out to suspects without convictions. I doubt a billionaire or billionairess got their hands dirty. If either is involved, they hired someone. If we don’t have a suspect in custody by tonight, I’m asking Mr. Smith to return Paulson and Howard.
That should keep you busy until we have more names. ”
“Yes, ma’am,” Hernandez said. All four returned to their stations.
Athena stepped into her office to gather her blazer and purse, then joined Bach, where he waited patiently. “Let’s see if Mr. Rivers is hiding anything, shall we?”
He opened the door and held it for her. “After you.”
“I suppose, in the spirit of conservation, you could ride with me to save the air from more exhaust fumes,” she invited, hoping he’d decline.
“Thanks. Perhaps the tree-hugger will be more cooperative if he sees we’re making an effort.”
Athena pressed the elevator button with a scowl. “It’s a non-smoking vehicle.”
The elevator beeped, and the doors slid open. Bach extended an arm. “I wouldn’t dream of sullying your beautiful automobile with my bad habit.”
“Good.” She clipped off the word and stepped in.
“Then I won’t be forced to use my eject button.
It’s been a while since I’ve had to do that.
Messy business.” With a completely serious face, she pressed for the first floor.
From the corner of her eye, she observed Bach’s reaction with private amusement. Best to always keep them guessing.
A sleepy Cody Rivers, in a white ribbed tank and plaid flannel pajama pants, answered the door after several minutes of knocking and ringing the bell. His eyelids were half-closed, and his hair tousled. “It’s Sunday morning, for Christ’s sake,” he grumbled. “Why are you back?”
Athena held up the search warrant, and Detective Bach waved in two uniformed police officers and a crime scene technician. “We are executing this warrant for you to turn over all Green Resistance records and to search your home for bomb-making components.”
“Jesus!” he swore, backing out of the officers’ way. “I didn’t make any bomb.”
“Probably not,” Bach agreed. “We’ll take that membership roster now.”
An officer picked up a laptop computer and slid it into an evidence bag.
“Hey, wait!” Cody rushed over to him barefoot. “That’s mine. You can’t—”
“You insisted on the warrant,” Athena said. “You could have given us what we asked for yesterday.”
“So what? Now you’re punishing me? Look, I have to protect the privacy of my group members. They don’t trust the government as it is. This is more fuel for our distrust.” Turning to the officer, he snapped, “Be careful with that.”
Bach said, “Your property will be returned to you once we have the information we need, Mr. Rivers. I have to ask you to stay out of the way or step outside.”
“Hell.” He plopped into a chair, his head falling into his hands.
“In the second desk drawer, there’s a big, green file organizer thing.
It’s got attendance records and minutes for all our meetings for the past year.
There’s a calendar with activity dates marked and everything.
We operate within the law, unjust as it is sometimes. ”
The sounds of drawers and cabinets opening and closing echoed through the house as the officers and lab tech searched and swabbed.
Athena pulled on blue nitrile gloves and removed a green accordion folder from the desk along the wall, carefully perusing other papers.
She then retrieved a notebook and flipped through handwritten pages.
“Is this your journal?” she asked. “A manifesto?”
“Hey!” Cody sprang from the chair, lurching toward her. Bach caught his arm. “That’s private.”
Athena skimmed a few pages. It read like a hipster’s version of Thoreau’s Walden. “You are truly passionate about your cause,” she noted. She closed the notebook and kept it with the file folder.
“Of course I am,” he retorted. “I’m no poser.”
In the drawers, Athena found lots of pens, pencils, index cards, old letters, and some insurance papers, but nothing else relevant. She poked around the living room while Bach looked under every cushion and piece of furniture. Cody seemed to have woken up and resigned himself to the search.
When the officers returned, they reported finding no suspicious materials. The crime scene tech photographed the residence, dusted selected surfaces for prints, and collected swabs from several work areas for explosive residue testing.
“I told you I had nothing to do with that fire,” Cody brooded from beneath narrowed brows. “And please don’t harass our members. Some are young mothers with small children.”
Athena caught his gaze. “I suspect those would be the most motivated to fiercely protect the environment, Mr. Rivers, even if they don’t fall into the typical bomber/arsonist demographic. We’ll return your property upon conclusion of our investigation.”
“What?” he questioned tentatively. “Months from now? I need my laptop for work.”
“We should have what we need from your laptop much sooner than that,” Bach assured him. “Stay where we can find you.”
They left to the sound of Cody’s frustrated sighs. Once in the car, Bach powered up the laptop he’d collected from his officer while Athena thumbed through the paper records. “I’d like to get my agents started interviewing the most likely suspects from this roster,” she said.
“Do you really think one of the environmentalists bombed the chemical plant?” Bach didn’t sound convinced.
“No. I lean toward much bigger fish, more like a great white shark,” Athena confessed. “But we need to eliminate every alternative before trying to land him.”
Bach turned from the computer screen to look at her. “Charles Whitmore is a rich and powerful man.”
“I’m aware,” she answered coolly, her gaze not leaving the papers she browsed. “We need to run these names. Is there an electronic copy of the files?”
Returning a pensive stare to the screen, he answered, “Yeah, right here.”
“Email it to my office. I’ll have the team get started.” Athena pushed the ignition button. In electric mode, the car made no sound. She called Karen. “Detective Bach is sending a file over. Get everyone busy running the names.”
Bach hit the send button, then closed the laptop. “So, what do you think about the prediction of snow and freezing weather?”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“I don’t know,” he countered, interest returning to his voice. “It was pretty rough back in ’21, around this time of year too.”
“I remember,” Athena said, pulling out into traffic. “And I recall all the times meteorologists cried wolf. Sometimes I think they just do it for ratings.”
“Could be.” Bach stared out the window at rows of houses as they drove by. “It doesn’t freeze here often, but, when we do get winter weather, nobody’s prepared. It’s a nightmare.”
“We’ve got a case to focus on, Detective,” Athena declared. “Let’s hope the predictions have grossly overstated the tiny freeze we’re likely to get.”
Unwilling simply to sit in silence, Bach launched into a rather one-sided discourse about the Houston Rockets and their basketball season thus far.
Athena remembered what happened to the city in 2021: almost a week below freezing, snow and ice covering everything, widespread outages that nearly overwhelmed the state’s power grid, and a general state of panic. No, they did not need that now.