CHAPTER 2
AFTER STEPPING INTO the blast area, I wished I’d stayed outside in the cold.
I took a moment to survey the inside of the office.
The walls were still intact, but half the windows were either cracked or shattered.
A desk and bookshelves had been blown onto their sides.
The acrid smell of explosive residue still spiced the air.
Along with the splintered furniture and scorch marks, there was a giant bloodstain on the floor against the wall.
Presumably where the unsuspecting Abby Boyd had ended up.
I turned to Detective Nelson and said, “What’s causing the sparkly effect, Jolynn?”
“Someone put glitter in the bomb.”
That was a new one. It made me pause.
Nelson said, “The initial assessment of the device is that it was relatively sophisticated. More so than the one that killed Sergeant Vega in Queens. That device was much more crude. If it hadn’t ignited the gas tank in her cruiser, she might have survived the blast. No way anyone was living through this one. ”
I said, “Have they developed anything more on the Vega bombing?”
“Not much. Some group, claiming to be about fighting tyranny, took credit. But no one’s been able to pin that down.”
Other than grunting hello when I’d first introduced him to Jolynn Nelson, Rob Trilling had been his usual taciturn self. Now he spoke up for the first time. “Could they have been trying to get to the parking ticket office? That would be more in line with tyranny than the Office of Technology.”
Nelson said, “He’s a bright one. Doesn’t say much, but I like how he thinks.
” She pulled a notebook from her rear pocket.
“The office opened at 8:00 and the bomb detonated at 8:10. The video surveillance went offline at 5:45. My guess is that they used a timer, but the Bomb Squad hasn’t confirmed that yet.
You’d think if they had that much time, they’d have figured out exactly which office they wanted to hit. ”
Trilling’s phone chirped. He quickly dug it out of his jacket, glanced at the screen, and excused himself. That was out of character for my partner. One of his strongest attributes was his focus. Something about the way he rushed off made me anxious.
I gathered some more information and let my gaze wander around the devastated office. Sometimes taking an unhurried moment at a crime scene would give me an insight I might’ve otherwise overlooked.
A couple of minutes later, Trilling motioned me to the door.
All he said was “We need to talk.”