Page 20 of Operation: Discovery

“Oh, I meant to ask about your car. Can you get a replacement?” She leaned against the door.

He was sure he could, but he also had a nagging urge to go look around at the town hall and see if the police had missed anything now that this case had gone in a completely separate direction. The DA wasn’t sure what they could charge the nurses with other than kidnapping, if they ever found them. While that came with a hefty charge, it wasn’t attempted murder, which was what Brendon wanted. For that, they needed proof of intent. They’d strapped Adam down and drugged him, but no one knew the exact intent for drugging him.

But a bomb … That was deadly. That was attempted murder. There was intent and malice aforethought. If they could tie the bombing to the people who had put on the fake clinic, they could tack on the attempted murder charge and send these people away for a very long time.

“My insurance company is coming out to look at what’s left of my car, and they are bringing a rental for me. Why?” She had to have been frightened, since they’d all been in his car within an hour of the whole thing blowing to pieces.

Dee bit her lip and slowly lowered herself back into the chair. “I’m no detective … but can I ask you something?”

He wasn’t a detective either, but could she convince him to try? If anyone could get him to do something he wasn’t sure he wanted to, it was Dee.

* * *

Dee had been tryingto think of how she could go back to the scene and look at what had been left behind, but she hadn’t wanted to go alone. She’d told herself for the past hour that she was only suffering from morbid curiosity, but in talking to Brendon, she couldn’t shake her desire to see if anything might have been missed by the police. Worse, what if they’d accidentally left clues pointing to Wayside at the scene? Was that how the bomber found them?

“I’d like to go back to town. I know you can’t drive without your car and my car probably isn’t a perfect substitute, but I think we should go back.”

Brendon drummed his fingers against the desk once, then stopped. “We went to the blood drive, which wasn’t a blood drive. We went to Moira’s, and you asked if we could bring them back here, which we did. As curious as I am, I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to go looking around without the police. It’s great that you’re thinking about how to make this better, but I’m just not sure if we are the right people to do anything.”

She didn’t want to feel hurt that he would question her motives. She wasn’t even sure what her motives were. What could she find? It wasn’t like the guilty people would just sit there in the parking lot, waiting for someone to come arrest them.

“Officer Blake never asked where you parked at the town hall. There’s no way they could check the lot to see if anything had been left behind when they didn’t know where you parked. There were so many cars filling that lot. How could they check everything? And was your car the only one that was targeted? What if other cars explode in the next few days? People might not put two and two together that it was the blood drive.” The more she said, the more ideas came to her, and she had to keep talking or risk forgetting them.

“I don’t think you realize how small the police force is around here. If there’s more than one bombing, they will know that it’s tied to what happened to my car.”

Dee tucked her leg under her in the chair and took a deep breath. Maybe he was right, but she couldn’t squash the need to go look at the scene one more time. Before, there had been too many people for her to look at things that had been left behind. She wondered what the police took as evidence and what would be left for the city to clean up.

“You’re still thinking of going, aren’t you? You look agitated and ready to persuade me … or go without me.” Brendon chuckled. “If it makes you feel better, I’m just as curious as you are, but I think we’ve both risked our necks enough today.”

“What are the chances that a cleaning crew will come tomorrow, and everything will be gone? What if there are things left behind that get thrown in the trash?” Or maybe she’d watched too many crime documentaries. Her last client had watched every crime show she could find, then she’d watch them over again once she’d exhausted all her options. Sometimes, Dee was sure that if she had a blacker soul, her training to be a nurse and all that crime knowledge would help her get away with anything.

She wouldn’t everdoanything, but the knowledge had to account for something.

“I’m sure Officer Blake would be happy to know how poorly you think of his team. And I say that jokingly. I know you don’t really think that. You’re just curious. I’m worried because going there put us at risk the first time. As of yet, none of the other potential victims have been struck again by anything. Only us. That tells me we need to watch ourselves.”

She wasn’t a ‘run into the fire’ kind of girl. While she’d always wanted to help everyone and everything, she didn’t have what it took to be an officer. She wasn’t good at those things, but she was good at getting people to do what they needed to do. Or in this case, something she wanted him to do.

“I’m sure they haven’t even finished with the scene yet. There was so much to do. The officers probably wouldn’t even let me get close. I’ll just go myself and see.” She stood quickly; sure Brendon wouldn’t go.

If he joined her, she’d be less afraid. He’d been the one to notice the strange situation the first time and he’d been the one who’d been willing to go to Moira’s when her gut had said they needed to find out if mother and son were alright. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have known about the connection between Moira’s home and the trafficking ring.

“You know, I just thought about this, but when we went into Moira’s neighborhood, there were a lot more of those blood drive signs. I only saw one because there was a sign right in front of the gas station when I drove through town. I didn’t see those signs in any of the other neighborhoods.”

Brendon looked uncomfortable for a moment. “That’s a unique observation. I wonder if Officer Blake had noted that or if someone went around and picked up all the signs already. Often, those signs sit there until homeowners get tired of them and throw them away.”

“The nurses were so covered up at the blood drive, but maybe there are still fingerprints on the signs that could lead detectives to who put them out or who made them?” Dee tried to think like a detective. “What if we . . .”

“Tampering with evidence is a crime.” Brendon tilted his chin down at her and looked at her intently. “I think your heart is in the right place, but we’re not touching any of those signs or anything at the town hall. I know you probably think I’m not exciting or driven enough, but mostly, I just want the police to find every ounce of evidence they can and put these people in jail.”

Dee sighed, hating that he was probably right. That wasn’t what happened on TV, though. “I suppose you’re right. But it feels like we’re letting them get away.”

“Would you recognize any of them if you walked past them on the street?” Brendon tilted his head and looked at her. His gaze was penetrating, determined, and thorough.

She had the brief, worrisome thought that he might really find her lacking. She was quite a bit older than when they’d met before. While she was still a CNA, her job now resembled what a home health aide would do. Her mother often reminded her that she was wasting a perfectly good education doing what she was doing. Her job was fulfilling, and that was all that mattered, but not to those who judged her.

“I don’t know. I’d like to test the theory.” She grinned, waiting for his response.

Brendon laughed. “I see I haven’t convinced you at all. I’ll call Officer Blake and ask if he needs our help. If he doesn’t, then we’ll stay away. If he does, we’ll go in and do exactly as he says, but don’t get your hopes up. While he lets us help in some cases, he usually won’t with gathering evidence because there’s a chain of command that he must follow.”

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