Page 86 of One More Chance

“Sure.” Melissa went to a desk and came back with a new one and a pen.

“Thanks.” Kenna wrote down her statement. Everything she had to say about the house, the two men inside, and who they were. She kept the others who’d entered out of it. She also didn’t mention breaking in. The part where she wrote that the men had initiated some kind of self-destruct to blow the house after a short countdown sounded like science fiction. The investigators would find evidence that corroborated the truth, and then her statement wouldn’t seem so outlandish.

Jax came back with coffee halfway through, and she went to refill it herself after she was finished writing everything down. He walked with her to get more from the break room.

When they were walking back to the technician’s lab, she asked, “Did you read the letter?”

“I had a colleague come in and be a witness. We documented everything with photos, dusted the envelope for prints, and then reviewed the contents of the letter. Given it was addressed to the bureau and not just to me, I figured sticking to procedure was a good idea. Just in case it was contaminated with something.”

“Like Anthrax?”

He shrugged. “It isn’t worth the risk.”

“And the letter?”

“The agent is making you a copy so you can read it for yourself, but essentially, it is Walter’s manifesto. He was investigating the doctor and a group of men who went missing.The men were former military, thought to be abducted by the doctor.”

“The retirement home guys.”

“That tracks.” Jax nodded. “Lorin was also the subject of an investigation, but the two weren’t related. Walter must’ve gotten too close to Buzard. He was staking out Lorin in a bar one night, and the doctor captured both of them out back and took the gold. The letter says Buzard used the gold to fund the building of his ‘silo.’”

“Like the plans on Terri Fleming’s website.”

“Yep.” She went first into the lab. “Melissa, is there anything on the drive about a silo?”

The technician glanced over. “Actually, yes. Why do you ask?”

“Call it a hunch.”

Jax chuckled.

Kenna continued, “Anything on that drive about where it is?”

“Not yet.” Melissa dragged over her stool and sat, opening files from the drive. “Most of these look like schematics. This one is for a water filtration system.” She tapped the mouse. “I don’t see any maps, but there are a lot of invoices.”

“Delivery address?” Kenna went to look over her shoulder.

“This is a storage facility. My dad uses it to keep his boat.” Melissa opened another file. “I’ll keep looking for anything with a location on it.”

“Thanks.” Kenna sipped her coffee, walking around but not quite pacing. She needed to move so she could think. Her phone started to ring in her pocket. She slid her finger across the screen and put it to her ear, knowing exactly who was calling. “Banbury Investigations.”

Jax glanced over, and she mouthed,Ramon.

Her associate on the other end of the phone said, “So you aren’t somewhere you can speak freely.”

Kenna answered, “It’s possible we can do that, but I’ll need more information from you on the incident.”

Ramon said, “On store security footage, we found a van that met the cop car. The two cops handed the kids off to a couple of guys in overalls. We followed the van to a parking garage. They went in and never came out.”

Kenna set her mug down on a metal counter that stretched along one side of the room. “Did you find it?”

The kids had to have been transferred to another vehicle. That, or they were still in the parking garage.

“Another bait and switch. The van is here, but it’s empty. I doubt we’ll find any evidence inside. These people are pros.”

“Got it.”

“You guys are good?”

---