Page 74 of Flash Freeze

In her office, Athena made a list. They’d gathered enough evidence to charge Mora with the illegal sale of company products, but still nothing tying him to the bomb, the collateral-damage deaths, or Nolan’s murder. She stared at the list, drumming her polished nails on her desk. Campbell had sent her a report on everything removed from Mora’s residence. No pipe wrench. He had plenty of other tools in the house, but no common plumber’s wrench?

Athena was so deep in concentration that she jumped when Bach burst into her office unannounced. She glared at him. “Do you ever knock?”

“You want to see this,” he said.

Athena met him at the door. “The lab report is in?”

The answer shone in his eyes. “It’s not a smoking gun, but I think it’s enough, added to what we already have.”

She followed him out into the bullpen, where everyone stopped to listen. “You should all be getting copies of this,” Bach began. He read off the attachment delivered to his phone.

“The suspect’s passenger-side carpet and an empty lunchbox tested positive for microscopic PETN particles and trace lead azide. Both substances are consistent with explosive residue recovered from the device.”

“But no detonator,” Ice grumbled in disappointment.

“That’s not all,” Bach said, holding up a finger. “Also recovered from the floor, a tiny blood drop matching Nolan’s blood type but not Mora’s. It’s in DNA testing right now to confirm the match.”

“No murder weapon.” Karen’s words were laced with disappointment.

“He’s too smart to leave a detonator or bloody wrench lying around,” Athena deduced. “They’re at the bottom of the bayou. But the blood drop, the trace explosive chemicals—they put the murder weapon and bomb in his truck. He’ll argue it’s circumstantial, but, with the right push, we can tip him over the edge. A man that convinced of his own superiority can’t hide behind a mask of civility forever.”

Bach grinned. “Then let’s put him back in the box and take him down.”

Chapter 34

After a brief break to freshen up, Athena met Bach in the interview room to settle on last-minute details. Paulson ran the booth. Mr. Smith wasn’t there on a Saturday, but the rest of Athena’s team squeezed in with John to watch the takedown.

Ice and Hernandez brought in Mora, who was wearing orange jail scrubs, his wrists cuffed in front of him. Despite looking scruffier than yesterday, he still carried himself like the man in charge. Her agents settled him into the opposite chair and took up sentinel posts inside the closed door.

“Sleep all right?” Bach asked.

“Like a bug in a rug,” Mora answered without an ounce of cheer. His keen brown eyes seemed colder, his face harder than before. “What do you want this time?”

“Mr. Mora,” Athena began, “you’re a smart man, a careful, deliberate man, a deep thinker who plans for every contingency. That doesn’t make you flawless.”

He closed his eyes, rolled his neck, then fixed his gaze on her. “Did you spend all night arriving at that conclusion? Your foundation doesn’t hide the dark circles under your eyes, Agent Bouvier.”

Athena’s jaw tightened, but she remained calm. I’m in charge of this interview, she reminded herself. “The list of charges against you has grown since last night, and the evidence to go with it. Detective Bach?” She glanced at Elyan and nodded.

He took out the witness’s sworn testimony. “Do you recall a coworker named Calvin Middleton?”

Mora scrunched his brow. “Stocky, short guy losing his hair? Yeah. I’ve seen him around.”

Bach nodded. “He’s seen you too, like at the small-order loading dock several months back at two in the morning helping strangers move barrels onto a flatbed that didn’t belong to Gulf Allied Chemicals.”

“Impossible.” Mora started to cross his arms but returned them to the table when the cuffs prevented the movement. He jerked his chin, tension straining the muscles in his neck. “I only work days. Cal must have been mistaken. Hard to make out faces in the dark. Besides, the only things I do on the loading dock are sweep and mop.”

“Rise Together Foundation.” Athena clipped out the words with clear precision and waited. Mora’s jaw ticked, his gaze hardening, but he said nothing. “Gael Andre Salcido Kuri?” His nostrils flared.

“Come on, Mora,” Bach said. “Your dead brother’s name, your mom’s maiden name? And you’re on the bank records as the representative of the ‘charity’ authorized to deposit and withdraw funds. Ringing any bells?”

He curled his lip. “Don’t say my brother’s name.”

“Hey, you’re the one who put it on the paperwork for the phony organization,” Athena said, gesturing at Mora.

“Rise Together isn’t phony,” he spat out. “It’s a legitimate foundation to support individual freedoms in an age of crushing domination by the elite.”

“I’ll bet they give out essays and pamphlets outlining your ideology,” Bach said. “It’s also a great place to launder money and hide assets from the IRS.”