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“The weekend before Missy went camping, she had publicly announced that she was getting married,” Catherine said. “It was all over social media. Her fiancé was a former professional football player. He had played for several years, had health issues, retired early and was coaching college football. Matt tells me his stats were impressive for the time he played. Remember: Damon Avila was a star football player on the verge of being drafted, which is like winning the lottery. Missy’s fiancé had done what Avila wanted to do before the accident and he was also marrying the woman Avila had once loved.”
Catherine looked down at her phone. “Dammit, but I’m not surprised—Tony says we need more.”
“What about the Bellingham connection?” Matt said. “The missing teacher was promoted into a position over Avila at the high school where Avila worked.”
“When Travers disappeared, Avila didn’t get the job—they hired someone else from the outside to fill it,” Catherine said. “And that person is still alive.”
“And what about Billy Clark being a student there?” Kara pushed. “Avila must have known Clark.”
“Circumstantial,” Catherine said. “And Clark’s accident is still being called an accident, even though Neil—according to the sheriff’s department on the mainland—had been asking them to reopen the investigation, as had the victim’s father. One of the problems is that the car accident was in early spring during a rainstorm and any potential evidence was gone before the accident was even discovered.”
“I think,” Matt said, “we might be able to rattle him. What Officer Anderson gave us is hearsay, but coming from a cop, I put a bit more weight on it. A judge or jury, however, may not. Kara, do you think you can talk to Pete Dunlap? It would be walking a tightrope—we lean too much one side or the other, we either get nothing useful or he slams the door in our face. We need everything to line up.”
Catherine said, “We need solid evidence that puts Avila in the same area as one of these deaths. Ryder is already working on that—every public piece of information out there. Remember, if we’re right, Neil figured it out as well but felt that there was not enough evidence to turn over. Believing a person is guilty and proving a person is guilty are different. I think Neil found circumstantial evidence related to the three later murders that he was able to connect to Avila, but he couldn’t prove Avila killed anyone.”
“We need one firm fact,” Matt said, “then we have cause to talk to him. We may even be able to get a limited search warrant.”
Michael Harris had walked in during the middle of the conversation, and now said, “We may have something. ATF just heard back from the largest construction company in Washington State—they audited their records when they received the ATF order on Saturday, and they are missing three blocks of C-4. It wasn’t discovered earlier because the C-4 was ordered for a demolition project that wasn’t taking place for another week, and it had been delivered three weeks ago. It was inventoried and stored upon delivery. The good news is that the facility—in Bellingham—is very secure. They are sending all their security footage to the ATF and we should know before the end of today exactly when the facility was breached and who breached it.”
“If it’s secure, how would someone get in?”
“They’re sending over a list of all staff and anyone else with access. This kind of theft is almost always an inside job,” Michael added.
“It’s all a matter of who you know,” Kara mumbled.
“We get one hint that Avila knows anyone on that list,” Matt said, “I can get a warrant.” He looked at Kara. “Do you think you can work Pete Dunlap?”
“Yes. And he wants to be kept in the loop, so I can go over and tell him...well, I’ll tell him we’ve talked to Rena’s family, if he wants to send a message to staff? Then parlay that into a more in-depth conversation. I won’t tip our hand, so I might not get anything.”
“And you have no reason to think that he would help his brother-in-law.”
“No. Pete’s protective of his family, but he would never do anything to jeopardize his daughters—and aiding and abetting a killer? I don’t see it. Even if it’s his sainted wife’s brother.”
29
Pete tightly hugged his daughters. Telling them that Rena was dead had been one of the hardest things that he had ever done. When Wendy died, that was hard, but they had known she was sick and had time to prepare—though how could you really prepare for the death of your wife or your mother?
Whitney’s tears flowed freely. She had always been able to express her emotions—the joy or sorrow—fully. Ashley looked like she was still in shock. But she hugged her dad. “I’m so sorry, Dad.”
“The FBI is investigating,” he said.
“Why? Is this connected to the bombings?”
Ashley, always thinking two steps ahead.
“We don’t know, but they’re here, maybe they have jurisdiction.” But what Ashley said added to Pete’s fear that the bomber was someone close to him. Maybe someone who came into the Fish & Brew. Maybe Rena had overheard someone talking and that’s why she’d been killed. He was glad he’d shut down today. He wanted to keep his family far from this violence.
“I was thinking,” he said, “that we should take the boat out today, maybe head out to Massacre Bay and swim around Skull Rock like we used to do. Have a picnic. Talk about Rena and anything else you want.”
Whitney wrapped her long arms around him. “Daddy, that’s a great idea! I’ll go pack food.”
She jumped up and left him with Ashley.
He was glad of the chance to speak to Ashley alone. “I meant everything I said the other day,” he began.
“I know.”
“I will never tolerate lies, directly or by omission. But I know why you felt you had to. And I probably judged Bobby harshly because of his brother’s actions, and that was wrong of me. I’d like you to invite Bobby to join us today. He deserves to be judged on his own merits, not his brother.”
