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“We have nothing, Matt, and less than nothing for a warrant.”
“Neil must have seen something else that we’re missing. He spent a lot of time at the Fish & Brew. He knew these people better than we do.”
Catherine concurred. “Maybe he found that smoking gun, but it’s not here, not anymore.”
“If he found it, we can find it,” said Matt. “Go back and talk to everyone, find different ways to ask the same question.”
Ryder said, “In January, Neil told Jessica Mott that he knew who killed her brother but couldn’t prove it.”
“Maybe he tipped his hand,” Kara said, “and Damon killed him. Framed IP with the second explosion.”
“This doesn’t leave this room,” Matt said. “We have to be extremely careful how we investigate Damon Avila. If we can connect him to the bombings in any way, then that would open a door to a warrant. But if we can’t, we cannot overstep or potentially blow the prosecution.”
They were all silent. Momentarily, Matt turned to Michael. “Any word about the source for the C-4? Can we see if Avila has any access—friends, family—in construction?”
“ATF is still working on it, but I can look into Avila’s friends and family and see if there is any construction connection,” Michael said. “Can I read in the ATF about Avila?”
Matt nodded. “Tell them this is on the down-low, need-to-know only.”
“Got it.” Michael left the room.
“Avila fits what we know from our interview with Mott and reading Neil’s notes, but it’s still not enough for a warrant or to question him,” Catherine said. “And Clark and Travers have no connection to the university.”
“But they’re both connected to Bellingham High School,” Kara said.
“Yes. Though Travers hadn’t started working there. He died in May four years ago, would have been moving that summer and starting his new position in the fall.”
“What was his promotion?” she asked.
Ryder clicked on his computer. “He was taking over the math and science department and would have been teaching honors classes, plus serving as the assistant dean of students. A pay raise in addition to a title. His wife said that the dean planned to retire in two years and they wanted Travers to replace him.”
“Could someone have been overlooked for the position?”
“I can find out,” Ryder said. “I’ll call the school.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s after five. I’ll leave a message, then call again first thing in the morning.”
Catherine said, “Get a staff list. This was four years ago, so find any staff who was there both then and now.” She looked at the whiteboard, then said, “Based on Ryder’s research, Neil felt strongly that Billy Clark was murdered, but there is no evidence, and he’s an outlier in several ways. So we may have to remove him from the pool of victims if a suspect matches perfectly to the other four. Neil may have been mistaken.”
“Except,” Ryder said, raising his index finger in the air, “that was the case that seemed to jump-start his research into the other four deaths. According to Jessica, he was stumped—until he saw something inthat file. And he believed that the killer lived here only in the summer. He made that clear to Jessica earlier this year. Avila fits that.”
“Avila’s a teacher,” Kara said.
They all looked at her. She continued. “On Monday, when Marcy and I interviewed the Dunlap girls, she introduced me to Damon Avila. He teaches somewhere on the mainland, works here in the summers. He’s their uncle—brother to their mom, who died a few years ago.”
“We need a list of all the regular summer people—at least the last two summers, based on Neil’s comment to Mott,” Matt said. “I’ll go over the West End Charter employee files again and see who doesn’t live here year-round. Their staff more than doubles around Memorial Day weekend. And an employee of theirs would have easy access to the boats and not be suspicious.”
“But are you thinking of this guy as a bomber?” asked Jim. “Because if we think Neil was the target and this guy already killed five other people, he probably just seized on the opportunity.”
“But what opportunity? C-4 doesn’t fall out of the sky,” Matt said.
“Could he be planning another attack?” Jim asked.
“It would be West End,” Catherine said. “Because either way—whether the target is Neil, or the target is West End todistractus from Neil’s investigation—the bomber is going to be consistent there.”
“I’m going to shut them down,” Matt said. He didn’t sound like he was looking forward to it. “This weekend is their biggest moneymaker, but we have no choice. We can’t risk it.”
Jim said, “How far back are we going here? If we’re making a connection to the University of Washington, that’s thirteen years.”
Catherine replied, “Ryder and I are doing full backgrounds on Missy Douglas and Eric Travers to see if they have any commonalities, and Ryder is waiting for more information from the University of Washington about Douglas and the boys. If we can connect all five of them to Damon Avila, we might have enough to talk to him, but even then it’s pie in the sky.”
