Page 36 of His Forgotten Colton Fiancee
Chapter 8
After leaving Quinn’s hospital room, West was due at the police station for a briefing.
The chief, her cousin Finn, had given him a lot of latitude with work because he knew West had experience with questioning bombing victims. Only Shane and Brayden knew that he and Quinn had dated.
Dropping off the roses she’d been given by Noel Larson at the lab, with strict instructionsto be careful of poison, he headed for the briefing.
Inside the squad room, the other members of the Red Ridge PD milled about, quietly talking as they waited for Chief Colton to appear. Surprised to see Demi’s half brother Shane Colton, he realized the PI probably was there to share street intel. Sometimes there was more than a grain of truth in what town gossips said.
West nodded grufflyat the others, grabbed a cup of coffee. Still shaken over seeing Larson in Quinn’s room, he preferred to remain alone. K-9 unit detective Carson Gage gave him a scrutinizing look. West didn’t care. In this force, everyone always looked at him as if they couldn’t quite make him out, trying to figure out what he was doing here. He was an outsider, regarded with respect, but not admitted to anyone’sinner circle.
Fine with him. He had a job to do.
Brayden spotted him, wandered over. He didn’t quite trust Brayden, but the man was okay in his book.
“We spent last night combing through the surveillance video from the convenience store across the street from Tia’s office.” Brayden’s jaw tightened. “Nothing. Camera was too far away.”
“Whoever did this knew the area, knew Tia’sroutine.” His troubled gaze met the other man’s. “It could have been someone intending to hurt Quinn, as well.”
He stared at the whiteboard with the photos of the Groom Killer’s vics and bombing vic Tia. Someone was setting up a PowerPoint presentation on the laptop to show on the screen in front. And then Chief Colton walked in.
Everyone took a seat. West chose one away from the others.He didn’t care to socialize or share information other than what was related to the crime.
Uncomfortably aware that he was there to secretly investigate the Coltons and their knowledge of Demi’s whereabouts, he couldn’t risk being buddies with any of them.
Finn sat on the front desk, legs dangling over the side, cup of coffee in hand. “The autopsy on Tia concluded she died from blunt forcetrauma. Not the explosion. Someone bashed in her head first.”
He’d figured as much. West gripped his coffee. The news made him a little more relaxed because it meant Quinn wasn’t the intended vic.
Still, he couldn’t discount Quinn in all this. She’d been there, and the unsub might have intended to kill her with the bomb, as well. The timing was too slick, too perfect.
The PowerPointpresentation started, showing the evidence markers at the scene. Dozens of them.
The body of Tia.
A photo of Quinn, the only known witness.
Heart slamming against his chest, West winced. She looked so fragile, so vulnerable lying in the hospital bed. Curls mussed, face pale and drained.
“Quinn Colton has yet to regain her memory. Brayden will discuss the detonator now.” Finn handedthe laser pointer to Brayden.
Brayden stood, gestured to the slide showing the detonator. “The cell phone was a burner, type you could purchase in any retail outlet. We also found fragments of metal ball bearings embedded in the filing cabinets. Whoever made this bomb wanted us to think it was a terrorist incident.”
Shrapnel bombs, especially ones with ball bearings, were common with terrorists,who wanted to injure and maim as many people as possible.
Shane snorted. “The hell it is. Talk on the street is the Larsons had a hand in it. Noel had dated Tia, things went south. Maybe he wanted to make it a permanent breakup.”
Heart dropping to his stomach, he tried to keep his cool.
Finn looked at West. “Report?”
He went to the front of the room, took the pointer and gesturedto the slide on the screen. “Rex found residue of TATP on the carpet near Tia’s desk, and the front door. We determined the seat of the bomb originated from Tia’s desk. The bomb was housed in a cardboard container. Postblast damage includes the window shades in front, which were drawn at the time, front windows, office equipment and several files on the victim’s desk, as well as the victim herself.”
West clicked to the next slide. “The blast was powerful enough to embed this pencil into the wall.”
He droned on, going over what his dog had discovered, what evidence was present. No fingerprints yet pointing to the unsub.
As the chief thanked him, his gaze flicked over to Brayden. “There’s something else.”
