Page 48 of Holmes, Margaret and Poe

“I think I can keep him in custody a bit longer based on the explosives residue. But for now, we’ll stick to that window, which should give me enough time to proceed to arraignment if I choose to.”

I said, “What will make you confident enough to charge?”

“All open angles closed,” Cantrell said. “All other known suspects eliminated.”

Mahoney said, “We’re still working on Cameron Blades, the guy who threatened American Airlines after they lost his mother’s ashes.”

“He had fifty-caliber-machine-gun components?”

“Affirmative. And no federal firearms license for them, according to ATF.”

The U.S. attorney sat back in her chair. “Any chance they were collaborating? Davis and Blades?”

“I suppose, but we’ve seen no evidence of that.”

Cantrell pressed her fingers into a steeple and thought for several moments. “Okay,” she said finally. “I want you three to change tack, be my devil’s advocates.”

“How so?” Mahoney said, looking uneasy.

Cantrell sat forward and slid a manila folder across to us. “Someone used a machine gun to shoot at a single-engine plane last year about thirty miles west of Fort Bragg,” she said. “Didn’t take it down because the plane was too far away, but the fuselage had several bullet holes, and people in that area said they heard the automatic-weapon fire coming from a remote part of a national forest.”

“That didn’t come up in our records,” Mahoney said, frowning and opening the file.

“NTSB handled it and came up with nothing,” Cantrell said. “But there’s a sheriff’s detective down there who contacted us and said we need to look at a few things she believes may be connected to the downed jet. Look, any good defense attorney is going to find this eventually, so let’s do the work before they do. Mahoney, I’d like you and Dr. Cross to fly down there ASAP and hear her out.”

Before we could reply, she turned to John. “And Detective Sampson, I know you’re the sole caretaker of your daughter,so I won’t ask you to go out of town on short notice. But I’ve spoken with your chief, and in addition to your work on the Dead Hours killings, we want you to check out the alibi that this teacher, Fiona Plum, gave Captain Davis. And check the security cameras at that sports bar he claims he went to.”

Sampson nodded. “He says he got sick eating crab after the sports bar.”

“Check that out too,” Cantrell said.

CHAPTER 46

BREE TOOK ONE LASTlook at the corpse of Iliana Meadows before walking away from the scene with Fairfax County Police detective Marcia Creighton.

When Detective Creighton showed up as one of the responding investigators, Bree was instantly relieved. She and Creighton had known each other for years, having worked several cases together that crossed district and state lines.

Ahead of them and down the spur trail, other detectives were talking to Tina Dawson and Jannie. Dawson had a space blanket around her shoulders, the shock and horror she’d felt at her discovery now replaced by trembling disbelief.

Jannie wiped at tears with her sleeve as she answered a detective’s question.

Creighton stopped twenty yards away and said quietly to Bree, “Looks like the victim was hit from behind, blunt force.”

“Sharp-edged weapon, though, the way it caved in her skull,” Bree said. “A rock?”

“Or a tree limb with a broken piece coming off it. The ME will give us more when they look at her, but I saw no signs of sexual assault.”

“No,” Bree said.

“You know what Jannie and Tina are going to say?”

“Iliana told Jannie that someone was blackmailing her over a sex video her high-school coach had shot of the two of them together.”

“When she was underage?”

Bree nodded.

“She have any idea who the blackmailer was?”

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