“In Finn’s defense,” Ryleigh said. “He’s never had much hair, so he hasn’t needed to learn.”

  Finn ran a hand over his short hair and made a funny face.

  Avery giggled and looked at Ryleigh. “Do you know how to do braids?”

  “I do, but I haven’t done it in a long time.”

  Avery’s eyes scrunched together. “You have short hair too. How come you know?”

  “My hair hasn’t always been short. It was long the entire time I was growing up, so my mom and gran braided it all the time.”

  “You have a gran?”

  “I do. And a grandad who live very close to me.”

  “Lucky. Finn has grandparents but they live way in Portland. That’s a long way away.”

  Finn continued brushing, and her fine hair tangled in the bristles.

  “Ouch.” Avery’s hand flew to the brush to stop him.

  Finn flushed red. “Sorry, Peanut. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “I know.” Avery looked at Ryleigh. “Can you braid my hair?”

  Oh, gosh. That must’ve hurt Finn. But Ryleigh would hurt the child more by saying no, so she nodded. “I can try, but like I said, it’s been a long time so no telling how it’ll turn out.”

  Finn nearly threw the brush to Avery as if he was glad to get rid of it. He offered her an apologetic smile.

  She shrugged it off. Braiding hair really wasn’t an imposition. She got up and carefully cleared the tangle then set to work separating segments of the soft hair into manageable strands. Once she started, the process came back to her, and she soon had one side neatly braided.

  She held out her hand. “I’ll need a rubber band to finish this.”

  Avery shot a look at Finn. “In the pink box that Mama gave me on my shelf.”

  “Be right back.” He bolted from the room.

  Avery looked up, her eyes narrowed. “He really doesn’t get girly things so much.”

  “I can see that.” Ryleigh smiled at Avery. “But he’s trying really hard because he loves you and wants what’s best for you.”

  Avery frowned. “I know, but sometimes I can’t help it and I’m mean to him.”

  “I know you don’t want to be, and he knows that too. It’s normal and part of grieving the loss of your mother.”

  “Is it?”

  “Uh-huh, and you know what?”

  “What?”

  “If you have a chance to talk to that counselor, you’ll figure out how to handle it better. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, maybe think about doing it for Finn.”

  “I didn’t like going to the counselor. Now maybe I will.”

  “That’s great.” Ryleigh heard a noise behind her and found Finn standing in the doorway. He mouthed, “Thank you.”

  She smiled up at him, and her heart flung wide open to wrap around her growing feelings for him.

  Oh, no. She was smitten. Totally and completely smitten again. How had she let that happen?

  They couldn’t start dating. Not long-distance. He was right about that when they dated before. Long-distance wouldn’t work. And honestly, if they didn’t have the distance issue, dating could lead to marriage. All well and good if he wasn’t now a dad. Ryleigh liked Avery and all, but was she prepared to be a ready-to-order mom?

  Finn parked on the road near the mill, now nothing more than a soggy pile of black and charred lumber. Whispers of smoke still rose from the wreckage. If he didn’t know a bomb had been detonated in the back building, the wood scattered over the area as if someone dropped a box of burnt toothpicks would tell him an explosion had occurred.

  Ryleigh had been quiet for the drive. Maybe she was disappointed by the mechanics’ call saying they had to order parts for her car and it would take a few days to return her vehicle to her. So she was stuck with Finn for sure.

  She sat unmoving next to him, gaze fixed out the passenger window. Today she’d dressed in dark navy pants along with a white button-down shirt and a blue suit jacket. She appeared both professional and comfortable. She’d gone to Ryan’s place to get her suitcase from her sister late last night, and Finn hadn’t seen Mackenzie before she headed back to Portland. Exactly as Ryleigh had planned. Hide him away from her family at all costs. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t hurt.

  “This place looks awful.” She glanced at him. “I’d love to poke around in there, but better to sit tight until the Veritas team arrives.”

  Finn killed the truck engine. “Do you know all of them?”

  She shook her head. “Never met Trent or Chelsea. They’re new to the team. And I don’t know the assistants either. So I guess I know a little more than half of the ones coming today.”

  “A big team like that will cost them a pretty penny.”

  “I’m so thankful they said yes.”

  He looked at her. “And I’m thankful for your help with the hair issue this morning. Avery was so happy with her braids. Maybe you could teach me.”

  “Sure.”

  “That along with the soccer pointers solidified you as a good guy in her book.”

  Ryleigh frowned.

  “You don’t like that?”

  “I do, but if this investigation drags on, she has to know I’m just passing through and not to expect me to be around.” Ryleigh clutched her hands in her lap. “Maybe I should move out so she doesn’t get attached.”

  “No need.” He hated even thinking about that. “I’ll have a talk with her. Make sure she knows you’ll be going back to Portland when the investigation is over.”

  “You sound irritated.”

  “Do I?” Of course he did. He didn’t want Ryleigh to leave, and he let it creep into his tone.

  As if saving him from saying more, three white vans rolled slowly down the road, giving them something else to focus on.

  “They’re here,” Ryleigh announced with gusto. “Let’s get them started so we can move this investigation forward.”

  She hopped out and directed the driver of the first van to park on the roadside.

  Finn got out too, and despite the bright summer sun shining down on them, he felt a chill. Could be because he knew a woman in one of those vehicles was here to recover the body that Russ protected from the elements overnight with a small bottomless tent.

  A man and woman climbed out of the first vehicle that had a Veritas logo on the side. The guy’s dark hair was cut short, and he wore black tactical pants and a black polo shirt with a gold logo on the chest. The sheriff, Blake Jenkins, Finn assumed. The woman had red hair and glasses, and she’d dressed in jeans and rubber boots.

  Ryleigh held her hand out to the man first. “Blake. Emory. Thank you so much for coming.”

  So Finn was right. This was the guy they’d been talking to, and Ryleigh had mentioned that he was married to Emory.

  Finn joined the trio and introduced himself as the security manager.

  “He just retired from the SEALs to take care of a little girl who lost her mother,” Ryleigh added, actually sounding proud of him this time.

  “Good to meet you,” Emory said, but gave Ryleigh a questioning look.

  What was that look about? He opened his mouth to ask but the other team members came forward.

  “Let me introduce everyone.” Blake started by giving background on Ryleigh and Finn. “On the end, we have our anthropologist, Dr. Kelsey Dunbar.”

  A woman with curly black hair and wearing shorts that looked like a skirt and a frilly top waved at them.

  “Next to Dr. Dunbar is her assistant, Shawn Fortune.”

  A skinny guy with thinning hair saluted.

  “Then we have Sierra Rice, trace evidence and fingerprint analysis, and next, her assistant, Chad Powell, and lab tech, Jeremiah Paulson.”

  Sierra’s blond hair hung over her shoulders, and she flashed a kind smile. The guy with thinning dark hair and a slight build was very forgettable. Not so with Jeremiah, who was tall and wiry, and his red hair would’ve competed with yesterday’s fiery flames.

  “To his right is Nick Thorn, who I believe you have been communicating with,” Blake continued.

  Nick’s close-cut beard matched his brown hair, and the cocky angle of his head said he wasn’t a guy who was used to being forgotten.

  “Second row left side we have Ainslie Houston, crime scene photographer, and the guy next to her is her husband Grady Houston, expert in everything that goes boom.”

  Grady laughed and waved his hand, but Ainslie rolled her eyes.

  “Next to him is our latest hire, Trent Ingram. He’s a ballistics, firearms, and explosives expert too and works with Grady, but his forte is explosives.”

  “Good to meet you both,” Trent said but smiled at Ryleigh. A smile she returned for the dark-haired guy with a heavy five-o-clock shadow.

  “Last but not least, we have Chelsea Vale, our new crime scene photographer.”

  The curvy woman wore her hair in french braids, resembling Avery’s, and had a girl-next-door face covered in freckles.

  “That’s it,” Blake said. “I don’t expect you’ll remember all the names, but we’ll help you out if you forget. We should begin with the recovery of remains.” He turned to the team. “Let’s get things set up.”

  The team disbursed, including his wife, heading for the vans, but he remained in place. “I’d like a quick tour of the property while they unload supplies and set up a command center that I will pilot.”

  “We’ll be glad to show you around,” Ryleigh said.

  “Do you need protective gear?” he asked.

  “We’re good.” Ryleigh dug blue booties and gloves from her suit coat and handed a set to Finn.

  “Then let’s get after it.” He started down the incline.

  Finn didn’t have a hard time believing this guy to be a former sheriff or as someone who could coordinate this high-profile team. And he could easily understand why Ryleigh suggested bringing in this team. No doubt they could cover a lot of ground and get answers far faster than any government agency with limited resources could do.

  At the bottom of the incline, Ryleigh held out her hand toward the destroyed structures. “Finn, why don’t you lead the tour. You know the buildings better than I do.”

  “Start where the bomb detonated,” Blake said. “That way I can get Kelsey going first thing.”

  “That would be the back.” Finn paused to put on his booties as did the others.

  He skirted well around the first two buildings, memories of the hot flames from yesterday coming back. He didn’t really fear death. A guy who deployed as a SEAL couldn’t and do his job well. He could have a healthy respect for staying alive though. And he did have his list of ways he would never want to go. Number one being tortured by the enemy, and number two, in a fire where the smoke didn’t kill him before the flames took over.

  He stopped next to tall stacks of unprocessed logs that had survived the fire. “Understanding the process here should help you see why the bomb was set where it was. It starts with the loggers. They cut the trees to size in the field, but when they arrive here, they go into the de-barker, which is the big green machine you see just down the road.”

  “What do they do with all the bark?” Blake asked.

  “It’s turned into wood chips and sold.” Finn pointed at a collapsed conveyer belt. “The log then goes via this conveyor belt if it were still standing inside this back building. If the crew isn’t ready for the log inside, it’s stacked in these piles until they are ready. However, they don’t keep a massive inventory of logs on hand as they dry out when sitting here.”

  He gestured at the collapsed structure. “First step inside the building is for the worker to square off the log using a computer-aided machine. Then it moves on to building two, where a laser is used to make sure they’re the right width. Then they move on to building three, where they’re graded and sorted into stacks that are ready to go off to the supplier. Gonna cost the owner a pretty penny to replace those computer-aided machines.”

  “So the bomber started in the back building because if the equipment was destroyed it would stop the entire process,” Blake said. “And the victim is in that building?”

  Finn nodded. “Follow me.”

  Blake looked at Finn as they walked. “From what you told me, no one was supposed to be onsite. Do you have any idea why this person was here?”

  “No, but if he’s the night supervisor, as we suspect, he could’ve come here instead of going out to eat with his men. Not sure why, though. Unless he was setting the bomb.”

  “Sounds like a good possibility.”

  “He’s new to the team,” Ryleigh said. “So we don’t know much about him, but our task force computer expert is digging into his past. We hope Kelsey can search for the victim’s keys and cell phone before she removes the remains.”

  “I’ll ask her, but if it in any way threatens the integrity of the bone structure, don’t be surprised if she says no.” Blake got out a small notepad and pen. “What’s the guy’s name? I’ll have Nick look into him too.”

  Ryleigh shared Gates’s name. “It would be helpful too if Nick could analyze the computer parts that we believe controlled a photoelectric cell bomb.”

  “Photoelectric cell, huh?” Blake blinked a few times. “Didn’t expect that. I’ll get the guys back here as soon as Kelsey clears them to be in the area. Knowing for sure the type of bomb could lead to the bomber, and I know you’ll want that info as soon as possible.”

  “Exactly,” Finn said, his respect growing for this man. “That’s it for me. You have anything else to add, Ryleigh?”

  “We have another scene we would like processed if possible.” Ryleigh told him about Uri Gates’s home.

  “Sierra and her team can do it first thing while we wait on Kelsey to give the all clear back here.” Blake took off for the rear building and glanced over his shoulder. “Grady and Trent will want to talk to eyewitnesses to the explosion, if there are any, and to the firefighter who was first on scene. And they’ll also want to get a look at the explosives used by this company.”

  “The firefighter is Ryan Maddox, who is also on our task force,” Ryleigh said. “He has a shift here later today. When Grady and Trent are ready to see the explosives, I can arrange access. And as far as eyewitnesses, the day supervisor was here, but I need you to hold off talking to him until after the sheriff and I question him.”

  Blake furrowed his forehead. “He a suspect?”

  “Could be.”

  Finn wasn’t surprised that she didn’t provide details such as Eckles’s name as Blake could just look the guy up and not follow her lead. Not that Finn thought Blake would do that. But as a law enforcement officer, she knew to keep quiet. So did Finn. His days of sharing on a need-to-know basis had taught him well in that area.

  12

  Ryleigh left Finn at the destroyed building to finish their shift and drove Finn’s truck to Uri Gates’s house. Sierra and Chad followed in their company van. She pulled over to park and bumped the tires over the curb. She cringed. She hoped Finn didn’t notice she’d scraped his tires. The truck was far bigger than anything she’d ever driven other than tractors on the family farm, and she didn’t have to worry about curbs there.

  Sierra and Chad parked behind her and put on white protective suits. Sierra held blue booties and handed a set to Ryleigh.

  Ryleigh took them and wrapped her arms around her as the sun slid behind threatening clouds. The forecast didn’t call for rain today, and she prayed it would hold off for the forensic recovery at the bomb scene. Sierra and Chad grabbed portable kits that resembled large tackle boxes, and Ryleigh led them to the back door.

  “The door doesn’t lock, but thankfully the seal I added yesterday is intact.” She sliced down the tape and put on gloves before touching the door to open it.

  Chad set down his kit on the cracked patio. “I’ll get this door printed while you check things out.”

  Sierra smiled at him and then looked at Ryleigh. “I can’t begin to tell you how great it is to have an assistant who can read your mind.”

  “I’ve worked with partners like that.” Ryleigh put on her booties and then led the way into the room.

  Sierra slipped hers on too but stopped just inside the door to scan the room. Her eyes lit up, and she turned to look at Chad. “Make sure you bag the Roomba.”

  “Will do.”

  “The Roomba?” Ryleigh asked. “Why do you want to bag a robot vacuum?”

  “They’re frequently scheduled to run on a regular basis. Often daily. So it could’ve swept up valuable evidence.”

  “I never owned one so didn’t know you could schedule them.”

  Sierra nodded. “Plus, we need to check out the model to see if it’s a preproduction test version. Early on, Roomba had beta-testers who agreed to let the vacuum collect all sorts of data to help improve its artificial intelligence and provide feedback to iRobot.”

  “How will that help?”

  “The device takes pictures to transmit to Roomba. It might’ve captured something or someone you’ll want to follow up with.”

  Ryleigh shook her head. “You all never cease to amaze me with your knowledge base.”

  “What can I say? We love our jobs and like to stay current. Guess you might say we’re nosey.” Sierra grinned. “We’ll process the usual areas and the items dumped from cabinets to see if we can recover prints. Other than that, is there anything else you want us to focus on?”

  “Nothing in particular,” Ryleigh said. “Just everything you might think will help identify our intruder.”

  “Right, all the things, just like a true law enforcement officer would request.” Sierra laughed. “Let me get a look at the second story.”

  She picked her way through the rubble and headed for the stairs. Ryleigh followed, careful not to disturb anything on the floor.

  Sierra stopped on the third step to squat down. “Some sort of vegetation here. We’ll bag it and give it to Winter Fox to review. She’s our new forensic palynologist.”

  Ryleigh stared at the object not bigger than a pea. “Okay, that’s a new one for me. What does she do exactly?”