Page 9 of Edge of Steele
“It’s complicated,” Finn said, giving him as vague of an answer as he’d given Ryleigh.
All they needed to know right now was that he was here, had his sights set on finding the bomber, and he wasn’t going anywhere until he had eyes on his target.
Thankful Russ trained his attention on Finn, Ryleigh took a long breath. She needed to get her act together and appear more in charge for Russ. Finn too. She especially had to stop letting Finn take over.
He probably wasn’t doing it to get at her. Or at least she didn’t think he was. But taking control came naturally to him, the reason he’d risen to commander of his SEAL team. Hard to compete with those innate skills.
She lifted her shoulders and crossed her arms.No. Stop. That just emphasized her short nails that she’d polished a soft pink, making her even more girly looking.
She shoved her hands into her pockets instead. “I know you want me to leave this alone, Russ, but I can’t. Won’t. So you’ll just have to accept that.”
Russ shook his head. “This’s just like the time you thought you could swim well enough to go into the river. I’d warned you about the current and ended up rescuing you from it.”
Grrr.Why bring that up now? “You can’t judge me for something that happened when I was a kid. I’m older and wiser and have law enforcement training now.”
Russ smiled politely, a practiced smile he probably used to pacify people on the job. “I was surprised you became a law enforcement officer like the rest of the family. Thought there were too many rules for a free spirit like you.”
Fine.Try to pigeonhole her. She’d faced that her whole career and knew how to handle it. She lifted her chin. “I served a little over five years with the FBI. Left two months ago to join the family firm.”
He continued to eye her skeptically. “I still can’t let you two impede my investigation.”
His bossy tone grated on her, and Finn’s rigid posture said he agreed.
Russ took a wide stance, his boots planting on the ground and kicking up dust. “And I won’t take kindly to you siccing the feds on me either.”
“I don’t plan to.” She held his gaze even when it felt uncomfortable to do so. “But you have to call the ATF.”
“Do I?”
Now he was just being ornery.
“Come on, Russ. You can’t avoid the feds. You’re an excellent sheriff, but we both know the ATF handles bombings. Plus, my research into the prior threats says this could well be the work of ecoterrorists, so the FBI will likely be pulled in too.”
Russ took a few steps closer. “Are you forgetting the victim in the ruins? Because I’m not. Murder falls under my jurisdiction, and I’m not passing that off to anyone. And I’m sure not calling anyone in—feds or otherwise—until I do further discovery.”
Risky decision for sure. “You’re willing to face the fallout from that move?”
“I’ve been at this job long enough to know what I’m doing. Leave things to me. You too, Durham.” His last words were fired at Finn like Russ had lifted his gun and discharged a bullet.
No way she would give up. But…“I’ll back off while you assess the scene. Give you at least that much, but I’d like to offer a suggestion.”
“Go ahead.” He crossed his arms.
Grudging agreement. More than she expected. “You can gather the information you need faster with professionals at your fingertips.”
“That’s a given, so explain.”
“The body is too badly burned for an ME to handle, and you’ll need a forensic anthropologist to recover the remains. The Veritas Center in Portland has an expert forensic anthropologist who I would recommend using.”
He snorted and lifted his hands. “You know my budget would never stretch to that and their pro bono funds might not cover such a large investigation.”
He didn’t outright say no, so… “Doesn’t hurt to ask. They could also process this scene for forensics. And they just hired a guy with extensive experience with explosives. He could analyze the blast and bomb fragments. Plus, you won’t find anyone better at collecting evidence than Sierra Rice. I could ask for their help pro bono.”
Ryleigh expected Russ to scoff at the offer, but he gave a sharp nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Great.Now she had to close the deal. “Let me give you my cell number, and I can work on that for you.”
“I said I’ll keep it in mind.” He took his mask from his belt. “I’ll get your contact info when I take your statement. Stay here until I come back.” He strapped on his mask and marched off.
