Page 18 of Edge of Steele
She nodded, but her mind raced with items she would need to do. First off, call Veritas, second, find a place to stay in town. She couldn’t make the four-hour drive back and forth to Portland each day.
“Give me an hour,” Russ added. “And we can meet at my office to form a plan of attack.”
“I’ll be joining you.” Finn thrust his chest out as if he expected a fight.
“We could use an explosive expert on the team, so why not?” Russ said.
Finn blinked. “Well, good, then.”
Russ looked at Colin. “Can Reid free you up to help us in the IT area?”
“I already asked for Colin’s help,” Ryleigh said. “But he hasn’t had a chance to ask Reid for the time off.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Russ said.
Reid managed the day-to-day aspects of the business, but Russ was a full partner as was Ryan, so Ryleigh supposed any of them could make such a decision. Hopefully, Reid would be okay with this one.
Russ fixed his sights on his brother. “Anything else you want to tell me about the fire or bomb?”
Ryan tilted his head. “Burned hot and fast, but not unexpected with all the wood. Could be solvents or other chemicals that you might want to check out with Tobias, but I don’t think he’d have done this for insurance or anything.”
“A possibility we still need to consider,” Ryleigh said.
“And we will.” Russ looked at Ryleigh and Finn and gave them directions to his office. “Okay, people, let’s move. We have a bomber to find in less than two days.”
5
Ryleigh wasn’t the least bit surprised by Russ’s rapid end to their discussion, but Finn gaped after the sheriff, who rushed up the hill with sure and solid steps. Russ knew his mind and didn’t like to be challenged. Finn knew his mind too. Ryleigh had seen him in action enough to know. And as leader of his SEAL team, he was used to men following his lead no matter what and ensuring the chain of command wouldn’t be broken. But he wasn’t in charge in his current job. Tobias was. The Finn she’d known would be experiencing extreme frustration.
He shifted his attention to the group. “Is Russ always this abrupt?”
“Abrupt? That was calm Russ.” Ryan chuckled.
Colin dug his phone from a cargo pocket. “I’ll still check in with Reid and meet you all at Russ’s office.”
Finn held out his hand and gave Ryleigh a tight smile. “After you.”
They climbed the incline, and she took out her phone. She scrolled through her contact list until she came upon Blake Jenkins’s name and hit dial. As Veritas Center’s criminal investigator, he coordinated their team’s efforts in all major investigations. A bombing and murder required a big response.Anda big ask in terms of pro bono costs.
The phone rang, and she offered a prayer for success with Blake.
“Blake, hi,” she said when he answered. “Ryleigh Steele here.”
“Ryleigh.” His deep tone rumbled through her phone. “How are things at the FBI?”
“Actually, I retired and now work for the family business.”
“Big change, I imagine.”
“I figured life would be more boring, but today has proved otherwise.” She explained the situation and their needs. “You know Emerson County doesn’t have the funds to pay for such an investigation, so our request also includes your team subsidizing the investigation.”
“Isn’t the sheriff calling in the ATF and FBI?” As a former sheriff, Blake would know the proper procedure. “If they pool their resources, they’ll have everything they need.”
“He is, but he has the murder aspect to work and wants to gain as much information as he can before he calls them to take control of the narrative.”
“We wouldn’t want to step on the fed’s toes.” Blake went silent then let out a breath.
Oh no! He was going to say no. She was counting on a yes, but she knew this was a big request and shouldn’t have had her hopes so high.
