Page 77 of Edge of Steele
“And?” Finn prodded.
“And most interesting is they found blood in the back. Not a large quantity so could be from a simple cut. Or someone bled out in the vehicle and it was cleaned up well.”
“Blood,” Ryleigh said. “Didn’t expect that.”
“Don’t read too much into it just yet. Could be from an on-the-job injury. Anything really. But we’ll run it for DNA and that might tell you something.”
“We’ll wait for further news, then,” Finn said.
“My team also found Gates’s phone, which Nick will image and review, plus they recovered multiple sets of fingerprints along with some additional particulates that they gave to Winter. They also located Gates’s vehicle keys hidden under the driver’s seat. Looks like a house key on the ring too, but no brass key like you described for the explosives’ depot.”
So maybe someone had stolen Gates’s key and used it to take the explosives.
“Chad didn’t find it at the guy’s house either, right?” Ryleigh asked.
“No,” Sierra said. “So it’s still missing.”
Now they were tasked with figuring out where it had gone, but Finn didn’t know where to start on that until he had time to think.
“I won’t get to processing these vehicle prints until I get back to the mill,” Sierra said. “But Chad will do a comparison on the ones lifted at Gates’s place to eliminate those. I’ll get back to you as soon as I’ve cleaned and processed the photoelectric cell for prints. I’ll send an email to everyone to update them.”
“Okay, thanks for the update.” Ryleigh ended the call and turned to discuss this latest news with Finn, but Russ rushed into the room carrying an iPad. “We have one video from the depot.”
“Can we look at it?” Ryleigh asked.
“Figured you’d ask.” He set the iPad between them and tapped the video play button.
Finn fixed his focus on the screen, hoping he could ID the man’s face. The night was dark and shadowy. No movement, but something had activated the camera. A large figure came out of the building. A man. In a hoodie.
“He’s not carrying anything.” Finn stared at the screen. “No explosives so what was he doing in there?”
Ryleigh leaned closer to the iPad. “I’d say he planted something, but we didn’t see anything out of place.”
The man turned to lock the door. Finn squinted to get a look at his face, but shadows cast over his face deep in his hoodie. He spun to go. Taking long steps.
“His boots!” Ryleigh poked the screen. “It’s Keenan. It really is.”
“Yeah,” Finn said. “Yeah, it is! Keenan’s our guy.”
“Hold up.” Russ paused the video and glanced between them. “You showed me the boots but you didn’t say anything about Keenan owning a pair.”
Finn told him about their visit to Pauline.
Russ went around the table and dropped into a chair. “Ties Keenan to Gates.”
Ryleigh nodded. “Keenan had a key in that video, and Sierra just told us that they found Gates’s keyring and his depot key wasn’t on it. So maybe Keenan stole Gates’s key when he trashed his place and stole the explosives that night.”
Russ’s gaze cut around the room and landed on one of the whiteboards. “Good theory, but we don’t have any evidence with him stealing the explosives. No evidence, no proof of his involvement. Except that he went into the depot.”
“Maybe he shows up on the earlier videos.” Ryleigh leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. “Have you finished reviewing them?”
Russ nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Since you started requiring all visitors to sign in, we were able to ID everyone in the videos. No Keenan.”
“Which means he didn’t come to the site before this. Or at least he didn’t trigger a camera.” Ryleigh sat back. “The question then is, did he steal the explosives or not?”
Finn didn’t know the answer either. “He could’ve been onsite but the camera malfunctioned.”
“How likely is that?” Russ asked.
