Monahan isn't his real name.'
'Thanks, Detective. We're getting more pieces of the puzzle.'
'Galls tells me you've got a big problem up there. Let me know if you need anything else.' He hung up.
Ten minutes later, Debbie called.
'Tell me you've got something good,' I said into my phone.
'I'm not sure what I've got, but it's interesting.'
'Tell me about it.'
'Colin Edinfield was born in Troy, Alabama, at about the same time as Simmermon. He went to Troy State, dropped out when Simmermon did, and then showed up in Key West about the same time as Simmermon. I can find no record of Edinfield working during the three years he spent in Key West, but he had utility bills, credit cards, a bank account, the whole nine yards.'
'Maybe Edinfield and Simmermon are friends.'
'Or maybe there're the same person,' said Debbie.
'Go on.'
'Edinfield drops out of sight at the about same time that Simmermon shows up in Colorado. Edenfield's bank account was closed and he stopped paying rent and utilities. He just disappeared. There's no record of him anywhere after that.'
'Are you sure?'
'I've mined every database there is. He's gone.'
'I hear a `but' in there somewhere.'
'I did find a record of Edinfield spending two years in a state mental institution in Alabama. The two years after he dropped out of Troy State.'
'What do you make of it?'
'Either Edinfield is dead or Simmermon is dead and Edinfield has taken his identity.'
'Simmermon is probably a schizophrenic,' I said. 'Maybe Edinfield was in the institution because of schizophrenia, and when he got out he hooked up with Simmermon.'
'Or maybe,' Debbie said, 'Edinfield is Simmermon.'
'Why do you think that?'
'There's a pretty good record on Edinfield from his birth until he leaves Key West. Then, nothing. The record on Simmermon during the same years is very spotty and doesn't make a lot of sense. How did he live in Key West with no rental or utility history? Or in Colorado, without a job?'
'Maybe he lived with Edinfield.'
'Maybe,' she said, 'but I don't think so. There's no record of Simmermon ever living in Key West except for the pay records from a defunct company. That's real easy to doctor up. He's got rent and utilities, credit cards, and all that in Colorado, but no job.'
'What high school did they go to?'
She gave me the name.
'What did you find on Albert Thomas?' I asked.
'This is a strange one too. He was a certified public accountant in Miami. Seemed to have a good practice, married, owned a home in Kendall. Turns out he was working for some drug dealers. He was charged with an assortment of financial crimes and turned state's evidence. He testified in the same trial Varn did, and then he disappeared. No further record of him, except that his wife divorced him.'
'That's got to be Fats. He told me part of this.'
'Well, I've got some stuff on Fats too.'
'Let me guess. He showed up as the owner of Hutch's, and there's no record of him before he appeared in Bradenton.'
Debbie laughed. 'You're almost right. Actually, he doesn't own the property or the liquor license. He just works there. Guess who the owner is?'
'Circle Ltd.'
'You got it, kid. Have fun doing whatever you're doing.' She hung up.
I asked Logan to go find the FBI while I called Jock.
'Jock, things are happening up here.' I told him what I knew. 'I'm beginning to think these guys, Simmermon, Fats, and Varn are all alumni of the Witness Security Program.'
'Sounds plausible. See what you can find out about that. I'm on my way to the airport. I'll be in Orlando in about an hour. There's nothing else I can do here. We may have gotten a break. Galls is following up on it.'
'What?'
'One of the girls from the island finally got coherent enough to talk to us. Said she and her boyfriend were believers, and joined Simmermon's entourage when he was in Jacksonville. The boyfriend's not one of those we took into custody and he's not one of the dead. We think he might be one of the bombers, either in Orlando or here. We've got the name of the bomber in Atlanta, and he's not the boyfriend.'
'Any idea where the boyfriend might be?'
'The girl says he has an aunt in Key West. Galls is on his way there now. He'll let me know what he finds. Gotta go. I'm at the airport.'
The FBI agent walked into the room, Logan following behind. I told him what I'd learned about Simmermon, Thomas, and Edinfield. 'We need to get to somebody in the school administration in Troy and find out what we can about Simmermon and Edinfield,' I said.
'I'll get right on it,' the agent said. 'We'll have to get some people out of bed.'
I explained my theory about the Witness Security Program. 'Can you find out if these guys were part of it?'
'That's run by the U. S. Marshals Service. They don't like to give out information on the people in the program. Not even to law enforcement.'
'Make some calls. Get me some information.'
'I'll try.' He turned to leave.
'FBI man,' I said, the edge to my voice bringing him up short. 'Do it. We're about out of time.'
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
At three thirty, Galls called. 'We got the bastard,' he said, without preamble.
'The bomber? Where?'
'The little shit was sleeping in his aunt's guest room over on Thompson Street. The suicide vest was under the bed.'
'Have you questioned him yet?'
'Oh, yeah. He was planning to do the Lord's work. The kid's a real believer.'
'What was his target?'
'A Baptist church near downtown. It's our biggest. Would've gotten a lot of press around the world.'
'And killed a lot of people.'
'Yeah.'
'Have you talked to jock Algren?' I asked.
'Just hung up. He's on a government jet en route to Orlando. What's going on up there?'
I told him what we'd learned. 'I'm wondering if we can narrow down the targets here. The bombers in both Atlanta and Key West were after big Baptist churches near downtown. That could limit our scope if we focus on the two or three Baptist churches in the Orlando downtown area.'
'And it could be dangerous, Matt. The Atlanta and Key West targets could be just coincidental.'
'You're right, and I don't like coincidences. I'll let you know what happens.'
'I hope I don't see it on the news.'
'Me either,' I said, and closed my phone.
At four o'clock, Jock walked into the room. He looked tired, his face drawn and haggard, his clothes
