'Go ahead,' Wurth told him.
Yarden was a bit hesitant. Maggie could tell he was nervous. The tips of his ears had begun to turn crimson. He was a master at the computer panel but it was different in a dark room with only monitors. Here in front of a group of law enforcement officers it would be a bit out of Yarden's realm.
Yarden glanced down before cueing up the photos on the projection screen. On the computer monitor Maggie could see there were rows of photos, about five photos in each row. The images, now jpegs, would have been downloaded from digital cameras used to record the scene. They were joined by the images Yarden had brought from the surveillance videos.
Yarden pushed a few buttons on the computer keyboard then pointed the wireless remote and clicked. A crime scene photo of one of the craters came onto the projection screen. He clicked again and another image came up alongside. On closer inspection, Maggie could see the smaller image was one of the shots of the same area from a surveillance camera before the explosion.
'We initially believed there were three bombers,' Yarden started to explain. 'Then we discovered the site of one of the bombs was the women's restroom.' He clicked the remote and the 'before' shot was replaced by one with a zoomed-in image of the sign.
Yarden waited a few minutes then he cued up three more shots: the grainy images of four men and one young woman. Even on the projection screen Maggie was struck by how indecipherable the images were. They would never be able to identify them.
'What's your assessment, Agent O'Dell?' A.D. Kunze boomed from his perch against the back wall. 'You must have a profile established. After all, you were able to determine that young man in the parking lot was not one of the five.'
There was silence. These were trained investigators. They knew this was an unfair call-out even if Kunze hadn't used a condescending tone.
'At least one of them may have been a college student,' Maggie said. 'We were able to make out logos on a ball cap and letterman jacket.' She saw Yarden cueing up those close-ups even as she spoke. 'All five are Caucasian, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six. None are wearing anything controversial. Other than the ball cap and letterman jacket there's nothing to indicate by the way that they're dressed that they belong to a specific organization or gang. There's no visible piercings or tattoos. I know there was some expectation to connect these individuals to a group like CAP, but I see no evidence of that from the videos.'
'That's Citizens for American Pride,' Wurth added. 'There were some warnings about an event called into Senator Foster's office.' Then he pointed to the photos and he said, 'We had three bombs, you have five suspects.'
'Right,' Maggie continued. 'It appears that two of the people came into the mall with one of the bombers. Because one of those backpacks ended up in the women's restroom, we suspect the young woman was involved. And possibly the other young man. I might add that none of the five suspects appear to be overly anxious or nervous. And certainly didn't act like homicide bombers.'
'Which follows my theory,' Jamie, the bomb expert joined in. 'There's preliminary evidence that all three bombs were detonated by remote control. I'm speculating that none of these individuals knew they were carrying explosives. Or if they did, they didn't believe they would be detonated while they were carrying them, otherwise, there's no reason for an off-site remote. Also just from the fragments I can already determine the devices were constructed by someone who knew what he was doing. A professional. Definitely someone who was trained in the use and handling of explosives.'
'But in the case you told us about earlier,' Nick said, 'you mentioned this detonator had some similarities to a guy who drew up a blueprint for a dirty bomb. If I'm remembering correctly, didn't you say he claimed he did it for a class project? Wasn't he a student?'
'I remember the detonator,' Jamie told him. 'I'm sorry, I don't remember other details.' She glanced around and noticed that wasn't good enough. 'I can get details.'
Wurth nodded, satisfied.
Kunze didn't look satisfied. 'What about groups like CAP?' he asked, looking to Maggie again. 'We certainly can't dismiss their involvement simply because none of these kids were wearing AMERICAN PRIDE T-shirts.'
'Agreed,' Maggie told him. 'I did some checking. The ball cap and letterman jacket are from the University of Minnesota here in the twin cities. Citizens for American Pride held two rallies on campus within the last year, the most recent, last month. However, the university hosts a variety of similar events and forums.'
'So it's possible these kids were members?' Kunze wanted to know.
'As I said earlier, there's no evidence that points to that, but yes,' Maggie conceded, 'it's possible.'
Kunze seemed satisfied. He left before the meeting was adjourned. Maggie couldn't help but wonder why he was so determined to pin the bombings on this particular group. From her brief research before coming down to the meeting, she couldn't find a single incident of violence or criminal behavior attributed to the group. Sure, they had made some outrageous statements but even the so-called warnings or threats that Senator Foster's office had received were mild. They also hadn't taken credit for the attack which was odd.
Wurth and Yarden went over more crime scene photos. They created a list of information, evidence and leads. When they were finished David Ceimo offered to take them out for burgers and beer. Maggie realized, as she often did, that only law enforcement officials would think of food after a meeting like this.
CHAPTER 44
Nick scooted into the tall leather-backed booth behind David Ceimo. He wanted to kick himself. He'd hesitated. Overcompensated. He didn't want to look obvious about wanting to sit next to Maggie and now Yarden beat him to it. Not only that but Yarden had managed to fit himself right in between Maggie and Jamie while David Ceimo and Nick took up the other side of the huge corner booth. Deputy Director Charlie Wurth was supposed to join them later. Nick figured he should have invited A.D. Kunze, too, but he couldn't find the FBI guy. He'd left the briefing early and no one seemed to know where he had gone.
Nick was relieved to be away from the scene, even if it would be for an hour or two. As a county sheriff and then a prosecutor, he'd been to plenty of crime scenes. But nothing this massive and never this many fatalities. He had gained a new respect for those left behind still sifting and walking the grids around the craters.
On a busy Friday evening, The Rose and Crown was packed. The English-style pub had a lobby full of guests waiting, but Ceimo's older brother Chris owned the place. He had escorted the five of them personally to the quieter of two rooms. Now he came back with place settings, handing them oversized menus and taking their drink orders himself.
'On the house,' Chris told them.
'No,' David insisted. 'I can't let you do that.'
'I'm not letting any first responders pay tonight.' The older Ceimo was shorter than his brother, handsome with a quick smile but serious dark eyes. 'We all make our livings, in part, because of the mall and the airport. Something like this happens, we have to pitch in somehow. It's the least I can do.'
They watched him leave then David said, 'His partner brought over a bunch of food to the scene. I had to get him cleared through security. They almost wouldn't allow it till Chief Merrick noticed a pastrami on rye.' He smiled, obviously proud of his older brother. 'Must have brought four or five dozen sandwiches.'
'Yeah, that was nice,' Jamie said. 'People don't usually think about us needing to eat. My boyfriend always thinks it's gross that we'd even want to, but after six or seven hours you get hungry.'
'You want, I can have Chris shut off this television.' David pointed to one of the many screens suspended throughout the pub. This one was off to their side about ten feet away, just over Nick's right shoulder. The volume had been muted and closed captions ran along the bottom of the screen.
Nick found himself looking to Maggie. David did, too. Even as they waited for an answer the video footage of the now infamous chase was being played.
'It's okay,' she said after it took a second or two for her to realize they were allowing her to make the decision. 'If there's an update or a break in the case, where better to find out?'
They all laughed. Nick realized every one of them probably had a story to tell of the news media preempting
