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She hiked a shoulder. “Like I said, resources. And it helps that the guy’s a dumbass.

We’d have caught him anyway, but he made it easy.

” Derision threaded her tone. “Imagine thinking there wouldn’t be cameras in a lot that’s directly across from our station.

Not to mention lining the front of it. It was like breadcrumbs from the terminally stupid.

” The detective set the folders aside and opened her laptop.

Tapped some keys. “Your pictures of the vehicle helped, too, though. Footage angles didn’t show the plate.

We found it quicker because of the partial you caught. ”

Her rapid-fire delivery had Reese smiling.

Loffler had already vaulted to the top of a very short list as her favorite detective.

“Here’s the footage from out front.” She spun the laptop around for them to view.

Four split screens each displayed video, one of which was already playing.

Reese watched as she and Hayes crossed the street from the station and walked to the parking lot, where Hayes enacted his security protocol.

Moments later, he was pushing her to the ground, while the air filled with smoke and debris.

They were lost from sight, then rose again as a navy sedan drove slowly by the station.

Hayes practically pulled her to the sidewalk before letting go of her to leap into the street.

The next screen showed him sprinting after the car, camera in hand.

A third displayed the scene where they reunited, and yet a fourth had them engulfed in the crowd that had streamed from the station.

Silently, Hayes pushed the laptop back to her, and the detective brought up more footage. “We’ve also got the driver on multiple traffic cams. But this is from the lot. Like I said, dumbass.” She passed the computer back to them.

The navy car pulled into the parking area and parked a few spaces away from Reese’s Hyundai.

A stocky figure in a gray hoodie and jeans emerged from it.

The hood shielded his features, but he carried a plastic bag, and the hand clutching it revealed he was Caucasian.

Another camera caught him sidling between her SUV and the neighboring car and disappearing for a few seconds, before reappearing and retracing his steps to the sedan.

But this time, despite the hood, the camera caught a full frontal image.

While his forehead was concealed, the stranger was depicted from the eyes to the base of his throat.

“Gotcha,” Hayes muttered.

“These photos were good enough to run through our booking database. Roderick Bradbury. Age fifty-two. Five-eight. One ninety. Brown and brown.” While Hayes returned the laptop, Loffler flipped open a file folder, withdrew some eight-by-ten pictures, and splayed the images before them. “Recognize him?”

Reese leaned forward, careful to avoid touching the marred wooden table.

Mugshots, she realized an instant later.

They showed a jowled man with dark hair, balding in front save for a few greasy strands combed over in a failed attempt to mask his hair loss.

“I’ve never seen him before. And the name isn’t familiar. ”

Beside her, Hayes shook his head. “He never drew close enough when he was tailing us for me to get a good look at him.”

“I figured, but thought it was worth a shot.” She extracted a couple more pictures from the file. Both were closeups of his hands. He was missing the thumb and index finger on the right one.

“Something tells me he’s tried this before.”

“Oh, he’s quite the handy guy. Pun intended.

Sixteen years ago he was convicted of using one of his homemade IEDs to blow up the home of the boss who’d fired him.

Did a ten-year stretch for that. We pulled him in a couple of years ago when a neighbor complained about being threatened with the same thing.

Couldn’t make anything stick. He won’t slip away this time.

” She swept up the photos, replaced them, and then opened the second file to display several pictures of minute fragments.

“That’s from the IED?” asked Reese.

The detective nodded. “A little more sophisticated than a pipe bomb, but still fairly crude. Some sort of metal vessel packed with explosives that he likely attached to the undercarriage of the vehicle with magnets. Bomb technicians also found traces of a fertilizer commonly used by farmers in the area. It was lethal enough to take out both of you, and probably anyone nearby, but it didn’t have a large kill radius.

You said you heard a cell ringing as you ran away. ”

She didn’t phrase it as a question, but Hayes responded. “That’s right. But I’d already spotted the device with the explosives detector.”

Her eyes gleamed with interest. “I read your statement. Lucky for you both. Most people would have gotten in the car, the bomb-maker calls the device and…” She slapped the table, making Reese jump.

“Boom.” Her gaze went from her to Hayes.

“Your statement also says you’re in our fine city as security detail for Ms. Decody, until the TK is recaptured.

Do you have reason to believe the attempt on your lives yesterday is related to Thorne? ”

“He may not be calling the shots, but we suspect that he’s been getting assistance. It would be worthwhile to pursue any connection between him and this Bradbury.”

Loffler nodded as she swept up the pictures and replaced them in the folder. “We’ve got people on that, but good to know we’re not chasing a dead end.”

“Earlier this week someone was attempting to tail us,” Hayes told her. “I confronted him. Turns out he was an acquaintance of Thorne’s. He ended up dead the next day. Thorne’s fingerprints were found on the scene. Deputy Mendes of the San Bernadino Sheriff’s Office is following up.”

Grabbing the pen attached to one of the folders, the detective said, “Victim’s name?”

“Gregory Pollack.” Hayes spelled it for her as she scribbled.

Finished, Elaina tapped the pen against the folder thoughtfully, studying Reese. “Your name came up in a homicide investigation this week.”

“Tyler Greenley.”

“Sounds like a pattern emerging. Someone’s determined to get you out of the way, and they don’t mind a permanent solution.”

It put a hitch in her heart to hear it phrased that way, but it was no less than the truth. “So it appears.”

“Any idea who?”

She hesitated. It was one thing to give Mendes the information they’d found last night about Gerald Rivers’s connection to Thorne and the vehicle found at the rental.

But she was loath to bring up the attorney before the deputy had a chance to follow up with him.

“No. I’m assuming Bradbury hasn’t been forthcoming. ”

The woman gave Reese a sharkish smile. “He hasn’t said a word.

And interestingly enough, he also hasn’t lawyered up, although he’s used his one phone call.

Maybe he thinks he’s going to get some assistance, as well.

” She closed the laptop and restacked the folders on it, indicating that the meeting was at an end.

Pushing back her chair, she rose, saying, “I’ll reach out if we get anything else.

I’d advise you to keep a low profile until this is over.

You especially, Ms. Decody. Someone’s painted a pretty big target on your back. ”

How would they know when this was over? Reese stood, and she and Hayes followed the detective out the door. Recapturing Thorne would eliminate a major threat, but she was beginning to believe that it wouldn’t necessarily banish the rest of them.

At this point, she was unsure what it would take to ever be completely safe again.

Unsurprisingly, Hayes persuaded the officer taking them home to hit a drive-through on the way.

It took little urging for the policeman to add his order as well, and Reese was ready with payment.

When they walked inside the motel room, it seemed smaller than before, even though Hayes had neatly remade the bed and folded it back into the couch.

She wasn’t hungry yet, so she placed the salad she’d bought in the refrigerator and took out two bottles of water, setting one in front of him and then going to her bedroom to drag out the medical reports she’d brought along.

Hayes was already eating—no shock there—with his cell in front of him, using his left hand to hold the sandwich and his right to text rapidly.

“Fastest thumb in the west,” she observed.

“Developed the skill in grad school. Comes in handy.”

“Bet it does, since you eat 24/7.”

“I have a fast metabolism.” He took a bite of the cheeseburger. Chewed, then swallowed. “What’d you do with your meal?”

“I’ll eat later.” Reese dropped into a chair and gingerly took one of the reports off the top of the pile.

The interest that Kervin’s message had honed warred with her long-time avoidance of anything personal about Ben.

Mentally, she steeled herself and began reading.

She needed to learn as much about him as possible to verify or refute whatever the CNA had to tell her.

“I just let Mendes know that Loffler might be reaching out to him. And updated Adam.”

Reese wished they knew what had come of the visit with Rivers, but there was nothing to do to hasten that information, and busying themselves would make the time pass faster.

Hayes switched to his laptop after he finished eating.

She jotted down a few notes on the back of one of the reports as she read through them.

After an hour, she paused, working her back and shoulders. “What are you working on?”

“Hmm?” His reply was absent before he finally looked up. “I’m digging into Bradbury. I know I told Loffler to follow up there, but I’ve got time and some avenues I want to examine.” He nodded toward the stack of papers in front of her. “Looking for anything in particular?”