Jane touched a finger to the page. “She says something on down about a bomb. Did you see that? Two paragraphs down past her talking about her trouble with the lab.”
Reid jumped down a couple of paragraphs. “‘Everything you’re planning will go up in smoke with that bomb.’”
He looked up at Elliot. “We’ve discovered someone is after some radioactive material in a lead box. This might be the guy.” He returned his attention to the paper. “‘I already have a letter ready to go if you don’t see your way to helping me out. Two hundred thousand will set me up somewhere in South America, and I’ll never say a word about your dirty bomb. You’ll never hear from me again, and I’m sure that’s the way you’d prefer to keep it. So would I.’”
Elliot winced. “A dirty bomb. That’s been a big fear for a long time. Why would anyone want to use one?”
Reid had no answer to that question. No sane person would even think of it. He gazed at the paper again. “Looks like the guy is agreeing. He says he’ll put the money in a Swiss bank account on June 1.”
“Two days after she’s killed,” Jane said. “That can hardly be coincidence.”
“No,” Reid agreed.
Jane’s face paled. “Stolen radioactive material was bad enough. But actual nuclear contamination? Inconceivable.”
“Let’s talk to your dad. If anyone knows what went on out in that compound, he does. The man who keeps more secrets than the CIA may be the only one who can give us some direction.”
Thirty-Five
Jane couldn’t get the thought of a towering mushroom cloud on US soil out of her head. She clung to Reid’s hand as they walked toward the SUV with Parker at her other side. She let him in and got behind the wheel.
“I think Dad would have told me about something like a nuclear device if he knew anything,” she said.
Reid buckled his seat belt. “When has your dad ever been forthcoming?”
“But this is truly important. He’d want me to find it, to warn people.”
“Like the stuff in the safe-deposit box was minor? Or your mother’s whereabouts? Every time we talk to him about this case, we find out something important.”
She started to reply but her phone rang. “It’s Jackson,” she said as she answered the call through the vehicle’s speakers. “What did you find?”
“No trace of them, Chief. Tents are gone, no boats or inflatables.”
“Did you check the other side of the island in case they moved after the storm?”
“Yep. Walked around the whole thing, which is why it took so long. They aren’t there. I’ll ask around when I get to town and see if anyone saw them. Alfie might have some idea. He knows everything else that’s going on in town.”
“Okay, thanks for looking.” She ended the call and exhaled. “I didn’t realize until now how much I was counting on being able to find and talk to Gabriel.”
“They only had small boats. He would have had to come to the harbor.”
“Unless he arranged for a larger boat to pick them up. There are plenty of captains out there looking for charters.”
“True. So we’re back to checking with your dad.”
“I guess so, but I think it’s a dead end too.” She wanted to pound on the steering wheel and scream. “Gabriel must have gotten off the island before he broke into your place.”
“He would have known you’d look there first. Are there any other remote places to hide?”
“A thousand. I have no idea where to check next.” Jane started the engine and drove away from Elliot’s houseboat.
People were out picking up tree limbs in their yards from the tornado yesterday, and the sounds of saws and hammers penetrated the police radio chatter. Several people waved and she waved back. And a few turned their heads, which hurt.
“What do you make of Elliot’s findings?” she asked.
“I was concerned to know of the dirty bomb’s existence, but the thought of someone using it here in the US? Terrifying. What could be their reason for it?”
“A terrorist group could want to cause fear.”
He nodded. “Or an assassination. Anyone big coming to the country in the next few weeks? Heads of state?”
“I don’t keep up on politics much.” She gestured toward his phone. “You might look it up and see who’s coming.”
He bent his head over his phone to read news stories. After a few minutes he huffed.
“What?”
“There will be a meeting of heads of state at the UN to discuss climate change. Nearly a hundred of them.”
“When?”
“The end of June. Two weeks.” He looked up. “Which would explain the hard push to get that weapon if this is where they’re planning to use it.”
“No way to know who is the target.”
“Could be all of them.”
Jane smacked her palm on the steering wheel. “My mom knows who it is. I wish I had a way to make her tell me.”
“Maybe you do.” He held her gaze. “A little blackmail of your own?”
“Maybe Dad could get it out of her.”
Jane didn’t hold out much hope on that front. As much as her mother hadn’t wanted Jane to show up on her doorstep, she would want to hear from her dad even less. “I can ask him to call though. It’s worth a shot. We have to do something. But he’ll say no. He’s the hardest man in the world to convince to do something for me.”
She caught his sideways glance in her peripheral vision, and the speculation in his eyes caught her by surprise. “What?”
“Your dad and I had a talk this morning on the way to see Will. He mentioned how hard it is for him to tell you he loves you.”
She turned her head a moment and gaped before refocusing on the road. “I don’t believe you.”
“I encouraged him to talk to you. He’s not the kind who wears his heart on his sleeve.”
“That’s an understatement.” She couldn’t even fathom hearing those words from her dad. Her mother never told her she loved her while growing up either. Jane cut her gaze to Reid again. He’d been the first one to ever say he loved her. Will often told her now too. They’d soothed her hurting heart in so many ways.
She hadn’t realized that until now.
* * *
Reid’s phone rang as they reached the first gate at her dad’s compound, and he pulled it out to stare at the screen. “Unknown caller.”
“Answer it. It could be Gabriel.”
Reid swiped it on and waited to hear the demands he was sure were forthcoming. He punched on the speakerphone.
“Where’s the cute little sheriff?” Gabriel’s voice demanded.
Reid snapped his gaze to Jane. She’d been right. “If you wanted to talk to her, why call me?”
“Because you don’t want her hurt. And she’s going to be hurt if I don’t have what I want.”
“I thought you took what you wanted. The pictures are gone.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her mouth set and her eyes shadowed, Jane made no move to punch in the code for her dad’s gate. She pulled out her phone and began recording the conversation.