The plan in place, Charla nodded decisively and stood up. “I’ll do that exactly. Thank you again for your understanding.”
“Thank you for yours,” he said. “And let us know if you need anything else.”
She nodded, but she’d gone quiet. I could see her retreating into her head, mulling over what she’d seen, replaying conversations. It was exactly the kind of thing I’d do in the face of such betrayal.
We saw her back to the front door, then paused in the foyer. Ethan looked at me. “You were right about McKetrick.”
“I was guessing about McKetrick. It just seemed his kind of operation. Too smart, too crafty for kids with bad attitudes.”
“I’ll grab the DVDs,” Ethan said. “Go ahead downstairs and advise Luc. I’ll be right down.”
“Roger that,” I said. As Ethan disappeared down the hallway, I made for the stairs, glancing back when the House’s front door opened again.
Jonah appeared in the doorway, coat swirling in the winter wind. “Was that Charla Bryant I just saw leaving?”
“It was. What are you doing here?”
“Scott heard about your grandfather, sends his best wishes. And I think, instead of sending get-well balloons, he sent me to help with the riots.”
I looked at him for a second. “How many balloons would it have been, exactly?”
“Smart-ass,” Jonah said.
“Actually, you’ll be glad you came,” I assured him. “As it turns out, our paranoia has been validated.”
“So I guess I’ll have to respect you now.”
“It would be a good start. Let’s get downstairs.”
—
The Ops Room became our gathering point once again. Luc and Lindsey were at the table, Kelley and Juliet outside.
Luc dialed up Jeff and Catcher as soon as Jonah and I walked through the door, apparently anticipating developments in the investigation, but we waited until Ethan walked through the door, DVD in hand, to get started.
“What’s this?” Luc asked, glancing at it.
“It’s a DVD,” Lindsey said. “It stores videos or information.”
“Hi-larious,” Luc said.
“It’s a video of the Blood4You lab,” Ethan said, taking a seat at the table. I walked over to the whiteboard and erased our prior bad guesses. And as Ethan narrated the DVDs, I filled in the appropriate blanks.
“The video shows John McKetrick exchanging some sort of payoff with Alan Bryant, Charla Bryant’s brother. But they argue, presumably because McKetrick doesn’t get what he wants.”
“That’s something,” Luc said.
“Oh, that’s hardly the preface,” Ethan said. “McKetrick comes back, takes a file, and torches the lab . . . right before the riot starts.”
“Alan tried to erase the tapes,” I said, “and obviously failed.”
“Off-site backup?’ Jeff asked.
“Off-site backup,” I confirmed.
“What was the payoff for?” Luc asked.
“We aren’t certain. Information that’s worth five hundred thousand dollars to McKetrick, at any event.”
“Good God,” Luc said.
“Alan Bryant knows blood and biochemistry,” I said. “So presumably McKetrick wants information to do with that. But what?”
It was a chilling question.
“And so we circle round again to McKetrick,” Ethan said.
“I’m sending Detective Jacobs a message,” Catcher said. “This is Chicago, so getting to McKetrick is going to take a little finessing. But I think we can have the CPD pick Alan up. I’ve only met him the once, but he strikes me as the type to flip easily. Maybe we can get something useful.”
Ethan nodded authoritatively. “Thank you, Catcher. We appreciate it.”
“Why is McKetrick doing this?” Lindsey asked. “Because he hates us?”
“He definitely does,” Ethan said. “But he’s also a public official in this city, and by all accounts, he’s loving the attention and the ego boost.”
“That’s a good point,” Jonah said. “He clearly likes the gig, and why risk his job? And even if he wanted something from Bryant Industries, why hit Grey House? Why hit your grandfather’s house?”
“We now know the rioters hit Bryant Industries for a reason,” I said. “So maybe he also hit Grey House and my grandfather for a reason. We just have to figure out what that reason was.”
The room went quiet.
“Okay, then,” I said. “We’ll just mull on that for a little bit. Catcher, do you know anything about the syringe?”
“Nothing yet,” he said. “There’s a backlog in the forensics department. Might not be until tomorrow.”