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Catherine frowned, and Matt knew better than to question her judgment on the psychology of criminals.
“We need to talk to that former student who went to Canada,” she said.
“We found evidence in Damon’s house,” Matt said. “You can’t possibly believe that he didn’t do this.”
“I believe he killed the five people Neil was looking at. Neil saw something I haven’t yet, if he was as confident as he seemed. I haven’t had the time to review all the information we found in Avila’s house. But I’m not sure about the bombings. I’m wondering if someone else is trying to protect him.”
“Who?”
“Maybe we should talk to his brother-in-law.”
“I’m not about to accuse Pete Dunlap of murder. We have no evidence pointing to that.”
“Maybe not, but Neil may have said more to Pete about the cold cases, and Pete was worried about what might happen to his family if Damon was arrested.”
“I’ll talk to him, but I think you’re stretching this. Damon’s denying everything because he knows he’ll never be free again.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“There’s no other logical explanation.”
After a knock on the door, a deputy stepped in. “Pete Dunlap would like to see the agent who arrested his brother-in-law.”
“I’ll take this, Catherine, unless you’d like to join me.”
“No, talk to him. I have a few calls to make.”
33
Kara sat outside Jamie Finch’s house and called Cal McKinnon.
He didn’t answer. She didn’t leave a voice mail message. She checked the time on her phone: it was after two in the afternoon.
She stared at the house and considered what to do. Track Cal down at West End? Was he still working? Or find out where Jamie was and drive there, make sure she and her kid were okay? Something was weird.
Matt and Catherine were interviewing Damon Avila and she hadn’t heard anything about what had happened there, other than the sheriff’s department had brought him in without incident. She felt bad for Ashley and Whitney, who’d had to witness it, but Matt was right—if Avila heard about the search, he could easily head to Canada, only a few nautical miles away. Even if he didn’t mean to, he might put his family in danger.
She called Ted Colfax at West End. She’d only met him once, but Matt had been working closely with him since they’d been here.
“Ted, it’s Detective Kara Quinn with the FBI Task Force. I’m trying to reach Cal McKinnon. Is he still there?”
“Hold on.”
Cal and Jamie lived in a quiet rural neighborhood: small houses and large yards, no sidewalks. Some houses had garages, some had carports. It wasn’t far from Damon Avila’s house, just on the other side of a two-lane highway that cut diagonally through Friday Harbor until it reached the downtown area.
It took Ted over three minutes to get back to her.
“Cal left five minutes ago. Didn’t even clock out, just said he had to go and ran to the parking lot. Is everything okay?”
Almost as soon as Ted started speaking, Cal’s old truck ran the stop sign at the corner and turned onto the street, leaving rubber. He passed Kara—may not have even noticed her—and turned into his driveway. He slammed on the brakes, jumped out, and left the truck running.
“I found him.” She ended the call and got out of her car. “Cal!” she called out as he ran to the front door.
He abruptly turned, glared at her.
“What are you doing here?” He looked right and left as if he was expecting...what? An attack?
She walked over to his truck, turned off the ignition, and closed the door. She kept his keys.
