“Givens, do you mind talking to the FBI?”Suresh asked.
“Sure,” the bomb squad sergeant replied.“Not sure what I have to tell her, but I’ll talk.”
“Thank you.Jessica, go with CSI to case the scene.Turk, go with Jessica.”
Turk didn’t look happy about being pulled away from the bomb, but he followed Jessica into the house to look at Jackson Entwhistle’s body.Faith stepped to the bomb squad leader, who had removed the thick helmet of his outfit and was wiping a gloved hand across his sweaty brow.“I’ll be quick,” Faith promised.“Just give me the basics.What kind of bomb was it, how sophisticated, and how dangerous?”
Givens chuckled.“It was a gasoline bomb, not at all sophisticated, and it would have taken out his living room and set his house and probably his lawn on fire.That’s about it.”
“A gasoline bomb?”
“Yep.That’s exactly what it sounds like.There was a copper wire floating in about a quart of good old eighty-seven octane.There was a timer that was supposed to go off and send an electrical signal through that wire, but the killer forgot to attach it.”
Faith’s brow furrowed.“He forgot to attach it?”
“Yep.Didn’t attach the wire to the timer.The timer went off about thirty minutes after we got there, but it didn’t do shit other than give us all a freaking heart attack.”
“So what were you doing in there all this time?”Faith asked.“No offense.”
“None taken.Honestly, I knew this thing was a dud twenty seconds after looking at it, but there are procedures we have to follow regardless.”He glanced over Faith’s shoulder, leaned close, and added, “Especially with the circus in town.”
“So you had to follow protocol so the press would understand that you took this seriously and executed your duty carefully.”
“Yep.Same reason the lieutenant is in his Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.Gotta look good for the camera.”
Faith could sense irritation in Givens’s voice.“I take it you’re a little frustrated by the pretense.”
He chuckled.“I’m frustrated that I came all this way to play with a toy any two-year-old could have made.I’m exaggerating about that, obviously, but by a lot less than you’d think.”
“Did you find anything on the body or the bomb?”Faith asked.“A message or note of any kind?Anything out of place?”
“Well, other than the dead guy and the gas bomb, no.Looked like a normal suburban home.”
Faith nodded.“All right.Thank you, sergeant.”
“You betcha.”He grinned.“Caught the story about the guy killing chaplains.Good job with that one.”
Faith returned a professional smile.“Thank you.”
“You betcha,” Givens repeated.
He and the squad moved on to renewed cheers, and Faith stepped into the house.It was, as Givens said, a normal suburban home.Nice but inexpensive furniture, a dearth of decoration that was typical of a home occupied by a single male, and appliances that were on the older side but standard otherwise.
The only thing out of place was, as Givens had also said, the dead man sitting on the couch with his head drooped on his chest and blood soaking his body and the couch cushions underneath.Turk was sniffing carefully around the couch and the coffee table while Jessica examined the body.
She carefully lifted Jackson Entwhistle’s head with both hands.Jackson was a heavyset African American man of medium height with gray hair and a short gray beard.His eyes had filmed over, but before death, they would have been a striking silver gray.
“There’s our cause of death,” Jessica said, pointing at a thick puncture wound on the side of Jackson’s neck.A matching puncture decorated the opposite side.“Something thick and pointed.”
“Like a screwdriver?”Faith asked.
“Maybe.The coroner will take a closer look and find out for sure.”
She carefully lowered Jackson’s head and looked at Faith.“So what did you find out about the bomb.”
“It was a lure,” Faith said.“Nothing more.Killer didn’t even connect the detonator.”
Jessica raised her eyes.“Damn.So what was the point?”