Lieutenant Max Peterson seems taken a back. “You’re telling me how to handle this?”
Cat just looks at the man.
“You’re telling me how to handle this investigation?”
“Yes, actually, I am. Because it’s not your investigation. It’s my investigation. The Feds have jurisdiction here. This is not a local matter. You are here to help me, not the other way around.”
Peterson says nothing. He is not happy about getting talked down to with his cop buddies close by. Cat doesn’t care.
“I need your guys to canvas the area. Talk to local residents. Did they see anything unusual? A person who seemed not to fit in? Meanwhile, I will have my FBI team members gather the videos from a 3-block radius. So you will know where to find me.” She turns to leave. Cat knows it will be a long night ahead looking at loop after loop of tape, enhancing faces, trying to get information from the victims who have survived this attack.
While none of the victims who are still alive remember anything unusual from preliminary reports, it is too soon to have questioned everyone. Cat knows from experience that some victims are in emergency surgery now. So, there is no way everyone has been questioned. There is more evidence to be gathered.
Someone here had to have seen, heard or remembered something. A video camera had to have recorded something.
Before she leaves, she turns back to Peterson. “And one more thing. I want every public trash bin in this block opened and the trash inside collected and labeled as to location of pick up. Perhaps the bomber dropped something on his way to or from the blast site. It is a long shot, but sometimes, long shots pay off.”
“Will do, Ma’am.”
Once again, from the way Peterson says these words, it is clear he resents her presence here.
Cat has had enough. She turns back around and in Peterson’s face.
“You got a problem with me?”
Peterson says nothing. He doesn’t like that she is pissed off.
“I asked you a question? You got a problem with me? Or is it just the fact that I am a woman and I am telling you what to do?”
Peterson’s face turns red. He is embarrassed she is calling him out. He says nothing.
“I’ve got no more time for this bull. Do something useful and get out of my sight.”
Peterson drops his head and walks away like a scolded puppy.
Cat turns her attention back to what she knows of this killer. From her preliminary investigation, this bomb maker is sophisticated and knows what he is doing. The bombs are intended to injure the most people possible based on the timing of the blasts.
From the looks of the statute, this is where the bombs were place.
Each of the statute’s feet are no longer “feet” but jagged marble with almost nothing left.
The placement tells her that was part of the plan too, place the devices where the marble will act as shrapnel, along with nails, glass and other sharp objects packed inside the bomb, all intended to injure and maim as many people as possible, the objects moving through flesh and muscle and shattering bone at high speed. Chemicals released at the same time, designed to immobilize and strike fear into those already injured.
Whoever placed these things is not a novice. He has been around bombs and explosive devices his entire life.
The bomb yesterday tells her the same thing.
Those closest to the blast lay dead and covered over with sheets, from chemical asphyxiation. Cyanide, if that is what it was, blocks oxygen at a cellular level inside the body and brings about death because oxygen is not released to the cells. There were twenty or so bodies covered. All had not had a chance to survive because they were too close to the chemicals and the blast itself. These were the bodies that took the most damage from flying debris.
Who would do this?
And what kind of a person does it two days in a row?
It is always like this at the beginning of an investigation.
Cat got an answer to one question. That answer just opens the door to fifty more questions. It is like a jigsaw puzzle where every time you find a piece to the puzzle, all the surrounding pieces shift and move, so that there is no solving the puzzle. Cat knows, from experience, it will be like this for a while. Then gradually, the pieces fall into place and the jigsaw puzzle begins to make sense.
With the entire NYPD on highest tactical alert and the city in a state of fear, Cat thinks it unlikely the bomber will strike in New York again. Too risky. But weirder things have happened.
As the head FBI Special Agent in charge, she had worked the Boston Marathon bombings a few years ago. No one in their right mind would have thought that investigation would end as it did. One of the brothers who committed the crime dead, and the other, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, cornered in a small covered sail boat in front of an old couple’s house. Swat teams, the FBI’s HRT team and other tactical units moved in and took the guy alive at gun point. Cat had all non-tactical officers back off - out of the line of cross-fire. HRT established a hard perimeter.
Five days of sheer terror in Boston.
Cat blinks back to reality.
That was Boston.
This is New York.
Cat wonders if this case will end the same way.
She prays it will not.
BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
1. What do you think is the most appealing quality in Dr. Catherine Powers? Why?
2. What do you think is the least appealing quality in Dr. Catherine Powers? Why?
3. Do you see Thomas Pierce and Isabella as opposites? If so, why?
4. If you were making a movie or TV show about this book, who would you cast as the lead character?
5. If you had a chance to ask the author one question, what would it be?
6. Share a favorite quote from the book. Why did this quote stand out to you?
7. Is there another author that this author reminds you of? Why?
8. What did you think of the book’s pacing? Too fast? Too slow? Just right?
9. What do you think of the book’s title? How well does it convey what the book is about? If you wanted to change it, what would you change it to?
10. What do you feel was the author’s purpose in writing this novel? What ideas was she trying to get across?
11. Did the story and characters seem realistic?
12. How well did the author build the world of the book? Is there a particular paragraph or phrase that you like to share that supports your answer?
13. If you could hear the same story from another character’s point of view, who would you choose and why?
14. If there is something in the story you would change, what would it be?
15. How did the book make you feel? Were you unable to put it down or was it difficult to get through?
16. Did you feel satisfied with the ending? Or did you feel disappointed and wanting more?
17. What do you think of the author’s writing style?
18. Would you read another book in this series by the same author?
19. Do you like this book more or less than other books in the same genre?
20. Did this book provide a new and different perspective and/or did you learn something you didn’t know before reading it?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BORN ON THE BEAUTIFUL TROPICAL ISLAND of Jamaica to a Jamaican father and a French mother, Solange Ritchie (then Solange Levy) immigrated to the United States at age eleven. Since then, she has become a dynamic force for change. Fed up with thrillers that start with a fizzle and longing to see more powerful women as lead characters, Solange decided to create her own characters. Despite the demands of a busy legal career, she accomplished her ambitious goal by rising each morning to write before work, dedicating her weekends to writing, and even spending her vacation time writing.
Words have always been Solange’s passion – now so more than ever.
Solange achieved a successful writing career while doing “last minute trial,” mostly in Southern Cal
ifornia. Dubbed “the Case Saver,” Solange handled intense legal motions that either make or break a case, especially in the areas of business, labor and employment law. In 2014, she received the State Bar of California’s Solo and Small Firm’s Section’s highest award, the Myer J. Sankary Attorney of the Year Award. It is given to only one attorney each year in California.
When Solange was just thirty-seven years old, her first husband, John, died due to gross medical negligence at a leading Southern California hospital. This life-altering experience helped shape her into the person she is today. She began writing creatively to deal with the stress of his hospitalization and his death.
Solange’s first psychological thriller, The Burning Man, featuring FBI forensic pathologist Dr. Catherine “Cat” Powers was published in 2015. Her second novel in the series, Firestorm, was released to critical acclaim, on May 15, 2018. Dying Declaration is the third novel in the Dr. Catherine “Cat” Powers series. A forth novel in the series, Bomb Blast, is written and will be released shortly. Solange plans at least two more books in the Dr. Catherine Powers series. A fan of things that go bump in the night, Solange is also penning a Southern Gothic novel called Fiona’s Box.
Solange lives in Southern Florida. She enjoys traveling, writing, gardening, time with her family, as well as good food and conversation. Solange is available for speaking engagements. She especially enjoys talking with book clubs. To receive her Sunday blog post, Notes from Solange, just go to her author website, www.solangeritchie.com, and leave your e-mail address. Nothing negative or political is ever posted. Solange welcomes your comments, reviews and suggestions, and invites you to contact her at:
Author website: http://solangeritchie.com
Legal website: http://solangeritchielaw.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/solange.ritchie
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/solange-ritchie-5276486
Twitter: @solangeritchie and @solangeauthor
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