Page 60 of Fatal Mistake
Shane arched a brow, his expression filled with questions. Cal suspected his teammate’s study of human behavior had him trying to figure out why she chose to remain in this room instead of finding solitude. Where some of the others on the team might have blurted out a question, Shane was the consummate professional and didn’t ask.
“Call me if you change your mind.” He offered a comforting smile and left the room.
“Let me know if you need anything,” Cal said to Tara before taking the box to a workbench in the corner.
He turned on the lighted magnifying glass mounted on the corner of the workbench for such an occasion. He spread out fresh paper across the table and removed evidence bags to line them up in size order.
“Wow,” Tara said, coming up behind him. “How many bags are there?”
Cal pulled out the inventory list. “Sixty-eight.”
“And that’s only pieces of the bomb, nothing more?”
He nodded.
“How do you even choose where to start?”
“I begin with the largest fragment that might yield the best evidence and work my way to the smallest.”
“Makes sense, I guess.”
“It’s a lot like a puzzle.” He selected the bag holding the largest item and held it under the magnifying glass. He turned the bag in various directions, looking at the metallic shard with fragments of wire sticking out.
Tara moved closer. “Can you even identify what you’re looking at?”
“Actually, this is one of the best examples of an action circuit that we’ve recovered from any of Keeler’s bombs.” He smoothed out the bag and lifted it closer to the magnifying glass. “Odd.”
“What?” she asked.
“It looks like a counterfeit switch.”
“You can tell that just by looking at it?”
“I’ve examined countless switches over the years, and I recognize this one, but the markings are wrong.”
“And that’s odd why?”
He set the switch on the paper and leaned back to look at Tara. “Bombs can be unpredictable, so getting one to detonate, especially one as complicated at the ones Keeler builds, is harder than it seems. If I was building a bomb, I’d use the best-quality materials possible to be certain my device would work. So why spend so much on the other materials but buy a counterfeit switch? Just doesn’t make sense.”
“What if Oren didn’t know it was counterfeit?”
“That’s likely the best explanation,” Cal said, his mind racing over what that could mean if anything. “Which is why counterfeiting is so successful.”
“Where would he even buy something like this?”
Cal tapped the bag. “This switch is used for remote-controlled toys. He could have taken it from a toy he already owned, but most likely, with his plans of producing so many bombs, he purchased a number of these switches online.”
Tara’s forehead furrowed. “Wouldn’t the package have been delivered to the house and you could have tracked it?”
“We checked all package deliveries at the rental house and his family’s farm. He’s smart enough to have set up an alternative mailing address such as a PO Box to keep from arousing suspicion.”
“Again, couldn’t you check with local post offices?”
“We did—not only near your aunt’s place but near Keeler’s employer. We also checked stores with rental boxes, but he didn’t use his official ID to rent a box in any of these locations.”
Tara frowned. “What about that woman Kaci showed the picture of? Could she be buying the supplies and giving them to him?”
He nodded. “As could other ISIS supporters.”
