Page 40 of So Sinister
Viola scoffed.“Not angry enough to murder people.Look, you’re right, I don’t have an alibi because I was at home.I live alone, and I live in a very safe neighborhood, so I don’t have security cameras that can prove I was home.My neighbors mind their own business, and I didn’t call anyone.I never anticipated that I’d have to prove I didn’t kill someone, so I didn’t think about securing an alibi.If you believe that’s enough to arrest me, I won’t resist, but Iwillbe filing a complaint with your Bureau and seeking council to ensure I am properly redressed for this frivolous arrest.”
“That didn’t work out so well for you last time, did it?”
Viola stiffened and Faith stepped in.“We’ll give you the benefit of the doubt for now.”Jessica whirled on her, but Faith continued, “We reallydoneed to know if you feel anyone else could be responsible for their deaths.”
Viola relaxed a little.“I don’t.The only person I know who had cause was Sandra Yeun, and she chose to take herownlife instead.And again, I don’t blame Entwhistle and Hayes for this anymore than I blame the manager of my local Starbucks because their barista made my latte wrong this morning.When an organization focuses on cutting costs rather than properly training their employees, mistakes are made.Unfortunately in the case of the TSA, those mistakes are costlier than a disappointing latte.”
Faith nodded.“I see.Thank you for your time, doctor.”
Jessica took a deep breath and said firmly, “Don’t try to leave town.”
“Of course not,” Viola replied with great dignity.“As I have done nothing wrong, I don’t see why I should be expected to flee my home and business.”
The three of them left the office.As soon as they were in the car, Jessica said, “What the hell was that?You totally derailed my line of questioning.”
“We weren’t going to get anywhere,” Faith explained, “and be honest.Do you really think she was lying to us?”
Jessica frowned.“No,” she admitted reluctantly, “but I still think we needed to do our due diligence.”
“I agree,” Faith said, “but I think we’re doing that diligence the wrong way.We’ve been chasing every butterfly that flutters across our path.I think we need to climb a tree and look at the entire park.”
Jessica looked at her.“Okay.Sounds good.Can I ask exactly what you mean?”
“Exactly what I said.We’re still missing the forest for the trees.So let’s look at the forest.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“So you think the K9 connection is ancillary?”Jessica asked.
They were back at their hotel, and Faith had just explained to Jessica that she wanted to expand their investigation to include all airport personnel involved in the bombing five years ago, including baggage handlers and airport security not attached to the TSA.“No, I don’t think it’s ancillary,” Faith replied.“I just think the killer is taking revenge on everyone they deem responsible for the ineffective handling of the incident.Entwhistle wasn’t even the K9 guy during this incident.”
“I mean, as long as we’re pulling back, should we consider that it might not be related to the Unibrow Bomber at all?It could be any number of people who were disgruntled with the two of them.”
Faith looked out the window at the darkening sky and took a deep breath.“It could be,” she admitted.“But let’s hope we don’t have to pull back that far.”
“Hope springs eternal,” Jessica said.“All right.Let’s start looking for people.”
They divided the work with Jessica scouring news articles and social media posts and Faith looking through official records.Since the incident was so catastrophic, it involved a very large number of people.In all, over one hundred sixty airport and TSA personnel were involved.Including local first responders would triple that number, so Faith chose to focus on the airport and TSA personnel first.
The families of the baggage claim handlers and TSA agents who died in the attack were clear candidates based on motive.Sure enough, several of the families filed wrongful death lawsuits against the TSA.Settlements were paid to all of them, but at least two individuals didn’t believe that was enough.The husbands of Martha Wahlberg and Yolanda Perez, two of the deceased baggage handlers, continued to pursue legal action, filing individual lawsuits against Entwhistle and Hayes and lawsuits against Thurgood Marshall Airport as well.The lawsuit against the airport was settled while Entwhistle and Hayes contested their lawsuits in court and won dismissals.
Faith was encouraged by this at first.That strengthened the motive for Henry Wahlberg and Koldo Perez to seek more personal revenge.
That excitement waned quickly.Research showed that both men had moved out of the area shortly after their suits were dropped, and phone calls to each were accompanied by more research, proving that they had both been thousands of miles away when the murders were committed.
Faith pushed through her irritation and reminded herself that this kind of tedium was part of the job.It wasn’t as exciting as interrogating suspects or following leads, but when the obvious threads reached dead ends, this process of elimination was critical to finding the thread that would unravel the mystery.
With that in mind, she moved on to the employees still active at Thurgood Marshall.While many of the employees involved had quit voluntarily or transferred to other airports or other roles within the TSA, seventeen still worked at Thurgood Marshall.When she talked to them, nine had solid alibis that ruled them out as suspects.The other eight insisted that Entwhistle and Hayes were the salt of the Earth and had done nothing wrong, and this killer was an asshole taking their anger out on the wrong people.And they had solid alibis that ruled them out as suspects.
It was after dark by the time Faith finished following up on those individuals.She rubbed her eyes, not tired but exhausted from the tedium and the lack of progress.Jessica was similarly frustrated.She got to her feet, closing her laptop hard enough that she had to check to make sure she hadn’t accidentally shattered the screen.
“I’m going to get some dinner,” she told Faith.“I’m starving, and there’s nothing useful on social media or in the news.Let me know if you find anything in personnel records.Otherwise, I’ll help you when I get back.”
Faith gave her a thumbs up and kept working.The next item on her list was going through any employees terminated in the immediate aftermath of the bombing whose dismissal was either explicitly or implicitly connected to the event.
That yielded more possibilities.While the TSA had limited their scapegoating to Sandra Yeun, airport security had been more sweeping.Nine security personnel were dismissed in the six weeks following the attack.Under cause for termination, each file bore the descriptor, UNDISCLOSED.
“Hmm.That’s interesting.”
