Part 17 (1/2)

Grady stiffened. ”Were you hurt?”

”I was in the back,” Sophie said, patting his arm rea.s.suringly. ”I wasn't in any danger. It was on the news. I can't believe you didn't hear.”

”I've been focusing on this all day,” Grady said.

”And what is this?”

”This is the closest rendering the sheriff's department can come up with for the device under Mandy's car.”

”And what does it tell you?”

”It's pretty basic,” Grady said. ”It doesn't look like there was a timer.”

”And that means that someone set it off with a remote,” Sophie said. ”That means they were watching, and just pushed the trigger because they knew she was walking away.”

”How do you know that?”

”A couple of years ago, there was a guy planting bombs under the cars of area veterans,” Sophie said. ”It turned out to be a guy with post-traumatic shock. He'd done three tours in Afghanistan and was stop-gapped. He just kind of lost it.”

”So, now you're an expert on bombs?”

”I found this guy through the VA who was a munitions expert,” Sophie said. ”He walked me through the process.”

Grady leaned back, wrapping an arm around Sophie's shoulders and pulling her in closer so he could give her another kiss, this one lingering. ”You never cease to amaze me.”

”I'm a gift,” Sophie agreed, smiling.

Grady rubbed his nose against hers, thinking. ”I don't suppose you're still on good terms with this munitions expert, are you?”

”He's left the area,” Sophie said. ”I do have another idea, though.”

Grady smiled. ”You always do. What's the idea?”

”There's a woman named Jennifer Paget who runs the homeless shelter in Roseville,” Sophie said.

”How does that help us?”

”That particular shelter is mostly filled with homeless veterans,” Sophie said. ”I think that might be a decent place for us to track down someone else who might know what we're looking at. I also think we should consider that whoever built the bomb probably had a military background.”

Grady stilled. ”What makes you say that?”

”Because making a bomb this sophisticated doesn't just happen,” Sophie said. ”Someone has to teach you. It may look simple to you, but this isn't something you can just slap together after watching a tutorial on the Internet.”

Grady, bit the inside of his mouth, glancing up at the wall clock. ”Do you think we can go now?”

”You're worried about Mandy?”

”I am,” Grady said. ”We haven't been able to determine that she was specifically targeted. It would be ... hard to believe that her car was picked at random. I mean, why pick her car?”

”It still could be random.”

”I don't believe anything is random,” Grady said. ”If someone planted that bomb as a way to send a message, it would make sense that they would pick someone affluent. That was a party of movers and shakers. Mandy was only there because she's so tight with the judge.”

”And if someone was targeting the affluent, why pick a Ford Focus to bomb,” Sophie supplied. ”You're right, it doesn't make any sense.”

Grady squeezed her hand. ”Let's go talk to the woman at the homeless shelter. The faster we go there and look into that angle, the faster we can come back here.”

”And why is it important for you to get me back here?”

”I want to get you naked, sugar,” Grady said. ”I can't do that until we check this out.”

”Let's go.”

HOMELESS shelters are depressing under the best of circ.u.mstances. For someone like Grady, a man who had spent three years in the U.S. Army, seeing one dedicated to veterans was almost too much for him to bear.

The building itself was in a rundown area. It was four stories high, and surrounded by a variety of businesses that made Grady's skin crawl.

”So, who thought it was a good idea to put a homeless shelter in the same area as a s.e.x shop and a liquor store?”

Sophie shrugged. ”The building was donated as a tax write-off,” she said. ”Beggars can't be choosers.”

”I know but ... .”

Sophie reached over, lacing her fingers through his. ”Do you want me to go in alone?”

Grady scorched her with a look. ”You think I can't handle it?”

”I think it's going to be hard for you to take,” Sophie said. ”I've been here before. I know what to expect.”

”I've seen homeless people before.”

”This is different,” Sophie replied. ”A lot of these people, well, they have war wounds. You can see a lot of them.”

”I've seen people with missing limbs before,” Grady said. ”I understand the psychology a.s.sociated with it.”

”Well, a lot of these men have lost limbs, their sanity, and their homes,” Sophie said. ”They're ... sad.”

Grady brought Sophie's hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss to her hand. ”Let's do this together, sugar.”

”Okay.”

Sophie led Grady into the building, stopping by the front window to inform the man behind it who she was looking for. The wait gave Grady a chance to look around.

”They have a security door.”

”You have to be buzzed in,” Sophie said. ”There's a curfew. They lock this place down at six and everyone is searched before they come inside. No weapons. No drugs. No liquor. No visitors beyond the door.”

”So, they try to keep it clean?”

”It's not easy, but they try,” Sophie said. ”I think they do the best that they can.”