Case by Case Love

Chapter 17: DOA

Hank rolls up to the address that he was given over the radio since responding to the call made about a DOA in connection to their bombing case earlier that same very day. 

He gets out of the Dodge Durango SRT SUV and walks up to where a white blanket covered the body of a mid-aged male on the ground. He didn't even need to speak to the officers on scene, or lift it to know who was beneath. There were just three people connected to the case, and only one of those fit the description.

"If you do not know already, the DOA would be our business owner Clark Henderson," Hailey states as she leaves the officer that she had been speaking to before Hank's arrival to join her boss at the edge of the body. "One bullet to the head, along with two to the chest." 

"They are trying to cover their tracks," Hank states, earning a nod in agreement from Hailey. It was the obvious answer from the moment they had found out who the DOA was. It was the only sensible reason that the man held hostage that morning was now death due to three bullets. "All of the evidence is gone thanks to the secondary bombing blowing up everything in the vicinity. The only person that saw the one of the bombers outside of Mr. Henderson is Jay." 

"They are now hoping that Jay does not remember due to the bombing, or is dead." Hank nods his head in agreement, already reaching for his phone to alert those at the hospital. He debated who should know what was happening first. He knew Will would just panic if he knew the details. He couldn't trust Erin to do her job fully with how she failed at the initial scene. He didn't want to over-panic the situation and alert Jay of what was going on just yet by a surprise of added security around his room. "The only business that Mr. Henderson ran was where he was held hostage - the accountant firm. I know Kim is already trying to get a hold of the vice president for a full list of employees, with photos if on file. Adam and her were then going to interview each employee one by one to get their thoughts on the business, Mr. Henderson, and their fellow employees." 

"If there are images of the employees, we could pass them along to Jay to see if he remembers and can identify one of the bombers," Kim suggests, only receiving a simple nod in response. Hank wasn't sure if he wanted to go asking Jay about details, or sharing the particulars that had transpired outside of what happened in the office. He wanted Jay to solely focus on getting better right now in knowing the battle he had in front of him. He knew the beginning of details would have his mind filled with thoughts, and trying to quicken his recovery to get a piece of the man himself. "How is he?"

"He's going to be okay," Hank simply assured her, not wanting to get into details about Jay right now. He wanted to keep the focus on finding the bomber, followed by the second bomber. He wanted to ensure both of them understood what they had done was very wrong. He was not about to take his time with either lightly in knowing Jay's condition right now.

"Kevin is canvassing cameras in the area to see if there's any footage that could help us," Hailey continues, feeling the direction that Hank was wanting to go right now. Besides, she didn't need to get herself locked in this conversation and get distracted. It would send her down a rabbit hole of thinking about a lot of other unnecessary stuff right now. "Local officers are campaigning the neighbourhood to see if anybody saw anything. I was going to pay a visit to Mr. Henderson's family to see if they knew of any issues at work with anybody. He's not married. He does not have any kids. Just based on what we could find through social media, it does not look like he's in a relationship. But there's a brother so maybe he vented about work to him. We're doing what we can to find these individuals as soon as we can." 

"Check with your CIs as well to see if they've heard anything - every single one of you. The bomber had to purchase the C4 and materials somewhere to make the bomb." Kim found her eyes glance to the ground as she knew there was one person who was an expert on their team when it came to that type of information. He had security clearance with the military, and that was one of the only spots where C4 could be found.

"I'll cross reference the employee list with military people in the area that may have had access," Kim comments, knowing that was probably the only thing she could do right now. Where else would you buy C4 in Chicago? "If any of them have criminal history or know people involved in previous crimes, they have had the contacts to make this happen." 

"Follow every lead that you can. The sooner we find these guys, the better. They tried to blow up a whole city block so that should tell you what they are capable of. The possibility of Jay being the only individual to allow them to disappear without a trace - other than the employee list - means we need to be quick in how we do this. I'll handle talking to Jay about it while you follow the other leads. 

Hank then walks away from the group, his phone clasped tightly in his hand. He brings up a familiar name and number, glad that this device was not the only way they were communicating these days. It was certainly nice to have her back in his life daily, even if she had messed up earlier. He just hoped it wasn't something they'd all come to regret in the days that followed.

Jay is the only person who saw the one of  the suspect and can identify him. They shot Clark Henderson to cover their tracks. We are not taking any chances. I am alerting you, as well as hospital security. I am on my way back now.