Read Online The Panic Zone by Rick Mofina - Free Book Online

everyone. We have yet to find this ex-worker and confirm his whereabouts.”
    â€œThat’s it?”
    â€œThe restaurant was badly managed and carrying massive debts. But it was heavily insured. We received a tip that one of the owners had made inquires to criminals about arson bombs.”
    â€œDoes the physical evidence point to anything, the type of bomb? The materials used? Is there a signature?”
    â€œWe’ve found nothing conclusive so far. It was very professional.”
    â€œAnd the seating map?”
    Estralla opened a folder and showed him the detailed diagram.
    â€œThis was composed based upon where we found the bodies, food orders and our subsequent interviews with the survivors.”
    Gannon saw circles representing the tables, and the names, as Estralla explained the symbols for the dead and the injured.
    â€œMarcelo Verde was here, alone.” Estralla touched the table by the window overlooking the patio. “We found his camera. It was destroyed by flying debris and the fire. And Gabriela was here.”
    Estralla pointed at the square representing her table. No other names were assigned to it.
    â€œShe was alone?” he asked.
    â€œNo one can place anyone there at the time of the blast. Some recalled seeing a woman with Gabriela, others contradicted them. It means we still have a lot of work to do.”
    Estralla passed Gannon his bag and stood.
    â€œThe officers will return you to your bureau.”
    â€œMay I have my passport?”
    â€œNo. Your visit remains under police scrutiny.”
    â€œHow about a copy of that floor plan?”
    Estralla looked at it, chewing his gum thoughtfully.
    â€œFrom one Bills fan to another?” Gannon asked.

CHAPTER 11
    Big Cloud, Wyoming
    E mma didn’t know how long the sedative had made her sleep.
    She woke up alone to battle her grief.
    It’s a dream. Wake up.
    If she could stop thinking she could stop it from being real.
    Emma stared at the ceiling, at the corners where the drab paint had dried and fractured. Suddenly those tiny lines of cracked paint moved, growing until they raced down the walls like fingers of lightning and pierced her heart, forcing her to tense with pain.
    My husband. My son.
    It can’t be.
    She could still feel Joe’s hand; his shirt, his favorite faded denim shirt, softened by a thousand washings. She could feel his skin, smell his cologne. She still tasted his cheek on her lips.
    And Tyler.
    Her angel laughing in the brilliant sun before everything exploded. Emma smelled gas, heard Tyler screaming, and in the chaos, she saw someone take him to safety.
    She saw it!
    Then the ground shook, the air ignited and everything burned.
    It can’t be happening again.
    Fire had first devastated Emma’s world all those years ago, when she finished college in Chicago. Her mother and father had driven from Iowa for her graduation.
    â€œWe’re so proud of you, kiddo.” Her mother’s hug was crushing.
    The day after graduating, Emma flew to Boston to start her new job with a travel agency while her parents took a vacation drive home. They’d stopped in Wisconsin at an older motel. Her dad loved them. “They’ve got character, not like the chains. All clones.”
    But at this one the owner had scrimped on repairs. The new air conditioners strained the outdated wiring, which resulted in a fire that killed Emma’s mother, father, and a family with three children from North Dakota.
    After the tragedy, Emma went through the motions of living, thinking she would not survive. Friends encouraged her to keep going and she used the insurance money to travel and write articles.
    If she kept moving, she could stay ahead of her pain.
    She did that for nearly ten years before she met Joe Lane, a carpenter in Big Cloud, Wyoming, where she’d come to write a travel story for the Boston Globe. They’d met at a diner, had a beer at a bar and a month later she found a