Chapter 18

"An explosion!" Carrie ran out the back door and noticed smoke billowing from the side of the barn. Instead of a double set of barn doors, there was a gaping hole.

Jo, with Laverne by her side, was only steps behind. She said the first thing that popped into her head. "I hope no one is hurt."

"And you're insured," Laverne added.

Barney and several workers, one with a fire extinguisher in hand, began spraying until the smoke dissipated.

The women ran over.

"What happened?" Jo asked.

"I have no idea," Barney said. "We haven't been working on this side of the building all day."

"It didn't explode and catch fire all by itself," Carrie said. "Something had to have happened."

A worker cautiously stepped over a pile of charred boards and knelt on the ground. "I think I know what it was." Using a gloved hand, he held up a metal box with wires sticking out of it. "This appears to be a command initiated IED."

"A command the what?" Jo asked.

"IED. A remotely detonated explosive."

"A bomb," Carrie whispered. "Someone set off a bomb."

"It's a rudimentary device." The worker explained he was a former first lieutenant in the Army and those types of bombs were used in the field to slow soldiers down or scare them off. "Based on the looks of this one, it was more for show than to cause major damage or casualties."

"Tell that to my poor barn doors," Carrie groaned.

"Why do you say it was more for show?" Jo asked.

"If the person wanted to cause harm, they would have filled this with ball bearings, nails, anything which could cause bodily injury," he said.

"It's time to call the sheriff's department and get someone back out here," Jo said.

Barney reluctantly motioned to the others. "We'll have to call it a day. Tomorrow is Sunday. You should have plenty of time to make sure the area is clear before we come back on Monday."

"As much as I hate to see you stop working, I have to agree," Jo said. "Safety comes first. I'm sure the authorities will want to question your workers before they leave."

"I'll have a word with them." Barney left and returned a short time later. "You'll need to have a bomb squad comb the area to make sure there isn't anything else."

"We will," Jo promised.

Barney said he and his workers would continue to hang around until the police arrived and headed to his truck.

Jo, worried there might be more explosives, suggested they return inside to wait for the police.

Sheriff Franklin responded to the call, showing up a short time later. He had a word with Barney. They entered the barn, and Jo guessed it was to question the workers.

One by one, the men left until only Barney and the sheriff remained. They crossed the driveway and caught up with the women who sat waiting for them on the porch.

"Barney filled me in on what happened. I told him he was free to go unless you need him for something else."

"No." Carrie promised to let him know as soon as the area had been inspected and deemed safe.

After he left, Carrie got right to the point, filling the sheriff in on the recent string of disturbing incidents. "The bottom line is someone is stalking me, vandalizing my property and now blowing stuff up."

"I know about the earlier report, how you suspected that a tracking device had been placed on your van."

"Two," Carrie corrected.

"Two?" The sheriff's brows furrowed. "The report listed only one."

"We found a second device later, hidden behind Carrie's license plate," Jo said. "We would give them to you. Unfortunately, someone scraped the serial numbers off, making it impossible to track the owner."

"Deputy Franklin has photos of the tracking devices. I'm sure he's looking into it." Carrie told him about the recent Better Business Bureau review posted by someone named "MIN." "They're claiming I killed their pet to make money."

The sheriff placed a light hand on his holster. "Do you have any idea who it is?"

"Not yet. I'm trying to figure out if the nasty review and string of incidents are linked, although it stands to reason," Carrie said.

The sheriff casually glanced around. "What about disputes? Any money or personal disputes which may have cropped up recently?"

"If you're alluding to Charlie Golden, we recently broke up, but are still communicating," Carrie said.

"Communicating in a negative or positive way?"

"Mostly positive."

"Mostly," the sheriff said. "What about the non-positive part?"

"I believe it's a misunderstanding. Charlie would never stalk, vandalize, or try to harm me."

"People do peculiar things in the name of love," the sheriff said. "Might not hurt for me to have a chat with Charlie."

"Suit yourself." Carrie pressed her palms together. "I need a bomb squad to sweep the property to make sure there isn't another one."

"I can get a team out here," the sheriff said. "It's gonna cost you."

"I don't have much of a choice. The construction crew won't come back until we're sure the property is safe."

"I'll make a call."

Jo waited until the sheriff walked back to his patrol car. "What a mess. Someone must have planted the device yesterday when no one was around."

"I was thinking the same thing. The workers have been here every day this week," Carrie said.

"You already checked your cameras?"

"Yes, but they aren't covering the entire property, only the road and the front of the house."

"Meaning whoever set the device sneaked in from another direction," Jo said.

"That would be my guess."

"I say we have a look around after the bomb squad gives us the all-clear."

It took over an hour for a special team to arrive. The women hung out on the porch, watching as several men and one woman split up, systematically scouring the property. It took what seemed like forever before they finally finished.

The team spoke to Sheriff Franklin, who was on hand the entire time. Finally, they packed up their equipment and left.

Anxious to find out the status, the trio met the sheriff in the driveway.

"Well?" Jo asked.

"They didn't find any other detonation devices," Franklin said. "You might want to invest in some surveillance cameras and keep a gun handy."

"I already have both." Carrie shared her thoughts. "I checked my recordings from last night and didn't see anything. They must've sneaked in through the back."

"Stands to reason." The sheriff told them he would step up patrols in the area. "Too bad you don't have a dog like Jo's old Duke. He'd let you know if someone was out here messing around after dark."

"What a great idea." Jo snapped her fingers. "I'll bring Duke over."

"The bomb squad pointed out a few things you might find interesting."

Jo perked up. "Interesting?"

"How the person set the device." The sheriff led them to the barn, only steps away from where the doors had been blown off. "It's their theory whoever did this has been casing the joint."

He went into a long spiel about setting the device, making sure it was hidden from sight. "The bomb squad's opinion is the device was detonated remotely."

"Detonated remotely, which means there's a good chance the person is lurking nearby." Jo rubbed the sides of her arms. "Watching us, watching Carrie."

"Exactly. They could've installed a tripwire, which would detonate it when someone tripped the wire. In other words, they wanted to detonate it at a specific time."

Jo paced. "Yet no one got hurt."

"Had they manually detonated the device and been watching from nearby, they could have easily waited until someone was near the device to set it off."

"So, trying to get into their mindset, you think they didn't want to harm anyone?"

"If you're asking for my opinion, the goal was to scare you, scare off your construction crew and cause damage," the sheriff said. "There could be any number of reasons."

Laverne twirled her finger next to her forehead. "Or they're slightly unbalanced."

"Also a possibility," he said. "Similar to a pyromaniac, someone who sets stuff on fire and then gets their kicks out of watching, you could have a bomber maniac who enjoys blowing stuff up and watching when it happens."

"It still doesn't explain the other disturbing stuff. The tracking devices we found and someone vandalizing Carrie's work trailer."

"Which is why I intend to move this investigation to the top of my priority list." The sheriff left, but not before promising he would thoroughly search the area. He would also conduct a preliminary search of recently released former convicts who had experience setting off explosives.

Jo waited until he was gone. "I'm serious about bringing Duke over to keep an eye on the place tonight."

"What if nothing happens?" Carrie asked.

"It's possible, but think about it…every night for the past three nights, it's been one thing right after another. The tracking devices, the vandalism and now this. It seems the person who is targeting you is ramping it up. I'll see if I can talk Nash into staying with me."

"To stay here?"

Jo warmed to the idea. "Yeah. Me, Nash and Duke."

With a plan in place, she and Laverne headed home.

"Do you think she's okay here by herself?" Laverne asked as they pulled out of the driveway.

"Yeah. I don't think they're going to try anything in broad daylight. After dark? That's another story."