Free Cutting Edge by Allison Brennan

subsequent letters sent to the media that they’re anti-biotechnology, not an animal-rights group like ALF.”
    Duncan waved her hand and sniffed. “They’re all the same nuts.”
    Perhaps, but the arsonists were specifically targeting biotechnology companies or, in the case of Sac State, bioresearch. Not all of the targets used animals in their research. Nora knew ALF wouldn’t have gone after the Sac State lab because it didn’t engage in animal testing. The lab was solely involved in agriculture bioengineering, genetically manipulating plants to grow in areas with limited water.
    The only commonality between all four entities was their involvement in biotech research. Langlier, Nexum, and Butcher-Payne used animals; Sac State didn’t. Unless there was another reason the arsonists targeted the college.
    “From my experience,” Pete said, “extreme environmentalists tend to come together over multiple issues. There’s a lot of overlapping.”
    Nora concurred. She turned back to Duncan. “You said Jim Butcher has the threatening letters?”
    “Bobbie — Roberta Powers — would keep the correspondence. She’s Jim’s personal assistant. If it was overtly threatening, we’d have sent it to the sheriff.”
    “Has Dr. Payne fired or let go any staff in the last year?” Pete asked.
    “You can’t possibly think that anyone from Butcher-Payne had anything to do with arson and murder.” It was a statement.
    “You’re a scientist,” Nora said. “You may have a hypothesis, and in your gut know that you are right, but you need to prove or disprove your theory, and that requires extensive research. For us, it requires a lot of investigation. Including asking questions we don’t necessarily think are going to give us the right answers. But if we don’t ask all the questions, our investigation won’t be complete.”
    Duncan relented, but mumbled that it was a waste of time.
    Nora said, “The biohazard team went through the scene and determined it safe enough, but the arson investigator noticed that one or more cages may have been removed.”
    “Cages? Our birds are kept in a secure room.”
    “There were no animals in the main area of the lab?”
    “No.” She looked down, frowning. “South wall? There was a long worktable, several file cabinets, a mini-refrigerator. Empty cages and carriers because we didn’t have any more room in storage, but we don’t keep animals in the main lab unless we need them. They always go back in their room. How can you tell that a cage is missing? You said there was a fire.”
    “The fire investigator is analyzing the entire scene and she knows how fire spreads, how it’s extinguished, and whether something is out of place. It’s not an exact science—”
    “Don’t tell Quin that,” Pete interjected with quiet humor.
    “It’s based on educated guesses,” Nora continued. “In her opinion, something seemed missing. But it could be nothing — it could be a large file box that was moved to storage. It would help, though, for you to walk through the scene and see if something is missing, or something is there that shouldn’t be.”
    “I can do that. Yes, of course, anything.” Duncan sat back down, her head in her hands. “I know this is going to sound callous, but Jonah would want us to continue. This was everything to him.” She looked up. This time the tears had escaped. “I need to recover any remains. They might be worthless, but if I can get the bodies of the birds, our vet and I can analyze their genes on a cellular level. There should be something — and it could help. All our hard-copy documents are gone — I assume they are — but we have copies of everything in the computer. Not the logs — oh, God, those are going to be impossible to re-create. But at least we don’t have to go back to square one. For Jonah, I need to complete this. Jim will agree.”
    Whether she added that last thought to make it true, or because she believed it, Nora didn’t