16. nothing

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"What d'you mean, nothing?"

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"What d'you mean, nothing?"

Ron shrugged, grimacing. "Sorry, Reg, but there's no trace whatsoever of any kind of explosive. Perkins' Bomb Squad ruled it a gas leak. Jules' boys at the Fire Department agree. And I have nothing to prove them wrong."

Gillian looked away and snorted, hands on her hips, counting to ten before she lost it with Ron—after all, he wasn't responsible for the inspection's outcome.

"We've monitored their communications for three days now," said Kurt. "And no one said a single word that may lead us to think any of the rival gangs had anything to do with it."

"C'mon, lads! Five people lived in that house: Adam Lewis, his mother and his three little sisters. And it happens to explode when only Lewis and his dealer are home? Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence? How come the gas leak didn't ignite when Momma Lewis cooked dinner, only an hour earlier?"

The team didn't bother to answer: they all knew she was right. Hank shook his head, mirroring Ron's grimace.

"I can try again to find a trace of any chemical accelerator."

"And if you find something now, after your three previous inspections, I should kick your ass back to Templeton's office, don't you think?" she replied bitterly. "We're still not looking at it the right way. Let's clean the slate and start over with what we do have."

Aldana picked up the baton right away. "No gangbangers, Lewis' or any other, said or did anything that would point to them doing it. But we all agree it's hard to believe this wasn't intentional."

"And you guys didn't find any trace of explosives, chemicals, weird wires. Nothing looked outta place, right?" said Fred.

Ron, Hank and Aldana shook their heads. Gillian turned to them again.

"Ron, Al, is there any way to cause a gas leak and use it to blow up a house at a given moment?"

He nodded. "In theory."

"Alright, then find me at least three ways to do it. Hank, Kurt, help'im. Then give Tanya a list of the materials. T, you're gonna track credit card purchases of them. Fred, you and I are gonna lend Vice a hand. Hall and Gomez must be going nuts, trying to prevent another gang war. Al, you've got the chair while I'm out."

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