"What were you told to do if she refused the search?" Claire asked.
"Sheriff said he'd handle her. I didn't expect him to force the lock in front of Price. I thought he'd wait until we could tow the SUV."
"Did you object when he ordered it opened?" Simone asked.
"I asked if he was sure. I still used the tool."
"That's your decision, Deputy. Nobody put your hand on it."
Keller flinched, and for a moment he seemed close to arguing. Then he lowered his eyes. "I know."
When the interview ended, Simone did not feel triumphant. Keller had admitted to deliberate conduct that affected the safety of his own community, and his decision to cooperate came only after his sheriff abandoned him. Still, a witness did not become useless merely because his motives were complicated. The task was to test his statements against documents and other evidence, disclose the reasons he might lie, and let the truth remain standing where possible.
The Ash Grove lead produced an immediate problem. County tax maps showed the property as an inactive municipal waterworks sold years earlier to a private holding company. Recent utility records indicated substantially greater electricity use than a vacant facility should require. Commercial vehicle data tied a truck seen at the warehouse to the road leading to the old site. But Simone needed a warrant to enter the buildings, and the task force had to move fast enough to preserve evidence without treating urgency as an excuse to ignore the law.
Claire and Nia assembled the affidavit from records already obtained, Keller's statements, the vehicle information, and the storage-unit documents. A judge issued the search warrant that evening. Rios arranged for state police to control the approaches, and Reed coordinated federal personnel who could safely inventory potentially valuable rescue and communications equipment. No one wanted to damage the devices while collecting proof that they had been stolen.
At 5:40 the next morning, rain misted the hills around Ash Grove. Simone rode in the lead federal vehicle with Nia, watching the road climb between patches of pine forest. A rusted sign for the old waterworks leaned behind a tangle of weeds. Beyond it sat a chain-link fence with a newer lock, a gravel yard, and three long maintenance buildings. The structures appeared abandoned until the team saw fresh tire tracks cutting through the mud.
As agents executed the warrant, a caretaker in a reflective vest stepped from a side door, startled but cooperative. He said he had been hired to watch the property and knew little about the shipments beyond the fact that they arrived after dark. He pointed to an office where a binder listed loads under vague equipment codes. The agents documented his account without treating his lack of knowledge as a convenient excuse or an established fact.
Inside the first maintenance building, Simone stopped in front of a wall of sealed cartons stacked almost to the rafters. Each bore a manufacturer's label for emergency response equipment. Many also carried Westbridge County property marks, some covered by shipping stickers addressed to private industrial customers. Through an inspection window in one case she saw a thermal imaging unit with a distinctive blue inventory tag.