The recovery of the bracelet had set in motion a series of actions.

McDade and Noble followed procedure to the letter, to build a solid case, guarding against anything that might weaken it later in court.

They’d resumed questioning Gina Rose Gangel—Cass—but it yielded little. Still, they hadn’t ruled out the possibility of Gangel being the Hydra, or speculating about a possible killer-team dynamic. But the scenario of a serial killer duo was dismissed as “unlikely” by Len Resher, with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, when McDade put it to him. “It’s inconsistent with the Hydra’s methods, rituals, and history,” Resher said.

Continuing to move as quickly and thoroughly as possible, McDade and Noble convened a case-status meeting. Additional FBI agents, State Police investigators and local deputies, joined them via video conference, or took a seat at the table in the upper-level meeting room at headquarters.

McDade began with a summary before moving to key points.

“We’re holding Spiker and Gangel, charging them with possession of stolen property because of the bracelet. Even if the charges are dropped, we’ll collect their DNA for comparison.”

The investigators then updated the group on the background, noting that records showed that the property where Spiker claimed to have found Moore’s bracelet was a 200-acre section of rivers, streams, forests, pastures, and hill country, owned by Nathaniel Morton Holdings, based in Boston. It encompassed a residence, garage, and several small outbuildings. It also included uninhabited structures related to an abandoned copper mine, townsite, and cemetery.

“Morton Holdings hired Devlin Foxe, a real estate agent based in Montpelier, to manage it. Foxe then employed Lasius Byyle to serve as caretaker to watch over the property in exchange for rent-free accommodation,” Noble said. “The case logs show that Byyle had volunteered to allow searches of the property by dog teams at the time after Moore’s disappearance, as well as two instances in the time that followed. Nothing was found.”

“What do we know about Byyle?” FBI Agent Greg Rayner asked.

“He’s an art dealer from Rhode Island, owns a Jeep Compass,” Noble said. “No sheet, no warrants, no offenses. He’s clean.”

“That said,” McDade added as they wrapped up, “we’re expecting a response at any moment on our request for warrants to search all structures, vehicles, and the entire property.”

Ten minutes after the meeting concluded, McDade’s phone vibrated with an email from her supervisor.

“You got your warrants coming, Agent McDade. Expect them to be emailed shortly so you can execute.”

Within 20 minutes, Noble was behind the wheel of his unmarked SUV heading out of Waterbury, on the one-hour drive to Spiritsburg, and then farther to the property at Lucifer’s Notch.

McDade was in the passenger seat next to him, glancing at the pastoral beauty rolling by, and then at Samantha Moore’s picture on her phone.