Elara had narrowly saved Senator Vance, but the Silent Weaver's escape provided a critical clue: the unique thermal signature left behind by the Weaver's personalized electromagnetic pulse device. This, combined with the microscopic chemical signature she had previously isolated, gave her the thread she needed to trace Ruhl's most dangerous operative.
The Chemical Link
Elara knew the Weaver was using a cleaner, faster ADO derivative that was almost impossible to trace. However, the core of the compound required a rare synthetic base and specialized, non-commercial lab resources.
She used the recovered ADO residue and the Weaver's unique chemical signature to cross-reference the city's outdated utility and chemical manifest logs. She wasn't looking for a single person, but for a single location: the facility capable of synthesizing such a controlled, volatile compound.
The search was meticulous, focusing on decommissioned academic facilities and private research centers that had the necessary high-voltage energy signature and rare ventilation exhausts for chemical byproducts.
The digital path led her away from Professor Thorne's dilapidated lab and toward the periphery of the old City University's original campus.
Ruhl's Hidden Asset
Elara found the source linked to a single, long-abandoned structure: the Dormer Research Facility, a sprawling complex that had been shut down decades ago following a hazardous material spill. Officially, the facility was a sealed derelict site.
However, Elara's deep archive access revealed a crucial fact: the facility was managed and quietly maintained by a subsidiary shell corporation whose primary director was a close, obscure associate of Magistrate Calix Ruhl. Ruhl had secured the facility not for its space, but for its isolated, highly specialized chemical infrastructure.
The Dormer Research Facility was Ruhl's personal weapons forge. It was here that the Silent Weaver manufactured the ADO signatures, confident that its history and official status as a hazardous site would keep it invisible to Vesper's official investigation.
Elara realized this was more than just a chemical lab; it was the psychological engine driving Ruhl's political coup. By identifying this location, Elara had pinpointed the source of the Contagion of Silence and established the direct, undeniable link between Ruhl and the "Architectural Murders" being committed by the Silent Weaver. She now had the target for her next infiltration.