Stroud found the thread in a Tennessee property database: a small A-frame cabin near Gatlinburg, registered in 2021 under A. C. Mercer, matching Ryan’s age. Gatlinburg was mountain country, forested, reasonably remote, and invisible among tourist traffic. Dellray looked at the map and felt the case narrowing to a point.
He didn’t move immediately. He waited while he and Marsh built the evidentiary picture of the Meridian fraud. Gary Whitfield helped reconstruct the fraud’s trail. Their analyst aid in Washington said, “Give me the primary-source documents. This is federal, Marcus. I can move it.” Dellray said, “Give me one week.”