“He’s awake and in a lot of pain. But he’s lucky. If the bullet had hit a few inches or so to the right, he’s not waking up ever.”

  “And ballistics on the slug in him and the one that killed Kelly?”

  “Did not match the rounds taken from Draymont and Lancer. They were probably from a rifle, because the shots definitely came from a distance.”

  “Like I said before, we need to know more about Draymont and Lancer from their time back in DC.”

  “Do we fly there and check it out? I’m not sure how much we would find out that’s relevant besides what I learned on my phone calls.”

  “You can fly there and check it out. I’ll stay here and run down some leads.”

  Her look turned sour. “Trying to get rid of me again? I thought we had covered that.”

  “We can divide and conquer.” He paused, looking uncomfortable. “And…”

  “And what?” she said, evidently looking for a fight.

  “And I thought you might want to see your kids.”

  All the venom seeped from White’s features as she scrutinized him. “Okay, that is the only response that would have saved your butt with me right this second. So, what do you want me to try to find out?”

  “I said before I didn’t think this was Draymont’s and Lancer’s first attempt at blackmail. And maybe they picked up down here where they left off in DC.”

  “Pretty bad blackmailers then, because Draymont drove an old car and lived in a crummy apartment. Lancer’s house was pretty modest.”

  “Draymont also had on a Cartier watch and his suit was an Armani. Both were the real deal. And he had a personal platinum Amex card.”

  “Shit,” said White. “Now that I think about it, the clothes in Lancer’s apartment were all designer and so were her handbags. I thought they were knockoffs. And the motivation for the people who killed them?”

  “It’s about something more important than money.”

  “Which is?”

  “What we have to find out.”

  Chapter 49

  DECKER DROPPED WHITE OFF AT the airport the following morning.

  “Say hello to your family. Maybe I’ll meet them one day.”

  She stabbed him with a look. “Maybe you will. If you hold up your end of our partnership.”

  Next, Decker drove to the hospital where they had transferred Agent Andrews. The man was sitting up in his bed appearing forlorn and defeated.

  Decker sat down next to him and looked the agent over. “You feel like talking or you need to rest?”

  “I’m on a ton of painkillers, but I’m still lucid and bored. So, your visit is welcome.”

  “Okay.”

  “Kelly’s dead?” Andrews said.

  Decker nodded.

  “I guess I’m lucky to be alive,” said Andrews.

  “We all are.”

  “Where’s your sidekick?”

  “She’s not my sidekick. She’s my partner. She went back to DC.”

  Andrews looked shocked. “You’re not giving up the case?”

  “No, we’re expanding it. Did you know Kanak Roe?”

  “I told you I did.”

  “Tell me more,” said Decker.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Anything, considering I really know nothing about him.”

  “He was an impressive man. Everyone respected him. More than they do his daughter,” he added, a bit petulantly, thought Decker.

  “You seem to have an issue with her,” said Decker.

  Andrews rubbed at his injured shoulder and said, “Maybe I do.”

  “Why?”

  “No particular reason,” said Andrews, not meeting his eye.

  “Well, let me give you one. You tried to get a position with Gamma but were rejected. Too inflexible, maybe?”

  Andrews gasped, “How in the hell did you know that?”

  “I didn’t, not for sure, until right now. But there was something just off about you and Gamma and Kasimira Roe. You were a little too effusive about the firm, and you knew a lot about it. And you seem to like the finer things in life, not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

  Andrews lay back and closed his eyes. “I guess I should have recused myself from the investigation, like you suggested.”

  “We’re all human.”

  “What else do you want to know about Kanak Roe?”

  “Successful, respected. Anything more?”

  “You really want the observations of an inflexible agent who can’t make the grade in the private sector?”

  “I want the observations of a veteran FBI agent who was nearly killed performing his duty.”

  Andrews opened his eyes. “I appreciate your saying that.”

  “It’s the truth. Subtlety is not my thing.”

  Andrews let out a sigh. “I’ll tell you something about Kanak Roe that I don’t think I’ve told anyone else.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I went deep-sea fishing with him once, oh, this was a little over four years ago.”

  “Didn’t know you were into fishing.”

  “I was thinking about jumping to the private sector back then. I was coming up on my full twenty-five-year pension at the Bureau, and the bucks even the young punks made at Gamma were twice what the Bureau paid. I was hoping that if I got to know Roe better it might help my chances. Unfortunately, he died before I was ready to apply. And under Kasimira’s regime I didn’t make the cut.” He glanced sideways at Decker. “You were right, they considered me ‘an inside-the-box thinker and too bureaucratic.’ She’d hire you in a heartbeat.”

  “Go on.”

  “We had a good day out on the boat. His buddy, Danny Garcia, came along with us. We had our beers and caught a couple of marlins and nearly landed a big-ass tuna. We were heading back and I was feeling good about things when he told me.”

  “Told you what?”

  “That he’d just been diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer.” He looked at Decker probingly. “You don’t seem surprised.”

  “Garcia told me about it.”

  “Right. Anyway, he seemed to be in a contemplative mood. I guess anyone would be with death staring them in the face. He said he had about a year, eighteen months if he was lucky.”

  “And what else did he say?”

  “Just so you know, he never really came out and said anything definitive.” He stared at Decker. “But I think he wanted to make amends for something, Decker. Something he’d done in the past. End-of-life kind of remorse and penance, I guess. It happens.”

  “Yes, it does. Anything specific?”

  “No. If there had been I would have told you before now. And frankly I didn’t see how anything having to do with Kanak would be relevant to this case.”

  “Remorse. Recent or far in the past?”

  “I don’t know. He did mention his daughter. How proud he was of her. But there was something there, something else. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.”

  “Try. Best guess.”

  Andrews’s face screwed up in pain for a moment. His hand went to a control on one of the lines going into him and he hit a button. “Thank God for morphine.”

  “Yeah.”

  “My guess was he didn’t really know if his daughter was the right person to carry the firm into the future.”

  “Why not? She seems very competent. Highly professional and intelligent. And driven.”

  “Maybe too driven,” said Andrews.

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning she might push the envelope too far. Way too far. Right over the cliff, in fact.”

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “If you’re thinking that I’m suggesting she might have had something to do with her father’s disappearance, then yeah, maybe that’s what I’m saying.”

  Chapter 50

  WHITE LANDED IN DC AND immediately took a cab to the Washington Field Office, or WFO as it was referred to at the Bureau. There she met with John Talbott and brought him up to speed on the case and also what she was doing back in DC.

  “You okay working this with just Decker?” he said.

  “Yes sir. I’m fine with that.”

  She didn’t like the way he looked at her at all.

  “He’s a good agent,” said White unprompted.

  “If a little unorthodox.”

  “I think Decker and I have it under control. And the local police are involved as well. Sometimes too many cooks in the kitchen, you know.”

  “Your call, Agent White.”

  For some reason she couldn’t explain, Talbott seemed pleased by all this.

  After arranging for a series of appointments with people she needed to speak to, White called her mother on her way to the first meeting.

  “How are the kids?” she asked.

  “Missing Momma, of course, but all right. In school and hopefully working hard. How are things with you?”

  “I’m actually in DC. I’ll be up tonight to see you and the kids.”

  “That’s wonderful. And how are you and your new partner doing?” her mother asked.

  “We had a come-to-Jesus meeting and things seem to have smoothed out.”

  “And the case?”

  “It’s coming. Slowly.”

  “Well, I’ll let you get back to it then, honey.”

  * * *

  White’s first interview was with Felicia Campbell, who had taken Alice Lancer’s position as communications director at the Kingston Group, the lobbying firm headquartered on K Street. The place looked busy and prosperous. Campbell was in her thirties and full of energy.

  “It was awful news about Alice,” she said as they sat in her spacious office, which held the usual business trophies and pictures of her with what were probably politicians and other clients.

  “And how did you learn about her death?” asked White.

  “I saw it on the news. And someone posted it on the firm’s social media accounts.”

  “What can you tell me about her?”

  “We only overlapped for about a year. Even though she was a full-fledged lobbyist by then, she helped me learn the ropes. I’ve recently been promoted from communications director to a lobbyist here, and on a fast track to partnership.”

  “Congratulations. Lancer?”

  “She was great at her job. Everyone liked Alice. She was really moving up.”

  “So why did she leave?”

  “You know, I asked myself that more than once. Never found a good answer.”

  “Did you ever ask her?”

  “She left somewhat abruptly.” She paused. “I…I thought…” She looked warily at White.

  “You thought there might have been some problem?”

  “Not really, I mean, I never heard of anything.”

  “Is there anyone here that might have heard of…anything?”

  “Mr. Drake might be able to help you.”

  “And who is Mr. Drake?”

  “Jerome Drake is one of the founding partners. He and Alice worked closely together.”

  “Look forward to talking to him.”

  * * *

  Jerome Drake was a soft-spoken, morose-looking fellow who let his gaze glide over White for a few moments before looking out the window of his corner office. The contrast between him and the energetic Campbell was startling.

  “So, whatever you can tell me about Alice Lancer,” began White.

  “I’m not sure I can tell you anything.”

  “Sounds like there’s a choice in there somewhere.”

  “Look, tell me what you want to know and then I can make that choice.”

  “Why did Alice Lancer leave here? She seemed to be doing so well.”

  “In some ways Alice was complicated, in other ways quite simple.”

  “You’re going to have to elaborate on that.”

  “Alice liked success. She liked the best things in life.”

  “Was that the simple or the complicated?” asked White.

  “As you might imagine, that was the simple part.”

  “And the complicated?”

  “How she got the best things in life.”

  “I assume she made a good living with your firm. Then she left and joined a private security outfit in Miami. I imagine she took a pay cut with the career switch.”

  “She wasn’t poorly compensated, I can tell you that. Even as our communications director she made six figures. She made a lot more as a lobbyist.”

  “But it wasn’t enough?”

  “Apparently not.”

  “So where did it get complicated?”

  He fidgeted and wouldn’t meet her eye.

  “She’s dead, Mr. Drake. She can’t sue you. I just need the truth.”

  He sat up straighter and said, “There is a lot of confidential information that comes through a firm like this. Part of what we do is oppo research. We perform it on opponents, but we also do it on our own clients. The theory being if we know what the dirt is, we can control and spin it. Some of it may later be leaked intentionally and strategically and with the client’s permission. Some is given straight out to make a point.”

  “And some?” said White.

  “Should never see the light of day.”

  “And Lancer used this to her advantage?”

  “I speculate that she did. On at least two occasions.”

  “Can you tell me more about these instances?”

  “Only that the two clients in question dropped this firm like a hot potato and would never say a word about it afterward.”

  “And you suspect…what?”

  “I suspect that Alice Lancer used confidential information to blackmail these clients. They paid her off but then they, understandably, cut all ties with this firm.”

  “Why wouldn’t they have gone to the police instead?”

  “Politics is a nasty business, Agent White. Dirt and mud are thrown all the time. Sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn’t.”

  “But there are limits?”

  “Yes, there are. And I think what Lancer had found breached those limits. The clients wouldn’t go to the authorities with something that might land them in jail or destroy their careers.”

  “But why would clients ever give you, a priest, or even an attorney or anyone else confidential information of such a nature?”

  “Who says they gave it to Alice?”

  Now White sat up straighter. “She went out and found it, you mean?”

  “She and whoever else she was working with.”

  “You have any names on that score?”

  He shook his head.

  “Knowing what you knew, why wasn’t she fired from this place?”

  “We came to a mutually advantageous separation.”

  “And you obviously didn’t warn her new firm about her transgressions.”

  “As I said, we came to an agreement.”

  White stared at him as he looked down at his hands.

  “Whatever she had on you, was it that bad?” she asked.

  “I’m afraid I have to end this meeting, Agent White.”

  Chapter 51

  WHITE’S NEXT TRIP TOOK HER to Capitol Hill, where she met with a rep from the police force.

  Ed Nash was bald, trim, and straight backed. He looked no-nonsense and turned out to be just that.

  “I remember Alan Draymont,” he said. “You said he got killed?”

  “At the house of a federal judge.”

  “Why was he guarding a judge? I thought that was what the U.S. Marshals did.”

  “It’s complicated.” White chose her words carefully. “What if I told you—hypothetically, of course—that Draymont was there for another reason unrelated to protecting the judge?”

  A disgusted look swept over Nash’s face. “Let me guess. Draymont was screwing her?”

  “Why did that occur to you?”

  He leaned forward. “I’m not into breaking confidences, but let me throw you a hypothetical. What would you say if I told you that while he was here some of the congresswomen and their female staffers in this building had Draymont guard them, too?”

  “How exactly would that work?”

  “DC is expensive. Quite a few lawmakers choose to essentially live in their offices, though they tried to ban that, but when do politicians listen to rules? So, they can have cozy and private meeting places after hours. And a lot of them share apartments and town houses nearby. But they’re almost always out of town, so those places can be empty, too, a lot.”

  “What did Draymont get out of it?”

  “Besides the obvious, you mean?”

  “Yeah, besides that.”

  “Draymont kept his ear to the ground. Stuff he heard, maybe he used to his advantage.”

  “Like having affairs with married lawmakers?”

  “I know he dressed nice and always seemed to have a lot of cash. Look, we had no proof of that or the hammer would have come down, I promise,” he hastily added. “But you can’t get rid of somebody here based on speculation. He covered his tracks well.”

  “You would think the ladies would have wised up or warned others off.”

  “I think that’s exactly what happened. Because when we finally had enough complaints and asked Draymont to voluntarily resign, he put up no fight.”

  “But you didn’t ding his record?”

  “No, we didn’t,” admitted Nash. “It wasn’t worth the trouble. Besides, police forces are so hard up for cops he would have had no trouble getting another job even if we had trashed him.”

  “He didn’t go back to being a cop. He went down to Florida and was hired by Gamma Protection Services.”

  Nash looked intrigued. “Kanak Roe’s shop?”

  “Yeah, that’s right. You knew him?”

  “I was just a twenty-year-old rookie cop in the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service when he was an agent there. That’s before I came over here. Of course I know the success he had in the private sector. Heard him speak at some conferences, and he’d come back for Secret Service reunions every now and then. Didn’t he die or something?”

  “Or something. You know a lady named Alice Lancer?”

  He thought for a few moments. “No, doesn’t ring a bell. Who is she?”