by Robin Mahle
“The car, obviously….”
“Oh, shit.” Tillis cut in as he stared at his phone. “I can’t believe this.”
“What is it?” Kate asked.
“The lieutenant just informed me that Jeff Hardy’s wife posted on her social media that her husband was dead.” Tillis eyed the team. “The kid knows. He has to.”
“We have to live with it now,” Kate replied.
“What do you mean? You were adamant about keeping it quiet,” Surrey jumped in.
“You’re right. I had hoped his uncertainty about whether Jeff Hardy told the cops anything would force him to take a step back, wait things out. But there’s nothing we can do about that now. If the victim is dead and the cops haven’t shown up at his place, then he assumes we know nothing. We know a lot more than nothing. This wasn’t the ideal scenario, but here we are.” Kate looked at Tillis. “We’re still ahead of the game as far as I’m concerned. All we can do is pursue the car registration lead.”
“I’ll push my guys. There’s going to be a ton of them registered, but we’ll just have to work our way through it no matter how long it takes.” Tillis left the room.
Duncan walked to the credenza and poured a glass of water. She turned on her heel and crossed her arms over her chest. “Something’s still off about PivoTech. It can’t be a coincidence that three of the victims called their support line. Can we get them to provide more details on those particular calls? They know who was working the lines on those days. We might not know his name, but they sure as hell do.”
“Hang on.” Kate grabbed the list of names from PivoTech and scanned the pages. “Oh my God. Why didn’t I see this before? PivoTech gave me a current list of employees.”
“That’s what the subpoena called for,” Surrey replied.
“Current employees, yes.” Kate scoffed. “Those assholes. They must’ve fired him. They took him off the payroll. It’s the only explanation.”
“They complied with the subpoena but didn’t tell us the whole story to save their own asses,” Surrey added.
“Sure as hell looks like that’s what happened. They were willing to risk another attack, another murder just to save their reputation.”
“So we get another subpoena for anyone who had been employed there dating back six months,” Duncan replied. “Reid, you may not have been wrong after all.”
When the knock came, Nick already knew who waited on the other side of his door. He pushed off his sofa and walked in socked feet, still dressed in suit pants and a button-down shirt. Nick opened the door. “Hey, come in.”
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Walsh asked. “I know it’s getting kind of late.”
“No. I just got back from an AA meeting though, so I’m glad for the company of someone who isn’t an alcoholic.” He laughed. “You want something to drink?”
“Wouldn’t mind a glass of water.” Walsh continued inside, his dress shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he wore black trousers.
Nick returned with a glass of water. “Sit down. It must be important for you to drive all the way over here from your place.” He noted Walsh’s expression. “Really important.”
Walsh sat down on the sofa and Nick on the side chair. He took a long drink of water while Nick looked on.
“Okay, now you’re starting to worry me,” Nick said. “You might as well spit it out. You obviously learned something you didn’t like.”
Walsh cleared his throat and set down the glass on the coffee table. “You remember me saying my buddy at HQ was going to give me some names?”
Nick didn’t reply and only waited for Walsh to continue.
“I got those names earlier this evening, just before leaving the office. I had a chance to take a look at them. Had Fisher glance at them too.”
“And?” Nick rubbed together his hands with growing impatience.
Walsh reached into his carrier bag to retrieve the list and handed it to Nick. “This is what he sent me.”
Nick eyed him and then turned his sights to the list. “These are guys who are in Coletta’s circle?”
“Affirmative. And it turns out Coletta did have a direct line to Gustafson, Carol Whitman’s father, before he passed.”
“Who else is in that same line?” Nick swallowed hard.
“Man, I know you know at least one of those names.”
Nick tossed down the paper onto his coffee table and scoffed. “I know three of them. And there isn’t a chance in hell it’s the one you’re thinking of. It’s not Quinn. First of all, he was never at Headquarters. He came from…”
“Boston,” Walsh cut in. “So he probably still has buddies there. Buddies who could get access to Richard Lehmann’s personal belongings, including his cell phone. And he would’ve had Kate’s number.”
“But he didn’t know Gustafson. It was long before his time at the Bureau,” Nick pressed on.
“That’s true, but this guy does.” Walsh pointed to another name. “And he was at Boston with Quinn for a year before he moved to Headquarters in Public Corruption.”
“Gene Goodman. I know him,” Nick added. “Crossed paths a few times at various conferences back in the days when I was at the Washington Field Office.”
“We know Coletta worked at Headquarters in Public Corruption. So did Goodman. They both knew Carol Whitman’s father,” Walsh replied.
“And you’re telling me Quinn pulled strings at Boston to access Richard Lehmann’s phone because Goodman told him to.” Nick shook his head. “Why the hell wait until Lehmann was dead to come at Kate?”
“Because they knew we were looking. They knew we figured out someone scrubbed the passport logs and let Theo Bishop into Mexico. They waited because they had nothing to use against us. Nothing that would prevent us from exposing them for helping a killer escape because the grandfather was a heavyweight at the Bureau.”
Nick peered at him. “And they do now?”
“They must. It has to have something to do with what happened on the plane when Kate and Surrey were bringing Richard Lehmann into the Boston field office. Because why else use Richard Lehmann? George Lehmann was alive and in custody. So what did they know about what happened?”
“Nothing happened. Kate defended herself and saved Surrey. He said as much.”
“What if there’s more to it than that, Nick? What if Surrey was covering for Kate?” Walsh took in a deep breath. “They’d have nothing on Kate otherwise.”
Nick pulled upright on the chair. “So, you’re saying if we keep going with this, expose whoever is behind altering government records which aided in the escape of a killer, these guys will use whatever it is they think they have to get to Kate?”
“With Quinn’s help, I wouldn’t doubt it.” He paused for a moment. “And if we’re being honest, I’m not sure it’s Kate they’re after.”
“But you just said…”
“They’re going to use her, Nick. We come out with all this, they’ll use Kate to get to you. You’re the one they want. Kate doesn’t have the clout you do. You have Cole’s ear. You know enough that it scares them. And they know she’s your wife.”
Nick pushed off the chair in a huff. “Son of a bitch. Are you kidding me with this shit? Quinn is still turning the knife in my back?”
“Not just yours, Kate’s too.” Walsh got to his feet. “What do you want to do with this?”
Nick turned to face him. “What did Fisher say?”
“He says he can push for Quinn to get fired. I don’t think he has that kind of pull, but maybe he does.”
“No way will he be able to do that, even if he had every reason to. He’s pissed about all this, same as me, I imagine. Except that it isn’t his wife whose career is on the line. I don’t give a shit about mine, but I won’t let her suffer the consequences of top brass getting exposed.”
“So we drop it?” Walsh asked. “And don’t tell me you’ll go after Quinn. He’s untouchable now.”
Nick paced the li
ving room, pushing his hand through his thick salt and pepper hair. “What the hell do they have that could destroy her career? She did nothing wrong. That killing was justified.”
Walsh shoved his hands in his pockets. “Maybe we need to talk to Surrey about that. He was there.”
“You think he’s hiding something to protect her?” Nick asked.
“I don’t know, man. But if something else went down on that flight that we don’t know about, then we need to talk to Surrey and find out. Then we can figure out just what those guys have.”
Agent Tillis returned to the operations room where the BAU team waited. “Judge says he’ll get us the subpoena as quickly as possible.”
“It’s after 9 o’clock already. Can we get into PivoTech after hours?” Duncan asked.
“I don’t know that they’ll allow it. They still have rights to ensure we don’t access more than what the subpoena grants us,” Tillis replied.
“I don’t want to sit on this until morning,” Kate said. “What if we push for a warrant to pull their personnel records inside their building tonight? Forget waiting until morning for them to shuffle us around again.”
“On what grounds do we have to get a warrant?” Tillis asked. “They complied with the subpoena and figured out a work around to cover their butts. That’s on me. I didn’t specify former employees because we assumed the bomber was still employed. I don’t see probable cause for the judge to issue a warrant when we can’t prove to him we know anything other than the fact our victims called PivoTech’s help line. If we had more…”
“Then we make one up,” Kate replied.
Surrey cast her a sideways glance. “I’m all for catching this guy, but there’s a fine line, Reid. I don’t need to tell you that.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see another way. What happens if he kills tonight? First thing in the morning? I don’t want blood on my hands because we were hamstrung by the system.” Kate pushed off the chair. “We push for this, and there’s a damn good chance we get this man tonight.” Kate started toward the door. “I need some water.” She made her way into the hall and walked toward the breakroom. Footsteps sounded behind her.
“Reid? Reid, wait up.” Surrey hurried to catch up to her. “Hang on.” He grabbed her arm.
Kate glanced at his hand until he quickly pulled it away.
“Sorry. Look, I understand your frustration. We should’ve made the subpoena happen. Not knocking Tillis, but I’m not sure we would’ve made the same mistake. Maybe, but it doesn’t matter now. Point is, I know you don’t have a problem walking that line. I’ve seen you do it before.”
Her expression revealed what they both already knew. “You want someone else to die?”
“Of course not. But going to a judge and making up something to show probable cause will get you fired. Do you understand what I’m saying? That is a step too far over the line.” He sighed. “I know your work in the past. Your work with your husband. Things were done that were probably not entirely by the book. I’m not saying I’ve never danced in the gray, but you can’t follow down Scarborough’s path. Look at where it got him.”
She wanted to be pissed he’d said anything about Nick, but deep down, she knew he was right. Nick had done things to get what he needed, and she overlooked them. She learned how to do it and maybe Surrey was right. She’d crossed the line before, and it changed her.
He held her gaze. “I don’t think I can follow you down this path, Reid.” Surrey turned on his heel and walked away.
Kate continued into the breakroom and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. As she drank, Duncan appeared out of the corner of her eye. “You come here to tell me I’m out of line too?”
“Kate, you know me. You know I stand by you. Hey, we’re the only women on this team and we have to back each other up.”
“But?” Kate pressed on.
“But I think this is a bad call. You’re the lead profiler now. Fisher made you the lead. I respect that. But you’re also my friend and I care what happens to you. I saw what happened after Richard Lehmann. The look I saw in your eyes that day is the same look I’m seeing right now.”
“Why do I always feel like you guys are trying to talk me down from a ledge? I just want what we all want and that is to get our guy.”
“Yeah, I want that too.” Duncan regarded her. “Not like this. Obviously, we can’t pull employment records on a man whose name we don’t actually know. Whose address we don’t know. I get your frustration. I understand the desire for a warrant on PivoTech’s records, but we simply have no proof to offer a judge. A couple of phone calls isn’t nearly enough.”
“The last victim ID’d him. Doesn’t that carry any water?” Kate pleaded.
“Without proof he was actually employed by PivoTech? Without proof that was his real name? Kate, the judge would reject it almost immediately. Look, I feel like I know you pretty well now. You’re a good person and a hell of an agent, but we don’t get to make up our own rules because we think it’ll save lives.”
Kate turned down her gaze. “I still have nightmares about it. When George Lehmann took me hostage.” She looked up again. “I thought I was going to die that day. I almost did. And then something in me snapped. I’d been the victim too many times before and I was tired of it. That was the whole reason I decided to join the Bureau. I was sick and tired of being the victim.”
Duncan reached out for her. “You’re not that person anymore, Kate. You’re anything but a victim.”
“Do you know what happened to me when I was a kid?”
Duncan shrugged. “Some of it.”
“Yeah.” Kate took in a breath. “It was Nick who showed me that I could stop them. That I had the power to track them down and stop them. And yet, I failed to stop George Lehmann.”
“We all screwed up that day, Kate. You didn’t fail. We saw our guy and went after him the wrong way.”
“But it was me who he came for,” Kate added. “I get what you’re saying. Maybe it is crossing the line, but damn it, Eva, we can’t let this guy kill again. If we don’t stop him just as soon as we possibly can, then it’s on us. His next victim will be our fault.”
“There might be something we can still do to move forward tonight,” Duncan began.
Kate’s ears perked up. “I’m listening.”
She peered around as if looking for eavesdroppers. “We communicate with him.”
“Draw him out? How?”
“I don’t know how he’ll react, or if he’ll react. It could blow up in our faces, literally, but he could still have the cloned phones of our victims,” Duncan replied. “So we send him a message from Jeff Hardy’s phone, assuming his wife hasn’t disconnected his service yet.”
Kate considered the option. “What do we say to him?”
Duncan shook her head. “You’re the profiler. You know him best. You tell me.”
18
What was left of Jeff Hardy’s phone lay in a Ziploc bag on the table inside the operations room. The screen was shattered, the plastic components melted, it was toast.
Agent Tillis peered at the evidence. “I contacted Mrs. Hardy to request that she keep on the service while we run with the investigation. She agreed and changed his social media settings to private in the event the bomber attempted to post anything under his name.”
“The only way we’ll know that he’s received the messages will be if he responds,” Kate said.
“We’ll have to check the usage reports from the carrier. It can take a while for it to register, but obviously that phone there won’t do us any good. But the question is, how do we do this so as to avoid scaring him off?” Surrey asked. “Do we want to risk him realizing that we do know who he is, but that we just can’t find him?”
“What if we pose as a reporter?” Kate asked. “Claim that he got an anonymous tip suggesting the police know he’s cloning the phones. He got hold of Jeff Hardy’s number and is testing the theory. The media has already dubbed him
Robinhood. A reporter could imply he was willing to get out Danny’s message for him.”
“After today, they’re starting to turn on him, though,” Tillis added. “He killed a guy with a wife.”
“Then let’s spin that around,” Duncan cut in. “Posing as a reporter to get his side of the story, to let him tell that story. It could work.”
Tillis appeared to consider the idea and glanced at the time. “We have 8 hours before we’ll get into PivoTech.”
“Whatever we can do to keep him occupied is what’s safest for the community,” Kate began. “There is a risk, but I think Danny wants to say more than he’s been able to say. Posing as a reporter suggests that we can give him that vehicle, and, in the process, we might just learn more about his intentions. Isn’t it worth the risk?”
Tillis raised a brow as he appeared to consider the proposal. “I have a friend. An ally who will back us up with cover. I don’t want to mistake our Robinhood for being obtuse. If we pose as a reporter, we’d better be ready for him to check it out. She’ll help us with that.”
Kate took in a breath. “Then we’ll wait until you can give us cover.”
Tillis grabbed his phone and walked into the hall. Surrey waited for the door to close before he began. “The reporter angle could work, Reid. At the very least, it’ll buy us time to learn more about who he is. This is a good way to get into his head.”
“You can thank Duncan. It was her idea,” Kate replied.
“Sure, make me the fall guy,” Duncan snickered. “I don’t know if he’ll engage us, but what do we have to lose?”
Tillis returned to the office. “She’s agreed but wants to be part of it.”
“That’s not possible,” Surrey added. “I appreciate her willingness to back us up but letting her communicate directly with the bomber is reckless. She can’t be the one running the unsub. This has to be in our hands.”
He raised his hands. “That’s what I told her, but she says she’s the only one who can sound authentic. I gave her the okay so long as she keeps the story quiet until we capture him. Then she gets the exclusive.”
