His Good Deeds (Kate Reid Thrillers Book 13)

by Robin Mahle

  “Should be under the Sienna Page file,” Kate said.

  “Right. Yeah. Hang on.” Surrey typed quickly until he pulled up the file. “Here it is. Let me see if…”

  “There. Right there.” Kate pointed to the file name. “Open it.”

  “Okay, okay. Give me a second here.” Surrey opened the file and pressed play. “What are we looking for?”

  “The moment he comes across them outside.” She peered at the screen as the video played. “It’s coming. Hold on.” She thrust a finger at the screen. “Stop it there.”

  “I hate to break it to you, Reid, but I don’t see anything.”

  She sat down beside him. “Trust me on this. Zoom in. Look at his shirt. It’s small and I don’t know if we’ll be able to see it clearly enough.”

  “Holy shit.” He shot her a glance. “How the hell did we miss this?”

  “It was a fleeting moment and then he’s out of the shot again. “It’s a name tag, isn’t it?” she asked.

  He peered at it closer this time. “It says ‘Visitor.’”

  “Where? Come on, you gotta get us a better look. There’s a name on that tag.”

  Surrey zoomed it in again. “That’s as close as I…” While he squinted at the screen, he pulled back. “Oh my God.”

  “You see it?” Kate slapped his shoulder. “It’s a visitor badge from ManorCare. He visited someone.”

  “Family?” Surrey’s lips upturned as it appeared to dawn on him what she’d found.

  “Probably. Can you see if they have a website?”

  Surrey typed again on his laptop. “ManorCare senior and assisted living facility.” He scrolled down the screen. “Opens at 7am.”

  “It’s 4am now. Gives us 3 hours. We could get a warrant.”

  “It would be open by the time we got one, and we have no idea who we’re looking for. I think you and I should head there as soon as they open and let Duncan and Tillis serve PivoTech for the files. One of us has to get a hit.

  Kate smiled. “That’s what we were missing. Someone he loves is in that home. And we’re going to find out who it is.”

  The sun had barely risen when Kate’s eyes flew open. She turned to see Duncan rouse as well. “Eva, we found something last night, uh—this morning, whenever it was.”

  “We?” She sat up and turned to Kate.

  “Surrey and me. He texted me shortly after we went to bed. I went to see him, and we found something.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “There was no point because we couldn’t do anything about it until now. I remembered seeing something on Danny’s shirt when he ran into Sienna Page at the bar. I don’t know how or why I recalled it when I did, but the point is, it was a visitor’s tag from a place called ManorCare. We checked it out online and learned that it’s a senior and long-term care facility. Eva, he’d been visiting someone there that day.”

  “Family. It has to be.” Duncan shook off the sleep in an instant. “Holy shit. Do you know what this means?”

  “It means we’re going to find him—today. Between this care facility and PivoTech, there’s no escaping it. We’re bringing him in today.” Kate hurried to dress and brush her teeth. She stepped out of the bathroom with the brush still in her mouth. “I think you might’ve been right about Surrey and me. It’s like we’re one mind. This is what I needed, Eva. Someone who thinks like I do.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far. God knows there’s only one Kate Reid.” She pulled on her pants. “This is good news, Kate. Very good news.”

  A knock sounded on the door.

  “I’ll bet that’s Surrey.” Eva smoothed down her hair and tucked in her dress shirt. On opening the door, she noticed the grin on his face. “I hear you and Reid conspired without me last night. Come in. We’re almost ready.”

  “Reid told you what we found, huh?” Surrey walked inside.

  “Yeah, after I woke up this morning. I thought we were a team?” Eva eyed him. “Don’t worry, I gave Reid the same speech.”

  “There was nothing we could do until this morning anyway. Might as well have let you sleep a little,” he replied.

  “How very thoughtful.” Eva slipped on her shoes and cast her gaze to the bathroom. “Time to go, Reid.”

  Kate stepped out of the bathroom with her long brunette hair pulled back in a ponytail. “Has anyone called Tillis yet?”

  “I’m on it. I’ll wait for you two in the hall.” Surrey picked up his phone and walked out of the room.

  “The sooner we get answers, the sooner we can get to him,” Kate began. “Regardless, I don’t want to take anything for granted.”

  “Agreed.” Duncan reached for her bag. “We can’t afford to underestimate him. You ready?”

  “Ready.” Kate followed her into the hall where Surrey ended the call. “What did he say?” The look on his face sent a chill down her spine. “What happened?”

  Surrey cleared his throat. “Uh, there was an explosion about half an hour ago. Tillis got the call just a few minutes ago and was about to contact us.”

  Kate swallowed the lump in her throat. “He warned us we didn’t know what he was capable of. How many? How many are dead because I risked provoking him?”

  “Reid, this has nothing….”

  “Surrey, how many, goddammit?”

  “No one, Reid. The blast happened near the train station where commuters were just arriving. People are hurt, but no one has died.”

  “Oh, thank God.” Duncan lowered her head and turned away.

  “He didn’t livestream it either. In fact, this went against his M.O. No one person was targeted that Tillis is aware of yet, but that might still be revealed.”

  Kate’s stomach turned, but when an idea struck, she set her eyes on Surrey. “No livestreaming. No target. It wasn’t him. This has to be the work of a copycat. What does Stallard say?”

  “I don’t know. Right now, what I’ve told you is everything Tillis told me. Maybe you’re right and because the details of the IEDs were kept out of the press, that could be a good indicator of a copycat,” Surrey replied. “But we have two possible leads that will point us to the bomber. We have to pursue them asap. Tillis and Stallard are going to be forced to shift their focus onto this new situation. We can’t afford to lose any more time.”

  Kate raised her eyes to the ceiling and took in a breath. “Okay. The three of us need to split up and make it happen. I’ll go to the care facility. That will only require one person. Searching the personnel records at PivoTech will take both of you to get through.”

  “I agree,” Duncan replied. “We’ll hit the field office to grab the subpoena and Surrey and I will head down there now. We touch base when one of us finds something.”

  Kate splintered off from the team after the three arrived at the Pittsburgh field office. She borrowed a car and drove toward the ManorCare facility where she was sure the bomber had visited a family member. Her head spun at the thought that a copycat was out there, but the possibility existed that it could still be their guy. Only Stallard could make that determination. If the bomber had gone that far off the rails, there was no telling what he might do next.

  The facility came into view as Kate double checked the name and address. Leaving the visitor tag on his shirt seemed like a benign mistake. And had the surveillance footage captured him from another perspective, they might not have seen it at all. This man had been so careful in his approach to the killings. But as Kate recalled Marshall Avery’s words from what seemed like a lifetime ago, “it’s the little things that bring down the worst criminals,” she knew he was right.

  Kate walked into the lobby where three staff members in scrubs sat behind a long counter. “Good morning.” She held out her ID. “I’d like to ask a few questions about one of your visitors who I believe has a family member here.”

  “Of course. I can try to help.” The older woman eyed her credentials. “You’re with the FBI?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m working o
n an investigation with the local police and your facility came up. I realize this might sound like a strange question, but have you ever seen this man?” She held up a photo of Danny from the surveillance footage. “And more specifically, who does he come here to visit?”

  20

  The early morning flight back from Boston left Nick exhausted and without answers. No doubt Agent Bryce would learn the name of whoever had access to Richard Lehmann’s effects, but this waiting game had gotten to him. Kate’s career hung in the balance and she hadn’t yet known the extent of the threat. Regardless that there was too little to say on the matter, more importantly, she had to keep her head in the game. He wouldn’t chance the distraction.

  With a quick shower and a fresh change of clothes from home, Nick headed straight for the office. The Quantico compound was just ahead and as he parked, a call rang in on his cell phone. “Yeah, Walsh. What’s up?”

  “Are you at the office?”

  “Just about to walk into the building now.”

  “Something hit early this morning on that deal we’re working on. It’d be a good idea to sit down and talk if you have a few minutes,” Walsh replied.

  “My office?”

  “I was thinking maybe the café in building 2. Say 10 minutes?”

  “Okay. See you there.” Nick ended the call and walked out of his car. While Bryce worked to learn who accessed Lehmann’s belongings, Walsh might just have real proof that Quinn and Gene Goodman conspired to cover for Coletta, Gustafson’s protégé. He could only hope.

  Nick dropped off his things at his office and hustled toward the café. Within a few minutes, he’d arrived and spotted Walsh at one of the tables. “Morning.”

  “Morning.” Walsh waited for him to take a seat. “Don’t you want to get a coffee or something?”

  “No. I’m good. I flew to Boston late last night and just got back. I must’ve tossed back three cups of coffee on the flight.”

  “Who’d you talk to?” Walsh asked.

  “I met Hugo Bryce at his place. I figure if anyone could help us out, it’d be him.”

  “Bryce? Oh, hell. I hope you told him how sorry we were about what happened to Murphy.”

  “I did,” Nick replied.

  “You have to know that the more people we bring in on this…”

  “He can be trusted,” Nick cut in. “You must have some news for me.”

  “As a matter of fact, I do. Goodman is the lynchpin. Coletta was instructed by him to alter the records to show the Mercy Killer didn’t cross over into Mexico until hours later than we thought.”

  “How’d you figure out that one?” Nick pressed on.

  “A few well-placed friends who know all too well the group we’re dealing with. Once I learned there had been a direct link between Goodman and Gustafson, it got easier to piece together. I also learned that Goodman instructed one of his cronies to look into Richard Lehmann. I don’t know who that someone is yet or what he may have uncovered.”

  Nick regarded him. “Probably the same someone who checked out the phone. Bryce may get that answer for us soon.”

  “My first thought was that something happened on the plane that resulted in Richard Lehmann’s death. Something that maybe Goodman and his buddies knew about and decided to hang onto until just the right moment to use against us, or Kate.” Walsh lowered his gaze to the coffee cup before him. “Well, it looks like what they’re doing is looking into whether Richard Lehmann, in fact, had anything to do with the murders his brother was accused of.”

  “We already know of at least one because George Lehmann admitted to it,” Nick replied.

  “Right, but Nick, based on what my buddy said, evidence exists that Richard Lehmann was nowhere near his brother when his brother killed McKowan. That party he was at? The one that made him late to report for duty?”

  “Yeah,” Nick replied.

  “They tracked down a woman who claimed Richard Lehmann had been with her during the time the McKowan girl was killed.”

  Nick slowly nodded in recognition of the implication. “Tracked down, or dug up? They dug around until they found someone to give Richard Lehmann an alibi. And that’s what they’re going to use against Kate and me, maybe even you, to shut this down.”

  “That’s it, man. If they lock in this witness, they’ll be looking to throw the book at Kate for murder because Lehmann was, according to their witness, innocent of those charges. Which means they never should’ve brought him in. They never should’ve put him on that plane.”

  “Even if this bullshit story was true, that doesn’t change the fact that Richard Lehmann tried to kill both Surrey and Kate. All Kate did was defend herself. Case closed. If he was truly innocent, why the hell did he go after them?”

  “I don’t know and he’s dead, so we can’t ask him,” Walsh replied. “But you’re missing my point. It doesn’t matter if it was self-defense. What they’re looking to do is tarnish her reputation. Kate made a bad call, things went south, and someone died. It would be all too easy to destroy her career with that alone, even setting aside possible murder charges.”

  “Son of a bitch.” Nick looked away. “All this just to protect a killer?”

  “Not to protect the killer, but to protect a legacy at the Bureau. No one can know that Gustafson’s grandson was the Mercy Killer. Coletta, Goodman, Quinn, they’re all making sure of that. And I have no doubt they’ll destroy Kate, you, and me, if we reveal what we know. Kate’s just the tip of the iceberg, man.”

  The PivoTech building loomed large in the distance. Surrey pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car. “Listen, about this morning…”

  Duncan held up a preemptive hand. “Don’t worry about it. I see how well you two connect. Frankly, after what happened with Noah Quinn, it’s a welcome sight. And without Scarborough here, she needs that back and forth. Profiling isn’t my thing. It isn’t Walsh’s or Fisher’s. It’s Reid’s and now you, so I do understand. But just know that there are things about Reid that make her more vulnerable than the rest of us.”

  He regarded her. “I don’t understand.”

  “What I mean to say is her gift, for lack of a better word, can be dangerous. Not only to Reid, but to the rest of us. She’s the best, Surrey. I know you see that. That was why you stepped down. An admirable thing to do that I doubt any one of us would’ve considered.”

  “That’s not true,” he began.

  “It is. We’re all competitive here and well, it doesn’t matter. My point is, if she’s looking to you, it’ll be up to you to keep her from going too far. I think you know what I mean.”

  Surrey looked away for a moment. “She doesn’t see risk in the same way as we do.”

  “That she does not,” Duncan replied. “Reid doesn’t see risk, period. That makes her dangerous. We’ve all learned that about her but without Scarborough keeping her on an even keel, that job falls squarely on your shoulders.”

  “I understand.” He peered at the building. “We should go in.” Surrey pushed through the double glass doors and approached the front desk with his ID. “Agent Jonathan Surrey. We have a subpoena for your personnel files.”

  The man behind the desk peered at the badge, glanced to Duncan, and eyed the document. “I’m going to have to get the director. I’m afraid I can’t let you in without an escort.”

  “Then I suggest you make it fast. As you can see by the paperwork, we don’t need your permission. You have two minutes.” Surrey turned away and started toward Duncan.

  “What if they start hiding things?” Duncan asked.

  “They’d be crazy to and what would be the point? It would only make it look like they were obstructing an investigation.”

  She tossed a glance over his shoulder. “Whoever that is looks pretty important.”

  “Can I help you?” Gilstrom asked. Her eyes were sharp, and her thin frame appeared stiff inside the fitted blouse and pencil skirt.

  “FBI. We have a subpoena for your personnel reco
rds.” Surrey held up the document.

  “We already complied with that subpoena. I don’t understand what this is about,” she pressed on.

  “It’s about your lawyers playing lawyer tricks.” Duncan stepped up. “This is the result. Now you can show us, or we’ll go in search of the records ourselves and hope nothing else catches our eye.” Duncan knew that wasn’t going to happen. Still, it sounded good.

  “Fine.” She turned on her stiletto heel. “Follow me. It’s unfortunate you didn’t alert us to your arrival. We could’ve had everything ready to go for you.”

  “Appreciate the concern, but we’ll manage and then we’ll be out of your hair,” Surrey replied. “It’s just a shame you all didn’t do whatever you could to help us out. We do what we do because lives are at stake.”

  “I’m not oblivious to that fact, Agent Surrey. This is our personnel department.” She opened the door to a front desk. “Lisa, we’ll need to show these agents our records.”

  “All current and former staff for the past six months. If you’d show us the way, we can get started,” Surrey added.

  “Yes, sir.” The young woman stepped out from behind the counter and appeared nervous. “Um, we keep everything on the server, but we can print out whatever you need. I’m happy to help.”

  “Thank you, Lisa,” Duncan replied. “We’d like to ask that you run a report that includes the names of any former employees from the past sixty days.”

  “Of course.”

  The older woman behind the counter put on her glasses and studied the image Kate held in her hands. “Well, I’m not entirely sure, but that does look like Danny to me.”

  Kate’s heart jumped into her throat. “Danny?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” She eyed Kate with some suspicion. “Has he done something wrong?”

  “We’re interested in talking to him, but I can’t be more specific with you right now. Can you tell me who he comes here to see?”