His Good Deeds (Kate Reid Thrillers Book 13)

by Robin Mahle

  “Well, I don’t think I can. Patient privacy and all that,” she replied.

  “Sure, I understand. It’s just that, well, Danny could be in trouble and it’s possible that he might not get a chance to come back here and visit. I’m sure he wouldn’t want those closest to him to worry.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I simply can’t give out the names of our patients. I’m sure you must understand. Now, I’ve told you what I know. That man in the photo is Danny King. He stops by almost daily. I don’t know what more I can do to help you.”

  “I completely understand and I’m so sorry to have bothered you. I’ll go through the proper channels should I need any further information. Have a good day.” Kate turned on her heel as a smile spread on her lips. She pushed outside and picked up her phone. “Surrey, I have a name. King. His name is Danny King. He comes here almost every day.”

  Surrey pulled the phone away from his ear and turned to Duncan. “Danny King.”

  Duncan’s eyes widened and she looked at Lisa. “Can I ask you to pull the file of Danny King, or Daniel King.”

  “Sure. Just let me key that in.”

  Surrey returned the phone to his ear. “Hang on Reid, we’re looking for his file now. Where are you?”

  “Just leaving ManorCare. I couldn’t get the name of who he was visiting, but the woman at the front desk recognized Danny and gave me his last name. She says he comes there to visit almost daily.”

  “Holy shit. We got him,” Surrey replied.

  “Here it is,” Lisa peered over her shoulder at Duncan. “Do you want me to print this up?”

  “Yes, please.” She eyed Surrey and both glanced at the employee photo. “That’s our guy.”

  Surrey nodded and returned to the call. “That’s him, Reid.”

  “What’s his address?” Kate asked.

  He lowered the phone away from his ear. “Address?”

  “We’ll need his address as well, Lisa. Thank you,” Duncan said.

  Lisa returned with the printed papers. “This is what we have in the file. He worked here up until.” She double checked the dates. “Well, up until just the other day, by the look of it.”

  “We have an address.” Duncan held up the paper for Surrey. “We have to get in contact with Tillis and Stallard.”

  “Agreed.” Surrey returned to the call. “Reid, meet us back at the field office. We’ll head there now.”

  Agent Stallard squatted in front of the charred vehicle. “Have all the injured victims been ID’d yet?”

  Tillis stood over him. “I sent one of my team to the hospital to find out. This doesn’t look like the work of the serial bomber.”

  Stallard pulled upright. “No, and that’s what scares me. He either did a 180, or we have ourselves a copycat. I don’t like either of those scenarios.”

  Tillis spotted a bystander on the opposite side of the street. “Where’s PBP? They need to keep this area clear.”

  “They have.”

  “Then who the hell is that guy?” Tillis tossed a nod at the man.

  Stallard peered at him. “Hell if I know, but he looks like one of us.”

  “Yeah, well, everyone needs to steer clear.” He started across the street with his hands in the air. “Hey, man. You can’t be here. It’s time to move along. Nothing to see here.”

  The man surrendered and stepped into his car.

  Tillis watched him drive off and returned to Stallard. “So how soon before you can identify the components used?”

  “Well, I can tell you right now based on what I’m seeing here, this is easily twice as large as his previous attacks.”

  “Hey, Boss?”

  Stallard turned on his heel as one of his agents approached. “Yeah?”

  “You might want to come see this.” He started ahead.

  Stallard waved for Tillis to follow and caught up to his agent. “What’d you find?”

  “Maybe we should rethink the idea that this is a copycat.” The agent pulled back a blue tarp from near the blast site.

  “Is that a soda can?” Stallard’s face hardened.

  “Two, actually,” the agent replied.

  Stallard shot a glance at Tillis. “No f’ing way. This blast? Not a chance this was done with the same materials. Not that radius and not the blast wave.” He pointed to the sidewalk. “Look at that. The debris field reaches way the hell over there.”

  “What else could explain the cans?” Tillis asked. “Could he have used two devices?”

  “Sir, it’s possible the bomber upped his game and learned how to make a larger vehicle-borne IED,” the agent replied.

  Tillis placed his hands on his hips. “I gotta know, man. Is this our guy or not?”

  21

  The choice had been made abundantly clear. But letting this go, letting Quinn and those he answered to get away with threatening to destroy Kate was a decision Nick railed against.

  On his return, he sat at his desk and held his phone in his hands, preparing to make the call to Agent Bryce. In the end, it was really no decision at all. He would always protect his wife, no matter what.

  “Scarborough, you’re back.” Moskowitz appeared in the doorway. “We still on for that follow up on the Hughes Corp case?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, of course. Give me ten, would you?”

  “Sure, you got it.” He started out but stopped short. “Hey, you doing all right?”

  “Yeah. Didn’t get much sleep last night. I’ll see you in a minute.” Nick waited until Moskowitz disappeared into the corridor.

  He couldn’t tell her. He couldn’t say one word about who was partly behind all this because he knew she would never give up until she made Quinn pay. Only it would be Kate who suffered the consequences because it seemed she had been wrong about Richard Lehmann. That fact alone would send her reeling. No one was harder on Kate than she was. Noah Quinn might not have been the driver on this team, but he was part of the pit crew and if she discovered that, Kate would bring about the end of her career all on her own.

  Nick prepared to make the call when a text message arrived along with a photo. He opened the image. “What the hell is this?” The caller ID revealed only a number, no name. He read the message.

  “Another bomb goes off in Pittsburgh. Didn’t see your girl there.”

  Nick’s face reddened and the vein in his neck bulged. He hadn’t spoken to Kate yet this morning and had no idea there had been another attack. “Are you watching her? Are you watching my wife?”

  Somehow, they knew she was working the case in Pittsburgh. “Son of a bitch.” Nick jumped to his feet and swiped the keys from his desk. With his phone in his hand, he called the one person who could tell him what the hell was happening. “Fisher, it’s me. Hey, man, we got a problem. I need to see you. Now.”

  The cops screwed up. The first rule of engagement; don’t give away your position. That was exactly what they’d done last night. Using a reporter was a nice touch, but Danny wasn’t a fool. If they’d figured out that he cloned his victims’ phones, it was only a matter of time before they figured out how he knew his victims. Then it was over. However, Danny was prepared with an exit strategy. Now it was time to implement that plan.

  As midday approached, he arrived at the ManorCare facility and walked into the lobby. “Hey, Sue, how’s she doing today?”

  The older woman behind the desk stared at him.

  “What’s wrong?” Danny slowed his stride. He glanced to either side and peered over his shoulder. “Is Mel okay? Is she hurt?”

  “Uh, Danny. I’m sorry.” She shook off the stare and smiled awkwardly. “I wasn’t expecting you. Mel’s fine. She’s just having lunch right now, I think.”

  Danny found his footing again and moved ahead, his face void of emotion. “What’s wrong, Sue? You look upset.” His curly blonde strands fell into his eyes and he brush them away.

  “I—I don’t know what to say, exactly.”

  He could see the fear in her eyes. “It’s
okay, Sue. Just tell me what’s going on. You’re starting to scare me. Are you sure Mel’s doing all right?”

  “Yes. Yes, she’s just fine, like I said.” Her voice faltered. “Danny, a woman came around this morning asking about you.”

  A wave of panic shot up his spine. Danny feared his face would betray him as he tried to steady his nerves. “Oh? Who was she? What did she want?”

  “I don’t really know if I’m supposed to say…”

  “Sue, it’s me. You know me. I take care of Mel. I try to visit her every day. What did this woman want? Who did she work for?”

  “Danny, she worked for the FBI.”

  Her words lingered in the air. He could hear the pounding of his heart in his ears. “Did she say what she wanted?”

  “No. She just asked if I’d seen you recently. And well, I didn’t know anything about anything, so I told her you come here to visit someone. Mind you, I didn’t say who it was. That’s against the rules.”

  Danny nodded. “I see.”

  “Son, are you in some kind of trouble?”

  “No. Nothing at all like that. I think it’s part of the background check. See, since I’m trying to get Mel back, I started looking for a better job. And I might have a shot at this government gig, but you know, they gotta look into me and stuff.” He thumbed back toward the hall. “Hey, can I go see Mel? I was thinking I’d take her out on the grounds for a walk.”

  “Sure, Danny. I’ll bet she’d like that very much. You go on ahead.”

  “Thanks, Sue. And hey, don’t worry about anything. The FBI can be scary, but it’s nothing. I promise you.” His smile faded as he made his way into the hall.

  Sue waited until he disappeared into the corridor and peered at the FBI agent’s card. With the card between her fingers, she picked up the phone.

  Kate’s phone buzzed in her pocket and she answered the line. “Reid, here.”

  “Agent Reid, this is Sue down at ManorCare. I thought I should tell you. And you know, everything is fine, but I thought you might want to know that Danny is here. He’s come for a visit. I’m sure you could straighten out all this job nonsense.”

  Kate wore mild confusion. “You know, that’s a good idea. I’ll run down there now. I’ll be there in just a few minutes. Thanks so much, Sue.”

  “He’s there?” Surrey asked.

  “He’s there. He must’ve given her some BS story about a job, I don’t know. She sounded afraid.”

  “If you picked up on that over the phone, I have no doubt he did when he walked in. We won’t have much time.” Surrey made the call. “Tillis, Danny King is our guy and he’s at a place called ManorCare assisted living. This is your show, man. What do you want to do?” Surrey nodded. “Yeah, no I get it. We’ll wait for you here.” He ended the call. “He’s going to the facility with two of his agents. They’re going to bring him in.”

  Duncan turned to Kate. “If they see he has a white Ford Focus, that’ll make it even easier to bring him in for questioning. It’s a direct link to the bombs, but where does that leave us?”

  Kate considered an idea. “It seems strange that he would waltz into the facility hours after blowing up a car in front of a train station. Is he so arrogant to think we wouldn’t step up efforts to hunt him down?”

  “He did text that we didn’t know what he was capable of,” Duncan replied. “Maybe he was proving it to us.”

  “I don’t know. Something doesn’t fit about this last attack. He’s single-minded,” Kate pressed on.

  “What are you saying?” Surrey asked. “According to Tillis, Stallard found matching evidence to what Danny had used in his other attacks. They don’t think it’s a copycat.”

  “It just goes against everything we’ve learned about him so far.” Kate paced the makeshift operations room. She stopped and turned back to the team. “Unless it was a test run.”

  “A test run for something bigger,” Duncan said.

  “He’s on the edge right now. Maybe because we pushed him there, I don’t know, but if that was a test run, we need to know why. What’s his reason for wanting to go bigger?” Kate sat down at the computer. “Daniel King. So we have his full name now and an address. “Okay, looks like the house belongs to Ellen King. The mother?” She typed in more commands. “Oh, I see.”

  “What is it?” Duncan moved in.

  “Ellen King’s died two years ago. Vital Records show cancer.” She continued her search. “Ellen also had a daughter, Melanie.”

  Surrey sat down next to Kate. “What can you find out about her?”

  Kate typed again and when the screen populated, she turned to Surrey. “Remanded to state care.”

  “The ManorCare facility,” Surrey replied.

  “Probably, but why?” Kate scanned through the information. “Doesn’t say why she’s there.”

  Duncan leaned over her shoulder. “It does say that there’s a pending court date to determine adult guardianship of Melanie King. She must not be able to care for herself.”

  “Which is why she’s in a state facility,” Kate added. “Danny doesn’t like this. He’s fighting it. If the mother died two years ago, he must’ve been taking care of the sister up until recently. Something had to have happened for the state to place her in a home.”

  “Do you think he hurt her?” Duncan asked.

  “No, I don’t think so. I think he’s fighting for her.” Kate peered at them. “If Stallard can confirm the train station bombing ties to Danny King, then I think it’s safe to say it was a trial run. I think Danny King is going to punish whoever he deems responsible for taking his sister from him.”

  “Who the hell could that be?” Surrey asked. “The state?”

  Kate peered at them. “Who else?”

  Fisher pulled the toothpick from his mouth and returned the phone to Nick. He leaned back in his desk chair and stared through the window. “You’re telling me these guys, including Quinn, are there in Pittsburgh and are trying to find Kate.” He shook his head. “No way. It’s a scare tactic.”

  “A scare tactic?” Nick rubbed his forehead. “They’re in Pittsburgh. The photo shows the train station where a car bomb went off. They know she’s working that investigation. I don’t know how they know, but they do. If they wanted to scare me into silence, asserting a threat against my wife isn’t the way to do it.” He took in a breath. “Quinn knows what I’d do to protect Kate.”

  “They won’t hurt her, Nick. Come on.”

  “It’s time to take off the blinders, Cam. We’re dealing with powerful people. We both know what the higher-ups at the Bureau are capable of. They can destroy any one of us at any time. They don’t care who gets in their way.”

  Fisher regarded him. “You sound paranoid.”

  “If it was Eva, you’d feel the same way,” Nick added. “I want you to get her out of there. She’s not safe.”

  Fisher chewed on another toothpick with unrelenting force. “You really believe they, whoever ‘they’ are, would hurt Kate? Would kill her? Why would they do that when they have the evidence to prove she was wrong about Richard Lehmann?”

  “That’s what they want me to believe,” Nick replied. “I’m not so sure. If they did have real proof, why go through the trouble of going to Pittsburgh and lingering around the latest crime scene? They’re threatening her because they don’t have the proof. They know we’re calling their bluff, and this is the result. They want me to know they’re watching her. I’m telling you, Cam, we don’t know how far they’ll go with this, and I’m not willing to gamble with Kate’s life.”

  “Look, man, you need to take a step back. I get that the forces at play here are dangerous. But you’re going out on a ledge with this theory, and I can’t follow you, Nick. You already know what I think. We have no choice but to end this. That’s how this goes away without collateral damage.”

  “You sound like Walsh,” Nick replied.

  “If you truly want what’s best for Kate, then let it go, man. What does it
really matter anyway? The Mercy Killer is dead, so whatever they did to help him failed anyway. We got our man in the end.”

  “Because what they did goes against the very reason for our existence,” Nick insisted.

  “I’m not pulling her off the Robinhood case. They know who they’re after and it’s almost over anyway. Last I heard, the local field agent was about to bring in the unsub for questioning. It’ll all fall into place after that. Reid is doing the job she was hired to do. You can’t control her, man. Not only will she hate you for it, but it’ll wreck her confidence. I can’t have that in a lead profiler. You know I wouldn’t put any of my agents at risk. You gotta let it go. Look at that message again. They won, man. I’m sorry, but they did.”

  Danny walked into Mel’s room wearing a smile. “Good afternoon, sunshine.”

  “Danny!” Mel pulled up in her bed. “Why are you here so early? You don’t usually come until dinnertime.”

  “Can’t a brother want to surprise his sister?” He walked inside and removed his hand from behind his back. “Look what I brought for you.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Reese’s. My favorite. But I just ate lunch.”

  “Save it for later then.” Danny peered over his shoulder. “You know what? I also have another surprise for you.”

  “What is it?”

  “You and me are going on a little trip,” he replied.

  “You mean I get to go home?” Mel asked.

  “Not home, but we’ll be together, and we’ll have a lot of fun. In fact, we need to leave now, so let’s put some of your clothes in your duffle bag.” He opened the small closet in her room and retrieved the bag. “Here we go. You might want to go to the bathroom first and I’ll pack for you.”

  “Okay. Be right back.” Mel walked to the bathroom and closed the door.

  Danny’s smile faded as he walked to the window and peered out. “Still clear.” He wasn’t stupid. He knew Sue would call the FBI when he saw the look on her face.