Lily finally let a huge tear roll down her cheek. “He’s all I have left, and no, I don’t care about Roman.” She sniffed.
“I’ll do my job to the best of my ability,” Deegan said.
“Thanks.” Cam shook his hand. This time in the elevator, Cam set the boots on the floor and held Lily until the doors slid open. Sven and Matt had the vehicles idling outside.
Ole opened the passenger door of his big truck. “Here, Lily. Cam, Matt has your truck there.” He covered the space between them in two strides and plucked Lily up into his arms. “She don’t need those.” He nodded at the boots. Lily winked and mouthed, “Later.”
Matt’s frown made deep grooves on either side of his lips. “Cop shop?”
“Right.” Cam got in the driver’s seat and followed Sven and Ole out of the parking lot. One last glance through the emergency doors told him Forbes stood still as a sculpture holding up the south wall of the room by sheer will.
FIFTY-THREE
Cam bit the insides of his cheeks in an effort to remind himself to shut up and relax. Whenever he entered the Barter Valley public building, home to the police department and community services, his neck and shoulder muscles stiffened—tighter each time. He really hated this place. Dust moved in and settled on the thick windowsills and slats of the blinds. Burned coffee aroma permeated the conference room. Overhead lights were too fluorescent bright.
“And not in those paper cups,” Minerva was saying as Cam and his entourage entered. Her strident voice added to the tension. “Mugs. You must keep them somewhere.” She settled next to Cam at the wide, chipped laminate conference table. The plastic chairs were hard. Sven and Ole stood behind the newspaper editor at the foot of the table.
Agents Deice and Wykstrom, along with the county sheriff, Paten, sat on one side. Chief Rosebloom sat at the head, and Lily, escorted in by Ole, sat on Cam’s other side. Her hand crept into his again.
With a little more shawl fluttering, Minerva spoke. “Matt, you take notes.”
The federal agents said little and made it clear they were reluctant to be there by their stiff body language—still like shadows, arms crossed. Cam wondered what orders had been handed down from above. Matt, on the other hand, regained his excitement and hauled out a notebook, a couple of pens, and his recorder.
“No recordings,” Deice said.
Matt raised his eyebrows at Minerva, who nodded. “Not happening. You’ll get a copy,” she said. “Any objections, Chief?”
Rosebloom shook his head. “We’ll get started,” he said. “Today is December 21...” his monotonous tone buzzed in and out for Cam. “Location, Barter Valley Police Department. Present, state your names, please, starting with the federal agents.” After they’d gone around the table, he said, “I’d like to thank you all for coming, and for agreeing to this cooperative meeting.”
Blah, blah… Cam’s attention dopplered while the chief presented the evidence and asked Paten to do the same.
“For the record, my client—”
“There’re no accusations on the table, Minerva.” Rosebloom cut Minerva off. Brave man. “We’re all here as a courtesy, trying to figure out what’s going on and what to do about it.”
“When are you going to get to the part where those two”—Matt indicated Deice and Wykstrom with his pen—“were involved with the shooting of the other agent?”
Cam sat up. Deice topped him by standing. “You print anything like that and we’ll shut you down so fast your head will spin,” she said. “We were told to cooperate, not to take this.”
“Simmer down, there, hey,” Rosebloom said, motioning with his hands toward the table, palms down, with an irritated look at Paten. “This is the grief those scanners cause. Heuer, if you want to stay, you’re going to have to shut up, open meeting and records law or not.”
Matt motioned zipping his lips.
“So, what exactly happened out at my place?” Cam asked.
Deice sank onto the chair. Her partner folded his hands on the table and spoke in a monotone. “We went to examine the scene of the fire at Mr. Taylor’s residence to ascertain whether there was any evidence of pre-determined foul play against a public official. We noted an unknown subject on the premises who did not respond to our instructions to identify himself. He was carrying a box that was presumably from the property. We drew weapons and followed the suspect through the woods. Shots were exchanged. Special Agent Stewart got in the line of fire. Subject left the premises.”
“What evidence gave you the authority to search my client’s residence?” Minerva asked, speaking loud and clear for the microphone. “May I see your warrant?”
The agents exchanged glances.
Stewart got in the line of fire? Where had all this gone down? Cam blinked and studied his twined fingers, thinking. “What kind of person would shoot a federal agent in the back?”
“I think I know the answer,” Lily said. Cam squeezed her hand gently and smiled. She stared at Deice. “You are with the government department that studies the backgrounds of people, right? People like nominees for the Supreme Court?”
Matt made a foul-mouthed exclamation, but quickly lowered his head.
“One more outburst like that, Mr. Heuer, and I’ll arrest you,” Rosebloom said.
Cam was glad the chief seemed to have found his feet. Getting all these agencies together was a good move.
Minerva frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“It just hit me, too. Lily figured it out by reading my grandmother’s diaries,” Cam said.
“Cam was the one who—”
“Just get on with it!” Minerva said. Cam’s hackles rose, but he chose not to react other than to cast the “bad girl” eye on his lawyer. She settled back in her seat with only a few flutterings of the shawls.
“Go on,” he urged Lily.
“Cam is writing a biography of his grandparents who were involved in Civil Rights activities in Milwaukee. In 1966 during the Open Housing marches, they witnessed a murder.”
Deice and Wykstrom stared at Lily, saying nothing. Rosebloom scrunched his brows and swiveled between Lily and the agents. Matt made furious notes in a smaller notebook he had, separate from his official notes.
“So…” Matt started to say, glanced at the chief then buttoned his lips.
“So, they knew the name of the murderer, who happened to be a police officer,” Lily said. Sheriff Paten shifted in his chair, causing the legs to scrape painfully on the floor.
“The police officer was young at the time. Cam researched the name and learned that he went to law school and later served as a judge in Milwaukee.”
“Andersen!” Matt said. “I knew it!” Rosebloom started to rise, reached for cuffs, but Matt ignored him, pretended to appear abashed, and kept his focus on the paper in front of him.
Lily continued. “I think, I hope,” she said, glaring at the agents, “when Judge Andersen was named a potential Supreme Court candidate, the government put a watch on his name so that whenever it came up on the Internet, you could follow it. When Cam did his research on the name his grandmother wrote down, which was B. Andersen, you caught it and came here.”
The agents did not respond.
Cam grew restless and let go of Lily’s hand. “That’s why all the questions,” he said. “I get that, but you could have just asked nicely. But that leads us to the person trying to steal stuff from my place. And the shooting.” He looked at Minerva. “How much trouble am I in?”
“There are no laws against research,” she said pointedly. “Did the subject get away with my client’s property?” she asked. “And what kind of assistance can my client expect from the sheriff’s department?” she asked Paten.
“Mr. Taylor can file a report,” the sheriff said.
“So you people are investigating the background of a Supreme Court nominee,” Rosebloom sputtered. “What does that have to do with the human remains found on the property? Is that why you were back there without per
mission?”
Lily shuddered, and Cam took her hand again.
“My client—”
“We know, Minerva,” Rosebloom said. “Mr. Taylor, here, has some kind of evidence that Judge Andersen was allegedly involved in a—what’s it again—cold case…situation. You and Agents—over there, Deice and, and Wickens? Wykstrom, sorry, can meet and discuss that later.” Deice and Wykstrom stood, like they’d been prodded simultaneously.
“Wait!” Lily said. “Don’t we need their help?”
“These are separate cases,” Rosebloom said.
“I get it,” Lily said. “But, correct me if I’m wrong, you’re about to tell us how undermanned you are, how you can’t keep guarding Kenny and me, right? Why can’t there be some cooperation here. We give them copies we made of the diary pages?”
Deice folded her arms. “Since the judge hasn’t been nominated to the Supreme Court, the background check by the OIG was only preliminary.”
“Preliminary? So what?” Lily said. “That man is a murderer. Now you have proof of that. Arrest him.” She got up and waved her hands. “If I can’t do anything about those Limms, I want to get somebody. There are no statutes of limitations on murder.”
At the rebuff, Lily realized she was preaching to the choir. “I’m sorry. This is Cam’s case.”
Cam squeezed her forearm. “I want the whole story, that’s all. No one can change the past, but I want to know what happened. They can at least help me find out what happened to my grandmother’s missing persons reports.” He looked deeply into Lily’s eyes while he spoke. “It’s not revenge, it’s not justice. That’s not for me to decide. I only want closure, for me and my sisters and my parents. It’s not like Grandpa or Mr. Po will come back, or even rest any easier.”
“We understand,” Minerva said. “The one good thing that came from Agent Stewart’s unfortunate shooting was that your box the shooter attempted to take was recovered.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Lily asked the agents.
“I suspect they wanted to paw through it,” Minerva said, as if they weren’t in the same room.
“Is that legal?” Cam asked. “It’s my personal property.”
“That fact did not escape my attention, Mr. Taylor.” Minerva pointed to a large plastic tub on the far wall. “The other container was too badly damaged. But the material is there.”
“My notes,” Cam said. He rose and went to study the contents. He held up a photo. “Uncle Wally, building the cabin. Oh, look, Lily—the other diaries. I thought those were gone.”
“Thank you, Minerva,” Lily said softly. “This means a lot to him.”
The agents held a quiet conversation outside the room while Rosebloom clicked an annoying staccato with his pen. When they returned, Deice said, “In the interest of interagency cooperation, we’ll help. As long as we can see the original diary pages and keep copies.”
“Agreed,” Cam and Minerva said together.
“What about the man who shot Paul?” Lily asked.
Rosebloom swallowed his pinched-mouth irritation. “Obviously, Sheriff Paten and I are concerned about an armed and dangerous suspect on the loose, who may or may not be involved in certain disappearances, including Berta Masters. You’ve called that in to State Patrol and the surrounding counties, Sheriff? Good. So then, let’s move on. The agents, here, have a lot of work to do.” He dismissed them and paged through a sheaf of notes on the table. Sven and Ole jumped into their places at the table.
Cam shifted in his seat and let go of Lily’s hand. She wondered how safe he was, if desperate men set his house on fire, then came back to make sure the evidence placing a candidate for the Supreme Court had gone up in smoke. And the body—
“It’s my understanding that an ambulance was attacked and its staff, unfortunately, murdered,” Rosebloom said, “one that allegedly carried your sister, Miss Masters, a Berta Masters, from Buenaview Trailer Court on Sunday, December thirteenth—”
“It wasn’t us, Chief,” Sven said.
“I know that,” Rosebloom said. “Now, where were we?”
“The EMTs were killed,” Matt said.
“So, my other question is…” Rosebloom said with a glare, “is why Agent Stewart, who was not involved with the investigation the other agents were carrying on, was out at your place. Mr. Taylor?”
“Why would my client have knowledge of that?” Minerva asked.
“Agent Forbes,” Cam said with an apologetic look at her, “wanted to check over the neighborhood. Since my property abuts Findley, and Findley’s joins Securities Unlimited.”
“Hold on,” the chief said. “Securities Unlimited has been good to this town.”
“Not too good for those who are never heard from again after they get a job,” Lily said.
“Those are rumors. Nothing’s been proven. That one time, the time the McElroys recanted once their daughter called them. You’ve been gone, Lily. You don’t have any idea what’s been going on.”
Lily pursed her lips and sat back.
“Let’s move on,” Rosebloom said.
Cam studied her expression before picking up the narrative. “Stewart was searching for the backpack the boys lost, the one containing the syringe Kenny picked up after he saw Art Townsend use it on his mother.”
“By your place? I thought they were found by the Frosts,” Rosebloom cut in. “That phony marshal learned this from the boy after he regained consciousness at the hospital. But what makes the syringe so important? Aside from the attack on the boy’s mother, that is. Which is not a federal case.”
“Agent Forbes thinks the drug cocktail in the syringe may be traceable. Coupled with the conversation Kenny heard, it could help in the case,” Cam said.
“Conversation?” Rosebloom’s face puffed and pinked.
“After that marshal person left,” Lily said, “Kenny told us he overheard his mother on the phone telling someone …telling him she was going to…”
Cam looked at her, steadfast as an anchor. “It sounded like she would actually exchange money for him.”
“What? That sounds like…like human trafficking.” Rosebloom muttered.
“That’s how this started!” Lily unfolded her arms and leaned over the table. “That’s how low these people are. They offer a job interview to unsuspecting people but instead, sell them. Now they’ve sunk to taking children. I never believed my brother cooked it up, but I’m sure he got the idea from someone at work. Maybe even…” She choked and swallowed. “My father. I was just trying to get help.”
“From…?” Rosebloom cocked his head, his mouth downturned with disgust.
“Kingston Findley,” Lily replied. “I hoped he could figure out what to do.”
“But…?”
“I got lost and Cam found me. It’s a long story.”
Rosebloom jotted another note. “We’ll get back to this in a few moments. So Stewart didn’t find the pack, either.” Paten and Rosebloom exchanged a narrow-eyed look. “Son,” Paten said, “we searched the area where the boys were found. No pack.”
Cam recounted the last few days the best he could recall. For the first time, Minerva hauled out a notebook and started writing. Her frown and hmpfs made Cam sweat.
“What are we going to do next?” Ole moved in next to Lily and cracked his knuckles. The meeting had gone on for an hour, and Cam never let down his guard. He imagined Ole must be jumping out of his skin.
“We are going to make sure we have all of the facts,” Rosebloom said, emphasizing “we” and “all” with a hard stare at Cam. “No need to drive away a perfectly good business without proof.”
Like Barter Valley was Chicago. “Lily was the original target,” Cam said. “She and Kenny are in danger, and with someone shooting federal agents—”
“We can take care of her,” Ole said. “At Mom’s place.”
“Mr. Iversson,” Rosebloom said.
Minerva jumped in with a self-satisfied gleam in her smile at one-upping the c
hief. “The young lady needs protection, as does her nephew and my client. They should all be together, preferably under guard. Multiple guards.”
“We don’t have that much manpower,” Rosebloom said through clenched teeth, as if pondering how to trump Minerva.
Cam’s frustration level peaked. “But what are we going to do about this? You can’t keep Lily hiding out forever.”
Another person entered the room. “One less guard duty is required,” Forbes said. “I just came from the hospital.”
FIFTY-FOUR
Lily closed her eyes. No, please, no! Kenny had been fine, just fine. She shouldn’t have—wait…what was Forbes saying?
“Miss Masters, I’m sorry to inform you that your stepbrother passed away a short while ago,” Agent Forbes said and glanced away for a second. “Our sympathies.”
“What?” Lily shook her head, the anxiety still spreading through her chest like a heat wave. “I talked to him an hour ago. He was in pain. The doctor thought the antibiotics might start working and he could pull through. I didn’t expect... What happened?”
“I wasn’t given specifics,” Forbes replied.
“So that leaves a guard on the boy at the hospital,” Rosebloom said. “When is he expected to be released?”
Lily hesitated. She wasn’t his legal guardian, but with Art gone she was all he had. “The doctor thought tomorrow if he continues to improve.” She faced Cam. “I don’t know what to do, or if I’ll be allowed to keep him. Child Services was there once already.”
“Let me look into the matter,” Minerva said. “We’ll talk later, at the motel, where I recommend you and my other client—”
“Hold on, Minerva!” Cam said at the same time Ole smacked the table. “My mother—”
“Hey!” Lily shouted. She pushed her chair back, which butted Ole out of the way, and got to her feet, which had turned stiff…oooh. The sheriff immediately rose. Good, manners weren’t completely dead. “I promised Kenny I’d eat supper with him. I need to get back to the hospital for now, and I’ll decide where I’m going after that.”
“Apparently the meeting is adjourned,” Minerva said. “Lily, we’ll meet to discuss your options after you’re settled.”
Understory Page 27
