The Sixth Man

by David Baldacci

  It might be the cops. It might be the FBI. If so, why didn’t they announce their presence? If they think I’m a burglar, they might not. And if I announce myself and it’s not the cops? Classic Catch-22.

  She looked around the twelve-by-twelve box she was trapped in. Neither door was an option. That left the small square of window that opened out onto the side yard, away from the front door. She snagged a can of WD40 from the worktable, undid the window clasp, sprayed the track with the lubricant, slid up the window, thankfully with virtually no noise, and hoisted herself up and through, landing on her backside in the grass. She was up in an instant, her gun out, her nerves calm, her eyes and ears alert. She came around the side of the garage and surveyed the area. Only her Toyota was visible. In any event she would have heard another car pull up, so she now assumed it was not the cops or the FBI. They tended to make lots of noise when no hostages were in play.

  Whoever was here had left his vehicle somewhere else and come on foot. That was clandestine. That smacked of nefarious purpose. That indicated a direct threat to her safety.

  She hit the ground as soon as she heard the slide on the pistol being racked back. The round struck to her right, plowing into the dirt and covering her with grass and particles of compressed earth. She rolled to her left, fired twice in the middle of the maneuver and in the direction of the shot aimed at her. She did a half crouch, glimpsed a figure from across the yard, fired again, and threw herself behind a tree next to the garage.

  Had she heard a scream? Did her round strike home? She’d seen a figure, fired right at it. No more than twenty meters. Even under these conditions she should have—

  Her back to the tree bark, Michelle gripped her pistol with both hands and listened. To have nearly hit her, the shooter couldn’t have been in front of the house. He had to be off to the right side. Perhaps across the gravel drive, in the woods on the other side. It had been a pistol; she knew that from the sound of the shot and the earlier rack of the slide. If the shooter was across the street, that was a good thing for her. At that range and at night, a direct hit from a pistol would be beyond lucky.

  She did a pivot, keeping her body behind the tree trunk. She couldn’t rule out the possibility that the shooter had night-vision equipment. Or that there was only one shooter. If there were a pair of them the other one might be outflanking her right now, trying to capture her in a pincers maneuver.

  Her gaze darted to the far end of the garage. She saw nothing but drilled 911 on her phone and spoke quietly into it, relaying her dilemma and location to the dispatcher. She had no idea how long it would take the police to get here, but she had to assume it would not be quick.

  You’re going to have to get yourself out of this, Michelle.

  She dropped to her belly and started to scoot backward. She alternated her gaze forward and aft, looking for an attack on both fronts. She reached the woods and stood, keeping behind a massive oak that fronted the edge of the grass. She looked for movement while trying to keep as still as possible. She kept her profile sideways to reduce her target signature.

  She looked at her truck parked in the driveway. There was a lot of open ground to get there. With night-vision gear she’d be dead after two steps, pistol or not. This could be a waiting game, and maybe she should be content to do that with the police hopefully on the way.

  Twenty minutes went by and nothing happened.

  Sirens.

  The cop car pulled up a minute later, its tires crunching into the gravel as it slid to a stop.

  Two county cops emerged from their ride, guns drawn, in half crouches, peering around.

  Michelle called out, “I’m Michelle Maxwell. I’m the one who called this in. There was a shooter in the front yard. I fired at someone. I think I might have hit the person.”

  The cops peered in her direction. One of them yelled out, “I don’t see anyone. I want you to come out with your hands visible.” He added, “Are you armed?”

  “I just said, I shot at the person shooting at me, so yeah, I’m armed.”

  “Throw your weapon out and then come out, hands visible.”

  “And if the shooter is still out there?”

  “Like I said, I don’t see anyone. They must have already taken off.”

  Michelle tossed her gun, moved out from behind the cover of the tree, and came forward. One of the cops hustled forward, marked her weapon with his foot while his partner covered Michelle.

  “I’m a private investigator, here with permission.”

  “Let me see some ID.”

  Michelle showed him her ID and her gun permit.

  “I was in the garage when I heard someone in the house. I slid out the window and took gunfire over there.” She pointed to the spot. “If you hit the grass with your light, you’ll see where the round—”

  “Joe, you better get over here,” said the other cop. He was standing near Michelle’s truck.

  “What is it?”

  “Just get over here.”

  Joe motioned Michelle to go ahead of him and they hustled over to where the other officer was standing.

  They reached the spot and looked down.

  The body was on its face, hands out wide, one shoe off. A bloody patch was dead center of the back where a bullet had gone in.

  The other cop knelt down and turned the body slightly, while his partner focused his light on the corpse. There was no exit wound in the front. The round was still in her.

  Michelle gasped when she saw who it was.

  Hilary Cunningham, Ted Bergin’s secretary.

  Joe shone the light at Michelle’s face making her look away. “Do you know her?”

  Michelle nodded as she stared down in disbelief. In a halting voice she said, “She was the woman who gave me the keys to this house. She worked for the owner.”

  “Well, lady, it looks like you just killed her.”

  CHAPTER

  23

  THE PHONE BUZZED.

  He slept on.

  It buzzed again.

  He stirred.

  It tickled his pocket one more time.

  He woke. “Hello?” Sean said in a sleepy voice.

  “It’s me,” said Michelle. “And I’m in a shitload of trouble.”

  Sean sat up in the bed and automatically checked his watch. He had fallen asleep in his clothes. It was one in the morning.

  “What happened?”

  Ten minutes later he knew as much as Michelle did as she succinctly recounted the past events.

  “Okay, don’t say anything else to them. I’m on my way.”

  “On your way how?”

  Sean stopped halfway off the bed. “What?”

  “No flights for six hours.”

  “I’ll drive.”

  “That’ll get you here about the same time as the morning flight and that’s if you drive straight through. Which means you’ll be a zombie or else you’ll be dead after running off the road and hitting a tree. Or a moose. I’ll be okay for tonight. Just get down here with your brain intact and let’s figure this out.”

  “Wait a minute, are they holding you?”

  “I’m not local. I have a car. A woman is dead. I was the only living person on the scene. They have my gun. Which is the second weapon I’ve had confiscated by the cops, so yeah, they’re holding me.”

  “Was it your slug that killed her?”

  “They don’t know yet. They haven’t done the post. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it were. I fired in that direction at someone.”

  “Do you think Hilary was firing at you?”

  “There was no gun found on her person. All I know is a round came within six inches of landing in my head instead of the dirt.”

  “Well, the slug will confirm your story.”

  “Let’s hope they find it.”

  “Isn’t it in the dirt?”

  “I think it might be. But it also might have hit a stone buried in the grass and ricocheted off. I didn’t hang around to find out.”r />
  “Okay. I’ll take the same flight you did to D.C. and then drive over to Charlottesville. I should be there around three.” He paused. “Do the cops really think you killed her intentionally?”

  “I think the fact that I called it in, and they confirmed the call came from my cell, has made them less suspicious, but it still looks bad.”

  “Okay, just sit tight until I get there.”

  “Not much else I can do. Any news from Megan?”

  “No.”

  “Anything exciting happen to you while I was gone?”

  Sean hesitated, debating whether to tell her. “Nothing that can’t keep.”

  “Oh, bring the gun I bought up in Maine.”

  “Fine. Let’s just hope this one isn’t confiscated, too.”

  Sean clicked off, called the airline, bought a ticket, packed his bag, retrieved Michelle’s gun case from her room, and then called Megan’s cell phone. It again went right to voice mail. The FBI was definitely keeping her under wraps. In the message Sean didn’t tell her why he was heading back to Virginia, only that he would be in touch.

  He also left a note for Mrs. Burke and headed out. He cranked the heater up and drove as fast as he could with the wind rushing through the shattered windows. He got to Bangor at about five in the morning. He prayed that when he went to check Michelle’s gun and ammo, they would not scrutinize his permit to carry a weapon, since he didn’t have one that was valid in Maine.

  It was early, the airport folks were tired, and they didn’t even raise an eyebrow when he showed them his Virginia concealed weapon’s permit. Maine was the Vacation State, after all, and Americans did love to vacation with their weapons. And it also probably helped that he was checking the gun with no way to get to it during the flight.

  He had coffee and stepped onto the plane at six thirty. He catnapped for the short flight. The connection in Philly did not go smoothly, and he had to scream at several airline personnel before they stuck him in the rear of a turboprop outbound to Reagan National. By some miracle Michelle’s gun found him at baggage claim, and he cabbed it home, packed his things, and was on the road to Charlottesville in a one-way rental about forty-five minutes behind schedule.

  He exceeded the speed limit the whole trip and reached the county lockup a little before four. He announced that he was Michelle’s lawyer and wanted to see his client. Twenty minutes after that he was seated across from her.

  “You look okay,” he said.

  “You, on the other hand, look like crap.”

  “Thanks. I’ve just been traveling all day to get to you.”

  “You misunderstood. I greatly appreciate the effort. I’m just too used to your Cary Grant–like dapperness. But it’s also nice to know that you’re actually human like the rest of us.”

  “I’ve seen the arrest report. I’ve also talked to one of the officers who was on the scene with you last night.”

  “How’d you manage that?”

  “I overheard him talking about it in the hallway and snagged him for a quick down and dirty. They’ve processed the scene, although he wouldn’t tell me the results. For what it’s worth I don’t believe he thinks you’re guilty.”

  “Let’s hope everybody else agrees with him. I still can’t believe she’s dead. I was just talking to her yesterday.”

  “I’m meeting with the prosecutor next. I think I can get this all explained. And then get you out of here.”

  “What if they think I’m a flight risk?”

  “I’ll take care of it. I used to practice law around here. I know the folks.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” she said doubtfully.

  “I had some fun last night, too.” He explained to her about Carla Dukes and his run-in with the man following her.

  “What is going on up there?” she said in an exasperated tone.

  “More than we initially thought, that’s for damn sure.”

  An hour later Michelle was free to leave. She picked up her truck and followed Sean to the Boar’s Head, where they ate some dinner.

  “So how’d you bust me out?” she asked.

  “I basically vouched for you. So if you run my ass is fried.”

  “I’ll try to hang around this hemisphere.”

  “I explained everything about Bergin’s death in Maine and our investigation to the prosecutor. He’s a reasonable guy who knew Bergin well. He agreed that it’s highly unlikely you had anything to do with plotting Hilary’s death. I told him we were doing our best to find out who killed him and part of that investigation led us here. He’s definitely on our side on that.”

  “Okay.”

  “But the strange thing is that he didn’t know Bergin had been murdered. Someone is keeping a tight rein on the media, that’s for sure.”

  “FBI has the muscle to do that,” she said.

  Sean nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking, too. And I presume Hilary didn’t go blaring it around. And Megan left to come to Maine right after she found out.”

  “Guess it’ll come as a shock to a lot of people then. And now with Hilary dead, too.”

  “And the letter you found in Bergin’s files? Agent Murdock asking for information about his client? That’s pretty unusual.”

  “Oh my God, I didn’t tell you the best part.” Michelle plunged her hand in her pocket and pulled out the page from the car warranty booklet. She explained to Sean where she’d found it. “Guess if he ever went out to visit her, he’d drive. So the car was a logical place to keep the address.”

  “Kelly Paul. Okay.” He checked his watch, pulled out his phone, and pecked in the number while Michelle dug into her fish and chips.

  “Kelly Paul, please?” said Sean. He paused. “Right, this is Sean King. I’m working with Ted Bergin on the Edgar Roy case. Hello?”

  He put the phone down.

  Michelle swallowed a bite of breaded halibut. “Hung up on you?”

  He nodded. “Guess she is the client.”

  “So it is a woman?”

  “Sure sounded like one. She asked who it was. I told her, and click.”

  “Do you think she knows Bergin is dead?”

  “No way to tell.” He studied the paper. “If I’m remembering correctly this address is about four hours from here in Southwest Virginia.”

  Michelle drank down her iced tea. “Let me get a big coffee and we’ll hit the road.”

  “Hold on. It’s probably not smart for you to leave the area right now. The police will want to talk to you again at the very least.”

  “Then you’re not going either. We split up and each of us almost gets killed.”

  “Okay, you’ve got a point. Hang on.” He punched in a number on his phone.

  “Phil, Sean King. Look, do you have time to talk tonight face-to-face? Say around eight? Great, thanks.”

  He clicked off and motioned to the waitress for the check.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Michelle.

  “Throw myself on the mercy of the prosecutor’s office to spring you from the confines of Charlottesville. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll mortgage everything I have to post bail.”

  “I thought you only had to put up ten percent.”

  “Right now, ten percent of just about anything would tax my personal finances. Private investigation is a feast-or-famine business. And I’m not even sure we’re going to get our travel expenses reimbursed now.”

  “And if that doesn’t work?”

  “I’ll stuff you in a bag and sneak you out. One way or another we’re going to see Kelly Paul.”

  “Think she has all the answers?”

  “Actually, just one answer would be a nice change of pace right now.”