No Good Deed

by Allison Brennan

  “I just spoke with Abigail, and Emilio is writing up the report. Barry was tortured before they killed him.”

  Lucy’s stomach flipped. “How?”

  “Because of … the state of his body, Julie couldn’t determine much, but every finger had been broken while he was still alive. His jaw was cracked. The cause of death was a bullet in the head.”

  Lucy closed her eyes and pushed aside all the emotions that threatened to escape. She took a deep breath, then said to Kenzie, “Where?”

  “Where what?”

  “If they tortured him, they had to have taken him someplace. What time did airport security show Barry’s car arriving?”

  “Uh—just before midnight on Friday.”

  “Do they have a decent image of the driver?”

  “Not from the parking lot, but they know it’s a man with dark hair over six feet tall. He left the lot on foot heading toward the departure gates. Zach has a team going through all the footage there to see if we can get him on camera, boarding a flight, something.”

  “Have them specifically check flights with a stop in DC, as well as the external feeds at the pickup and drop-off zones.”

  Kenzie didn’t say anything for a moment.

  “Is there something else?”

  “I—I couldn’t process all this so fast. How do you do that?”

  “Do what?” But Lucy knew exactly what she meant.

  “Never mind, I’ll double-check with Zach. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

  “He does, but it never hurts to run through the checklist with a fresh set of eyes.” She pinched her nose and wished she could better learn to balance her analytical side with her compassionate side. Kenzie had called her because she needed to commiserate about watching the autopsy of a friend and colleague. She hadn’t needed the questions and orders. “I’ll let you know when I get home.”

  “Thanks, but I think I’ll make it a quiet night with my boyfriend.” Kenzie hung up.

  Lucy felt miserable.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Hans wasn’t waiting for them when Nate and Lucy arrived at the courthouse. She sent him a text message, and he responded that he’d been held up but was trying to make it before the hearing.

  Once Nate and Lucy went through security and checked their weapons, they went to the third floor where AUSA Christina Fallow paced in the hallway on blood-red stiletto heels.

  “Agent Kincaid,” Fallow snapped and approached them. She glanced at Nate with narrowed eyes.

  “Special Agent Nate Dunning,” he said.

  “Where’s Agent Crawford?” she demanded.

  “He was killed Friday afternoon,” Lucy said.

  Fallow paled. “Killed? No one told me.”

  “We found his body last night.”

  “Oh God.” She sat down heavily on a bench. “What happened?”

  “We believe Nicole Rollins sent someone to kill him,” Lucy said. “We can’t prove it yet—but we will.”

  “Rollins? I’m going to be sick.” She looked at Nate. “Are you replacing Agent Crawford?”

  “No, ma’am. Agent Kincaid is the agent of record.”

  Fallow shook her head and buried her face in her hands. A moment later she looked up and said, “Why didn’t you tell me that you spoke to the defendant?”

  “It wasn’t about her case, it was about Nicole Rollins’s escape.”

  “I don’t care if you wanted the name of her hairdresser! Her lawyer is up in arms. And I only found out twenty minutes ago when I got here.”

  “I talked to her yesterday morning for fifteen minutes. You can watch the recording.”

  Fallow sighed. “That’s not the only reason I’m upset. The case is fucked. We have nothing on her.”

  “She killed a man.”

  “Manslaughter. Extenuating circumstances. Her lawyer wants a plea—ten months in a minimum-security facility until her seventeenth birthday and then emancipation after a court hearing. Her mother is dead, she doesn’t know who her father is.”

  “But we don’t know if any of that is true,” Lucy said. “She can’t prove who she is. She’s given us nothing to verify her identity. She held James Everett at gunpoint and forced him to transfer millions of dollars to accounts controlled by Tobias.”

  “She says she was acting under duress.”

  “We can produce two witnesses who will testify that she was not acting under duress,” Lucy said. Sean would testify, and she hoped Kane would as well.

  “She’s a minor. She doesn’t have to prove anything. She gave us her name and she doesn’t have or doesn’t know her Social Security number. Her mother always went by the name Sue Hansen, but we can’t confirm that—Sue? Suzanne? Susan? Elise was raised practically on the streets, she thinks her mother is dead, and she told the shrink that Tobias was her foster brother in Las Vegas, Nevada.”

  “There has to be a record in the foster system.”

  “We’ve been trying to get it, but it’s going to take more time.”

  “Don’t they print foster kids?”

  “Some jurisdictions do, but not the jurisdiction she claims to be from. And even if we did have it, because they’re minors the prints aren’t uploaded into the criminal database. If they’re a missing person, the prints will be in the missing persons system; her prints haven’t shown up. No one has reported her missing. But the system isn’t perfect.”

  “Elise is a sociopath,” Lucy said. “She can’t be released into minimum security anything. She has to be closely monitored.”

  “The court-appointed shrink doesn’t believe she’s a sociopath,” Fallow said.

  “Her shrink has been played,” Lucy said. “Just like Nicole Rollins played the DEA for fifteen years.”

  Fallow looked at Lucy oddly. “What does she have to do with this?”

  Before Lucy could answer, the bailiff opened the door. “The judge is ready.”

  Lucy followed Fallow into the small courtroom. Elise was already inside with Dr. Oakley and her attorney. She wore a modest pale-blue dress with shell sleeves. Her hair was clean, brushed, and pulled back on the sides. She wore no makeup and looked like a twelve-year-old cherub.

  Elise turned and looked at Lucy. She smiled. Then she winked. She turned to her doctor and grabbed her arm. Lucy could see her shaking from twenty feet away. Oakley looked over at Lucy and narrowed her eyes, then patted Elise on the arm and whispered in her ear.

  Lucy’s mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe that she was the only one who’d seen what had happened.

  Nate cleared his throat. She caught his eye—he’d seen it, too. But that wasn’t going to help them in front of the judge.

  There was no one else in the room ready to testify. Elise with her two people; Fallow and Lucy; the bailiff and a court reporter.

  Lucy leaned over to Fallow. “What’s going on? We should have other witnesses here—”

  “This isn’t a trial, it’s a hearing,” Fallow said in a low voice as she sat down in the front. Lucy sat next to her. “We aren’t presenting evidence, we’re making a case to keep Hansen in a criminal psychiatric care unit. But Kincaid, this isn’t going to be pretty—I was expecting Agent Crawford. He’s good with the court. He knows what to expect. And he knows this case.”

  “I know this case, too. And I know Elise Hansen better than you can imagine.”

  “I hope so, because I need to give the court a damn good reason not to accept the offer of ten months in juvie.”

  “Reason number one? She’ll walk away.” How could Lucy make Fallow see the truth?

  “Listen, Kincaid—I had prepared with Barry, and he was supposed to be back from his vacation this morning. I wish I’d prepared you as well.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  Fallow stared at her as if she didn’t understand the question. “Because … Barry was the lead agent. You’re a rookie. Not everything was by the book—I would have called you if there was a trial because if I didn’t, the defense
certainly would, but I’d really hoped this wouldn’t go to trial.” She leaned closer and whispered, “I already offered two years, maximum-security juvenile detention. They declined.”

  Lucy hadn’t known—she was stunned. In an equally low voice she said, “Elise Hansen is a cold-blooded, sociopathic killer. She should be tried as an adult.”

  “There’s not enough evidence,” Fallow hissed.

  “Keep her in lockup for two more weeks. I’ll get evidence.”

  “After talking to Naygrow this morning, that’s my goal, and I think the Judge will at least give me the time. I’m going to ask for two weeks at first, then seventy-two hours.”

  “All rise for Judge Eleanor Axelrod.”

  Fallow looked stunned. She waited until the judge was seated before she said, “I was under the impression Judge Goodman was presiding over this case.”

  “Judge Goodman’s trial has taken longer than expected and instead of postponing, I agreed to sit in on this hearing.” Axelrod looked at Fallow pointedly. “Is that a problem, counselor?”

  “No, Your Honor. But if you need more time to become familiar with the case, I would be happy to postpone the hearing until Monday.”

  The judge looked at the defense. “Mr. Johnson?”

  He rose. “Your Honor, we believe that justice would not be served by keeping my client locked up. My client’s court-appointed psychiatrist agrees. In fact, continued incarceration with violent, mentally disturbed felons would be extremely detrimental to my client’s emotional and physical well-being.”

  Lucy couldn’t move. Eleanor Axelrod—she was the judge the cops on Operation Heatwave dubbed “Easy Axe.” She was the judge who’d released Jaime Sanchez—who then skipped bail and ended up kidnapping his niece and Brad. Could she be one of Nicole Rollins’s inside people?

  “Ms. Fallow?” the judge asked. “Do you have a problem with me presiding over this hearing?”

  “No, Your Honor.”

  “Then let’s proceed.”

  Christine glanced at Lucy and in her expression, Lucy saw that they’d already lost.

  The judge looked over the sheets in front of her. “It’s my understanding that no official charges have been filed against the defendant?”

  “Not yet, Your Honor,” Christine said. “She was remanded into mandatory fourteen-day psych evaluation. Dr. Oakley was appointed as her psychiatrist. However, we have charges we’re on the verge of filing. We have three days after this hearing to file.”

  “I’m aware of the law,” the judge said. “What charges do you plan to file?”

  “Your Honor, the lead FBI agent, Barry Crawford, was tragically murdered this weekend and he was instrumental in the development of this case. His partner in the matter is a rookie FBI agent and I need time to bring her up to speed.”

  “Is this the rookie?” the judge asked and looked at Lucy. “Name?”

  “FBI Special Agent Lucy Kincaid,” Christine said.

  “I see a reprimand on file by the defense related to Agent Kincaid.”

  “Your Honor, if I may be allowed to go through our case and why the government believes that the defendant should remain in custody—”

  “First I’d like to know why Agent Kincaid was reprimanded by the defense.” She turned to the defense table. “Mr. Johnson?”

  “Two weeks ago as well as yesterday, Agent Kincaid spoke to my client without counsel present and without informing Dr. Oakley. Yesterday, Agent Kincaid threatened my client with unwarranted jail time if she didn’t confess to knowledge of a crime of which she has no information.”

  “Your Honor,” Lucy began.

  “You’ll have your turn, Agent Kincaid. Because you are a rookie, I will say this only once: I will not tolerate any interruption in my court.”

  Lucy bit her lip. The tape would prove that was not what happened during yesterday’s conversation with Elise.

  “Mr. Johnson, continue.”

  “You have Dr. Oakley’s report in the file, and it’s clear that my client is not a threat to anyone but, in fact, is the target of a known fugitive. She has been abused and threatened by both this fugitive and by officers of this court—namely, agents with the FBI.”

  “I’ve read Dr. Oakley’s report, and you’ll have your chance to expand on it.” She turned to the prosecution. “Ms. Fallow, what charges do you plan on filing? I understand that Agent Crawford isn’t here to assist you, but don’t you have some idea at this point what you believe the defendant did that was a crime?”

  “My office intends to file charges of manslaughter, kidnapping, and extortion,” she said.

  “On a sixteen-year-old girl?”

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “You’ll have to give me more information. Do you have any evidence?”

  “Yes, Your Honor, but this hearing isn’t about evidence, it’s—”

  “I know exactly what this hearing is for,” Axelrod said.

  “Normally, I would have the FBI agent of record go through the investigation, but with Agent Crawford—”

  The judge interrupted Christine. “Agent Kincaid, were you part of the investigation that resulted in the arrest of Elise Hansen?”

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “Then share with the court what you believe Ms. Hansen did.”

  Lucy stood. “On Friday, May twenty-ninth, Harper Worthington—the husband of Congresswoman Adeline Reyes-Worthington—was murdered in a motel. The coroner’s office determined that he’d been poisoned with curare, a lethal neuromuscular blocker. The poison had been injected into his neck, and he died within thirty minutes. During that time, he would have been incapacitated from the drug.

  “A witness placed a woman of Elise Hansen’s description leaving the scene shortly after the time of death as determined by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office. With the assistance of SAPD Detective Tia Mancini, we tracked the unknown female subject to another hotel, and eventually to the employment of Mona Hill, a woman known to—”

  The judge interrupted. “I know all this, Agent Kincaid. I’ve read the file and the AUSA report. Do you have anything new to add?”

  Lucy was momentarily flustered, but she continued. “I—I think it’s important to understand how Agent Crawford and I came to believe that Ms. Hansen was complicit in murder. For example, evidence collected at the motel and subsequently in the office of Congresswoman Worthington proved that Ms. Hansen knew that Mr. Worthington was dead and yet still took photos of him. She also engaged in oral sex on his corpse with the purpose, I believe, of ensuring that the FBI would have enough evidence to find her.”

  “Stop,” Judge Axelrod said.

  “I’m not finished.”

  “Your story is ridiculous.”

  “It’s true, Your Honor.”

  “Why would someone intentionally leave evidence in order to be arrested?”

  “The plan, we believe, was for Elise to be seen as the victim in order to get close to the investigation and set up an assassination attempt that would appear to be an attempt on her life, when in fact it was an attempt on a federal agent.”

  “And a sixteen-year-old prostitute created this elaborate scheme.”

  The judge’s tone was complete disbelief, but Lucy pressed on. “I cannot say whether she came up with the plan, but she was aware of it. She also kidnapped James Everett, a real estate developer who had helped Congresswoman Worthington launder money for a known drug cartel run by a man known to authorities as Tobias. Elise threatened Mr. Everett at gunpoint, then fled before the authorities arrived. She was arrested by Agents Dunning—” Lucy gestured to Nate in the back—” and Quiroz of the FBI while on the run.”

  She had far more to say, and because the judge was silent, Lucy decided to push. “While I’m not a psychiatrist, I have a master’s in criminal psychology from Georgetown University and advanced training in criminal profiling. It’s my opinion that Elise Hansen is a narcissistic sociopath who has no remorse for her actions—she’s incapable
of remorse. If this court releases her to any facility other than a maximum-security facility like the one she’s been in for the last fourteen days, she will soon reconnect with Tobias and continue to commit felonies. Tobias is a known associate of former DEA Agent Nicole Rollins, who escaped from custody Monday morning. Tobias, Rollins and several other individuals are guilty, all told, of the cold-blooded murders of nine federal agents and corrections personnel.”

  No one said a word.

  “At a minimum,” Lucy said, “if the court believes that Elise Hansen is a victim, she should be kept in a secure facility for her own protection until Rollins and Tobias are apprehended.”

  Lucy could say more. She wanted to say more, but she knew that if she went beyond the facts she would get herself into trouble. She’d already strayed too far off course, but she thought she made it clear that Elise was complicit in the murder of Harper Worthington.

  The judge turned to the defense. “Mr. Johnson?”

  “Thank you, Your Honor. Dr. Oakley would like to address the court.”

  “Of course, Doctor.”

  Barbara Oakley stood. She was shaking. But it was from anger, not fear, Lucy realized as soon as the woman opened her mouth.

  “Your Honor, Agent Kincaid may have a master’s degree, but she is not a licensed or trained psychiatrist. She’s a rookie FBI agent who has been brought up in front of the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility twice in less than a year. She was suspended for two weeks less than three months ago because she violated FBI protocol. I would request that you completely ignore her ignorant claims that she can diagnose my patient with armchair psychology.”

  How the hell did she know that Lucy had been suspended? That was a private personnel matter and not public information. Agents in her office knew, but that was it. Juan hadn’t filed the suspension with OPR—at least, he’d told her he hadn’t.

  The realization that there was a leak in the FBI was driven home in that moment.

  “Elise Hansen is barely sixteen years old,” Oakley said. “She doesn’t know who her father is. Her mother was a prostitute and a drug addict who, when she went to prison, turned Elise over to foster care. Elise has been in and out of foster homes half of her life. Three years ago, when she was thirteen, she was raped by one of her foster parents, and the one person who stood up for her was Tobias. I am not disputing anything the government has claimed this man has done, but it’s vitally important that you understand that to Elise, he saved her life. She saw him as the only one who could protect her from a system that had failed her. Tobias used her, manipulated her, threatened her—and it was because she had seen him hurt other people that she believed he would hurt her if she didn’t do what he said.