Always Watching

by LS Sygnet

Maya nodded.

  Preston produced a photograph from his breast pocket and showed it to Maya. “Is this the victim you found last night, Dr. Winslow?”

  I cursed softly. It was.

  “Yes,” Maya said. “May I at least have her name for the death certificate?”

  “Analynn Villanueva. She’s not quite eight years old, abducted from her home in Manila last month. The Filipino police have been aggressively searching for her to no avail. They suspected that she may have been smuggled out of the country.”

  “She didn’t swim to Darkwater Bay,” I muttered.

  “Did you determine the cause of death?”

  Maya said, “Yes, but until I’ve got the final results from our microbiology lab, I’m afraid I can’t be more specific than to tell you that it appears that this child died from pneumonia.”

  “So you’re saying it was accidental?”

  “I find nothing to indicate otherwise,” Maya said. “Her death was the result of an overwhelming respiratory infection. Now whether or not hospitalization would’ve helped her, I can’t say. We won’t know until the cultures are completed.”

  “Interesting,” Preston murmured. “So you’re not seeing any signs of foul play?”

  “Other than the fact that someone abducted this child and she wound up washing up on the beach several thousand miles away from home? No, no signs of foul play that contributed to her death.”

  He seemed oddly satisfied with Maya’s answer, though I felt the urge to slug her good and hard for being sarcastic with him. I shot my best, tone it down glare and refocused on Preston.

  “So now what? You notify the State Department, they notify their counterparts in the Philippines? We end up with more suits crawling through Darkwater Bay indefinitely?”

  “The Filipino police have not requested our assistance in finding the kidnappers. It’s an internal matter for them to sort out. If you wouldn’t mind having your friend who is so powerful in the state police notify the U.S. Department of State, I’d appreciate it. I’d rather get back to this matter with Mr. Datello, since this child obviously wasn’t murdered.”

  His blasé reaction put the scratching sensation back into my brain stem. Something wasn’t right. This was not how the bureau would respond to a kidnapped child from a foreign country suddenly showing up dead on our shores.

  Pragmatism forced me to accept it for the gift that it appeared to be. I really needed to get into the habit of listening when doubt scratches at the back door. It was a colossal mistake to see anything from Preston as a gift.

  Chapter 14

  My primary coping mechanism when I’m confronted with too much doubt and confusion is to shut down all but the necessary thought processes. Some call it the gift of tunnel vision. In hindsight, I have always looked at my single-minded capabilities as a curse. In the heat of the moment, I don’t remember the lessons learned from the last time I pulled a boneheaded move or ignored the screaming pleas of intuition.

  I knew that Datello would never tell the FBI anything of value. He was still trying to figure a way out of the evidence we gathered against him and turned over to the bureau in the prosecution of his uncle.

  Since Preston’s caveat included my exclusion from witnessing the conversation, I sent Saul Becker in my place.

  “Keep a close eye on him,” I said. “Pay attention to what he says to Datello.”

  “Why? Isn’t he FBI?”

  I nodded. “I can’t find out if this conversation is kosher without calling my former boss, something I’d rather not do,” I said.

  “I’d rethink that, Eriksson.” Saul shuffled his feet. “If you got a bad feeling about this, it’s good enough for me.”

  He showed me to an office before he escorted Preston down a long corridor behind a locked door to where Datello would be brought for the one sided conversation I was sure would take place. I stepped in the office and debated whether or not I should raise David’s red flags over the current events in Darkwater Bay.

  Ultimately, I had to agree with Saul. Whatever wasn’t sitting right with me couldn’t be ignored. I picked up the phone on the desk and dialed the familiar number. Even though it was nearly seven at Quantico, David answered the phone.

  “Levine.”

  “Hello stranger.”

  “Helen! How are you? Enjoying the bliss of retirement?”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t go quite that far. I think I’m still adjusting. It’s not as easy as I thought it would be, living with someone who’s still in the thick of things while I’m relegated to the sidelines.”

  “If I know you, nothing could be further from the truth. I’ll bet Johnny still runs things past you left and right.”

  “To a point,” I chuckled. “I think he’s afraid I’ll jump back in head first and end up in over my head. It’s not something he’s eager to see happen again, for his own safety, I’m afraid.”

  David chuckled. “Still, even though I can’t blame the guy for concerns regarding your reckless nature, I bet he can’t keep a single thing from you. Things are still solid, right?”

  “Yeah,” a little doubt crept out of its compartment and invaded my thoughts. Were things solid? “So, I suppose this is one of those instances where Johnny wants my take on something. Problem is, I haven’t the first clue what to tell him.”

  “Ah-ha. So that’s why you’re calling.”

  “You make me sound like a terrible person,” I said. “Now I don’t want to ask.”

  “Helen, you don’t have to ask. Whatever you need, you’ve got it. Spit it out, honey. How can I help you?”

  “I suppose you’ve heard about what happened out here this week.”

  David’s chair creaked. “No, actually, I haven’t heard a thing.”

  “I thought about calling you, but things happened pretty quickly, and it ended up working out for the best in the end.”

  “Is this something that would be of specific interest to the bureau?”

  “Danny Datello’s daughter was kidnapped about 25 hours ago,” I said. “She was found, unharmed, early this morning.”

  “I see.”

  “There was an Amber Alert.”

  “Which I’m sure the local field office out of Montgomery handled,” he said. “Still, considering the victims in this case, a phone call would’ve been nice. May I ask why Johnny didn’t call me directly?”

  “He wasn’t working the case,” I said. “Do you remember Devlin Mackenzie and Crevan Conall?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Your former cohorts from Downey Division, correct?”

  “They’re with Johnny at OSI now. Anyway, they worked the case. I sort of helped a little bit.”

  “Which means you found the baby.”

  “It was a team effort. Anyway, something happened this afternoon that made Johnny uncomfortable. After the case closed, an agent from Montgomery showed up and started looking into our investigation. He seems determined to prove that Datello was behind the abduction somehow, even though we found no evidence to support that. In fact, I’d have to say that Datello was downright cooperative with the investigation, David. He actually spoke to me.”

  “Interesting. Who’s this agent?”

  “Alfred Preston. I’d never heard of him, but that’s no surprise. There are scores of FBI agents I never encountered. You on the other hand –”

  “Remember Preston quite well. A number of years ago, he set his sights on a Washington assignment. He decided that Quantico was the place for him. No one was especially impressed. Unfortunately, there was nothing particularly distinguishing about his record that would’ve made him a valuable asset here either.”

  “Do you know if the FBI is still hoping that Datello will make a statement against Marcos?”

  “Sure, we’ve always got that hope. At this point, it’s moot. Until we’ve got the leverage of a guilty conviction, he’s not going to be interested in talking to us. And if he’s acquitted, he’ll never speak to us because he knows that Uncle Sully’s rack
eteering charges are gonna snatch him up in a RICO charge before his lungs fill with fresh air.”

  “That’s kind of what I was thinking. So if that’s the case, why is Preston demanding to talk to Datello?”

  “He’s probably looking to stand out with Washington again,” David said. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Helen. Datello is far too smart to talk to him. Frankly, I’m inclined to agree with you about his lack of involvement in the child’s kidnapping. If he were playing games, he wouldn’t have talked to you or anybody else. But especially not to you.”

  “No doubts?”

  “Not even a sliver, my dear. Don’t worry about it. Listen, if Preston were capable of being the caliber of agent that gets the cherry assignments, he’d have been out there pitching in while the baby was still missing, not arriving after the fact and dissecting the fine work I know you did.”

  “It must be my residual FBI paranoia. You guys show up and my palms start sweating. I always get the sense that something else is going on behind the scenes.”

  Before I could continue, Saul pushed the door open. “Eriksson, you ain’t gonna believe this, but that FBI guy got Datello’s confession. Right off the bat. Damnedest thing I ever saw.”

  I slammed the phone down and rushed past Becker.

  “Where you going, Helen? Did you hear what I just said?”

  “Unlock the door, Saul. Unlock it right now!”

  He twisted his key in the lock as a shot echoed down the corridor. I turned, grabbed the sidearm from his holster and raced at a full on sprint down the corridor. How the hell had Preston made it into the jail with a weapon?

  Saul’s wheezes grew distant behind me. He tipped the scale at 300 hundred pounds stark naked and fasting if he weighed a pound at all.

  I flung the door open to the interrogation room.

  Preston stood over Datello with a snub nose revolver pointed at his throat. Blood gushed and bubbled from the neck wound.

  “Drop your weapon!”

  “He attacked me,” Preston said calmly. “I had no choice but to defend myself.”

  “Drop the gun now, Preston! He’s shackled. There’s no way he could’ve –”

  Preston turned his gun on me and smiled. I lowered my aim and squeezed the trigger. His right knee exploded.

  “You shot me you crazy bitch!” He popped off a wild shot in my general direction.

  I aimed higher and squeezed again. Fleshy bits and blood sprayed from his right shoulder. The gun clattered to the floor. I rushed into the room and kicked it away.

  “You’ll never get away with this,” Preston rasped.

  “You dumb son of a bitch. No. No, no, no, no, no!” I fumbled through the bloody mess for Datello’s pulse. I tore off my jacket and pressed it against the gaping wound. My belt followed. I snugged the thin strip of leather around Datello’s neck, seeing the light fading quickly from his eyes. I had to try to save him. After months of indecision, thinking how much better it would’ve been to simply kill him rather than seeing justice served, it came down to this – me, desperate to keep Datello alive. Probably in vain.

  “You murdered him in cold blood!” I turned my weapon on Preston again. “Who hired you to kill him? Tell me now!”

  Saul staggered through the doorway. “Jesus Christ! Oh Jesus Christ!”

  “Get someone to call an ambulance, Saul.”

  “Oh God. Oh please. Not on my watch.”

  “Saul, now!” I barked.

  He turned around and ran from the room.

  I ground the heel of my boot into Preston’s shoulder. He shrieked.

  “No mercy, you son of a bitch. Tell me who hired you to do this now and I’ll make sure the bureau doesn’t use the federal death penalty.”

  He laughed. Blood splattered his face, ejected on the force of breath from what I presumed was a collapsed lung. “You’re not as smart as everyone thinks, Eriksson. I’m dead already.”

  “Then be the coward I know you are. Don’t go down for this alone. Who hired you?”

  “Nobody,” he rasped.

  “Was it Sully Marcos?”

  He laughed again. “Not even close.”

  I pressed my boot into his shoulder harder. The hunch hit as fast as Saul’s bullet shattered Preston’s bones. “It was Sherman’s crew, wasn’t it?”

  His eyes widened.

  “Bingo. You’re not here because you cared about that baby being found. You wanted to do damage control after the fact. I hope you rot in prison, you son of a bitch.”

  The room flooded with jail guards, paramedics, gurneys and a cacophony of stress. Someone pried Saul’s gun out of my hand and bagged it for evidence. My eyes jerked over the occupants in the room and settled on Saul. I yanked away from the paramedic trying to assess if I’d been shot or if I was covered in Datello’s blood.

  I grabbed Saul’s arm. “Tell me what Preston said to Danny.”

  “I –”

  “Dammit, Becker! You will not shut down now! I need to know what he said!”

  “Not here,” he rasped.

  “I’m taking this man to another room,” I announced. “Don’t worry. Neither one of us is leaving the jail. I’d suggest you contact Commander Orion from OSI immediately.”

  Saul stumbled behind me into a room across the hall. I pushed him down into a chair and crouched in front of him.

  “Talk to me, Saul. When you came to get me, you said that Datello confessed.”

  He nodded absently. “You shot an FBI agent, Helen. They’re gonna arrest you.”

  “I doubt that very much. Let’s not forget that the same FBI agent smuggled a weapon in here, which is expressly against procedure in any jail I’ve ever visited. He proceeded to fatally shoot a prisoner and claim it was self defense. Tell me how a prisoner, with shackled wrists and ankles poses a threat to his life serious enough to warrant lethal force.”

  Saul blinked several times. “He doesn’t.”

  “I need to know what Preston said to Datello before you left the room.”

  His head shook, eyes fluttered shut. “We went in the room. First thing out of Preston’s mouth was that he was FBI, that he was sent here to do a deal.”

  That was a lie. David would’ve told me if such an offer was being made. “Go on. Did he say what the deal was?”

  Saul nodded again. “He told him that these piss ant state charges would go away if Datello admitted that he orchestrated the kidnapping, that he acted alone.”

  “And Datello fell for that crap? Even if Preston had the authority to have the charges against Danny dismissed, confessing to kidnapping carries almost as severe a penalty as that for murder.” It made no sense whatsoever.

  “I wondered about that too.” Saul rubbed his chin. “Anyway, Datello got real quiet. I figured it was more of his silent treatment, you know? All that was missing was the dinner tray for him to throw.”

  “What happened next?”

  “Datello just nods, real slow. Then he says, All right. I want guarantees. And Preston asks what sort of guarantees. So Datello says he wants his wife and kid protected, that he wants you in on the deal. If he can get that, he’ll make a full confession about how he cooked up the whole kidnapping thing. I figured that was it, you know? It was as good as a confession, but Preston says, you placed that baby with a family for a legal adoption then?”

  “Son of a bitch!” I shot up from my crouch and started pacing.

  “Datello nods. That was when Preston told me to go get you.”

  “That cagey rat. He used both of us, Saul.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that even if Preston dies, you heard Datello’s confession. You heard him say that he acted alone, that he voluntarily gave his daughter to my kidnapping suspect! He made Danny alibi Melissa Sherman and then he executed Datello after you left the room.”

  “No!” Saul whispered.

  “Oh yes, he did. And the only way out of this mess is if you don’t repeat what you said to me to anybody, Saul.
No one. Do you understand me?”

  “But… but I can’t lie!”

  “You can give me time to build an airtight case. If anybody asks you, it happened so fast. You didn’t really hear what Preston and Datello were saying. You were on the other side of the room. Their voices were low, too muffled. You’ve got a head cold, for God’s sake! Think of something they’ll believe.”

  “I can’t tell anybody?”

  “Not even Commander Orion. This is imperative, Saul. If my suspect walks, if I can’t charge her for kidnapping that baby, there’s no way I can protect Celeste and her child. If that happens, Datello dies for nothing.”

  “But what if he was telling the truth this time?”

  I pounded my chest with one fist. “I know in my heart, when Datello had the chance to do the right thing for once in his life, he did it. Right now, you’re my only witness to that fact, Saul. Unfortunately, we can’t tell anyone until I can prove that Preston is involved in this mess and just as guilty as Sherman and the ones I haven’t yet identified.”

  His hands were sweaty when I clasped them in mine. “Promise me, Saul. You’ll give me the time I need to get to the bottom of this.”

  He nodded. “I trust you, Helen.”

  Chapter 15

  Johnny maintained his sense of authority until the door closed behind Saul. He bounded across the room and buried me in his chest. Fingers dug into my sweater.

  “I’m not hurt,” I said.

  “But you could’ve been. Helen, why does this keep happening to you?”

  I snuggled as close as possible. “How was I supposed to know we were dealing with someone who had no business being an FBI agent?”

  “You had a clue,” he whispered into my hair. “I was already rushing over here when the jail called me. David warned me. He said you were talking and something happened, that I needed to get to you right away.”

  “My hero.”

  “Is there any place for me in there?”

  “I was talking about you, Johnny. This time, I’m afraid there are consequences that not even you can prevent.”

  “Shh,” he murmured. “They told me what happened. No way did Preston have just cause to shoot Datello. But at some point, you’re gonna have to tell me what happened in there.”