by David Lender
The other man who approached Dani was taller and skinnier, with watery eyes. “I’m Agent Wilson. FBI.” He flipped open a wallet-sized case and showed her a badge.
Dani felt her mouth move but no sound came out. She realized she was clutching the desk behind her as hard as she could with both hands.
“Tell us what happened,” Wilson said.
Dani cleared her throat. “I was waiting in my office for my appointment with Dr. Maguire when I heard a commotion on the stairs and then he ran in. His face was white and he was bleeding. He grabbed me and then pushed me away just as—” Dani heard the tremor in her voice, realized she was spewing words and took a deep breath to slow herself down, “—another man came in with a gun and shot him in the back.” The horror of it come back to her. My God. She’d actually seen a man murdered in front of her.
Wilson didn’t show any reaction, just stood looking at her through those watery eyes.
Dani went on. “Then the man bent over and started poking around in Dr. Maguire’s pockets. At that point someone yelled ‘freeze’ or something from across the hall, and I saw a policeman with his gun outstretched, and then the policeman went down when the man shot him and I dove under my desk and heard three or four more shots. When I looked up the man with the gun was gone and the policeman was laying face down.”
Wilson seemed to be waiting for Dani to go on. When she didn’t, he said, “You said Dr. Maguire. Do you know him?”
“No, but we had an appointment, and I’ve been talking to him on the phone for some time to set up a meeting.”
“You sure it’s him?”
Dani paused. Actually, she wasn’t. “I assume it’s him.”
The man looked down at Dani’s hands.
“How’d you get blood on you?” Dani looked down at her hands and noticed they were bloody. Her blazer, too. “I told you. The man grabbed me and almost fell over on me, then shoved me aside.”
“You just called him ‘the man,’ not ‘Dr. Maguire.’” Wilson said, still observing her with no expression.
“I already told you, I assume it was Dr. Maguire.”
“Listen, we need you to cooperate.”
Huh? Now Dani was annoyed. She felt her fingernails scraping the underside of the desk behind her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
The short man finished going through Maguire’s pockets. He looked up at Wilson and shook his head. “He’s got a knife wound in his back,” the short man said.
Wilson nodded, then looked at Dani. “You’re not giving us anything,” he said.
Dani just stared at him. Now she was angry. Was this guy just dense, or was he fishing for something in particular?
Wilson said, “You expect us to believe this man, Maguire—Dr. David Maguire, a senior research biologist at Pharma International—comes in here dying with a knife wound in his back to speak to you or give you something, and you don’t know him?”
“I don’t expect anything. You asked me what happened, and I’m telling you.”
“Why did he come here?”
“I told you. I’ve been calling about an interview, and he wanted to meet me first.”
“That’s all?”
Dani decided she didn’t want to tell Wilson she believed that there might have been something more on Maguire’s mind than that. She shrugged.
Wilson said, “Who set up the meeting?”
“He did.”
“Who introduced you? You obviously had a reason to talk to him, and you didn’t call him out of the blue.”
“I was introduced through a friend of his. John McCloskey.”
“That KellerDorne guy? The whistleblower?”
This was getting weird. She realized that it was strange that the FBI was probing her about Dr. Maguire even before the homicide cops showed up. And this guy, Wilson, knew who John McCloskey was with no prompting. Not exactly a household name. And how did he refer to Maguire? A research analyst at Pharma. How would he know that?
Wilson said, “What did he give you?”
She leveled her eyes at him. No way she was telling. “Nothing.”
At that moment two more men in suits appeared at the top of the stairs, followed by six or eight more, some with bulky cases, some uniformed cops. Wilson turned to them. “She’s all yours, fellas. We’re done here.” The partners left.
The two suits who just arrived looked at each other as if in confusion. They turned their backs to Dani and spoke to the uniformed cop, the one who arrived first, for a few moments. Yes, something really odd was going on. She got the idea that these cops had no clue who the FBI guys were, or why they were here. If they really were FBI.
She put her hand into her blazer pocket and felt the USB flash memory drive. It had to be why Maguire wanted to see her. She remembered that he said something to her about “being on the right side.” She eyed the men talking to each other in front of her and decided that until she figured out what was going on, she’d keep her mouth shut about it.
