The FBI Thrillers Collection

by Catherine Coulter

  Franken said, “The first two Consultant episodes were shown on Tuesday night everywhere, but Wolfinger slotted them a little differently, depending on the demographics, or maybe because of it, so they’ll probably okay some more scripts. Beginning with the third one, it’s not that heavily Weldon’s work. Do you agree, Frank?”

  “You’re right,” Pauley said.

  Delion said, “Who can tell us what Weldon’s travel schedule’s been the past month?”

  “That would be Rocket Hanson. She makes all the arrangements for the writers, and for everybody else for that matter.”

  “Rocket?” Nick said. “That’s a wonderful name.”

  “Yeah, she was trying to break into films thirty years ago, thought she needed something unusual to get her through the door. It stuck.”

  Flynn said, “Has Weldon DeLoach been out of town a lot very recently?”

  Franken just shook his head. “I haven’t been working directly with him for several months now. You’ll have to speak to other folks. We e-mail a lot and speak maybe once a week if we’re not working together on a show. I heard someone say he was off to see some relatives, maybe in central California, but I’m not sure about that.”

  Dane said, “I don’t suppose the relatives are near Pasadena?”

  “I haven’t a clue. Listen, believe me, you’re wrong about Weldon. I know it looks bad, but you’re way off course here.”

  Dane asked, “What is Weldon writing now?”

  Franken said, “He’s been writing for Boston Pops for about four months now.”

  Delion looked pained.

  Franken nodded, said, “Yeah, I agree with you, Inspector. It’s a dim-witted show that has somehow caught on. Lots of boobs and white teeth, and one-liners that make even the cameraman wince. It’s embarrassing. Weldon keeps trying to sneak in some weird stuff, like some Martians landing on the Boston mayor’s lawn, just for an off-key laugh, but nobody’s buying it.”

  Frank Pauley nodded.

  They spoke to a good dozen writers. Nothing promising on any one of the group, just a bunch of really interesting men and women who didn’t have a life, as far as Dane could tell. “Oh yeah, that’s true,” one of the female writers said, laughing. “All we do is sit here and bounce ideas off each other. Lunch is brought in. Porta Pottis are brought in. Soon they’ll be bringing beds in.”

  Dane said when they were walking down Pico back to their two cars, “It’s time for a nice big meeting, mixing Feds with locals. There’s lots of folks that need very close attention.”

  Flynn nodded, saw some kids shooting baskets, took three steps toward them before he caught himself.

  FOURTEEN

  ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S

  SAN FRANCISCO

  Dane and Nick were seated in the second row in St. Bartholomew’s, Nick staring at Father Michael Joseph’s coffin, Dane staring at the wooden cross that rose high behind the nave, both waiting silently for the church to fill up and the service to begin. They’d come back from LA the previous evening for Michael’s funeral.

  It was an overcast early afternoon in San Francisco, not unusual for a winter day. It was cold enough for Dane to wear his long camel hair coat, belted at the waist. The heavens should be weeping, Father Binney had said, because Father Michael Joseph had been so cruelly, so madly, slain.

  Dane had taken Nick to Macy’s again on Union Square. In two hours flat, he’d come close to maxing out his credit card. She kept saying, “I don’t need this. I don’t. You’re making me run up a huge debt to you. Please, Dane, let’s leave. I have more than enough.”

  “Be quiet, you’ve got to have a coat. It’s cold today. You can’t go to the—”

  He broke off, just couldn’t say it, so he said finally, “You can’t go to the church without a coat.”

  She’d picked out the most inexpensive coat she could find. Dane simply put it back and handed her another one in soft wool. Then he bought her gloves and boots. Two more pair of jeans, one pair of black slacks, two nightgowns, and underwear, the only thing he didn’t help her pick out. He just stood by a mannequin that was dressed in a sinful red thong and a decorative bra, his arms crossed over his chest.

  At noon, she’d finally just stopped in the middle of the cosmetics section on the main floor. Salespeople swarmed around them. A woman was closing fast on her to squirt her with perfume, when she said, “This is enough, Dane. No more. I want to go home. I want to change. I want to go to Saint Bartholomew’s and say good-bye to Father Michael Joseph.”

  Dane, who’d never in his adult life shopped for more than eight minutes with a woman, said, “You’ve done well—so far. All that’s left is some makeup.”

  “I don’t need any makeup.”

  “You look as pale as that mannequin in lingerie, the one with the bloodred lips and that red thong that nearly gave me a heart attack. At least some lipstick.”

  “I’ll just bet you noticed how pale she was,” Nick said, and turned to the Elizabeth Arden counter.

  And so Dane found himself studying three different shades of lipstick before saying, “That one. Just a touch less red. That’s it.”

  Dane finally turned in the pew to look over his shoulder. So many people, he thought. Not just priests today, like at the wake, but many parishioners and friends whose lives Michael had touched. Archbishop Lugano and Bishop Koshlap both stopped and spoke to him, each of them placing his hand on Dane’s shoulder, to give comfort, Dane supposed. He was grateful for their caring, but the truth was he felt no comfort.

  He watched Bishop Koshlap stand over Michael’s coffin, and he knew his eyes were on Michael’s face. Then he leaned down and kissed his forehead, straightened, crossed himself, and slowly walked away, head bowed.

  Dane stared down at his shoes, wondering how well they had hidden the bullet hole through Michael’s forehead.

  Michael was gone forever, only his body lying in that casket at the front of the church. A huge sweep of white roses covered the now-closed coffin, ordered by Eloise because Michael had loved white roses. Dane hoped, prayed, that Michael knew the roses were there, that he was smiling if he could see them, that he knew how much his brother and sister, and so many people, loved him.

  But Michael wasn’t there and Dane didn’t think he could bear it. He focused on his shoes, trying not to yell his fury, his soul-deep pain out loud.

  DeBruler, DeLoach—he just couldn’t get the names out of his mind, even here, at his brother’s funeral mass. A sick joke? His anger shifted to the murderer who was somewhere down in LA, someone connected with that damned TV show. He turned when he heard his sister Eloise’s voice behind him. He rose again, kissed and hugged her, shook her husband’s hand, hugged his nephews. They sat silently in the row behind him.

  Archbishop Lugano spoke, his deep voice reaching the farthest corners of the church. He spoke spiritual, moving words, words extolling Michael’s life, his love of God, the meaning of his priesthood, but then there were the inevitable words of forgiveness, of God’s justice, and Dane wanted to shout there would never be any forgiveness for the man who killed his brother. Suddenly, he looked down to see Nick’s hand covering his, her fingers pressing down on him, smoothing out his fist, squeezing his hand. She said nothing, continued to look straight ahead. He looked quickly at her profile, saw tears rolling down her face. He drew in a deep breath and held on to her hand for dear life.

  Other priests spoke, and parishioners, including a woman who told how Father Michael Joseph had saved not only her life, but her soul. Finally, Father Binney nodded to him.

  He walked to the front of the church, past Michael’s coffin, hearing gasps of surprise throughout the church, for he was the very image of his brother. It was difficult for people to look at him and accept that he wasn’t Michael. He went up the steps to stand behind one of the pulpits. It was only then that he saw that the church was overflowing, people standing three and four deep all around the perimeter, filling the south and north transepts, even out beyo
nd the sanctuary doors.

  And Dane thought, Is the murderer out there somewhere, head bowed so people won’t see him gloat? Did he come to witness what his madness had brought about and delight in it? Dane had forgotten to say anything to Nick about keeping an eye out, just in case.

  Then he saw his friends, Savich and Sherlock. Dane felt immensely grateful. He nodded to them.

  Dane looked down at his brother’s coffin, the white roses blanketing it. He cleared his throat and fastened his gaze just over the top of Savich’s head because he just couldn’t bear to speak looking directly at anyone. He said, “My brother loved to play football. He was a wide receiver and he could catch any ball I could get in the air. I remember one of our last high-school games. We were behind, twenty to fourteen. There was only a little over a minute left in the game when we got the ball again.

  “All the fans were on their feet and we were moving down the field, me throwing passes, Michael catching them. Finally, we were on the eighteen-yard line, with only ten seconds left to play. We had to have a touchdown.

  “I threw the ball to Michael in the corner of the end zone. I don’t know how he kept a foot inbounds, but he actually caught that ball just as he was tackled hard, and he held on. He won the game, but the thing was, that hit tore up his knee.

  “He lay there, grinning up at me like a fool, knowing he’d probably never play another football game, and he said, ‘Dane, it’s okay. Sometimes the bad things don’t touch you nearly as much as the good things do. We won, you can’t get gooder than that.’ ”

  Dane’s voice broke. He vaguely heard scattered small laughs. He looked down again at the roses that covered Michael’s coffin. Then, suddenly, he felt warmth on his face, looked up, and saw that brilliant sunlight had burst through those incredible stained-glass windows. He felt the warmth of that light all the way to his bones. He said, voice firmer now, “Michael appreciated the good in everyone, rejoiced in it; he also understood that the bad was a part of the mix, and he accepted that, too. But there was one thing he wouldn’t accept, and that was evil; he knew it was here among us. He knew the stench of it, hated the immense tragedy it brought into the world. The night he was shot, he knew he was facing evil. He faced it, and the evil killed him.

  “Michael and I shared many things: Two of them were Sunday football games and tenacity.”

  Dane paused a moment, and this time he scanned all the faces around him. He said in a low voice, filled with despair and promise, “I will find the evil that destroyed my brother. I will never give up until I do.”

  There was a moment of absolute silence.

  The silence was broken by a soft popping sound. Even as slight a sound as it was, in the dead silence it echoed to every corner of the church. A man yelled, “This woman’s hurt!”

  People jerked around, trying to see what was happening.

  Nick yelled, “Oh God, it’s him, Dane! He tried to kill me! It’s him!”

  Dane saw blood streaking down her face, felt fear paralyze him for an instant. Then he raced down the steps toward Nick, as she shoved her way through bewildered knots of mourners, yelling at them, “Stop him! There, he’s wearing that black coat, that black hat. Stop him!”

  People were turning and grabbing anyone in black, but since nearly every person was wearing black, including a good three dozen priests, there was pandemonium, people shoving, people yelling, people grabbing other people. It was madness.

  Dane reached Nick, looked at the blood snaking down her face, and yelled, “Dammit, Nick. Are you all right?”

  “I’m okay, don’t worry. Just a graze, I guess. We’ve got to get him. Dane, hurry, I saw him running that way.”

  Dane thought he saw the man then, moving fast, darting around people or pushing through them, his head down, heading to the narrow side door of the church.

  Dane shoved two priests out of his way, saw the man disappear out the side door and the door swing closed again. He nearly burst with fury. The bastard had come here, to his brother’s service, probably laughing behind his hand, in madness, and triumph. And he’d tried to murder Nick.

  Dane made it to the door, shoved a good half dozen people out of his way, and threw it outward. He saw Savich, a blur, he was running so fast, saw him leap, left leg extended, smooth and easy, saw his foot strike the man’s kidney, solid and hard. The man fell forward, flailing his arms to keep his balance. He managed to fling himself about, to face his attacker, and that was a mistake. Savich hit him three times, in the neck and head. The man gasped with pain, shock on his shadowed face, went limp and dropped. Savich went down beside him, checked his pulse and yelled, “I’ve got him!”

  Dane couldn’t believe it. Neither could Delion or Nick, who now stood over the man.

  Dane said, “He’s the one, Nick?”

  “I think so,” she said. “Can you turn him over, please?”

  Savich pulled the man onto his back, got the hat off his head.

  Dane said, “This is Dillon Savich, he’s my boss at the FBI. Savich, this is Nick Jones, our only eyewitness.”

  Savich nodded. “You’d better see to that head wound she’s got. This guy’s down for the count. Go ahead, take care of her, Dane. Nice to meet you, Nick.” Savich looked up at his wife, gave her a good-sized grin. Sherlock put her hand on his shoulder. “That was rather dashing,” she said, smiling down at him. “It’s lucky you guys don’t have to wear high heels.” She punched him in the arm, looked over at Dane. “This is the maniac who killed your brother? This is the man who just shot Nick? Oh goodness, look at your face.” Sherlock pulled a handkerchief out of her jacket pocket, gave it to Dane, and watched him very gently pat Nick’s forehead. “It looks like the bullet just grazed you, but scalp wounds really bleed. What do you think, Dane? I think it’s okay, just looks really bad. I’m Sherlock.”

  Delion glanced at Nick’s face, nodded, then stared again at Savich, who was still on his haunches beside the man. He shook his head back and forth. “I don’t believe this, I just don’t believe this.” He grabbed Savich’s hand, pumped it up and down. “I always thought the Feds were pantywaists. Hey, good job.”

  Savich checked the guy’s pulse again, rose, and dusted off his suit pants. “You must be Inspector Delion. Have you called this in?”

  “Yeah, it’s done,” Delion said.

  A group of black-garbed priests were pressing in, Archbishop Lugano at their head. He said in a voice that carried nearly to California Street, “I have a cousin who’s in the DEA. She’s not a pantywaist either. Well done, sir, thank you.”

  Savich merely nodded. “Dane, get the blood out of Nick’s eyes and see if she can identify this bozo.”

  Dane stared at the narrow furrow the bullet had made at her hairline just above her temple. It was still bleeding sluggishly. He pulled away Sherlock’s handkerchief and took out his own, folded it up, and said, “Nick, press this hard against the wound. We’ll get you to a doctor in a minute.”

  “Let me take another look at the guy, Dane.” She was still breathing hard, and there was rage in her eyes as she looked down at the unconscious man who was Father Michael Joseph’s murderer. She said, “I was sitting there, listening to you, and then the light came through that stained-glass window and I knew I was going to cry. I bowed my head; then in the very next instant I felt this shock of heat on my face. I looked up and saw the light from that window was shining directly down on that man. I saw him looking at me, and then I knew, just knew.”

  Delion was searching his pockets. “No gun. Well, it’s got to be around here somewhere.” He called over two uniformed officers who had just arrived and told them to start the search.

  The man groaned, tried to pull himself up onto his knees. One of the officers grabbed his left arm, another grabbed his right. They cuffed him and hauled him toward a police car at the curb.

  Dane said, “Look at this crowd. How are we ever going to find that gun?”

  “I think perhaps I can help,” Bishop Koshlap said.
He flung back his head and yelled, “Everyone please listen to me. There is a gun somewhere to be found. Please help our priests form search groups. If any of you saw this man shoot this woman, please step forward.”

  Dane watched all those people, at least four hundred of them, grow silent and calm because the bishop himself had given them a task, a task that really mattered. He saw Archbishop Lugano speak to the priests, saw them divvy up the crowd and set to work. Dane looked down at Nick, frowned, and took back his folded handkerchief to press it himself against Nick’s face. “You weren’t pressing directly on the gash. You’re still bleeding. But no matter, it’s nearly stopped. I can see it’s not bad, thank God.

  “You know what, Nick? My brother would have been very pleased about this.”

  Savich said to Delion, “I’m not so sure there’s a gun to find. If I were the shooter, I’d have another guy here so I could hand the gun off to him.”

  Delion knew he was right, but they had to look, just in case. “Yeah, I know.” He heard sirens, and quickly went to Nick. “The paramedics are nearly here. You can bet the media will be right behind them. I want you to go with the paramedics back to Bryant Street. The last thing we need is photos of you in the Chronicle. We’ll meet you there.”

  “But Dane, I’ve got to go with him to the cemetery.”

  Dane said, “It’s okay, Nick. Delion’s right. If the media see you, it will be a nightmare. I’ll see you back at the police station.” He paused just a brief moment, lightly touched his fingertips to the wound on her forehead. “I’m sorry.”

  FIFTEEN

  When Delion called a halt to the search, all the mourners formed a car processional that wound a mile to the west, to the Golden Gate Cemetery. The sun was shining, although the day remained cold, and there was the heavy scent of the ocean in the air. Dane looked down at the rich earth that now covered his brother’s grave and said, “We just might have gotten him, Michael. I pray that you know that.” He stood there a moment longer, staring down at the mound of earth that covered his brother’s body. Michael was gone and he would never hear him laugh again, hear him tell about the drunk guy who tried to steal the bishop’s miter and ended up hiding in a confessional.