A Killer Past

by Maris Soule

  ‘What happened?’ Wally asked, frowning slightly as he studied Jack. ‘You look …’ He paused, as though searching for the right word. ‘Upset.’

  ‘I am.’ More than Jack liked to admit. ‘I met someone today. A man. He identified himself as Agent David Burrows, of the Department of Special Forces. He …’ How to explain? ‘I think he threatened me.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  Jack wasn’t sure he could explain why he’d felt threatened. More than the words, it was the tone of Burrows’ voice, his posture … the look in his eyes. ‘He told me to stop checking into Mary Harrington’s background. Said if I didn’t, my actions could have consequences.’

  ‘Hmm.’

  Jack could tell Wally didn’t understand. ‘It was more than what he said. He …’ Jack groped for a way to describe his fear. ‘I had the feeling …’ His legs were shaking now, and he didn’t like it. ‘I had the feeling he wouldn’t think twice about killing me.’

  ‘Hey, come on now, Jack. You’ve met guys like that before.’

  ‘Not like this one.’ He shook his head and gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I am making this guy into something more than he was. I just can’t describe the look in this guy’s eyes or how he made me feel.’

  ‘But he’s one of the good guys, right?’ Wally said. ‘An agent from the Department of…?’

  ‘Department of Special Forces.’

  ‘Can’t say I’ve heard of that one.’

  ‘I said the same thing. He said they keep a low profile, and the badge and credentials he showed me did look official. I asked if Mrs Harrington had been a member of that organization when she was younger. He said no, but it was after that he told me to back off my investigation.’

  ‘Do you think this Burrows guy had anything to do with breaking into her house last night?’

  ‘No. I got the feeling he just arrived in Rivershore today.’ Jack remembered one thing. ‘He said the article about her that appeared in the Gazette was now on the Internet, and that seemed to bother her.’

  ‘Well, you already wondered if she was in the Witness Protection Program, so that makes sense. Maybe this Department of Special Forces is part of the US Marshals Service. I’ll look into it, see what I can find out. OK?’ He looked Jack straight in the eyes. ‘You going to be all right?’

  ‘Yeah, sure.’ Jack stood. He did feel better. ‘Guess I just don’t like people threatening me.’

  ‘Well, no matter what agency he’s from, he’d better not break any laws around here, or he’ll be suffering the consequences. Right, Jack?’

  ‘Right,’ Jack agreed and left the chief’s office, deciding he, too, would learn what he could about the Department of Special Forces.

  ‘I shouldn’t have let the boy live,’ Mary said. ‘But I just couldn’t …’

  Burrows nodded and glanced at her coffee maker. ‘Fix me a coffee?’

  ‘Sure.’ She turned on the machine and grabbed a mug from the cupboard. ‘You take anything in it?’

  ‘No, black as usual. And yes …’ He pointed at her bags of groceries. ‘You’d better put anything perishable away.’

  As the water in the machine heated, Mary grabbed the milk and eggs she’d purchased and placed them in the refrigerator. David continued talking. ‘You shouldn’t have had to decide between letting the boy live or die. Research screwed up, you didn’t. Dario Mendez’s girlfriend had no children.’

  ‘I know, and if I’d realized there was a child, I never would have killed that woman. But by the time the boy came into the house, it was too late.’

  ‘I’ll be honest,’ David said as she placed a package of pork chops in the freezer, ‘for a while I thought you did it on purpose, pretended you’d been given the wrong address. After all, you’d told me more than once that you wanted out but didn’t think they’d ever let you out alive.’

  Mary faced him. ‘I did not kill that woman on purpose.’

  He raised a hand in defense. ‘I know, I know. I’ve checked the records. It was clearly a clerical error, not yours.’

  ‘You’re in administration now?’ She grabbed the package of chicken thighs she’d purchased. She’d been going to divide the thighs up, freeze some and keep two out for her dinner. She placed the entire package in the refrigerator.

  ‘I’m now the director.’

  ‘Really?’ Again she faced him. ‘What about Carl?’

  ‘He died ten years ago.’

  She should have known that, she guessed. Ten years ago Carl would have been in his late eighties. Nevertheless, hearing her friend and mentor was no longer around saddened her. ‘I owe my life to him, you know,’ she said. ‘Both the life I had at ADEC and my life here in Rivershore. Carl was the one who recruited me, and the one who convinced them to release me and give me a new identity.’

  ‘We all knew you were his favorite. And I’ll be honest, not everyone in the agency agreed with his decision to give you a new identity, which is probably why he was so secretive about where you went and what name you were using.’ David glanced out her kitchen window. ‘So, have you been happy here?’

  She didn’t hesitate to answer. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Really?’ The lift of his eyebrow expressed his disbelief.

  She smiled and went back to the coffee machine. ‘It’s the truth,’ she said, and placed a new single cup in its holder before pressing a button to start the process.

  ‘I’ve driven around this town, Pan. It’s Nowheresville. How could you switch from the glamour of running with the jet set to here?’

  ‘How?’ She leaned back against the counter as the coffee maker did its thing. ‘It was a little difficult at first. For a time I did miss going to fancy restaurants, wearing beautiful clothes, and meeting exciting people. I even missed the adventure of luring a victim into my web. But then I’d remember that gut-wrenching fear of getting caught and the sickening feelings I had after eliminating the target. It got so I didn’t like being a weapon of destruction.’

  ‘We destroy those who destroy others.’

  ‘Now, that’s a good motto.’ She handed him his coffee. ‘Have you used that with those senators?’

  He chuckled. ‘Those pompous asses would have a fit if they discovered how we go about “controlling the environment.”’ Yet I’ve never heard one of our law-abiding politicians complain when an autocratic tyrant meets an unexpected death.’

  ‘Speaking of which, I actually thought ADEC had been disbanded when Bin Laden wasn’t eliminated after 9/11.’

  David groaned and shook his head. ‘I can’t tell you how many times we could have taken that man out, how the CIA could have eliminated him, even before 9/11. Blame it on the President. He’s the one who interfered. And blame it on all the secret pacts we have with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and half the Middle East. We had agents who could have infiltrated Osama’s inner circle. We could have saved the lives of those people in the Twin Towers, but no. The President wouldn’t give the order, and the man who took over Carl’s place was a wimp.’

  ‘Now he’s no longer director, you are. So what happened to him?’

  ‘Accidental death,’ David said and smiled.

  Mary understood

  ‘And if those Navy Seals hadn’t taken Bin Laden out when they did, he would have also had an accidental death. We were that close.’ David held his thumb and forefinger a millimeter apart. ‘But back to you. All these years, you’ve never used your training?’

  ‘I’ve never had to … until those punks tried to take my purse.’ She put another mug under the spout and activated the machine for hot water. ‘It was when the taller one started to get pushy. I don’t know. I just sort of went into automatic mode.’

  ‘That’s what they trained us to do. So what do we do with that detective?’

  ‘I was hoping he’d get tired of trying to find out about my past, especially if nothing else occurred to make him want to know more. And he might have, but those gang members seem to be looking for reven
ge, which keeps bringing him back to me.’ She sat across from her long-ago partner, and wondered how he would eliminate her.

  ‘You know,’ she finally said, ‘I understand doing that interview was a mistake, and that I’m now a liability to the agency. I appreciate that you came personally, didn’t send someone I didn’t know, and I’ve been thinking … probably the best way to kill me would be to push me down the stairs.’

  Burrows started to interrupt, but she stopped him. ‘No, I’m serious, David. When Rossini first interviewed me about those two gang members, I told him I fell down the stairs, and that’s how I ended up with bruises on my arm and leg. If you make it look like an accident, he’ll think I was telling the truth, and he’ll drop his investigation into my past. He …’

  ‘Pandora, stop,’ Burrows ordered. ‘I am not going to push you down the stairs. Now, that detective said your house was broken into but nothing was taken. Is that true?’

  ‘That’s what I told the police, but something was. I didn’t realize it at first, but soon after I arrived home, I received a phone call. I didn’t recognize the voice, but it was male. He gave no name, simply said, “Are you missing anything?” And then he added, “I have it,” and hung up.’

  ‘You’re sure you didn’t recognize the voice?’

  ‘No, it was muffled.’

  ‘So what did he take?’

  ‘My nunchuck. The one with the dragon carving. I’d been practicing with it while waiting for my neighbor to pick me up for a meeting. I lost track of the time, so when I heard her honk, I simply put it back in the box, put the cover on, and left it here, where I always sit.’ She pointed to the placemat in front of her. ‘After that phone call, I realized the box had been moved, and the nunchuck was missing.’

  David leaned back in his chair. ‘Dubois has had martial arts training.’

  ‘You think he’s here, then? Here in Rivershore?’

  ‘It’s certainly a possibility. Are you still as good as you used to be with the nunchuck?’

  Mary chuckled. ‘Not hardly.’ She pulled up the right pant leg of her black trousers and showed him her bruises. ‘I’ve hit myself twice now. I need one of those foam nunchucks.’

  He smiled. ‘You were always so cocky, so sure of yourself with that weapon.’

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t want to have to defend myself with one now.’ An event that would never occur, since she no longer possessed a nunchuck. ‘Why do you think he took it? Just to scare me? To let me know he’s here, in Rivershore?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘If he goes to the police … tells them about me …’

  David nodded. ‘It would be bad for both you and the agency, especially if any of what you’ve done in the past got back to that congressional committee.’

  ‘I should have killed him.’ Her past had caught up with her. ‘So what do we do?’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  JACK IGNORED THE blinking message light on his phone and decided he would call Ella Williams later. While it was fresh on his mind, he wanted to learn what he could about the Department of Special Forces. He started by going on the Internet.

  He found sites for Special Forces in the armed services, and there was a Department of Special Operations, formed after World War II, but that had morphed into the CIA, and Jack knew Agent David Burrows’ ID and badge weren’t CIA. Some metropolitan police departments had departments of special forces. Again, that wasn’t what Burrows’ ID or badge had indicated.

  After checking several sites, Jack logged off. Either the DSF didn’t exist or its existence was highly classified. He considered calling his son, and asking him if he knew anything about a Department of Special Forces, then decided not to. He’d gotten John into enough trouble by asking him to investigate Mary Harrington’s past. No sense in jeopardizing his son’s job. And maybe the chief would come up with something. Meanwhile, the Rivershore Police Department had other cases he should be working on, including following up on the break-in at Mary Harrington’s house.

  While Jack had been looking for information on the Internet, Phil Carlson had returned to the station. He was now at his desk, typing at his computer, and Jack went over to see him. ‘You talked to Mrs Harrington’s neighbors?’

  Phil stopped typing and looked away from the monitor as Jack took the chair next to his desk. ‘Just writing up my report now.’

  ‘Anyone see anything?’

  ‘No. Seems most of them were at the meeting last night. Talking to them this morning did give me a chance to reinforce the sort of information we need when they call in, but no one could tell me anything today. Not one noticed any unusual activity before leaving for the meeting or after returning home… . That is, up until Jennifer and Stewart responded to Mrs Harrington’s 911 call.’

  ‘Do you think there actually was a break-in?’ Jack was sure Mary Harrington had lied about her involvement with the two teenagers, and he considered her extremely bright, but the woman was seventy-four, and maybe she wasn’t as calm and collected as he’d thought. Maybe simply attending a Neighborhood Watch meeting had made her so nervous she thought someone had broken into her house.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Phil said. ‘When I stopped at her place, her first comment was, since nothing was taken, there was no sense in us wasting our time with her. Only after I convinced her that we had to follow up on the case did she take me into her garage. Seems, when I arrived, she was in the process of nailing the garage door shut. So I looked around, and there were marks on the bottom of the door that might have indicated a crowbar or tire iron was recently used to pry it open. However, I also saw other, similar marks on the door, not just the one set, and she admitted that she herself had pried the door open a few times. She said she rarely parks her car in the garage because the door is so hard to open and close.’

  ‘No automatic door opener?’

  ‘Broken, according to her. She said her son is supposed to fix it.’ Phil chuckled. ‘She seemed a little put out that he hasn’t.’

  ‘So this person or persons pried open the garage door and walked into her house? No lock on the inside door to her house?’

  ‘She said she remembered locking that door, but she couldn’t remember if she turned the deadbolt. If she didn’t, a credit card could have sprung the door’s lock.’

  ‘How about fingerprints?’ There should be some on the doorknob or the door jamb. Hers, at least.

  Phil shook his head. ‘Stewart dusted for fingerprints on both the garage door and inside door and didn’t find any. Not one. Not even hers. And …’ Phil lifted a finger to make a point. ‘She refused to have her fingerprints taken.’

  ‘Darn.’ Jack had been hoping they would get her fingerprints. A fingerprint might have given him a connection to her past. ‘She say why?’

  ‘I guess she told Stewart there was no need for him to have her prints since it was obvious that the person who entered her house either wore gloves or wiped the areas he touched clean. Jennifer’s report stated that once they assured Mrs Harrington there was no one in the house, she wasn’t all that cooperative. Talking to her this morning, I felt the same way. I have a feeling she wouldn’t have made that 911 call if she hadn’t been afraid to go down into the basement.’

  ‘So she does have a weakness.’ He’d begun to wonder if Mary Harrington was some sort of wonder woman, capable of beating up gang members, and escaping from unwanted suitors.

  ‘Well, keep me posted.’ Jack pushed himself up from the chair, then paused. ‘You ever hear of a Department of Special Forces?’

  ‘You mean like Special Ops?’

  ‘No, something like the FBI or CIA. Some kind of government bureaucracy.’

  ‘Can’t say I have. Why?’

  ‘I met someone today who said he worked for the Department of Special Forces, but I can’t find any record of such a department.’

  Phil grinned. ‘Maybe it’s like the NSA. No Such Agency.’

  ‘I’m beginning to think so.’

 
‘Call for you, Jack,’ Allison yelled from the reception area. ‘It’s that Williams woman again. I’m switching it to your line.’

  The phone on his desk began ringing, and Jack hurried over to pick up the receiver. ‘Sergeant Rossini,’ he said and eased down onto his chair.

  ‘There’s a car,’ a woman whispered. ‘Parked across the street.’

  ‘Speak up, Mrs Williams. I can barely hear you.’

  ‘There’s a car,’ she said just slightly louder. ‘A white car. And earlier there was another car, one of those SUVs. I think it was blue. A dark blue. Or maybe black.’

  ‘Yes.’ Jack was beginning to get the picture. ‘Is there someone in the house with you, Mrs Williams? Someone who you don’t want hearing what you’re saying?’

  ‘No.’ She paused. ‘Just my cats.’

  ‘Then you can speak in a normal voice, Mrs Williams. You don’t need to whisper.’

  ‘Oh,’ she said, her voice rising. ‘I just thought … that is … when I saw …’

  Jack wasn’t sure she would ever finish a sentence and decided to interrupt. ‘About this white car. Is there something you wanted to tell me?’

  ‘Well, yes. You told us to call if there was anything suspicious. Well, this car is. Suspicious, that is. I mean, a man got out of it some time ago and met up with a man driving the other car … the blue one … or maybe it was black. And then Mary came home … Mrs Harrington, that is. Mary—’

  ‘Yes, I know. I was the other man,’ Jack said, again interrupting her.

  ‘You were?’ Ella Williams was silent for a long pause before she went on. ‘So you know about the car … cars?’

  ‘Yes, one was my car. I drive an unmarked blue Durango.’

  ‘Oh. So you know about the white car … and the man.’

  ‘I know a little,’ he said, wishing he knew more. ‘What can you tell me? Is the car still there?’

  ‘Yes. He went inside with Mary … with Mrs Harrington when the other man … that is, when you … when you left, and …’ Again she paused and whispered, ‘he’s still inside with her.’