by Robin Mahle
“He’s gotten away with it for his entire career,” Nick added. “We still stand a good chance of someone calling in a tip. That story is about to air on every local channel. We should be prepared for the incoming calls.”
“I’ll make sure any tips are funneled through to me,” Bingham said. “What are you going to tell your people?”
Palmero looked back at Nick. “I assume they haven’t found anything, otherwise, they would’ve made contact.”
“I managed to put in a brief call to Reid about an hour ago. They were still combing through surveillance footage. Nothing yet, though.”
“State police can help us get out a BOLO,” Bingham continued. “We need to think about casting a wider net. He’s not in Charlotte anymore, I’d stake my career on it.”
“I agree,” Palmero said. “Chances are good, however, that he’s still in the state. TSA has his details. They would’ve alerted us if his ID was checked.”
“I wouldn’t discount that he might be getting help,” Nick said. “What do we know about his family?”
“That’s a good question.” Bingham pulled into the parking lot of the field office. “Let’s discuss that with the others.” She cut the engine and walked inside.
“Hey,” Palmero reached for Nick’s arm and pulled him aside. “We did everything we could out there today and so did your team.”
“I know.”
“It’s just that you look, I don’t know, pissed off or something,” Palmero added.
“I’m not pleased he slipped through our fingers if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Nah, man. It’s more than that. Look, I know we haven’t touched base in a long time, but I know who you are, and I know what kind of agent you are. What’s really going on, Scarborough?”
“I’m just trying to figure out where I fit now.”
“I’m sure it was a hell of a blow what happened with your team’s shakeup. It would set anyone to question where they stood.”
“That’s all this is.” Nick started toward the entrance as he noticed Bingham waiting for them. “I’ll tell you though, it felt good being out there today. From the sense that I didn’t feel like the world rested on my shoulders. That’s one good thing about not being the boss. I can focus on solving cases.”
“There you go.” Palmero patted him on the back. “Gotta look at the silver lining, mi amigo.”
“It’s about time,” Bingham said. “Thought you two just wanted some alone time for a minute.” A smirk played on her lips.
Inside the operations room, the rest of the team continued to sort through the city’s CCTV in hopes of picking up Bishop somewhere. When the door opened, Kate’s attention was drawn away. “You’re back.”
“And by the look on your faces, you had just about as much luck as we did,” Walsh added.
“No dice,” Palmero said as he walked inside. “But Bingham thinks it would be a good idea to toss this to the State troopers and have a BOLO issued.”
“I hate putting out something like that over the scanners,” Kate said. “All ears will be listening, including civilian. This will blow up if we do that.”
“I’m not sure we have a choice, Reid,” Bingham replied. “If Bishop leaves the state, we’re screwed. We have 24 hours, at best, if we hope to find him. After that, all bets are off. So, we can weather the storm of the media, or we can let Bishop sail on out of here and hope he’ll pop up again when there’s another disaster.”
Kate furrowed her brow. “Now there’s an idea.”
Duncan nodded. “Wait for another disaster?”
“Any flight he tries to board will be flagged,” Walsh said. “So, we stand a good chance of getting at him before he hops on a plane.”
“We do. But what you just said about another disaster means we need to establish this as his pattern of behavior. He’ll need money to travel as well. That’s where we might yet find credit card usage and purchases,” Kate replied.
“Okay, that’s all well and good,” Walsh said. “But we need to find him now. I have to agree with Bingham. The state cops need to issue a BOLO. It’s our only shot at getting to him before he skips out.”
The team turned their sights to Nick, who was the senior agent and since Fisher wasn’t around, the only boss they had.
“Let’s call Fisher and present our ideas. He’s the boss and he’ll need to make the call. Escalating this with the involvement of state police will bring significant changes in how we operate from here on out. And Bishop will know we’re on the hunt for him without a doubt,” Nick said.
“He must already know,” Kate replied.
“The cops, sure. But the FBI? Probably not.” Nick turned to Bingham. “You have a line we can jump on with everyone?”
“Sure do.” She pulled the speakerphone from the rear credenza and placed it in the center of the table.
Nick made the call.
“Fisher here.”
“Hey, it’s Scarborough. I’ve got the team here and you’re on speaker.”
“Great. What’s the word?”
“No luck on tracking down Bishop at any of the transportation areas. No airport either, which means it’s likely he’s still in the state. The idea was floated to let state police issue a BOLO.”
“Okay. It doesn’t sound to me like there’s any other choice,” Fisher replied. “Unless someone has another idea?”
“It’s Reid here. My concern is, as always, the case blowing up on social media and news feeds. The story has already aired here on local news about the murder at the EMS station. We’re fairly certain Bishop would’ve seen it somewhere.”
“And by broadcasting over the scanners that there’s a BOLO out, you think it’ll only amplify the coverage?” Fisher asked.
“It’ll become a national story and I believe he’ll go into hiding,” Kate added.
“That’s where Reid and I differ in opinion,” Bingham said. “This is Sarah Bingham.”
“Well, Bingham, tell me what your thoughts are,” Fisher replied.
“Reid is correct in that the enhanced coverage could force Bishop into hiding. I think by getting the story out there, people will know to be on the lookout for him. We need eyes, Agent Fisher. Everywhere.”
“And what are your thoughts on this, Scarborough? You’re the senior agent. I’d like to know what direction you want the team to take. Bearing in mind you have a lot of resources at your disposal currently.”
“We do. Yes.” Nick cast a glance to Kate. “There is another theory and that is Bishop would likely head to another disaster site.”
“And what if one never develops?” Fisher asked. “He’s already killed a coworker and I’ll bet if we look hard enough, we’ll find that the wrongful death suit will turn out to be a murder. We need to act now.” He paused a moment. “Bingham’s right. Take it to the state police. In the meantime, what do we know about any family he might have? Someone who might help him get from point A to point B?”
“That was our next objective,” Nick added. “We’re on that now.”
“Good. Keep on it. We need all the help we can get to find Bishop.”
“Got it,” Nick said. “We’ll keep in touch.” He ended the call and peered at the others. “There you go.”
“I’ll work with Bingham and the state police,” Palmero said. “We can still get out that BOLO tonight.”
“That’ll leave the rest of us to work on the family members Bishop might turn to.” Nick checked the time. “Palmero, you and Bingham can work with the police, but then I suggest we call it for tonight. It’s late. Too late for us to keep calling around. We’ll meet at 6am tomorrow.”
“Copy that,” Palmero said. “Looks like my field office is footing the bill for a hotel stay. I had my people arrange some rooms at the Doubletree.”
Kate walked into the hotel room with Nick closing the door behind her. She removed her coat and set it on top of her bag. “Glad I brought the overnight bag.”
“You ne
ver know where a case will lead.” Nick pulled off his coat and tie and slid off his dress shoes. “You all did good work today.”
“We didn’t get our guy,” Kate said.
“Since when does it ever happen that easily?” He reached inside the bar fridge and grabbed a bottled water. “Palmero will be happy I’m drinking an $8 bottle of water.” He smiled and gulped down most of it.
“Are there any peanuts or candy bars in there?” Kate asked. “Let’s give him a nice, fat bill at the end.” She smiled.
“You haven’t eaten,” he said.
“Neither have you.” She picked up the phone. “How about room service?” A knock sounded on the door. “That was fast. I haven’t even placed the order.”
Nick walked to the door and opened it. “Hey, man. Come in. Kate and I were just about to get room service. You want anything?”
Walsh walked inside. “Actually, I was thinking you two, myself and Duncan should huddle up downstairs at the bar for a few minutes.”
“Sure. Is everything okay?” Nick asked.
“As far as I know. I just think it’d be a good idea to come to a consensus within our team.” He looked at Kate. “You game?”
“Yeah. Of course.” Kate stepped back into her ankle boots and waited for Nick to put on his shoes.
They followed Walsh to the elevator.
“Duncan’s waiting for us already. I told her to get a drink while I fetched you two. She looked like she needed one.”
“I think we could all use one,” Nick said.
Kate shot him a look.
“It was just a joke, Kate,” he replied.
Walsh noted the uncomfortable exchange. “Well, I’m dying for a beer. I see Duncan over there.” He waved.
“I’m sorry—I didn’t…” Kate began.
“Don’t worry about it.” Nick dismissed her and caught up to Duncan. “Hey. Good work today.”
“Thanks.” She sipped on her bottle of beer. “I’m exhausted as hell, Walsh, so I hope you have a good reason for calling this little pow-wow.”
Walsh slipped into the booth while Kate sat next to Duncan.
“I think we need to present a united front,” Walsh said.
Kate’s brow creased. “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“Eva, what do you think about Bingham’s suggestion?” Walsh began.
“About the BOLO?” She shrugged. “It’s probably the right call. I mean, Cam agreed. It’s too late to change it, Levi. Palmero and Bingham are already on it.”
“I know,” Walsh added.
“Then what are you getting at?” Nick asked.
“Look, I didn’t want to upstage Palmero. This is still his investigation. And I didn’t want to say anything in front of those guys and not even Fisher until I knew more. Which I do now.”
“What is it?” Kate pressed on.
“I just got off the phone with a guy. I called in a favor and he just got back to me. He’s NSA and I asked him to run facial recognition on passports for any flights departing from the east coast in the past week.”
“That’s a big job,” Kate began. “You think Bishop took off somewhere during this supposed family emergency? The one he told his supervisor about? I thought TSA had been alerted.”
“I think he went somewhere. I asked him to check Bishop’s photo against passports that had been scanned.”
“What did your contact say?” Duncan asked.
“He said Bishop’s passport hadn’t been used in years and nothing came up as far as a driver’s license. So my friend ran the facial recognition software. He picked up a passport photo that was a 95% match to Bishop. There were a few others that weren’t nearly as close, so I said, let’s move on that one. The name on that passport was Eli Parnell.”
“Son of a bitch,” Nick said. “He got himself a fake passport probably after the lawsuit was filed because he feared other connections would be made.” He turned to Kate. “That’s why you guys haven’t found banking transactions, or credit card charges. He’s got himself a brand-new identity.”
“If your NSA contact got a match, where did he go?” Kate pressed on.
“Well, you’re never going to believe this.” Walsh eyed them as if to build the tension. “There was a hurricane that hit the Bahamas a few weeks ago.”
“Oh shit. I remember that,” Duncan said.
“Yes, ma’am. Dr. Theodore Bishop, aka Eli Parnell, flew there. I can only guess as to why.”
“Oh my God. He did the same thing there, didn’t he?” Kate asked. “We have to get in contact with the authorities there and try to make the connection. I’ll bet we’ll find more unexplained deaths.”
“This BOLO isn’t going to do much for us now, is it?” Duncan asked. “It’ll be issued for a guy who fell off the grid.”
“We need to be looking for Eli Parnell,” Kate said.
“We do, but here’s my concern,” Walsh continued. “I don’t think we can let this be known. Not yet, anyway.”
“Why?” Duncan asked. “We need everyone to keep their eyes open for him. This is Palmero’s case too.”
“Yeah, it is. Just hear me out.” Walsh raised his hand. “The media already has this story out there. Bishop knows we’re looking for a guy named Theodore Bishop. He’s already taken care of that problem. But he doesn’t know that we’re now looking for Eli Parnell. It’s our leg-up. And the only one we have at the moment. Any aliases that get out into the open will force him to either create another one, or just get the hell out of the country and hope we don’t find him.”
“I don’t like either one of those options,” Nick said.
“You and me, both, pal. We keep this inside our team, just until we can get a lead on where he might be. Look, I don’t like keeping the lead investigator in the dark any more than you guys, but we’ve got way too many fingers in this pie already. The more people who know about this, the more likely we’ll spring a leak.” Walsh looked around. “Are we in agreement?”
“Mum’s the word.” Nick raised his water glass as if to toast.
“I’ll back you, 100%, Levi,” Kate added.
“Same here. Looks like we’re all in,” Duncan said. “What about Fisher? What are you going to tell him? I don’t think it’s right to keep this from him too.”
“Give me till morning. That’s all I ask,” Walsh said.
“What’s happening in the morning?” Duncan replied.
“I need to give my contact time to scour DOT surveillance footage for Bishop. North Carolina’s transportation department collects CCTV from public transportation terminals, red light cameras, interstate cameras, all of it. If Bishop has left the state, we’ll know by morning. When I have that, I’ll call Fisher myself and give him the good word. And, we’ll let Palmero in on what we discovered. Can I count on you, Eva?”
“Always.”
“Good.” Walsh raised his hand to get the attention of the bartender. “Who’s ready for a drink?”
It felt good to be united on the decision. While Fisher hadn’t been there or known about it, Kate knew he would have agreed. Some things were best kept close to the chest. It was what made the BAU team so successful.
Drinks were ordered and a few appetizers arrived. It was a rare occasion they spent social time together and that felt good too. She’d screwed up with her response to Nick’s supposed joke. He hadn’t deserved her derisive gaze for saying something that to anyone else would have seemed completely innocent. And it lingered between them now.
But when the time had come to break up their party, Kate also knew the time had come to issue her apology. When they returned to their room, Nick hadn’t said a word. He shed his clothes and stood in only boxer shorts and walked to the bed.
“It’s late. We should get some sleep while we can,” he said.
Kate unbuttoned her blouse and slid off her dress pants and shoes. She pulled on a t-shirt and stood over him as he crawled under the covers.
“What?” His tone was quiet
, not harsh, but concerned.
“I’m sorry about earlier when Levi brought us downstairs.” She held his gaze. “The look I gave. It was—unacceptable. I silently derided you right there in front of him and I should never have done that.”
“He didn’t notice.”
“I’m not so sure.” Kate sat down on the edge of the bed while Nick pulled up and leaned against the headboard.
“You liked being out there with Palmero today, didn’t you? I could see it in your eyes when you returned. You looked—happy.”
“Yeah, I guess it felt pretty good to be out there again. It’s been months since we’ve been in the field.”
“You used to say you were tired of the legwork, the fieldwork. That was why you wanted to be at Quantico—to lead the team, not lead field investigations.”
“You’re right. I did want that. Until all the bullshit got in the way. Politics, rules.”
“There’ve always been rules, Nick. That hasn’t changed.” Kate smiled and placed her hand on his arm.
“That’s true. Maybe they just have been feeling more restrictive than usual. It was nice to be away from it all for a while.”
“Well, anyway, I guess we should call it a night.” Kate stood up and Nick placed his hand on her hip.
“I’m so proud of what you’ve become, Kate. The agent you’ve grown into. I knew it was in you. I always knew.”
Kate smiled and walked around to her side of the bed and crawled under the covers. He had known and he’d been right. She only wished she could see his path as clearly. All she could see now was Nick drifting farther and farther away.
18
The state police issued the “Be on the Lookout” warning for Dr. Theodore Bishop. Every cop in North Carolina was keeping their eyes peeled for “Dr. Death,” as they’d come to call him. It was 6am and the BAU team arrived as scheduled back at the Charlotte field office.
According to Walsh’s NSA contact, the scope of the search had taken longer than expected and had yet to yield results. Right now, they were no farther ahead on this investigation than they had been last night. The only upside was that they knew Eli Parnell was his alias.
