Page 121 of The Devil's Advocate

Bloch opened the door and the man in the kitchen took off his panama hat and said, ‘I was wondering when you were going to come in.’

Bloch kept Maggie pointed at the guy as she stepped further inside.

Then she recognized him, and the relief blew out of her body in one big exhalation, her shoulders sagged, and she lowered the gun.

‘Mr. Berlin,’ said Bloch. ‘I didn’t recognize you without the—’

‘Coat? Yes, it’s become something of a costume these days.’

‘Eddie said you were going to update the FBI. We weren’t expecting you.’

‘It has gotten to the stage where my involvement has become unavoidable, Miss Bloch. I take it you tailed me from that office the White Camelia were using?’

‘Yeah, I—’

‘I’ve been watching this house. I saw a man in a baseball hat enter through the front door, and I went around back. He took two shots at me from the kitchen floor. One I caught in the vest, and the other damn near took my head off. He ran out through the front door. I checked the property, and then I went back to their office. Come on over here, take a look at this.’

Bloch joined Berlin in the living room, saw a laptop open and the plans of the governor’s mansion sitting on the coffee table. The front door opened and Bloch reached for her weapon, but Berlin held up a hand, telling her to relax. A blond-haired man walked in wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie. He wore sunglasses and no expression.

‘This is Mr. Anderson,’ said Berlin. ‘From Homeland Security. He’s my driver.’

Anderson nodded.

Bloch nodded back, then turned her attention to the plans.

‘Did you take those plans from their office?’ she asked.

‘No, the man in the baseball hat left them here. That’s why I went back to the office and checked. They’ve cleaned that place out. The plans have been left here. And this laptop. Look …’

He ran a finger over the touchpad, bringing the laptop to life. Bloch leaned over and saw a chat forum open. She skim-read the title of the forum and a couple of comments. It was a radical-left chat room, discussing planned protests, attacks on hard-right action groups and what Antifa could do to help.

‘What is this?’ she asked.

‘This has been planted here, Miss Bloch, to make it look as if Francis Edwards has been radicalized by communist radicals.’

‘Radicalized? Why?’

No sooner had she asked the question, than the answer came to her. She took out her cell phone, called Eddie.

‘Eddie, I’m at Francis Edwards’s house with Berlin,’ she said, and then told him what happened to Berlin, and what he had found. Eddie was always quick on the take. She didn’t need to spell it out.

‘We’ve been asking ourselves the wrong question about this case,’ he said. ‘We’ve been wondering why anyone would target Skylar Edwards. Jesus, Skylar wasn’t the target. The target was Francis. But why? Why him?’

‘Because of his job,’ said Bloch.

‘A truck driver?’ asked Eddie.

‘No,’ said Bloch. ‘He’s not a freelance driver, and he doesn’t work for a haulage firm. He works for Solant Chemicals.’

There was silence on the phone.

Berlin gestured to Bloch, asking to speak to Eddie.

‘It’s me,’ said Berlin. ‘I’ve contacted Solant Chemicals. Francis showed up for work today, for the first time in months, and went out with a load. I asked them where the truck was right now, and they said he’d disabled the tracking device. I don’t want to put out an APB because I don’t know who in local law enforcement I can trust. Not yet. I’ve contacted the Governor’s Office and they’re already on high alert. I’ve got FBI and Homeland Security in helicopters looking for the truck.’

Eddie said something, but Bloch couldn’t hear it. She didn’t need to. It was the same question she would’ve asked.

What’s on the truck?