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Metzger smiled. "I'm not talking about trial. I'm talking about unwarranted gathering of information as part of an investigation."
Laurel blinked. She said nothing.
He whispered, "You see? We both interpret, we judge, we make decisions. We live in a gray world."
"You want another quotation, Shreve? Blackstone: 'Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.' That's what my system does, makes sure the innocent don't end up as victims. Yours doesn't." She fished her keys from her battered purse. "I'm going to keep watching you."
"Then I'll look forward to seeing you in court, Counselor."
He turned and walked back to his car. He sat, calming, in the front seat, not looking back. Breathing.
Let it go.
Five minutes later he started at his phone's buzz. He noted Ruth's number on caller ID.
"Hi, there."
"Uhm, Shreve. I heard. Is it true about Spencer?"
"Afraid it is. I'll tell you more later. I don't want to talk on an open line."
"Okay. But that's not why I called. We heard from Washington."
The Wizard.
"He wanted to schedule a call with you for tomorrow afternoon."
Didn't firing squads gather at dawn?
"That's fine," he said. "Send me the details." He stretched. A joint popped. "Say, Ruth?"
"Yes?"
"What did he sound like?"
There was a pause. "He...It wasn't so good, I don't think, Shreve."
"Okay, Ruth. Thank you."
He disconnected and looked out over the busy crime scene at Spencer Boston's house. The sour chemical vapors still lingered, surrounding the Colonial home and the grounds.
Smoke...
So that was it. Whether Moreno was guilty or not was irrelevant; Washington now had plenty of reason to disband NIOS. Metzger had picked for his administrations director a whistleblower, and for his defense contractor a corrupt CEO who'd ordered people tortured and killed.
This was the end.
Metzger sighed and put the car in gear, thinking: Sorry, America. I did the best I could.
SATURDAY, MAY 20
VII
MESSAGES
CHAPTER 93
AT NINE ON SATURDAY MORNING Lincoln Rhyme was maneuvering through the lab and dictating the evidence report to back up the Walker trial and the Swann plea agreement.
