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“And it makes us better,” Vince said, his eyes on his wife. She grinned and knocked on her prostheses.
Lunch was over in short order and Rachel approached the Senator. “Sir, I need a few minutes of your time.”
He nodded and followed her and Gavin into their room then sat in a chair at the table. Rachel explained about the video clips. “I found some more tags this morning and have a couple more pictures ready for you. There is one still in the enhancement program, but it should be finished in a few minutes.”
He looked at her. “I didn’t think you were the computer whiz.”
Gavin smiled, “She’s a quick study, Senator.” He watched the pleasure wash across Rachel’s face and her confidence show through. She opened the laptop and said, “I may be able to identify some of the men and women in the clips, but you know them all.” When the Senator arched a brow at her she grinned at him. “You can take the soldier out of the war, but you can’t make him stop surveilling.”
Gavin watched as they sat close and looked at each clip. The Senator named each individual, six men and two women. It turned out one of the tags Rachel had found that morning was a woman in an office talking on her phone.
She sighed. “So, we have eight, probably nine suspects. How are we going to narrow this down?” She looked at both men.
The Senator frowned in thought. “Do you have a printout of the conversations? The tags?”
“No but we can get one,” Rachel said and brightened. “The context. We have to look at the whole conversation to get the context.” She sobered. “That’s a lot of reading.”
“Yep.” The Senator said and stood. “I’m going to see what’s on my agenda this afternoon. I know I have two virtual meetings, but I can work with you in between.”
She shook her head then stopped when he held up a hand. “I want to do this, Payne. I need to do something other than spin my wheels on this matter.”
Gavin watched as she accepted his assistance and walked him to the door. She cared about the older man, it was clear. In the short period of time she’d been working for Senator Mitchell, she’d gained affection for him. The wrong thing to do when you were a security agent, he thought before turning his attention back to the code decryption program.
The day drifted by on notes of shuffling paper, tapping computer keys, and the occasional scrape of a chair when one of them stood to go to the bathroom or get coffee. Again, the mugs at their side fueled them as much as the need to solve their respective puzzles. When the Senator came in with a small side chair, Rachel glanced up. He set it down near the table and gestured to it. "Have a seat."
She frowned at him. “I’m fine where I am, Senator.”
He glanced at the room. Other than the round glass-topped table they’d appropriated and pulled to the middle of the room and the chairs they’d also pulled from the walls where they normally rested, the large bay windowed room was filled with little more than plants Mrs. Finch fussed over. The solarium, as she liked to call it, was probably meant to be a second office or study, Rachel mused, but it had been appropriated by the plants.
“I’ve sat in that chair before,” the Senator gestured toward her seat, an antique side chair more suitable for women in long dresses with embroidery hoops. “And I know how comfortable it is.” He gestured toward the small upholstered chair he’d carted in. “Sit.”
She made a face and moved to the padded chair, almost sighing when she lowered into it. It was vastly more comfortable. Her rear end was almost numb from the upright position the antique chair put her in. “Thanks.”
They divided the stack of transcripts and settled in to read. After a minute the Senator looked up in confusion. “Why are you in this room, anyway?”
Gavin, finally coming up for air, answered. “It was out of the way and quiet.”
“And inconvenient,” Senator Mitchell finished. “You can use the office, you know.”
“Sir, with all due respect, you use that office,” Rachel said and continued. “This room has served us well.” She didn’t look at Gavin but knew he didn’t want to change rooms any more than she did. This room, this jungle room, wastheirroom.
Mitchell shrugged and shifted in his chair then started reading again. Typing, pages rustling, and mutters from the three of them as they tried to make sense of the conundrum before them filled the room for a while.
When the Senator cursed and stood, Rachel jumped, her papers falling to the floor. ”What?”
“That bastard. I’m going to string him up by his— feet,” the Senator finished after a glance at Rachel. “It’s Pritchard.”
Pritchard, Pritchard. Rachel went to the Senator and held out her hand, Gavin at her side. They read the conversation together. “He’s digging deeper. I don’t care what you’re paying me, it’s not enough. No, I don’t want to know. Yeah, I’ll get it into his office.”
Rachel looked at Gavin, “The envelope.”
“Looks like it.” He said, his eyes still on the conversation. “What time stamp was this?”
She flipped through the paper. “The day before the poisoning.”
"It could be something else he was supposed to deliver, or someone else's office," Gavin said.
“It could be, but I’d bet my right—hand that it isn’t,” the Senator said, his color high.
