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“Find Tommy’s killer.”
“Regan—you’re swimming in rough waters. Grant is missing. His girlfriend is dead. If you’re right—”
“I am right.”
“Then you really have to be careful here. The FBI has their bone, they’re going to push on Valera and he probably has something illegal going on. Pedophiles like him don’t change. So the FBI is going to be all over that, and they want to believe he killed Tommy.”
“And they will be wrong. Again. Something big is going on. Either the FBI is incompetent or they’re corrupt. They got the wrong guy. Tommy was bringing in evidence related to Chase’s murder and that evidence is missing. Was Tommy’s laptop and phone found with Valera?”
“O’Dare didn’t say.”
Too easy, too convenient. Diverting the FBI’s attention away from other avenues.
Just like Adam Hannigan’s murder. He was a convenient scapegoat, had motive—chalk it up to revenge. And never look beyond the obvious.
“Did you get anything from the security cameras at the maintenance lot? When the men who followed me trashed my rental car?”
While there had been no plates on the first vehicle that had followed Regan, she had caught a glimpse of a rear plate on the second.
“Swapped plates—assigned to a different make and model. I’m asking the team here to track them down, talk to who they’re registered to, find out when they could have been switched, but we don’t have the resources to get this done quickly. I want to pass them along to the FBI.”
“Maybe you should.”
“O’Dare isn’t going to be happy.”
“Her joy is not my concern.”
“I have one good image of the passenger, at least in profile. I’ll send it to you. Not excellent—he was wearing sunglasses—but he has a distinctive mark, either a birthmark or scar right above his collar.”
“That’s better than a sharp stick in the eye,” she muttered. “Thanks, Charlie. I know I’m asking a lot.”
“Tommy was my friend, too—as well as my boss. I’m worried about you right now. Let’s say the FBI is wrong—”
“I can buy into that.”
She heard Charlie snicker. “Okay,” he said, “the premise is that they are wrong and you are right. Hannigan was hired to kill Grant. Chase was an innocent bystander. Now—look at the fallout. Hannigan is dead. Tommy is dead. Grant’s girlfriend is dead. Grant is missing. A child molester is being framed. What does that tell you?”
She wasn’t certain what Charlie was getting at. When she didn’t respond, he continued. “It tells me that someone with a lot of money and human resources is working hard to hide the truth about Chase’s murder. Or—Chase’s murder and Michael Hannigan’s motivation behind the bank robbery. If they don’t care about killing a kid or a US marshal, they’re not going to care about killing anyone. Including you.”
“I need to tread carefully. Got it. Have you heard anything from Detective Quincy? Anything about Grant? I’ve put feelers out, but so far—silence.”
“Nothing,” Charlie said.
The fact that his body hadn’t been found overnight was a good sign: he might still be alive. But being alive had its downsides, too: it also made him appear more guilty.
“Hold on,” Charlie said. “Lee’s calling.” He didn’t wait for Regan’s assent before putting her on hold, but she didn’t care.
Lee Penitentiary. Where Peter Grey was currently behind bars.
Nearly five minutes later, Charlie came back on the phone. “Grey has agreed to talk to us.”
“Let’s go.”
“Six-hour drive? I got something better—the warden agreed to let us video conference with him. Grey agreed. Can you get here in an hour?”
“I’m leaving right now.”
Thirty-Four
