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“There we go,” he said. “What are you going to do now?”
Jack somehow managed to watch the road, the car in front of us that was so close our bumpers were almost touching, the black Jeep, and Agent Carlson, who’d just made an appearance coming up from the access road and closing in to the right of the Jeep.
My heart slammed in my chest and I watched out of the side mirror as Agent Carlson moved the grey Honda over another lane so he rode parallel with the black Jeep.
“That ought to do it,” Jack said. He zipped out from between the semi and the minivan and then got off at the last second at the next off ramp.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” I said.
“Nah, you’re fine. You just got the wind knocked out of you when you hit the seatbelt.”
The phone rang again. “Did you get it?” Jack asked by way of greeting.
“Got the license plate number, but we lost the car. When Agent Braddock came up to get in position again the driver did some maneuvering of his own and did a u-turn across the median. We decided to stick with you in case it was a diversionary tactic for someone wanting to take a shot at you.”
“Did you run the plates?”
“They’re registered to Walter and Megan Cockrill in McClean. The plates are supposed to be on a 2010 Range Rover. We’ve alerted Agent Greer. He’d like you to meet him at your office.”
“Will do.”
“Do you think he was right? That the driver was trying to cause a diversion so someone else could move in?” I looked in the mirror nervously and at the cars scattered around us.
“I didn’t see anyone else trying to maneuver into position.Carlson and Braddock have us flanked for the rest of the trip home. Don’t worry.”
By the time we rode into King George County and parked in front of the sheriff’s office, I was just ready to be out of the car and indoors somewhere safe. Jack was taking too many chances being out like he was, and if these killers were as professional as everyone said they were, then two FBI agents and a mortician weren’t going to be enough to stop them if they really wanted to get to Jack.
We made it inside and all of the cops that were on duty stopped what they were doing andstared. A few called out hellos and then everyone went back to whatever it is they were doing. There weren’t a lot of high profile crimes that happened in this area, unless you counted the last six months or so where we had a serial killer and a shutdown of the largest hate crime organization in the state.
But there were other matters that kept Jack’s cops busy, and he was understaffed, which was one of his frustrations with the political side of things. This was a high drug traffic area, especially for meth, since there was so much wooded land that could hide cooking labs easily. The good news was Jack didn’t have to worry about funding for equipment and weapons. Every time they made a drug bust the money funded the sheriff’s department.
Virginia also had the distinction of having some of the highest income areas in the nation dispersed amongstsome of the lowest. They dealt with a lot of domestic disputes from both ends of the spectrum, as well as burglaries and car theft. The men who worked under Jack never had idle hands.
We turned toward Jack’s office and I could see Agent Greer, Lauren Rhodes, and several other agents, along with boards similar to the ones we were using at home to lay out the crime scenes and any pertinent information.
Jack’s office was a three-sided square of windows on the far side of the room. There were blinds available if he needed privacy for some reason, but he almost always had them open so his men knew they were welcome to stop in and run something by him if they needed to. His desk was metal and dented in the front and the carpet was threadbare. There were two visitors’ chairs, file cabinets made of the same metal as his desk, and a plant that had seen better days on top of the file cabinet. It was stark and meant as a place to work, and his men respected him more for it.
“They’re making themselves right at home, aren’t they?” I said.
“I gave them permission to use it as a home base, but I’m not going to let the feds knock me off my turf and take over completely. Greer’s pissed that Carver has come in to help me, and this is his way of poking back a little.”
“Speaking of Carver, where is he?”
“He’s taking care of re-interviewing friends and family of those involved in the heist. We’ll see if he can find any connections that were missed before. Carver’s been working on this new computer program. I told you he was a genius, right?”
“You mentioned it. And he likes to mention it to me whenever you’re not in the room while he gives me the spiel about how he and I should ditch you and his wife and take off for the tropics. He’s under the impression the impressiveness of his brains will sway me.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“I told him I was shallow and more impressed by—” I looked down below his belt and then back up at Jack in time to catch his smile. “The size of a man’s ego.”
His grin spread and he tossed an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. “That’s harsh. But funny.”
“Carver’s got a weird sense of humor. He said he knew first hand he’d lose that battle every time and that I’m supposed to ask you about the Sophia Landon case the two of you worked together.”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Jack blush before, but his cheeks turned ruddy even as his grinwent a bit sheepish. “Never in a million years. Maybe I need to have a little talk with Carver.”
Detective Colburn intercepted us before we made it to Jack’s office.“I didn’t know you’d appointed the feds to take over while you were on vacation. I thought Lewis’s eyes were going to bug out of his head when one of the agents leaned over his shoulder this morning and started reading a report he was typing up.”
