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“Were you ever really employed?” I asked, curiously. “It always kind of felt like you were your own entity, and then the FBI just recently noticed you were going rogue.”
“Eh,” Carver said, shrugging. “The truth is I do what I want to do. I have access to everyone’s psych and IQ tests. Believe me, some of those people should barely hold a pencil, much less a gun.”
“Good to know,” Jack said. “As long as you’re unemployed, maybe you could tell us something we don’t know about our victim. Even with the warrant it’ll take some time to get into his financials and sort everything out.”
“I don’t mean to throw water on a return to the good old days,” I said. “But isn’t Carver in danger of being caught here? We can’t just put him to work like nothing else is going on his life.”
“I’m as safe here under their noses as anywhere,” Carver said. “Besides, I led them on a false trail showing I’ve been using my credit cards all the way down the coast toward Florida.” He looked at his watch. “And right about now, the FBI is waiting for me to show up at the Miami airport. Apparently I have plans to fly out today and head to Aruba.”
“I hear it’s nice this time of year,” I said.
Carver sighed. “I’ve heard that too. I don’t have plans to stay here long, but I can do a couple of quick searches for you and send them to you. I’ll take off after you guys leave to go talk to the widow. Don’t worry about the yahoos sticking around here in Bloody Mary. Their orders are to keep an eye on you, not interrogate you about my whereabouts. One of them is a rookie and he forwarded his orders to his personal email. I could’ve found out what they were planning without the stupidity involved, but stupidity always helps a little.”
“Just don’t get cocky,” Jack said. “They know how you operate and that nothing electronic is sacred.”
“Duly noted,” Carver said. “I’ll be careful. I promise. And as long as you guys don’t act like you’re in any way interested in what’s happened to me or they don’t overhear you talking about me, they should leave you alone. If you pop up on their radar for anything deeper I’ll try to let you know ahead of time.”
He was inputting information into Magnolia while he was talking, and then he said, “I pulled all of your victim’s data from the autopsy report Jaye filed. Hope you don’t mind. Your officers haven’t filed the police report yet.”
Jack smiled. “They’ve been a little busy. I don’t even know why we use passwords with you around.”
“Me either,” Carver said. “Martinez’s password is his birthday and Cole’s changes pretty frequently to the name of whatever woman he’s dating at the time. Probably helps him remember her name.”
Jack blew out a patient sigh. “Anything on Sowers?”
“Got all the basics—physical description, weight, height—no criminal record. All bills currently up to date. Looks like he’s got a few rental properties.”
“Is one of them the apartment downtown?” Jack asked.
“Nothing downtown,” Carver said, shaking his head. “He owns the building where his law office is in King George. All of the other suites are rented out and bring in a healthy income. He’s got a duplex unit also in King George near the college, and a smattering of houses all over the county. He owns a condo on Dupont Circle in DC.”
“That doesn’t come cheap,” I said.
“He’s got an office in DC too,” Carver said. “Looks like he travels back and forth to DC quite a bit. What’s the address of the apartment downtown?”
Jack gave it to him and Carver did a reverse search.
“Good investment property,” Carver said. “I see you guys own a couple of units. Diversifying your portfolio is smart. Always good to have something to fall back on if this whole law enforcement thing doesn’t work out.”
“Yeah, we’re dipping a toe in,” Jack said, laughter in his eyes.
I knew Jack’s family was wealthy. And I knew that we had money. But I had no idea the extent of how far that reached. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“Looks like the corner apartment is owned by a company called Clandestine,” Carver continued. “Let’s do a look and see what that is.” He was silent for several minutes. “Ahh, this is more interesting by the minute. And it’s going to take a little time. Looks like Clandestine is owned by a company called Q.T., and Q.T. is owned by a company called Insidious.”
“Clever word play,” I said, rolling my eyes. “As if I didn’t already dislike this guy enough.”
“No names associated with any of them,” Carver said. “Well done, well done.” He was talking to himself now, and I could see the gleam of excitement in his eyes. It was rare that Carver was challenged by anything.
“Sounds like state department interference to me,” Jack said. “William Kirby is the fly in the ointment. But we’ve got to move past it. What about finances?”
“I can dig deeper, especially now that I’ve got the names of these shell corporations, but on the surface everything seems to be aboveboard. Sowers’ mother served on Bill Clinton’s cabinet for four years. Both parents were high-profile attorneys and were in and out of politics until their deaths. Sowers inherited well. Graduated from Harvard Law. Married the daughter of a governor. On paper, they were being groomed for politics and to be the next golden couple.”
“What happened?” Jack asked.
“Just a second,” Carver said. “Magnolia, search for newspaper articles and media reports surrounding a car crash David Sowers and his first wife were involved in. The year is 1987.”
“Sure thing, sugar,” Magnolia said. “I was wondering when you were going to include me.”
