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“Understood,” said Beckham. “We should stay close on this.”
“Agreed,” said Andie. “Which leads to my next point.”
“I’m listening,” said the state attorney.
“Yesterday morning marked an abrupt change in the prosecution’s theory of the case in the Nichols trial. That was the first time Mr. Owens presented evidence that Shaky Nichols had strong motive to stop music piracy. We now know that the theory is that Mr. McCormick’s body was displayed—gibbeted—in the same way that pirates were gibbeted in the eighteenth century.”
“It’s his prerogative to change the case theory.”
“True,” said Andie. “But follow the timeline with me. Later that morning, I made a presentation to the joint task force based on my work with Boston homicide. My presentation was the first time anyone mentioned piracy and gibbeting in connection with the McCormick case.”
“So?”
“So, Mr. Owens is somehow out in front of the FBI, the MDPD, Boston homicide, and every other agency on Operation Gibbet.”
“Owens is one of my smartest prosecutors. He figures things out.”
“Or does he have a source that the task force should know about?”
“His source is Shaky Nichols’s former bodyguard.”
“Is Paxton hisonlysource?”
“Yes.”
“I would like to verify that,” said Andie.
“Fine. You can ask Owens.”
“Thank you,” said Andie. “That’s a start. But it may go deeper than that.”
“How much deeper?” asked Beckham.
The ASAC spoke up, as they were moving to sensitive ground. “We may need to talk to inmate Paxton.”
“I’ve told you he’s our only source. Owens can verify it. Our word is not good enough for you?” he asked with a chuckle, though he wasn’t at all kidding.
“Who is Paxton’s source?” asked Andie.
“Paxton is his own source.”
“You’re certain of that?” asked Andie.
The state attorney threw up his hands. “Look, if you want to talk to an inmate at a Florida correctional facility, I can’t stop you.”
“We know,” said Andie. “But we thought it was important enough to come here directly and put you on notice.”
Beckham seemed to be taking it all in. Even though Andie had done her best not to bring the motivations of his office into question, it was clear that her words were not sitting well with the state attorney.
“Putting me on notice that your investigation might exonerate Imani and Shaky Nichols is one thing,” said Beckham. “Suggesting that my chief prosecutor has a source other than Mr. Paxton, and that he’s deliberately hiding that source from your investigation, is quite another.”
“No accusations are being made here,” said the ASAC. “Like Andie said: just putting you on notice of the situation.”
Beckham looked in Andie’s direction and held his gaze, as if he were indeed looking his “accuser” right in the eye. Finally, the state attorney rose. “Got it,” he said. “I’m on notice.”
The FBI agents rose and followed Beckham to the door. There were handshakes all around, but without smiles. No one, least of all Andie, was happy about the obvious tension between the FBI investigation and the Nichols trial. It bothered Andie that the state attorney was acting as though this was a silly turf war between the feds and the locals—thatthe FBI had stopped by his office just for grins, and that they somehow enjoyed making him squirm.
“Good luck with Mr. Paxton,” said the state attorney. “He’s a piece of work.”
