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He hung up, and his cell immediately rang—too soon to be Andie returning his call. It was the prosecutor. Jack answered cordially, but Owens’s response was not in kind.
“Smooth move, Swyteck.”
“What does that mean?” asked Jack.
“You want to cross-examine an FBI witness familiar with the investigation? You’ll get one. Hope you enjoy embarrassing your own wife on the witness stand. Have a good rest of your weekend.”
The call ended before Jack could respond. Maybe Owens was bluffing, just blowing off steam. Jack went to his laptop and ran a few key words into a Google search: “FBI Agent Andrea Henning” and “pirate killer.”
The large number of hits, most of them less than twelve hours old, only lent credence to Owens’s bluff—if it was a bluff. Jack didn’t dwell on it. He did what any good criminal defense lawyer would have done.
He put his personal life aside for the moment, and he phoned his client.
Theo was alone in a windowless room in the U.S. embassy. Gigi was in another room with the FBI’s legal attaché.
It had been a circuitous route from their hotel room back into the city. Metro Police had been the first on the scene. It wasn’t clear to Theo if they’d responded to Gigi’s call to emergency from the bathroom on her cell, or if someone else had called. What was clear, however, was that Andie or her boss had phoned the FBI’s legal attaché in London after her call with Theo had disconnected in mid-conversation. Madeline Coffey was fully briefed by the time Metro Police delivered Theo and Gigi to the embassy.
There was a knock on the door, and it opened. Theo was about to rise as Coffey entered, but she told him not to bother and pulled up a chair opposite him at the table.
“Did Gigi talk?” asked Theo.
“First off, her name is not Gigi. It’s Kelly Oswald. She’s young, but not as young as she looks. She turned eighteen three months ago.”
“She was still underage when this creep she calls Judge took her in.”
“That’s true.”
“What did she tell you about him?”
Coffey didn’t answer. Theo pressed.
“His nickname for her was ‘Goodbye Girl.’ That’s why I called Andie. Do you think he’s connected to these other killings?”
She paused, seeming to measure her response. “Thank you for calling Agent Henning. It was the right thing to do.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” said Theo.
“I’m afraid I can’t answer any of your questions.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Yeah, well, to you it’s complicated. To me it’s bullshit.”
“You brought us helpful information. You’re a tipster. That doesn’t make you part of the investigative team or a member of the multijurisdictional task force.”
“I’m just asking what she said.”
“If she wanted you to know, she would have told you.”
Her point had some merit, but it gave rise to a different concern. “She’s not part of this, is she?”
“It depends on what you mean by ‘this.’”
“These killings.”
“She’s not a suspect, if that’s what you’re asking.”
