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“It would reason,” Hans said, “that the ratios—about four to one—would hold across all staff. I doubt Fran Buckley was only using Lucy for this project.”
Noah sat down as he processed the information. Sean walked to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, where he could watch and listen. “You have proof of all this?”
“We have proof that the eight men all died the night they were suppose to be arrested,” Hans said. “We also know that someone hacked into Lucy’s WCF account and sent the last victim, Brad Prenter, to a completely different location than she had arranged.”
“Where does Morton fit into all this?” Noah said.
“Right before you arrived, we found a connection between Buckley and Morton,” Hans said.
Kate asked, “Do you know former FBI Agent Mick Mallory?”
Noah shook his head, but Agent Resnick spoke up. “I remember Mallory. After his family was killed by a perp, he lost it. Went under deep cover with Adam Scott’s criminal enterprise, none of it sanctioned by the Bureau.”
“Mallory is a bastard with his own sense of right and wrong, but he helped us find Lucy,” Kate said. “Mallory fucked up. He was in so deep, he’d been party to several crimes, and still his handler pushed him.”
Dillon reached out and took her hand.
Hans said, “Mallory worked in the Richmond office with Buckley for two years.”
Noah didn’t say anything for a long minute. “How long ago?”
“Nearly twenty years. Mallory was a new agent at the time in Buckley’s Violent Crimes squad.”
Noah rubbed his eyes. “What do you think, Hans?”
“I think both Buckley and Mallory are capable of murder under the right circumstances.”
Noah looked up at the ceiling. Sean could practically read his mind, though his face was stoic. He was running through the case, weighing the evidence against the supposition.
Finally, Noah said, “We need to bring Fran Buckley in for questioning and track down Mallory. I don’t suppose you know where he is?”
“No,” Hans said. “We just made the connection this morning, haven’t even started looking.”
Noah glanced at Abigail. “Can you get a current address on him?”
“Will do.”
“About Fran,” Kate said. “Pulling her in may not be to our advantage.”
“Why’s that? Hans said we had proof that someone at WCF killed those parolees.”
“No,” Hans corrected, “we have proof that the parolees were killed the night they were set up to be re-arrested by volunteer cops. One more thing to consider—their personalities.”
“Explain.”
“Buckley and Mallory are not leaders. Mallory has always taken orders. He was in the military, he went undercover and had a lot of leeway, but always acted at the direction of a superior. He never did his own thing. Even when he was undercover at Trask, he did it at the direction of a high-ranking FBI agent. Buckley runs WCF, and on the surface you might think she’s a leader, but she was an SSA for seven years in Boston and didn’t do well in the role. I’ve read her employee reviews and she relied heavily on her superiors for even the most minor decision-making. To the extent that after three years, while she retained the rank and salary of an SSA, she was effectively demoted into a nonsupervisory role. She’s good at doing her job, but not at giving direction.”
“You’re saying there’s a third person,” Noah said.
“I think that it’s highly likely. I’m not one hundred percent certain—Mallory has the capability of being a leader, he’s just never done it.” Hans steepled his fingers and looked up at the ceiling. “If there’s another player, a leader, then he’s lost someone close to him. One of the victims will connect back to him. I need more details about the murders. Dillon made a copy of Lucy’s files and I’m going to review them and see if there is another connection.”
Dillon commented, “Do you think there are more than three people involved? For crimes like this—in seven different states—it seems like they’d need a network.”
“It’s a small group,” Hans said. “A larger conspiracy wouldn’t have been able to keep such control over their activities for this long. There is no evidence at the crime scene that ties in with any other crime. That tells me they have money to buy and dispose of guns. They use the gun once, get rid of it, get another. Travel—Mallory could easily be traveling around the country. No ties to the city he kills in, the perfect assassin. I’d imagine there is at least one other involved, but he would be someone Mallory trusts. Mallory is the key—he knows who’s really in charge.”
Sean considered what Hans said, his mind running through all the possible people who could have organized such an elaborate and successful vigilante group. He’d call Duke as he left. Between his brother and J. T. Caruso, they had contacts all over the country.
Noah asked Hans, “Who’s the weak link?”
