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Rafe turned his laptop around and showed him some of the documents. "Senator Pierce Jackson is the witness. He personally carried documents to and from Yerezdan for King. He received payment for smuggling these documents from then Senator King. We have the bank records showing payments. We have the death certificate from Mr. Malachi showing the date and time, and the cause of death is murder. At this time, we have the travel records of the men who went over to Yerezdan to speak with the chief of staff when he suddenly was murdered."
"Senator Jackson is complicit. Is he saying he'll testify?"
"He will."
"This is...my god. What are the other documents?"
"I have access to the contracts signed by Senator King agreeing to send over arms for oil. The oil was what Senator King professed to have helped the United States procure when he was pushing his no-drilling agenda saying we had 'reserves' and didn't need to drill."
"What are you...wait..." Robert Andrews shook his head. "Senator Jackson lost his re-election bid."
"Yes. He believes King set it up that way to get him out of the way."
"Why?"
"He was finished with him. I happen to know King infiltrated my office to keep an eye on things. One of my aides, who is now in jail for bank fraud, was spying for King. He placed a tracker on my phone to keep me in his sites. This was after Senator Jackson came to Wade Evans to tell him what happened. Wade had to go dark because of threats to his family."
"What?"
"I was also under personal attack. Selisen, my former aide, planted blood in my house to make it look like I murdered someone. I believe they were going to use that to blackmail me into giving up Wade. I am also a witness to the fact that several attempts have been made to kill Senator Jackson. And he's been shot in the shoulder as a result. He's now in a safe house."
Robert sat for a long time processing this information. He took deep breaths as the gravity of what he'd just heard sank in. After a few minutes, he finally said, "We can't let him be sworn in."
46
Adelaide carried the last tote to the Jeep as Maya did another sweep of the house. Out of curiosity, Addy walked over to the area where she'd hidden very early this morning to see what it looked like in the daytime. She found the woodpile, though she wasn't sure how she'd found it before. It was tucked in the crook between a clump of bushes and the woods. The pile was only four feet high or so but it was only about two feet wide. God was looking out for her for sure. She followed the driveway to the road and looked from that angle to see that the house couldn’t be seen from here. Though at night, with the lights on inside, it was a possibility it was seen through the trees. She found a drop of blood near the edge of the driveway and squatted down to take a closer look. A few inches away there was another drop of blood and a place where the gravel had been disturbed by someone's hand. It definitely wasn't a shoe or foot and more blood was smeared into the gravel.
"What are you looking at?" Maya asked.
"Last night, or early this morning rather, we had a visitor out here. It's what made us aware there was a tracker on the senator. For a while, I thought maybe the senator was playing us. I was pissed and went in to scan him. I remember shooting at whoever it was when I saw something glint on his chest. He shot back, and I ducked behind the woodpile. He fell around here, I think." She pointed to the gravel. There's blood up there, and over here, suggesting I shot him."
"It was self-defense."
"I know. But, I'm surprised he took off is all. If he was hired to do a job, why did he cut and run? He didn't come after me."
"Maybe you surprised him."
"Right, but a hired killer is a hired killer. They know the risk. They normally aren't scared off so easily."
"That's true." Maya walked along the edge of the driveway looking for anything that seemed weird.
Addy moved across the driveway where the man was in hiding looking for anything that might shed some light on who it was. She found the shell casing from his bullet. Nothing special about it. A nine-millimeter, which is what she used.
"Nine mil?" Maya asked.
"Yeah."
"Nothing else?"
"No. I just thought maybe I'd find something. It's been bothering me."
Maya stood near her, saying nothing, just letting her think it out. But, she softly said, "Maybe he wasn't a hired killer."
"As in?"
"As in, he's just someone who thought he could do it. A petty criminal. Some lowlife paid to do something with no ties to anyone in particular and easy to discard."
Addy swallowed. "Like Jensen Gable."
