Bad News Travels
- Автор: Суэйн Джеймс
- Серия: Lancaster & Daniels #3
- Год: 2020
- Язык: английский
- Год: Thomas & Mercer
- ISBN: 978-1-5420-1644-5
- Жанр: Триллеры
Электронная книга - «Bad News Travels». Краткое содержание книги:
No sooner do they arrive than suspicions are aroused. There’s the pair of Russians who seem to be watching every move the family makes. A final, cryptic phone call Martin Daniels made to his granddaughter. Strange blood evidence on his estate. More than $1 million missing from Martin’s account. And his cell phone, wiped clean, along with clues to a double life. To Beth, it’s disturbingly clear: the man she loved was a stranger.
As she and Jon delve into Martin’s past, they have no idea where the secrets will take them. Or how dangerous it will be to expose the conspiracies, the cover-ups, and the terrible truths of Martin’s life — and death.
Lancaster ate his brownie in silence. He would have enjoyed seeing Sykes get what was coming to him. He was a dirty cop, the kind that gave police departments a bad name, and deserved whatever harsh treatment he received. But justice was never cut and dried. If Beth arrested him, Sykes would lawyer up, and they’d never find out what had happened to Martin Daniels in the months leading up to his death. That was the goal, and he needed to make sure they didn’t lose sight of it.
“I don’t think arresting him will get us any closer to the truth,” he said. “Sykes knows what happened to your father. We need to make him open up, and talk to us.”
“How? Blackmail?”
“Works for me.”
Beth shook her head.
“Why not?” he asked. “We’ll use Micah’s video to leverage the truth out of him. Don’t tell me you haven’t coerced suspects before.”
“I have coerced suspects, and it works wonders,” she said. “But Sykes is different. He lied to us the first time we met him, and now he’s lied to his superiors by issuing this false statement. Whatever Sykes is hiding, it’s big enough for him to risk everything. If we corner him, he’ll just come up with another story, and hope we fall for it.”
He found himself nodding. Beth’s instincts were right, and not being clouded by the personal nature of the investigation. He admired her for being able to do that.
“I agree. So what should we do?” he said.
“We need to figure out why Sykes is lying to us,” she said. “Why is he willing to forfeit his career to cover up what happened to my father? There’s something nasty going on here. It’s right in front of our noses, but we’re not seeing it.”
“Start over.”
“Yes. Start over.”
“I’m game.”
“But first, we need to study the video of my father during the board meeting. My father says ‘It’s not what you think’ several times. He got caught red-handed, but he wouldn’t back down. Why?”
“Because it wasn’t what everyone thought,” he said.
“Exactly. The video had a hidden meaning,” she said. “We need to figure out what it was. Once we do that, I think we’ll understand why Sykes is being a snake.”
Beth’s cell phone rang. She answered it and made a face. “I’m leaving right now,” she said, then disconnected.
“Who was that?” Lancaster asked.
“Erce. There’s trouble in River City.” She started the rental and backed out. “Where do you want me to drop you off?”
Chapter 28
Forty minutes later, Daniels arrived at the FBI’s Jacksonville office on the west side of town. The building was a four-story, yellow monstrosity inside a bland industrial park, and had no personality. Erce had been cryptic over the phone, and it had made her wonder if there was someone in the room with him as he made the call.
The reception area was cold and unfriendly. She handed her credentials to the male receptionist and announced that she was here to see Special Agent Phillips.
“I’ll let him know you’re here. Please make yourself comfortable.”
She was too nervous to sit. She studied the smiling portrait of the director in charge hanging on the wall behind the reception area. Her name was Maria Rojas, and she had olive-colored skin and an engaging smile. Even though Daniels didn’t know Rojas, she admired her. The Jacksonville office was a big operation, with seven satellite offices that reported to it, and the bureau didn’t hand out those kinds of assignments to bench warmers. Rojas had earned her stripes.
To her surprise, it was Rojas who greeted her.
“Special Agent Daniels, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Rojas had a firm handshake and eyes that didn’t blink. She used her security card to open a door with a security camera over it, and they walked down a carpeted hallway.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” Rojas said.
They stopped at a pair of double doors leading to a conference room. Daniels studied Rojas, then shook her head.
“We spoke the morning of 9/11,” Rojas said. “I was working at the FBI’s office on Wall Street. When the first tower was hit, I called the Pentagon to report what happened. You were on assignment at the Pentagon that day, and picked up the phone. We spoke for several minutes. You sounded young, like me. I never forgot you.”
“I remember you now,” Daniels said. “A half hour after our conversation, the Pentagon got hit. What a horrible day that was.”
“It made us who we are today.”
“It sure did. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“J. T. is on the warpath. He wants to do a conference call with us.”
“About what?”
“Your boyfriend.”
Daniels swallowed the lump in her throat and followed Rojas into a conference room with blackout shades on the windows. A sixty-four-inch flat screen hung on the wall, facing a long table with chairs. Erce stood at the head of the table, looking worried. He skipped the formalities and simply nodded. Daniels nodded back.
Rojas made the TV come to life. Their boss filled the screen, sitting behind a desk littered with reports and thick memorandums. He’d recently suffered a heart attack and had ignored his doctor’s advice and returned to work once he was strong enough to get around. He’d lost a lot of weight, and looked gaunt.
“Good afternoon, Special Agent Daniels. Thank you for joining us,” J. T. said. “All of you, grab a chair, and have a seat. We need to have a little chat.”
The words sounded ominous. They pulled chairs from the table and sat in a row, facing the screen. Daniels put her best poker face on.
“A few years ago, a college buddy of mine named Jack Potter became publisher of the Florida Times-Union, which as you know is the main newspaper in Jacksonville,” J. T. said, staring at Daniels as he spoke. “Jack called me earlier today. It seems that the paper has a satellite office in Saint Augustine. A few hours ago, a fourteen-year-old boy came into the office, and met with a reporter. The boy had a video on his cell phone that he wanted to sell to the newspaper for a hundred dollars. After reviewing the video, the reporter decided it was a good investment, and paid the kid off.”
Daniels couldn’t believe it. Jon had been tricked by a kid. Micah had pretended to erase the video, then tried to sell it to someone else. The kid was a real entrepreneur.
“The reporter sent the video to his editor, who shared it with Jack. Jack was disturbed by what he saw, since the video involves several members of the Saint Augustine Police Department. He sent the video to me, and asked for my advice.
“As you know, the Saint Augustine Police issued a statement today, stating that a homeless man attacked four of their officers, and relieved them of their weapons. The video paints a different picture of things. See for yourself.”
J. T. picked up a remote on his desk and punched in a command. Half of the flat screen was taken over by a second screen. The video of Jon humiliating Sykes and company began to play. It was even better the second time around.
Daniels’s mind raced. J. T. was going to grill her about the video. He would want to know why the police had kidnapped Jon. And, he’d want to know if she and Jon were working the case together, and not running solo, as she’d led J. T. to believe. Every FBI agent was trained to detect when a suspect was not being forthright with them. J. T. was an expert at reading people, and had taught classes at the academy. If he caught her lying, he’d fire her on the spot.