Текст книги "Заговор мечей"

Автор книги: Джейн Doy Press

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 40 страниц)

Cliff nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Well, I’d say we got a lot accomplished today, folks. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble convincing the Justice Department that Mather and Wilford killed our east coast victims.”

Alex nodded. “Now we just need to find who hired them to do it.”

“You still think it was something from the Klan, or some Nazi’s, Alex?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. These two seem to have some kind of ties to hate groups, but nothing that’s concrete. There’s only the tattoo on Mather’s arm. Now, we can tie Kyle Brogan to Derek White and Mallory Gerlach through their family, and we can connect Brogan to Mather and Wilford by the car. But the car was reported stolen, and Brogan was never seen or identified at any of the other scenes. Ken faxed me a copy of his notes from the Brogan interview, and he, of course, denied being in any of those places.”

“Nothing else in the report from Jenny?”

“Sorry, Cliff. Lots of interesting facts. Nothing that connects. We’ve got people heading to all the known locations that Wilford stayed, including Atlanta and Florida, with Rudy and Tom covering New York. We’ve talked to his past employers, and his former associates. Nothing.”

“His family?”

“His father died ten years ago, his mother retired and lives in Florida. His older sister married George Mather, and died two years ago. He’s got a younger brother, Ricky, who’s now facing charges, thanks to our efforts. There’s a younger sister, Cynthia, who’s in college in California. She, however, is estranged from the family.”

“So we can’t connect his family with hate groups like we can Brogan’s.” Cliff sounded disappointed.

“No. I’d love to tell you that Derek White and Mallory Gerlach were our culprits, and that Brogan was the middle man. But as of right this minute, there’s no proof whatsoever.”

“Hell,” David’s voice was full of frustration, “we can’t find a connection between Brogan and the killers, how are we gonna connect Mather and Wilford to Derek White?”

Alex’s mind flashed to the picture she’d seen earlier in the day. There was something she remembered, but then she lost it. “Can you repeat what you just said, David?”

He looked at her. “What, about not being able to connect Brogan and the killers?”

“No, about Mather and Wilford, and Derek White.”

“We can’t connect them?”

She nodded. “We can’t connect them.” There was still something about the picture …

Alex moved to the computer she’d been working on earlier, and brought up the enhanced area of the photograph. She just stared at it.

Ben looked at it over her shoulder. “Looks like two guys shakin’ hands, Alex.”

“Exactly. But who are they?”

“Can’t tell.”

Cliff sighed. “All right. Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way. Instead of chasing Wilford and Mather, maybe we should find out what White and Gerlach have been doing. If we go through the surveillance files on their groups, maybe we can—”

“That’s it!” Alex was on her feet, and running towards her office. They could hear a crash of some kind from the hallway, and Alex yelling, “Sorry, Jodi!”

David put his hand over his eyes. “Okay, I’ll admit it. My partner’s crazy.”

Cliff shook his head.

Ben just chuckled. “She’s been right so often this week, I think I’ll wait ‘til she gets back to say she’s crazy.”

It was a moment more, and then they could hear Alex’s running footsteps coming back down the corridor. She appeared in the doorway, out of breath, and grinning like a lunatic.

“I —”

“Alex, get your breath back, then tell us what you knocked Jodi down for.”

Alex raised a folder in her hands and pointed to the photograph on the screen. She dropped back into her chair, and began looking at the programs listed on the computer menu. Finding the one she wanted, she started it, and opened the enlarged photo again. First she outlined the two men, then had the computer create a three dimensional image from it. After that, she turned it around so that the two men would have been facing her. It was impossible to make out any detail on the faces, but the general image of two men shaking hands was obvious.

Cliff was beginning to lose patience. Even Ben had his eyebrows raised at Alex’s behavior. David sat shaking his head, while Rudy sat and watched with a puzzled look.

Alex turned to the men, still grinning.

“It’s the same picture.”

No one spoke.

Finally Cliff said, “Okay, I’ll bite. Same as what picture, Alex?”

Alex reached into the folder and brought out a photograph. She held it next to the computer screen.

“Same as this one, Cliff.”

She was right. The men in the screen, though indistinct, were in the exact same position as the men in the photograph Alex held. A silver cup was held in the left hand of one of the men in the photo. The computer image showed a similar silver item. The feet were the same width apart, and the heads were tilted at the same angle.

“Well, I’ll be goddamned.” Ben’s exclamation finally broke the silence.

Rudy came over and looked at the two images. “Yep, I think you’re right, it’s the same picture.” He waited a moment. “So what?”

Alex and Ben turned to stare at Rudy, while Cliff and David still focused on the screen.

“Rudy, don’t you recognize one of the men in this photo?”

“No. Should I?”

Cliff finally blinked. “Not necessarily.”

“So who is it?”

Alex pointed at the man holding the silver cup. “I have no idea who he is.” She pointed to the other man. “But that’s Derek White.”

Rudy’s eyes went wide, and he looked from the screen to the picture and back. “Well, Cliff, I think we found a connection.”

Cliff had to find a chair before he sat down. “Yeah, Rudy. I think we have.”

David could only shake his head.

*******************************************************

Alex had just closed and locked her file drawer when David stepped into her doorway.

“Hey, partner. You going home?”

“Yeah. Cliff told me if he caught me staying past six tonight he’d ground me for another day. I have four minutes to make it out of the building.”

He nodded, and handed her jacket to her. “Alex, I just spoke to Miri, to let her know I was on my way. She told me she wanted me to pick up a few things.”

“Yeah?” She slipped her jacket on. “And that’s important because?”

“Well, you’re one of those things.”

Alex smiled. “That’s sweet of her, David. But I’m really okay, and I can go home by myself like a big girl.”

David looked uncomfortable. “I know, I know, but she said it had been a long time, and she wanted to see you.”

“Well, maybe this weekend we can get together.”

“Damn it, Alex, she said if I didn’t have you with me, I wasn’t to come home tonight.”

Alex had to laugh. David looked like a little boy about to lose his best friend. She couldn’t resist.

“Well, it looks like I’ll just have to go home with you then. Don’t worry, Davie, I’ll protect you from that big meanie.”

David brightened. “You will?”

“Sure.”

“Good. Will you protect me from the little meanie as well?”

“David, are you calling your daughter mean?”

“Me? No, no, never.” He paused. “But you will protect me, right?”

Alex pushed him out door.

*******************************************************

It had started to snow by the time they left the downtown area. The light frosting looked beautiful as it lay across the lawns near the capitol and monuments, but it had already turned to ice on the roads. What normally was a twenty minute drive turned into forty minutes. Both were glad to to see David’s house as they turned into the drive.

Miri heard them come in the garage door. “David? Did you bring Alex home with you?”

“Yes, Miri, he did. I’m here.”

“Good. Now he doesn’t have to sleep in the garage.”

Miri came out of the kitchen, and pulled Alex into an embrace. Alex hugged her back, glad she’d decided to accept the offer from her partner and his wife. It had been quite a while since she’d spent an evening with the two of them, and their infant daughter.

“It’s good to see you, Alex.”

“Same here.” Alex pulled back and looked at the shorter woman. “You look good, Miri.”

“Thank you.” She paused and met Alex’s eyes. “But you look tired.”

“Yeah, I have been. But I made it an early night last night, and I’m doing much better today.”

“Good. Tonight, you’ll have a good dinner, you’ll play with Arlea, and if I hear you and David talking about anything to do with the office or the case, I’ll beat you both with a wet noodle.”

Alex laughed. “You’re on, Miri. Not a word about work.” She watched as David gave his wife a kiss. “Speaking of Arlea, where is the munchkin?”

“Oh, she’s in the playpen in the living room.” Miri lead the way into the kitchen.

“Cool. I promised to protect David from her tonight.” Alex punched David lightly on the arm, grinning.

“You’re laughing about it, but that’s not far from the truth.”

“What?”

“When he comes home in the evening she won’t leave him alone. She climbs on his lap, and pulls on his nose. The other night she grabbed his ear and wouldn’t let it go for five minutes.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yeah, Alex, I told you I needed protection.”

“Fine, I’ll protect you, David. But I’m reminding both of you, I don’t do diapers.”

Miri laughed. “I remember. I remember you bringing her into our room, holding her at arms length, on Christmas morning, telling us we needed to wake up and deal with our daughter.” Alex’s face went red.“David said he thought you were going to watch her, and you said watch, yes, change, no.”

David and Miri laughed at the expression on Alex’s face.

“Yeah, well, you two just laugh, I’m gonna go find my pal. Looks like I’m the one that needs protecting.”

She turned towards the living room, and heard David call, “Just don’t let her near your ears, Alex.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Alex loved playing with Arlea, who likewise loved her blond playmate. During the holidays David and Miri, along with Sarah and Maggie, had gotten Alex to split Christmas eve and Christmas day between the two households. They had been determined she wouldn’t spend it alone in her apartment like she had Thanksgiving. Alex had immediately decided that, if they were insisting she be there, she would enjoy herself her way. At David’s, she had immediately abducted her hosts’ daughter, and together they had played with every toy the one year old had. Christmas morning, after Miri had changed her daughter’s diaper, Alex had helped Arlea tear into the pile of presents. Arlea, like most children her age, paid more attention to the paper than the presents. Alex had joined her, covering her self in left over wrappings so Arlea could unbury her. Then, it would be Arlea’s turn to get wrapped up, and Alex would hunt through the paper to find the giggling child.

In short, David thought, his daughter brought out the kid in Alex. He knew that his mostly serious partner needed the release that playing with Arlea often gave her. Alex, the youngest member of the task force, was young for the position she held. She was just twenty-eight, and had seen more in her time with the Bureau than most people did in their entire lives. Each case had taken away a little more of Alex’s natural spirit, and David knew that if she didn’t find something to ground, and soon, Alex would slowly become dead inside. He’d seen it with other agents, like Ben Cleves, who no longer felt sadness or sorrow at the deaths they investigated. They could be concerned for the living, especially their partners and fellow agents. But they could also stand over a corpse and discuss how death had occurred, without even remembering that the body had once been a living person. David hoped desperately that he never saw Alex’s eyes become as dead as those in the faces of other long time agents.

In order to keep that from happening, David tried to bring Alex home with him at least a few times a month, letting her spend time playing with his daughter. It always brightened Alex’s smile for days afterwards.

Right now, David was watching his daughter wrap her fingers in his partner’s hair.

“Hey, pal. Don’t pull the hair, okay? Yeah, I know, you don’t get to see blond very often, so I’m just too good to play with, huh?”

Arlea gurgled, and yanked on her fists full of hair. Alex patiently pried one hand loose. That hand reached for her face.

“Why don’t we sit down and talk. You can tell me about what you’ve been doing all day with Mommy, and I’ll tell you how funny your Daddy is, okay?”

At dinner, Alex was given the chore of feeding Arlea. They started with a jar of mashed carrots, and mixed in some mashed peas. The two of them appeared to have a great deal of fun, and even Miri had to admit that her daughter ate more than she normally did. Of course Alex and Arlea ended up wearing the same amount on their clothes.

“I think that’s enough, Alex.”

“Okay. You want me to give her a bath?”

“Ah, no, I don’t think so.”

“Aw, why not?”

“Well, two reasons. Number one, the last time we tried that the bathroom ended up looking like a hurricane had blown through.”

“Not our fault. I told you, we got attacked by aliens, and had to fight back.”

“Right. Second reason is, as much as I wish you could stay, I know you want to get home. It stopped snowing, and the salt trucks have been around, but who knows how bad the roads are?”

“You’re right.” She wiped her hands on her napkin, and watched as David picked up his daughter. Arlea squealed, upset at being taken away from her playmate, but once she caught sight of her father, she quieted, reaching for his nose. He managed to avoid the little hands as he carried her from the table.

“I’ll get her bath started. Come get me when you’re ready, and I’ll run Alex home.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

David was still trying carry his daughter and escape her inquisitive hands.

Miri handed a wet cloth to Alex.“Here. You look like you could use a bath yourself.”

“Thanks. I think.” She cleaned her hands better, then swiped at the stains on her shirt. “I look like I’ve been in a food fight.”

“Weren’t you?”

“Oh, hush. Just because Arlea doesn’t like peas —”

“No, ” Miri cut her off. “Arlea doesn’t have any problem with peas. You don’t like them. So, in sympathy, you ended up spilling most of them on her bib.”

Alex gave her a bashful grin. “You noticed, huh?”

Miri just smiled at her.

“Miri, if you’re worried about David driving in this stuff, I can take a taxi to the Metro station.”

“No way. You know better than to even ask that.”

“But I know you worry —”

“Look, I don’t worry about him driving, really. He’s excellent on roads like these, and besides, I’d be more worried about you in that subway.”

“The Metro is nothing like the New York subway.”

“Fine. He’s still driving you home.” She put her hand on Alex’s shoulder. “And I worry more about you and him at work, then I do about his driving.”

Alex slowly nodded. “I understand that.”

“He said you were having a rough time of it.”

“Yeah, I was. I’ve never held someone while they died before. It kind of messed me up.”

“You know, if you need someone to talk to, I’m always here. I realize I may not be the perfect earpiece since I’m married to your partner, but,” Miri shrugged, “if there’s no one else, I’m always here.”

Alex pulled the smaller woman into her arms. “I know, Miri.” They stood in a hug for a minute, then separated. “You know, you guys are my family out here. You three, and Sarah and Maggie.”

“I know. What do you say we get the two halves of the family together in a couple weeks? Maybe have a potluck here?”

“That sounds great. I’ll call Sarah and ask her if she wants to do that.”

“Oh, don’t bother, I’ll call her. She and I will arrange things, and then tell you and David when you need to show up.”

Alex looked warily at her friend. “You guys are friends?”

“Sure. We have been since before the two of you broke up.”

“Oh really? And why wasn’t I ever aware of this?”

“Because you, my friend, can be as thickheaded as my husband.”

Alex shrugged. “Who do you think I learned it from?”

They laughed, and headed up to rescue David from his daughter.

Chapter Eight

Appleby appeared to be considering his options. First, his food dish was still half-full, and he could go eat. Second, his catnip mouse was sitting right next to his water dish, where he’d left it when he finished attacking it in the middle of the night. But it was beginning to lose its catnip smell, and he didn’t fell like batting it around right now. Besides, there was other game afoot.

His human had left a pair of pants and a shirt hanging off the edge of her bed. That in itself was interesting, but what really captivated the cat’s eyes was the belt. It hung off the end of the bed, teasing him. Finally he couldn’t resist, and he attacked, grabbing the belt in his paws and pulling. He was gratified to feel his prey begin dropping towards him.

But what he didn’t know was that the belt was already looped around the waist of the pants on the bed, and as he kept pulling, Appleby looked up to suddenly see an avalanche of material heading towards him. For a split second he hesitated. It was long enough for the pair of pants to land on his head. He was so startled, he took off across the floor, dragging the cloth with him, until finally he escaped its clutches near the bedroom door. He stopped, looking back at the offending item, and slapped a paw at it. It didn’t move.

Feeling proud of himself for vanquishing his foe, and now bored with his former prey, he sauntered off to the kitchen, deciding food sounded good after all.

Alex came out of the bathroom with wet hair, and only her underwear on. She found her pants on the floor. “Appleby! You’re a brat, cat!” Sighing, she picked up her clothes, noting that the belt had now been pulled tight through the loops, the buckle forcing the material to bunch together. She was pulling everything back into shape when the phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Hey, sweety, it’s Sarah.”

“I knew it was you. Only you would have the nerve to call this early in the morning when I’m not even fully awake.”

“Yeah, good morning to you, too. Where were you last night? I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for days, and you call in the middle of the day when you know very well neither one of us is home.”

“Yeah, well, sorry, Mom, but I was with Dad most of the time.”

“Alex, just tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah. Remember what we learned about the word ‘fine’?”

“Um, no.”

“‘Fine’ means you’re ‘fucked up, insecure, neurotic, and emotional.’ “

“Yeah, that about covers me this past week.”

“And what about now?”

“Now? Are you kidding? I’m great. I got to play with Arlea last night.”

“So you were at David’s.”

“Yeah. And the night before I slept through your call. I’m sorry, Sarah, I should have called you Monday night, but I got home late and just didn’t feel like talking to anybody.”

“Well, you’re forgiven.”

“Thank you.”

“But only on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t forget you’re coming to dinner tonight.”

“Oh, please, Sarah, no. I really don’t have the energy to spare for this.”

“Tough. Besides, Maggie wants to see you. She’s planning on that chicken and pasta dish you love so much, you know, with the chives and tomatoes?”

“Yeah?” For a moment she was tempted. Then she remembered the other reason they wanted her there. “No. Not if this is a dinner for four.”

“Oh, come on. You haven’t been over here in ages. I’m beginning to forget what you look like.”

“I’ll come over, but only if it’s just going to be the three of us.”

“Well, it will. For a few minutes, anyway.”

“And then?”

“And then this other friend of ours is coming over. She’s great, you’ll love her. She teaches a class at the women’s center, and that’s how Maggie and I met her. She’s really very charming.”

“So was Sylvia.” That was one name guaranteed to get a rise out of Sarah since that evening had been an unmitigated disaster.

“Alex, how was I supposed to know Sylvia had a split personality?”

“And wasn’t Leah just super as well?”

“Hey, you liked Leah. You even said so.”

“Yeah, I did. Right up until the moment I had to arrest her that weekend.”

“Well, I didn’t know she’d embezzled that money.”

“I know.” Alex struggled into her pants, and gripped the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she buckled her belt. “But I gotta tell you, babe, past incidents have led me to have little faith in your matchmaking attempts.”

She could tell Sarah was pouting. “Fine. Don’t think of it as matchmaking, then. Think of it as just a dinner with three friends, one of whom you’ve never met before.”

“Sarah…” Alex let her voice trail off. She knew she couldn’t really say no.

“Please, Alex. We miss you.”

That did it. “All right. What time?”

“Seven. And thanks. I think you’re really going to enjoy yourself.”

“Remember, you said no matchmaking.”

“Right. I won’t say a word.”

Alex waited.

“But she’s beautiful, and you’ll love her.”

“Sure. Just like Carol, and Ann, and – “

“I’m hanging up now, Alex.”

“Tanya, and Beth —”

“Goodbye, Alex.”

They hung up. Alex turned to see Appleby calmly washing his face in the door to her bedroom. She sighed. “You’re lucky, cat. If she hadn’t called right then, I might have skinned you.”

He gave her the cat equivalent of a raised eyebrow, and went back to licking his paws.

“Yeah, I don’t believe me either.”

She pulled on her shirt, and finished getting ready for work.

*******************************************************

For the first time in her memory, Alex was actually into the office before David. Normally he was always there, and waiting when she walked in. Today, however, due to the snow, everyone was going to be late. It was one of the reasons Alex took the Metro. She didn’t have to worry about snow on the roads.

She decided to take the morning to go over the rest of the reports she’d gotten from Jenny. Although Jenny had said it was still incomplete, Alex was nonetheless intrigued by what she was finding. She was enjoying some tidbits about Teren Mylos, former CIA operative and assassin, now turned karate instructor. For one thing, her birth name had been Terentia Mylanos, but she had shortened it while in her early twenties.

Teren Mylos had no relatives living in the United States, though she did have several cousins in Greece. She had grown up the daughter of a history professor. Her mother was a homemaker who eventually set up her own small accounting company. Her brother, who was just a year younger than her, had died when he was just nine. He had been born with a malfunctioning heart valve, and he’d actually lived much longer than the doctors had expected.

Teren’s father was killed in an auto accident when she was eighteen. Her mother had suffered a stroke just a year later, and by her twentieth birthday, Teren was the only one of her family left. She completed her college degree in political science and American studies at George Washington University in 1989, at the age of twenty-one. The records indicated that she was recruited by several government agencies, including the FBI and the DEA. She had chosen the Central Intelligence Agency, and had virtually disappeared.

Medical records from six months before indicated that Teren Mylos had been admitted to Bethesda Medical Center as a military transfer from an air base in Germany. There was nothing to indicate how she had been injured, but the wounds had been severe, the gunshot to her abdomen leaving her with only one kidney. She’d been released from the hospital after three weeks. It was not known if she would return to active status or not.

“What the heck is this?”

Alex looked up at the sound of Cliff’s voice. “Morning, Cliff.”

“Morning. What are you doing in so early?”

“Early? I got here on time; everybody else is late.”

“Yeah, well, you would be, too, if you had to drive in this crap.”

“I thought the storm was supposed to end soon.”

“Oh, it has. Ended about an hour ago. But it’ll take ‘til this afternoon to get everything cleared up.”

“See, that’s why I don’t drive. Metro doesn’t have anything to clean up.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” He sat in the chair next to her desk. “Whatcha reading?”

“The rest of Jenny’s report. This part is on our friend Mylos.”

“Anything interesting?”

“Not really. General background. I didn’t think we’d get anything important.”

“Anything there to suggest she’s in on this stuff, or does her story check out?”

“All I know is she got shot, and lost a kidney because of it. Doesn’t say how.”

“So, what do you think? Is she on the level?”

Alex thought about that. “I think she is. I can’t say I trust her; I mean how do you trust someone who you know is a killer?”

“Right.”

“But, I don’t think she’s involved in whatever Mather and Wilford were up to. I believed her when she said she wanted to be the one to kill Mather.”

“I would, too. But the other morning you said you thought she knew something she wasn’t telling. Still get that feeling?”

“Well, I haven’t talked to her since then, so I don’t know. What I do know is that she thinks the same men are behind both these killings, and her partner’s death. Now, she was pretty cryptic about it, but she said there was something that made her think they were connected. She couldn’t talk about it because it happened during the operation.”

“Hm.” Cliff put his elbow up on the desk, and rested his chin on his fist. “So, do you think, if we offer to share resources with her, she’d share her knowledge with us?”

Alex blinked. “Well, I suppose so. She said she had a line on the place Mather was staying, and if she got the info, she’d call me.”

“That would be nice. Wilford’s place was a bust.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He lived there months ago, but moved out. Somebody else rented it, and Wilford was paying them to collect his mail. He’d drop by every other week and pick it up. We picked it up for him last night. Nothing interesting.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.” Cliff was quiet. “You know, Mylos worked Mark over pretty good.”

“You mean in that class?”

“Yep.”

“I told him not to mess around in there.”

“I know. He said he didn’t, that she must have just not liked him. She first paired him with another student who was having trouble, and the next thing he knew he was being used as a punching bag in a demonstration. His eye is gonna look really colorful today.”

“He must have done something. I mean, she didn’t seem like the kind of person to beat up on someone for no reason.”

“Well, he says he didn’t. But he did say she’s one hell of an instructor. Said he learned more about hand-to-hand last night than he did in his training at the academy.”

“From what I saw yesterday morning I wouldn’t be surprised.”

The two of them were silent for a few moments, then Cliff stood. “Well, I just wanted to check in. See how you were feeling.”

“I’m good.”

He nodded. “Good. You know, that was a brilliant piece of deduction yesterday. On the photo, I mean.”

“Aw, hell, Cliff, I studied those pictures so often, I sometimes see them in my sleep.”

“Yeah?”

“Not often, though. But seriously, I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long to make the connection.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m still not sure how you did it, anyway.”

“I guess the question now is, what are we going to do about it? I mean, Cliff, we know Mather and Wilford were at a rifle tournament sponsored by Whites for America. We know that Derek White was there. It’s a connection, but it’s still pretty tenuous.”

“Sure, but it’s a start. Remember, Alex, we’ve been working on this for a long time, and suddenly all the breaks are coming. It may take us a while longer, but we’ll get it.”

“Yeah, but who else is going to die before we do?”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t think anyone will. These two guys were their assassins, and they killed them when they were finished with them. I think that’s about it.”

Alex shook her head. “I hope you’re right, Cliff, but I have a bad feeling about it.”

Cliff scratched his head. “You know, for the first time ever, I hope you’re wrong.” He winked at her and she grinned. “Okay, so what’s the plan for today?”

“Well, first I’m gonna finish reading this stuff, then check in with Ken and Rick in Philadelphia. Hopefully the hotel room gave them something. I’m also gonna call Steve and Louis, see if they found anything on the bomb.”

“Okay. Anything else?”

“Well, Jenny’s still waiting on some information, so I am too. Also, I thought it would be a good idea to go over the recent surveillance stuff on White. Maybe they caught him with one of our boys, but nobody recognized it.”

“Good idea.”

Alex frowned. “One more thing, Cliff, and I think I might ask David to do this for me. I keep thinking back to when David and I interviewed Mr. Clymes, at Whitley’s? He said he inherited a special deal with the Kittredge company. Wilford set it up. Something about that deal bothers me, and I was thinking we should at least check on it.”

“Do you really think it’s important? I mean, I know the coat gave us our first lead, but what good would it do to check the company?”

“It makes me suspicious that Wilford set up the deal. I want to know who he dealt with, and why they felt it was best to do it this way. I mean, to me it makes more sense to either have the store sell their clothes, or be strictly mail order. But they pay the store to let customers pick up their purchases. Purchases that have already been paid for in some other way.”

Cliff nodded. “I understand what you mean, it does sound fishy. Yeah, have Dave check into it. If nothing else we may get a little more on Wilford.” He pointed at the half-eaten donut on Alex’s desk. “That’s not breakfast is it?”

“Well, kind of. I had two others, but they’re gone already.”

“Alex, that’s not healthy.”

“I’ll make sure I have a proper lunch.”

“You better.” He glared at her, and left.

“Yeesh,” Alex told herself, “What is this? First my friends, now my boss. Do I look sick or something?”

*******************************************************

The rest of Jenny’s report consisted mainly of details on back accounts for Darryl Wilford, and Teren Mylos. Teren’s, while only four months old, had very little activity. Her government paycheck was deposited every month, and there were electronic withdrawals to a condo association, credit cards, and utilities. There were a few cash transactions, but they were all withdrawals of small amounts. There was no evidence that Teren Mylos was making the kind of money an assassin would.