The Last Mile (Amos Decker, #2)(118)
Decker sat down in front of the computer and hit some keys. “It’s password-protected. Understandable.”
He typed in some possible passwords. None worked.
Decker sat back and thought about this for a few moments while Mars started going through the contents of the shelf.
“Go page by page, Melvin, like we did downstairs. He might have taken it out of the frame and stuck it in a magazine.”
Decker kept trying passwords. “Got it,” he said finally.
Mars came to look over his shoulder. “What was it?”
“The segregation king, ‘George Wallace,’ all caps.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Let’s see what our fine police chief is into online.”
Decker opened a Web browser and looked over the man’s search histories.
“Well, he’s into white supremacy groups, vigilantism, and all sites that are basically not really into diversity of any kind.”
“What a shocker.”
“Now let’s look at emails.”
Decker came away disappointed. “Okay, the guy’s either really smart or just old-fashioned. No emails. I can’t even find an account.”
“Anything else?”
“Pretty clean hard drive. Not very much on it. He must use this principally to troll for crap from his bigoted buddies.”
Decker closed out of the computer and helped Mars go through the books and magazines on the shelf. An hour later they had gone through every page and had come up with zip.
Mars said, “I hope we didn’t waste a breaking and entering on nothing. Because if they catch us, I’m going back to prison. And you’ll be heading there too.”
“If McClellan catches us, going to prison would be a cakewalk compared to what he’d do to us.”
“Right.”
Decker looked around the room. “We searched everywhere.”
“Well, it might not be here. He might have another hiding place he uses.”
Decker said, “Maybe, but something tells me this guy likes to keep things close to home.”
“We’ve looked at everything that could hold a picture.”
Decker shot him a glance. “You know, you can’t hide something three-dimensional in something flat. But the reverse is not true.”
“What are you talking about?”
Decker put his hand on the globe.
“I’m not following.”
“McClellan doesn’t strike me as a worldly guy. Too much diversity around the globe, so why this thing sitting right on his desk within easy reach? So he can check out where the other half lives? Don’t think so.”
Decker bent lower and examined the globe’s surface. He ran a finger along the equator, pushing and probing with his nails. Then he started at the Arctic Circle and headed south. His finger stopped at one spot near the bottom of Greenland.
“Give me that letter opener.”
Mars handed it to him.
Decker carefully inserted one end into a small crevice in the globe. He very gently worked it back and forth.
“The damn thing’s coming apart,” exclaimed Mars.
The globe did indeed open into two metal halves, with a lip from one half inserting under the other.
And inside the space was a rolled-up photo.
Decker slid it out. “I noticed the edges didn’t line up exactly. It had been opened before. We’ll take a picture of it and then put it back and jigger the globe back together. I don’t want him to know we’ve discovered it.”
Mars was staring at the rolled-up photo like it was a rattler about to strike.
“Decker, do you know who’s in the picture?”
“I think I know.”
He slowly unrolled it and looked at the image.
“Were you right?” asked Mars.
Decker slowly turned the photo toward him. “Yes.”
When Mars saw the people in the photo his knees buckled. Decker had to grab him with his free hand to keep him upright.
“Holy shit, I can’t believe it,” exclaimed Mars as he held on to the side of the desk.
“Pretty much sums it up,” replied Decker.
“What the hell does this mean?”
“This means we finally have a chance.”
CHAPTER
69
SIX PEOPLE SAT inside a conference room at the FBI’s Washington Field Office: Decker, Mars, Bogart, Milligan, Jamison, and Oliver.
Bogart said, “As you know, we’ve been called off the case to work on, well, other matters. But we haven’t given up on finding Lisa Davenport. We’re working nonstop on that.”
“Are there any leads?” asked Jamison.
Milligan spoke up. “A couple, but they ultimately led to nothing. No ransom demands. No communications of any kind. It’s bizarre.”
Mars looked at Oliver. “How’s the court stuff coming in Texas?”
“Good and bad news,” she said. “The good news is it doesn’t seem like Texas is going to try to put you back in prison, as I said before.”
“That’s great news,” said Jamison.
“The bad news is it looks like to compensate for that they’re going to fight tooth and nail against the lawsuit I filed for damages from the attack on you at the prison.”