Velocity (Karen Vail #3)(62)

“All of that’s going directly to the agents out of San Francisco.”

Vail clenched her jaw. “If you don’t mind me asking, sir—”

“Whenever you start a sentence like that, my answer should be, ‘Yes, in fact, I do mind,’ so don’t bother asking.”

Vail ignored the remark. “I don’t get why it was so important for me to abandon Robby’s search. Yeah, the PFL vic looks like the work of a sexual predator, and the UNSUB is likely someone who could become serial, but it’s not a serial case. Not yet. If ever.”

“I told you—not that you were listening—but it’s a high-profile murder. I had no one else to assign it to and I wanted to get out in front of it ASAP.”

“But the body’s been moved. Another few days wouldn’t have mattered.”

Gifford removed his glasses. “Another few days. Really. When do you think you’d have been ready to come home, Karen? If you hadn’t broken Detective Hernandez’s case, you’d still be stalling, hoping you’d find something. And I’d be short an agent.”

Vail felt her blood pressure rising. “You’d be short an agent? Big fucking deal. Robby—Robby could be holed up in a shed somewhere in Napa, without food and water. He won’t survive much longer.”

“And he could already be dead.” Gifford looked away and rubbed a hand across his forehead. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He met Vail’s eyes, and she could see his face was flushed, his remorse genuine.

“I’m as concerned about Robby as you are,” he said in a low voice. “There are agents working the case. If there’s something to do, something that only you can do, I’ll let you know. But you’ve got other work. I have three units to run. And your unit chief’s not a happy camper, trying to juggle cases with a skeleton crew. It’s my job to make sure he can do his job.”

“Well then.” Vail pushed herself up from the chair. “I guess that means I should get back to work. I don’t want my unit chief to be unhappy . Thanks for keeping me in the loop.” She walked out and closed the door behind her a tad harder than was necessary.





42


Vail sat down heavily at her desk. Finding out which agents were assigned to Robby’s case would not be difficult. A quick call to the field office would give her the information in a matter of minutes. She reached for her phone and noticed the light was blinking. She lifted the receiver and retrieved her voice mail.

The automated faux persona said, “Message left at 8:46 AM, today.” A familiar voice boomed across the little speaker.

“You know who this is, Agent Vail. I thought you should know that by now, your friend is dead. Don’t ask how I know this because I’ll never tell you and you’ll never find out. But I have my sources. You see, I may not always operate within the law, but apparently neither do you.”

Click. The computer voice said, “Next message.”

She dropped the handset at her side and sat there, attempting to absorb what she had just heard. Think! Concentrate. The voice. The voice sounded like César Guevara’s. Robby is dead? He’s screwing with me. Revenge for breaking into his house. How did he know I was back in Virginia? Is Roxxann at risk?

“Hey.” Knock at the door. “Hey—”

Vail pulled her face up toward the voice.

“You okay?” Hector DeSantos asked. He walked toward her, but she did not move.

Think, can’t think, Robby is dead? Can he be trusted, how do I check if he’s right— “Karen.” DeSantos had moved around her desk and was pulling her up and out of the chair. “Look at me. What’s wrong?”

Vail hung there in his arms. Her gaze swung down toward the phone. Talk. Tell him. She licked her lips. Dry mouth, tongue thick, sticky. “Call. Guevara’s voice. He said—he said—” She pulled her eyes toward his. “He said Robby’s dead.”

“The guy’s a scumbag, Karen. He’s just fucking with you. Ignore what he said.” He looked at her, then gave her a gentle shake. “Karen, focus on my voice. Listen to me.”

She closed her eyes tight, then opened them.

“Think for a second. Reason this through. Why would Guevara do something as blatant as leave you, a federal agent, a voice mail like that when he’s already under suspicion?”

Vail took a deep breath. DeSantos was trying to wring out her emotions, make her think. Back to logic. My comfort zone. “Because Guevara’s not a guy that’s pushed around by anyone. Because I broke into his house and went through his things. Given who he is, that’s a huge insult. Who the hell am I to do that to him and get away with it?”

“Leaving you a message like that may not be smart,” DeSantos said, “but he’s got a huge ego and he needed to strike back at you. Psychological warfare can be very effective.”

Guevara’s showing me he’s above the law. He wanted to get inside my head. And it worked.

DeSantos tilted his head, studied her face. “You look like you’re spacing out on me.”

Vail shook her head. “Yeah. No. I mean I’m here.”

“Good. Because I did some digging around, and I found out some shit you’re not going to like.”