Before the Fall(62)

Hex bumps Gus’s arm. He realizes O’Brien is talking to him.

“What?”

“I said I got a warrant,” says O’Brien.

“For what?” Gus asks.

“The paintings. We seized them from Burroughs’s studio about an hour ago.”

Gus rubs his eyes. He knows from O’Brien’s file that he is the son of a boarding school principal, Andover or Blair Academy, he can’t remember which. This seems like as good way as any to design a judgment machine, one whose function is to police and punish—which is clearly how O’Brien sees his role in life.

“The man saved a child,” he says.

“He was in the right place at the right time, and I’m wondering why.”

Gus tries to keep his temper under control.

“I’ve done this job for twenty years,” he says, “and no one has ever described being in a plane crash as being in the right place at the right time.”

O’Brien shrugs.

“I gave you the chance to make this your idea. Now I’m moving on it myself.”

“Just—bring them to the hangar,” Gus tells him, then, before O’Brien can protest. “And you’re right. We should look. I would have done it differently, but it’s done now. So bring them to the hangar. And then pack your bags, because you’re off the task force.”

“What?”

“I brought you on because Colby said you were his best man, but we’re not going to do this. It’s my investigation, and how we treat the survivors and the suspects is a tone that I set. So it’s done now. You seized artwork created by a man who may one day get a medal of honor from the president. You’ve decided he’s hiding something, or maybe you just can’t accept that life is full of random coincidence, that not everything that seems meaningful is meaningful, but the truth is, it’s not your decision to make. So pack your shit. I’m giving you back to the FBI.”

O’Brien stares at him, jaw tight, then stands slowly.

“We’ll see,” he says, and walks out.





Chapter 22


Painting #3



You are underwater. Below you there is only darkness. High above, you see light, a gradual gray hinting toward white. There is texture to the murk, what appear to be black crosses peppering your field of vision. They are not obvious at first, these slashes of black, like something has been drawn and crossed out, but as your eyes adjust to the painting you realize they are everywhere, not simply brush technique, but content.

In the bottom right corner of the frame you can make out something shiny, a black object catching some glint of light from the surface. The letters USS are visible, the final S sinking below the edge of frame. Seeing it draws your eye to something else, cresting the very bottom of the canvas, the tip of something triangular, something primordial rising.

It is in this moment you realize that the crosses are bodies.





Chapter 23





TRANSCRIPT


Leaked Document shows tension inside the Bateman crash Investigation, raises questions about the role of a mysterious passenger.


(Sept. 7, 2015, 8:16 p.m.)


BILL CUNNINGHAM (Anchor): Good evening, America. I’m Bill Cunningham. We’re interrupting our regular programming to bring you this special report. ALC has acquired an internal memo written by Special Agent Walter O’Brien of the FBI to National Transportation Safety Board’s lead investigator, Gus Franklin, penned just hours ago. The memo discusses the team’s current theories of the crash, and raises questions about the presence on the plane of purported crash hero, Scott Burroughs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUNNINGHAM: As seen here, the document—which starts off cordial—shows disagreement between the investigators in how to handle the case going forward. As listed in the memo, investigators are currently working on four main theories. The first is mechanical error. The second is pilot error. The third is listed as sabotage, possibly to impede a government investigation into Ben Kipling and his investment firm. The final reads as quote a terrorist attack, aimed at David Bateman, chairman of ALC News.

But there is a fifth theory, raised here for the first time, one that questions the role played by Scott Burroughs in the crash. It is a theory Agent O’Brien clearly raised in person with the lead investigator earlier that day, only to be rebuffed, and so now, as he writes, quote: and though I know you’ve said in person that you have no interest in this line of questioning, given recent revelations, I feel I must put in writing a possible fifth theory, and that is the idea that passenger Scott Burroughs either knows more than he’s saying, or bears some culpability in events leading to the downing of the aircraft.

And wait till you hear why, my friends. Quote, Interviews with local vendors and residents of Martha’s Vineyard suggest that Burroughs and Mrs. Bateman, wife of David, were very close and appeared to have a comfortable physical relationship—hugging in public. It is known that Mrs. Bateman had visited Mr. Burroughs at his studio and seen his work.

And friends, as a personal friend of the family, I can tell you I don’t read those words lightly, nor am I suggesting that an affair took place. But the question of why Mr. Burroughs was on that plane continues to nag at me. But fine, say they were friends, even good friends. There’s no harm or shame in that. It’s the next thing Agent O’Brien writes that is, to me, the bombshell.