Best Laid Plans(84)
Juan interjected, “As I explained to you, Agent Dunbar, Mr. Rogan was hired by HWI and since we had no knowledge of your investigation, we agreed to track and remove the bug to determine if that had something to do with Mr. Worthington’s murder.”
“But you don’t even know that he was murdered!” Dunbar said.
“He was,” Barry said. “The ME held the report so we could pursue a line of inquiry, but now that we’ve informed Mrs. Worthington, it’ll be released tomorrow. He was poisoned with curare.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“You’re welcome to contact the Medical Examiner yourself,” Barry said coolly.
“I mean, if Adeline killed her husband, don’t you think that there are a dozen easier ways to kill him than using an exotic drug?”
“Are you aware that the subject of your investigation has hired a private security detail at her house? A half dozen armed men?”
Dunbar hesitated. “I saw an increase in security. But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. If she had been threatened, I would have known about it. She would have contacted Capitol Police, or told her staff.”
“She’s not acting innocent.”
“Because she’s not innocent! She’s a corrupt public official, not a killer. We’re developing an iron-clad case against her. She probably thinks you’ll uncover something about her illegal campaign activity while investigating her husband’s murder.”
Dunbar made a good point, Lucy thought, but maybe Adeline’s white collar crimes led to her husband’s murder, even if she didn’t order a hit.
“If you have all this evidence, why haven’t you indicted her?” Barry asked.
“At first, it was conjecture, and we didn’t have enough to make what we had stick. We needed to get inside, get her to incriminate herself. Once I got in, six months ago, I started getting close to everyone on her campaign and congressional staff. Her campaign manager, Rob Garza, is neck-deep in everything—he’s a piece of work. Not only does Adeline help her friends get rich at taxpayer expense through these inflated land deals, but she punishes her enemies by having the committee she controls seize private land at pennies on the dollar, or declare a parcel environmentally sensitive, which can cost the landowner hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and fines. Often, they’ll sell the land on the cheap to one of Adeline’s friends and then—surprise!—the environmental protections are lifted.”
“That’s an elaborate corruption scheme,” Naygrew said. “She would need multiple people to pull it off, and conspiracies are hard to maintain the more people involved.”
“Yes, sir,” Dunbar concurred. “She needs people in different agencies to pull this off, and it’s going to be her downfall. But to her credit, no one—except maybe Garza—knows anyone else who’s involved, or the extent of the scheme. I have a UC in the EPA and am this close to flipping someone else to turn state’s evidence. She’s up to something bigger than the land deals, but your investigation has made her nervous. I didn’t want to come here because I feared she’d have me followed. Fortunately, I’m good at being discreet.”
Dunbar looked from Lucy to Barry. “What I want you to do is tell the congresswoman that you’re pursuing another line of investigation and stop talking to her. Just go away.”
Lucy stared at him. She didn’t know where to start. But Barry spoke first. “Juan? This is really your call.”
Lucy cringed. She didn’t want to give up this case, but Barry was right. Neither she nor Barry had any real authority in this room.
Juan said, “Barry, tell us what you know about Harper Worthington’s murder.”
“An underage prostitute by the name of Elise Hansen was in the room with Worthington when he died,” Barry said. “We know he was killed with curare, a paralyzing agent that essentially suffocates the victim. The ME has determined that it was injected into Worthington’s system and he died almost immediately. While the room was set up to make it look as if he died while having sex, the ME and crime scene techs have determined that it was staged. He was undressed after he died.”
“So clearly,” Dunbar said, “the hooker killed him.”
“Why?” Lucy said.
“Maybe she’s a psychopath,” Dunbar said. “Isn’t that your specialty, Kincaid?”
She bristled. It was his tone, which told her he didn’t like her. And she didn’t even know him! “Or she was hired by Adeline to kill Worthington,” she snapped. “Because the one thing we don’t know is why Worthington went out of his way to be in that motel at that time.”
“Because he’s a pervert?” Dunbar suggested with a snide tone.
“We believe he had a meeting with someone with the initials G.A.,” Barry said. “We’ve identified him as ‘Gary,’ no last name, a white male between the ages of fifty and sixty who was in a serious accident that left him scarred and with a limp. We’re trying to track him down now. But our witness didn’t see anyone matching that description in or around the motel.”
“It could be,” Lucy said to Barry, “that he only thought he was meeting with Gary.”
“And he was surprised by the girl?” Barry nodded. “Could be, but wouldn’t Worthington be suspicious?”