Deadlock (FBI Thriller #24)(26)

“Then you can tell me all the rest of it now.”

Rebekah laid out exactly what had happened in the séance, and Savich noted that her story was very similar to Zoltan’s.

Sherlock said, “Seems to me Zoltan knew about the Big Take and put on a big production to convince you her shtick was real, hoping you’d tell her where your grandfather had hidden it or work with her to find it. Only you didn’t do that. You shut her down. And when that didn’t work, she tried to get you kidnapped. And then that blew up in her face.”

Rebekah said, “Only thanks to Agent Savich.”

Savich said, “That would mean Zoltan is very organized and has some bad people on speed dial. She acted fast.”

Rebekah said slowly, “Is it possible she thinks she’s for real? That she really brought Grandfather to me?”

“No,” Savich said.

Kit sat forward. “All right, but it’s still possible someone we don’t know about wanted to kidnap Rebekah for ransom, that it has no connection to this Zoltan. It’s not a secret Rich is—excuse me—rich. And Rebekah is, too, for that matter, a legacy from her grandfather. Even if Rich didn’t adore Rebekah as much as he does, he’d still pay the ransom. He’d have to.”

“Yes, he’d have to, wouldn’t he?” Rebekah looked down at her hands pleating the brown afghan folded next to her on the early American sofa.

Savich didn’t want to ask her, but he knew he had to. It was a part of this mad mix. “Rebekah, have you ever thought your grandfather might have been involved in the death of his friend Nate Elderby?”

“What?” Rebekah sat back, her eyes wide on Savich’s face. “My grandfather? No, no. He wasn’t, he couldn’t have been. He wasn’t that kind of man.” She calmed and drew a deep breath. “I wish I had some of Zoltan’s tea about now. Listen, Agent Savich, I was a little kid when Nate Elderby drowned in 1995, but I remember Grandfather was very upset, pacing around his study, tears in his eyes, cursing Nate. Thinking back, he really was distraught.

“You’re checking into his death since he may have been Grandfather’s accomplice in this Big Take. With one thief murdered, the other thief gets everything? No, even as young as I was I remember his grief vividly. There was something snarky about Nate that Grandfather said in the séance. But that’s stupid. It was Zoltan who made that snark up, not Grandfather.”

Kit said, “If Rebekah’s grandfather did murder his best friend, for gain or for some other reason, what does it matter now? I mean, there’s no one left to prosecute. It happened years ago. Who would care now?”

Savich said, “I’ve learned that violence in the past has a way of forcing itself into the present.” He suddenly thought of the puzzle pieces, of St. Lumis. Could Cinelli be in danger?

Rebekah said, “Nate Elderby’s wife would care, wouldn’t she?”

Everyone in the living room turned when they heard the front door open. Savich’s cell beeped an incoming message. He stared down at a photo sent by Agent Pippa Cinelli.





15


Savich sent her a quick text and slid his cell back into his jacket pocket. He slowly rose when Congressman Rich Manvers came into the room. Rebekah quickly walked over to him and took his hand. Manvers studied her face a moment, then kissed her lightly on the cheek. Manvers said over Rebekah’s shoulder, “Good to see you, Agent Savich. Let me say again I owe you a great deal for saving my wife. Have you made any progress in finding the men who attacked her? Do you know yet if there was any connection to this charlatan, Zoltan?”

“That’s what we’re looking into and why we’re talking with Rebekah now, Congressman,” Savich said.

“Rebekah already told me a lot of what happened, the faked séance, that Zoltan was after some kind of information? I wanted to go to Zoltan’s house and shake her by the neck until she coughed up the truth.” He hugged his wife to his side. “But Rebekah was quite right. Involving myself probably wouldn’t have ended well. We will need to trust you to get to the bottom of this.” He grinned. “You might have saved me from an assault charge.” He glanced at Sherlock, did a double take. “You’re Agent Sherlock—the heroine of JFK.” He pumped her hand. “A great pleasure to have you in my living room.”

“Thank you. It all happened months and months ago.”

Manvers smiled. “And bringing down that terrorist at the Lincoln Monument? I’m a politician, Agent Sherlock. That makes it my job never to forget anything that important to our country. I don’t believe acts of heroism like yours should ever be forgotten.”

Sherlock found herself smiling back at him. So he knew how to be self-deprecating and charming, not to mention he was freely stroking her ego. Still, she wondered why Rebekah had married a man old enough to be her father. She was young and smart, and her art authentication business was taking off. Maybe she’d been badly burned by a younger man? Sherlock planned to find out. “Sir, what did you think about Zoltan’s revelation? Of the Big Take? After you’d calmed down, of course.”

He sat down in a big armchair that fit him nicely, facing them. “I knew Rebekah’s grandfather, John Clarkson, actually I interned with him in the nineties. What he—Zoltan—was saying sounds preposterous. I mean, the Big Take? The John Clarkson I knew would never do anything illegal.