Justice Lost (Darren Street #3)(41)

Henshaw snorted.

“They need your service because their public officials are allowing criminals to ply their trade unmolested, with one very important exception: the public officials extort money from the criminals in exchange for allowing them to operate.”

“So?” Henshaw said. “Did you see what the United States Supreme Court did last summer, Ms. Tate? You live in Washington, right? I’m sure you read the Bob McDonnell case. The governor of the great state of Virginia took a hundred and seventy-five thousand in bribes from one man, was convicted by a jury, and the Supreme Court reversed the case. They said the trial judge’s interpretation of a ‘political act’ was too broad. In my opinion, what they did was give elected officials the right to do whatever they want and charge whatever they want to do it.”

“This case is far different,” Claire said. “And I think you know it.”

“I don’t know a thing about your case. We live in a dangerous world right now,” Henshaw said. “Mr. Kurtz here concerns himself with things like terrorism and making sure some crazy person with a gun doesn’t go into a school and shoot a bunch of kids. He deals with all kinds of human trafficking, people selling babies, people selling young girls for sex. He deals with cybercrime, which is probably the fastest-growing area of crime in the world right now. He deals, on occasion, with large amounts of narcotics. And he does this in not one, but forty-one counties. I help and advise him. I prosecute the cases he and his agents bring. We’re all very, very busy. And now you’re asking us to . . . What exactly do you want us to do?”

“Build a case against the sheriff of Knox County, the district attorney general of Knox County, and their associates. Prosecute them and put them in prison.”

“For what?”

“Official misconduct. They’re extorting money from criminals. Are you deaf?”

“I hear quite well, Ms. Tate, and you can keep the sarcasm to yourself. How much are we talking about?”

“I don’t know exactly, but they’re getting a piece of the proceeds from illegal gambling on cockfights, dogfights, bare-knuckle boxing, and unlicensed casinos. They also get a cut of all the prostitution that goes on in the county and almost all the drugs that are sold in the county. My understanding is that it started when a former employee of this office, Ben Clancy, was the district attorney, so it’s been going on for quite some time. I’m sure we’re talking about millions of dollars.”

Henshaw looked over at me like I was an insect. “Forgive me,” he said to Claire, “but why is this man here?”

“Because he’s going to be the next district attorney, and he wants to help.”

“You’re sure he’s going to win the election?”

“Are you a gambling man, Mr. Henshaw?”

“Just tell me what you have in mind.”

“Mr. Street has already been approached by the sheriff. He was just feeling Mr. Street out, trying to discern whether he would allow things to continue as they are if he were to be elected.”

“And what did Mr. Street tell him?”

“Nothing, really. He doesn’t trust the sheriff. But my grandfather would like to get Mr. Street involved in this case, and that’s where you come in. After he’s elected, Mr. Street is going to approach the sheriff and tell him he wants a full share of the protection and extortion money that’s flowing to law enforcement in Knox County.”

“I am?” I said. This came as a complete surprise.

Claire ignored me and kept talking. “He’s going to record every conversation, turn all the money over to the FBI, and let you gentlemen do what you do. He’ll do most of the work, and you can be the heroes.”

“I’m not really comfortable with this,” I said.

Kurtz cleared his throat. “There will have to be an agent, probably two, nearby every time he talks to the sheriff. We’d have to be there in case a dangerous situation developed and to authenticate the tape recordings if the case goes to trial. We have to transcribe the tapes. We have to log and store everything. It’s actually a great deal of work, Ms. Tate, and you’re mistaken when you say he’ll be doing most of it. It’s offensive.”

“My apologies,” Claire said. “I certainly didn’t mean to offend you.”

“This isn’t something new to us, you know,” Kurtz said. “We’ve been aware of the accusations and innuendo for quite some time.”

“It goes far beyond accusation and innuendo, I assure you,” Claire said. “May I ask what you’ve done with the information you’ve received?”

“No, you may not. I’m not at liberty to discuss investigations,” Kurtz said.

“So there is an investigation,” Claire said.

“I didn’t say that.”

“So there isn’t an investigation,” Claire said.

“I didn’t say that, either. I’m not going to discuss any investigation with you, Ms. Tate. And as for Mr. Street, there would be concerns. He’s suspected of killing several people, including Ben Clancy.”

“I didn’t kill Clancy or anybody else,” I said.

“Well, you’ve also been charged and convicted of murder. You served two years in prison.”

“And I was exonerated, and Clancy was arrested and eventually put out to pasture.”