While Justice Sleeps(94)
“No way to tell.”
“Any way to track who ‘they’ are?” Avery asked.
“Perhaps.” His team had canvassed the building, hunting for a transmitter. Nothing inside the building or nearby carried the bandwidth of the surveillance devices in her apartment. According to his tech team, the devices were top-grade and, if he wasn’t mistaken, in common use by the more secretive levels of the federal government. The expensive hypertech of the professional spy, not the sort of equipment they gave to the FBI—but probably handed out like candy to Homeland Security. “It may take a few days.”
“Agent Lee, can you find somebody for me?”
“I promise we’re still looking for your mother, Avery. You know it’s not easy to locate someone who’s hiding from the law.”
“Yes, I know you’re looking, but I’d also like to find someone else. Dr. Betty Papaleo, in the Science and Technology Directorate at Homeland.”
There was a pause on the line. “Why do you need to find her?”
With a look across the table at Jared, she explained, “I have reason to believe she agreed to meet me this morning.”
“Meet you at the law firm?”
“No. The Lincoln Memorial.”
“You left the firm?”
Not wanting to burn Agent Leighton, she prevaricated: “Against your orders? I wouldn’t risk it. But I don’t want to lose a potential contact.”
“Contact about what?”
“She’s a possible thread, Agent Lee. I’m trying to gather information. She agreed to meet me before the latest scandal broke. Just to answer some questions.”
“Questions you don’t want to ask Major Vance? Or questions about him?”
“The former. Will you help me?”
Agent Lee savored the request, one of the few Avery had put in the form of a question. “If you’d told me your plans, I could have brought her in to see you. Calling her didn’t work?”
“No, I haven’t been able to reach her. It’s critical that I speak with her today.”
“I’ll need to know about what.” Agent Lee could hear the note of urgency and, if he wasn’t mistaken, fear. “Why are you meeting with one of Major Vance’s employees?”
“Because when we connected, she asked me to,” Avery replied. “It’s important.”
A call from the FBI to a DHS employee would yield faster results than a request from a disgraced attorney. She was using him, but if he found Dr. Papaleo, Lee would be the first to learn why Papaleo wanted to meet. “I’ll do you one better. I’ll go and pick her up myself. Bring her to the law firm.”
Avery stiffened. If Betty explained how they’d met, Agent Lee’s cooperation would probably vanish in an instant, leaving her with less than she had now. Tripping an alert on the Web as a way of connecting with a government employee wasn’t illegal, but Agent Lee struck her as inflexible on matters of security. So she hedged: “Please do, but can you try not to scare her? I can tell you from experience, having the FBI come and pick you up does little to encourage friendliness.”
“I’ll be a gentleman, Ms. Keene.”
* * *
—
Vance listened to the latest report from Phillips and his team. So far, the deaths of Betty Papaleo and her husband had gone unnoticed by the police or the press. The police had yet to turn up the abandoned Volvo, and their ersatz vacation would keep questions at bay for at least a week.
Castillo had tracked Keene to the Lincoln Memorial, where she had found nothing. The rest of her movements were restricted by the heavy cloak of the FBI—a temporary solution, but progress, nonetheless. If Curlee kept the public pressure on, Celeste would win custody Monday morning and be a wealthy widow by the middle of the week.
One last loose end. “Where is Rita Keene?”
“She’s been stoned all day.”
“Where is she now?”
“Sleeping it off at a flophouse down on Wisconsin.”
“The FBI has a team out searching for her. Stay on her and send me any good material. Sex for drugs would be perfect, if you can pull it off.”
Since the lady wasn’t half bad to look at, Phillips shrugged again. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Phillips left, and Vance punched in Agent Lee’s number.
“Special Agent Lee.”
“This is Vance.”
“Calling to check in on our girl?”
“She’s been very popular today. Can’t turn on a television without seeing those photos.” He’d have fresh ones to pass along if Phillips did his job. “Did Ms. Keene agree to protective custody?”
“Not yet.”
“Has she provided any further information on Justice Wynn?”
“No more than we heard on Tuesday.”
“The photos? She give any explanation?”
“Didn’t ask. We both knew about her mother, Vance. Nothing in that story today was news.”
“Public awareness changes the dynamic.” Vance flattened his palm against the desk when frustration would have balled it into a fist. He needed Lee’s help, and truculence wouldn’t work. “We agreed that due to her mother’s predilections and her own past habits, she poses a security risk. I’d hoped you might be able to revisit the idea of her voluntarily relinquishing custody.”