Executive Protection(34)

Examining the window frame, he leaned close, looking for trace evidence. The shooter would have had to open the window to take his shots. The agents would have searched for fingerprints. Seeing nothing telling, he turned his attention to the floor, crouching to scan every square millimeter.

Nothing. The agents wouldn’t have left anything behind.

Standing, he faced the office once more. Well, he’d had to confirm it and he had; there was nothing here.

Going to the door, he opened it a little. The janitor cart was still there. Other than that, the hall was empty. He stepped through the yellow tape and shut the door. When he turned, he saw the janitor emerge from the men’s bathroom, a fortyish African American man with salt-and-pepper hair.

“I thought you all finished up in there,” he said.

“We did. Just had to check something.”

“You catch that man yet?”

Thad shook his head.

“Didn’t think so. I’ve been waiting for somebody to ask me to go make an ID. Haven’t yet.”

Thad’s mind went on full alert. “You saw the shooter?”

“Yeah, well, least I think I did. Saw him leave the office much the way you just did, minus the tape, of course. Thought it was odd, considering that the space is vacant and all.”

“You described the man to an agent?”

“Oh, yeah, and an artist drew up a picture of him.”

The feds had an artist’s sketch of the shooter. Why were they keeping it a secret? Why wasn’t the picture on the news? Prickles of foreboding trickled up his spine.

“When did you talk to the agents?”

“After I heard what happened, I told my boss, who contacted someone. Then they came to me the day after the shooting.”

Thad hadn’t heard about that. No one had told him. He doubted his mother even knew. She would have mentioned something like that. His feeling that there was something wrong with the investigation intensified.

“What did the man look like?” he asked.

The man’s brow furrowed. “You haven’t seen the picture?”

“No. I was just moved to the case today. That’s why I came by.”

He hesitated, obviously questioning the validity of Thad’s statement. “He was a little shorter than you. Brown eyes. Wore a hat the day I saw him. Short hair. Fit guy.”

Thad would give anything to see the artist’s sketch. “Did you talk to him?”

“I said hello but he just walked down the hall.”

“Have you seen him again?” Thad asked.

“Just that one time. You have any leads?”

“No. Thank you.” Thad turned to leave, full of bombarding questions and the sixth sense that the description was familiar.

* * *

Thad went straight to Darcy at the station.

“You’re kidding,” Darcy said after he finished telling him what the janitor had revealed. They’d gone into a conference room for this conversation.

“Do you think Chief Thomas knows?” Darcy asked.

Thad stared at him, thinking the possibility was real. He didn’t have to answer. “What if the shooter has already been identified?” Darcy asked the question that plagued Thad.

“I don’t know.” They could at least have an idea of possible suspects. “The description matches Cam Harmon.”

Darcy cursed, as frustrated as Thad over the information that had been withheld and wondering how much more there was. “What about Jaden?”


“Maybe they’re working together. Leaving the window open, helping him to get into the estate, since dating Lucy didn’t work.”

“Right. Except there’s a problem with that theory. Why date Kate’s nurse to get close to Kate?”

It did seem to be a stretch. But it was too coincidental. “Maybe she’d bring him to her room one day or night. It would have been a way around security.”

Lucy had met Cam right after Kate was shot. Cam could have gone to the hospital before the day Thad had seen him there, cased it out and decided to use Lucy. He may have seen how well the two were getting along. And then Lucy had been hired as Kate’s home care nurse and she’d stopped seeing Cam. Was Cam now working his way in through Jaden?

“Do you think we should tell Chief Thomas?” Darcy asked.

“Yes. If he does nothing, then we know he’s in on it.”

“In on what? An assassination attempt? How many people want her dead?”

If several people were involved in a conspiracy to kill a potential presidential candidate, this was bigger than he imagined.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Thad left the conference room.

“Get ready for a flogging,” Darcy said from behind him.

Thad glanced back, catching his meaning. Going to the chief would reveal he and Darcy hadn’t done as ordered and steered clear of the investigation. But Thad didn’t care. He’d do anything to protect his mother.

Reaching Wade’s office, he knocked on the glass. The chief looked up and waved them to enter.

Thad did, and Darcy closed the door behind them.

“I thought you were taking a leave, Winston,” Chief Thomas said without looking up from the papers on his desk.

“Something’s come up.”