“What’s up?” Mac asked, yawning.
“You said we should look at recent real estate purchases, right?” Burton asked.
“Yeah, so? Did your people find something?”
“Maybe. Most of the recent purchases are at least six months old, development parcels in the suburbs. There are multiple acres, clearly for residential housing, either high-end houses or townhouses. But there is one that’s odd. It’s for a single-family home down east of Northfield. It was bought by one of his smaller subsidiary groups, DSW Inc., which is run by Drew and Steve. And it was bought in the last month or so.”
“After he found out about the cancer,” Mac said.
“That’s right,” Burton said. “What could be the possible point?”
“Are there other houses around?” Lich asked.
“We did a satellite search of the property,” Duffy answered. “It’s off by itself. Well in from the county road. There are no other homes nearby.”
“Nice country house, perhaps?”
“Doesn’t appear to be. Rambler, fairly large, but just a nondescript rambler out in the country.”
“How big a piece of land?” Mac asked.
“It was a twenty-acre parcel, maybe a hobby farm, but it’s in the middle of nowhere,” Duffy replied. “It wouldn’t be developed for years, if ever.”
“What’s Northfield have to say about it?”
“I called out and had them do a drive-by,” Duffy answered. “They said a couple of vans are parked in front of the garage. Otherwise, very little going on.”
Burton looked to Mac.
“What do you think?”
“Let’s ask the old man.”
Mac and Burton went back into the interview room. Wiskowski’s lawyer looked up.
“I said, we are done.”
“I got just one other thing I want to ask about.” Mac said.
“What’s that?”
“What do you know about this,” Mac slid a sheet of paper in front of Wiskowski and his lawyer. It was the property listing for the Northfield house.
Wiskowski’s mouth opened and then his shoulders slumped, like he’d been caught.
“What’s out at that house?”
Wiskowski shook his head.
“Maybe that’s why McDonald is involved.”
“McDonald?” Mac asked, standing now, leaning down to the old man, his voice rising, “McDonald? What’s at that house damn it?” He pounded the table, “What’s out there?”
Wiskowski looked at the picture.
“Ohh Steve.” Drew Sr. put his hands to his face. “I wondered why he bought that place. Why would he do this?” he pleaded to his lawyer, who just shook his head.
“Steve?” Mac asked. “Your son?” They hadn’t been able to find Wiskowski’s son as of yet. “What’s Steve have to do with this?”
Wiskowski pleaded with his lawyer.
“Why would he do this?”
Burton grabbed Mac by the arm.
“We’ve been looking at the wrong Wiskowski. Let’s go.”
4:32 AM
Mac and Lich were in the back of an FBI Suburban with Duffy and Burton in front. Two additional Suburbans followed. Just outside the east side of Northfield, the group met up with the Rice County sheriff and three deputies in a parking lot behind a church.
Burton leaped out and was greeted by the sheriff.
“You must be Agent Burton.”
“I am.”
“George Glenning, Rice County sheriff. The place you’re looking for is four miles or so up the road on the right side. House is set well back from the road in a light grove of trees.”
“You do a drive-by?”
“Did it myself, fifteen minutes ago. Looks pretty quiet. A few vans are parked in front of the garage, but no activity. Lights off on the main level, although I thought I could detect some light out of the window wells. Someone might be awake in the basement.”
“Pretty sleepy, huh?”
“That’s my read,” Glenning answered. “You have, what, twelve men? Plus my four. That should be plenty of power. How do you want to hit the place?”
“Let’s go up nice and easy, without the Suburbans,” Burton answered. “If the girls are in there, we don’t want to give these guys any warning.”
“So we pull up to the end of the driveway and walk in quietly, then.”
“Yeah,” Burton answered. “From what you’re telling me, we’ll have a little bit of cover as we approach the house.”
“A little. The trees are tall but not terribly thick — cleared out around the bottom. The grass is pretty high, but no brush or anything to hide behind. So you can get to a tree and have some cover, but we’ll be exposed when we go for the house.”
“Let’s do it then.”
The Suburbans made the four-mile drive to the house.
“Do you think the girls are really there?” Lich asked, looking at Mac.
“I don’t know,” Mac answered, checking the clip for his Sig. “But the way Old Man Wiskowski reacted when we showed him the picture of the house, it was as if he put the puzzle together himself. It makes sense. The house is isolated. Steve Wiskowski was torn up about his brother. His dad’s going downhill and has been talking about Drew Junior’s death. How it’s Charlie Flanagan’s and Lyman Hisle’s fault. The old man is dying in front of him and can’t do anything about Flanagan and Hisle, so the kid does. We haven’t been able to find the kid. The old man claims he doesn’t know where he is.” Mac shrugged his shoulders. “This could be it.”
“I’ve heard of crazier things,” Lich said, pulling on his vest.
“It at least makes some sense,” Mac answered and then added, “We’ll know soon enough.”
The Suburbans stopped at the driveway, and everyone jumped out. They carefully made their way up to the house, a single-story with white siding and brick halfway up the front. To the right, the driveway swung around to a detached three-stall garage with two vans parked in front. As the group approached the edge of the tree line, there was a noise to the right. A man in blue jeans and a dirty white T-shirt came out the side door to the detached garage, wiping his hands with a rag. The man saw them, dropped the rag, and took off running towards the woods behind the garage.
“We got a runner,” a sheriff’s deputy yelled and took off after the man.
“You know what that means,” Lich said.
“Something’s going on here,” Mac answered.
The sheriff looked left.
“Now,” he said. Two deputies ran up to the front door. Everyone else fell in ten feet behind. One deputy opened the screen door and the other used the big ram. The door blasted open.
“POLICE! FBI!” Burton and Duffy yelled as they burst in and went for the basement stairs. Mac and Lich were right behind and went left down the hallway.
“Back right, Mac!” Lich yelled.
“POLICE!” Mac yelled as he burst into the back right bedroom. A man sat up in bed and immediately put his hands up.
“Don’t shoot!”
“On the floor! On your knees!” Mac ordered. The man complied quickly. Mac pushed him down onto his
