light blue-and-green furniture in this suite was cool and restful but did little to calm me. After seeing Under-wood's picture this made a little more sense. When I told Agent Orange, my temporary supervisor, about Davide Andrazack, I broke my word to Broadway and Perry. Although he'd pledged to keep it confidential, that lying dickhead had obviously blabbed everything to Virtue or Nix.
A little while later Roger Broadway arrived looking tired and pissed, escorted by his own super-sized steroid case in a black suit. Roger sat in an expensive high-backed wing chair. I started to speak, but he caught my eye and shook his head. Then Emdee Perry joined us. Another huge fed had him in tow.
Perry didn't sit, choosing instead to look out the window at the lights on Wilshire Boulevard. 'These boys are startin' t' get my tail up,' he muttered softly.
Finally, Chief Filosiani and Alexa arrived with someone in a brown suit who was introduced as George Bryant, from LAPD Legal Affairs. They stopped in the waiting room to make sure we were okay.
I nodded a greeting at Alexa who nodded back. She looked under control, but I knew she was pissed. She's my wife and I can read the storm warnings. A minute or two later, we were ushered into Virtue's plush office. Tony introduced Alexa and Bryant, and we all sat on the plush furniture.
'I'd like to know under what authority you detained these detectives working under my command,' Alexa challenged, going right at Virtue the minute everyone was settled. Tony hung back and let her vent.
'I have a situation here,' R. A. Virtue said.
'You're damn right you do,' she snapped. 'These men are not criminals. You can't kidnap police officers and hold them without cause.'
'You might want to try and contain yourself, Lieutenant Scully,' Virtue said coldly.
'I think she's right,' Tony said. 'You've held these men since eight-forty this morning. We didn't know what happened to them. A major situation alert went down.'
'This involves national security,' Virtue said.
'You can't just pick up our people and hold them without warrants,' Alexa challenged.
'Our powers are sanctioned by the Homeland Security and Patriot Acts of two-thousand-one,' Virtue countered. 'These three men were involved in a sensitive case, and we simply held them as material witnesses until I could get down here and deal with it. Now, do you want to stand around and argue that, or can we get on with the business of this meeting?'
Tony was fuming, but Virtue didn't seem to mind. 'You are to turn loose your fourth Fingertip John Doe murder.'
'Why's that?' Tony demanded.
'The dead man was, in fact, an Israeli national involved in an act of deadly espionage. The case affects national security and falls directly under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I'm not asking for your permission, Chief. I'm simply notifying you of what's going to happen.'
'As far as I'm concerned, he's still a Fingertip murder,' Tony argued. 'What proof do you have that he's an Israeli national?'
'This.' Virtue handed over a Homeland Security identity sheet with a picture of Davide Andrazack, his name, and dental records. 'Run this dental scan against your dead body for verification, but I'm claiming the case under FISA, USPA, and the U. S. Immigration Act. All your evidence and crime scene materials are to be immediately sent to Agent Nix at the L. A. office of the FBI on Madison.'
'I'm not sure those three acts grant you that authority,' Tony challenged.
'Tell them, Mr. Bryant,' Virtue said, turning to our attorney.
'I'll have to check the specifics, but if Andrazack was here illegally and involved in espionage, then it's probably their case,' Bryant said.
'I'll sign the case transfer document now if you brought one,' Virtue said. 'The officers' cars were sent over to the LAPD motor pool on Flower Street.' Indicating with this piece of housekeeping, that as far as he was concerned, the issue had been settled and the meeting was over.
Ten minutes later the case was transferred and we were standing in front of the Tishman Building. Filosiani waved to his LAPD driver who pulled the chief's maroon Crown Vic to the curb. Perry, Broadway, Alexa, and I all squeezed into the backseat. Alexa was almost in my lap, it was so crowded. The legal affairs guy, Bryant, was up front with Tony and the driver. It was a full, angry car.
'That was short and sweet,' Alexa said once the car doors were closed.
'When I get fucked, I usually get kissed,' Tony growled.
'What are we really supposed to do?' I asked.
'We give him the case,' Tony said. 'I don't like it any better than you do, but it ain't like we don't have enough murders to solve. It's just that arrogant asshole pisses me off, is all.' Then he turned to the driver.
'Get us the hell out of here.'
In the spirit of the moment, the sergeant behind the wheel floored it and laid an unintentional strip of rubber up Wilshire Boulevard.
Chapter 28
I rode the elevator to the sixth floor with Alexa. She was quiet, still angry. The door opened and we walked the green carpet to her small office. It was a few minutes past 9 P. M. and Ellen was gone. The streetlights below Alexa's window were rimmed with tiny halos of fog.
'That was certainly a thorough mauling,' she said as she started dropping things into her briefcase, getting ready to go home. 'God, Shane, when I couldn't reach you on your cell or on your MCT or police radio, I almost died. I couldn't imagine what happened. Ten hours of not knowing. '
I put my arms around her. 'Who does that asshole think he is?' she continued. 'I've got half a mind to file charges of illegal detention.' She rested her head against my chest.
'It's borderline, babe. Virtue's got too much political juice. It's best to wait till his own sense of self- importance lures him all the way over the line and then hit him.'
'I've heard he has his eye on the governorship. That he's arm-twisting Hollywood celebrities and business people into investing in his campaign. He's already got a website. After he's governor, I've heard he even has plans for the presidency.' She shuddered. 'Just what this country needs, another self-serving power junkie in the White House. God help us.'
I held her until she calmed down.
'Listen, Alexa, one thing did come out of all this that we need to pay some attention to.'
'If it has to do with this case, forget it. We've been ordered to hand it over to the FBI.' She pulled away from me and continued angrily slamming files into her briefcase.
'Someone in foreign intelligence popped Davide Andrazack and made it look like a Fingertip killing. Somehow, that shooter knew to carve the correct symbol on his chest. I find that very troubling.'
She stopped packing up and turned to face me. 'You're right. How did they know about that?'
I ran through what Broadway and Perry had told me about how there might be a bug, or a computer scan on CTB. I also shared my suspicion that maybe the leak went further than that.
When I finished, Alexa's brow was furrowed and her mouth pulled down into a scowl.
'I think we need to get someone from the Computer Support Division to sweep this place. Start with CTB and move to our main crime computers. Don't forget the ME's office.'
She nodded. 'Thanks,' she said. 'I'll get right on it.'
'I'm gonna go down and check on my messages. I'll meet you at home in an hour.'
The task force on three was still humming. It had progressed remarkably since this morning. Nobody seemed to miss me much. The detectives were all settled in. A chair with a broken back was pushed up to my desk. The phones were hooked up and I had been assigned extension 86. Someone's idea of a joke?
Word had already reached the cubes that John Doe Number Four was being yanked out of the serial case. It was officially logged as a copycat and was being worked by Justice. I got a few smug looks. I was back in the shallow end with the rest of the kiddies, my early lead eviscerated. Nobody wanted to be my secret partner anymore.
