been so important that these bastards committed another slaughter of innocent people. Tell them to draw side arms and ammo from the armory. Inform Alice we need ATF identification. That should get us through the front door of wherever we need to go.'
'You got it,' Everett said.
'Is there anything I can do, Colonel?' Robbins asked hopefully.
'You've done enough, Doc. Just get back to Pete and help him. He seems lost without you in the comp center.'
'Colonel, you watch your ass. From the looks of things, whoever these people are, they don't let anyone get in their way.'
'Hmm, I know some people just like that, Doc.'
Robbins watched the colonel leave and knew exactly whom Jack had meant. Everett joined Collins at the door and the two men left together to meet up with Ryan and Mendenhall.
'Yeah, I guess we do have people that are just as serious as those murdering pukes,' Robbins said to himself and then closed the terminal with Europa.
8
Collins, Everett, Mendenhall, and Ryan stood outside the offices of the law firm Evans, Lawson and Keeler, easily identifiable to the public by the lines of bright yellow police tape surrounding the old brownstone. The Boston Police Department had several bright-light stands placed in front of the building and several uniformed patrolmen were watching the bystanders closely.
The black windbreakers the four men wore had ATF on the back and on the left breast. Jack walked to the front of the building and presented his identification.
'ATF out of New York,' Jack began. He found that he didn't need even that small opening for the policeman standing on the large stoop leading into the offices. The man just pointed to the double front doors.
'Robbery-Homicide is set up right inside the lobby, mac. Coffee's there too.'
'Thanks,' Collins said and gestured for his three men to follow him.
The smell of death hit Jack as soon as he stepped inside. The fluorescent lighting illuminated the reception area of the prestigious firm and belied the fact that so much violence had taken place there less than twenty-four hours before.
'Coming onto scenes like this is getting to be a habit I can really learn to live without, Jack,' Everett said, pulling his ID as a detective walked in from the long corridor behind the reception and eyed them.
'Still a hard world,' was all Collins said in return.
'Can I help you?'
Jack looked at the man in civilian clothes with his shirtsleeves rolled up and saw that he was wearing a shoulder holster.
'ATF. Our people called today and spoke with a Captain Harnessy. We had a match hit on the ballistics report filed by your department.'
'The warehouse thing, right?' the detective said.
'Can we have a look around?' Everett asked as he started to skirt the detective.
'We haven't finished the CSI yet, so--'
'Look,' Jack leaned over and looked closer at the man's badge, 'Lieutenant, we're willing to share our information and we do have a lot of it. Willing as long as we don't have to play any of these jurisdiction games. Believe it or not, we're on the same side here.'
The lieutenant looked around and then nodded. 'All right, but I go with you, and don't touch anything. My captain is a real stickler for this clean crime-scene stuff.'
Jack smiled and started through the reception door. 'I know what you mean; our director can also be a stickler for rules.'
As they passed through the door, Carl stepped up and whispered, before the Boston cop caught up to them, 'Especially if he knew we were here.'
'Oh, man,' Ryan hissed, as he saw the first bloodstain on the carpet, where the first victim had been killed.
'They capped the security guard here. The rest of the victims were split into six different offices and shot execution-style.'
Jack walked through the first door he came to, which was the main conference room. It looked to Collins that four or five people had been killed in the large room. There were stains on the carpeted floor and on the wall.
'The second batch of people died here, we think. One man, three women, all popped once in the head. The ladies were shot execution-style against the wall.'
'Jesus, who in the hell are we dealing with here?' Ryan asked as he stepped from the room.
Mendenhall didn't say anything as he joined Ryan. The exact same thoughts had crossed his mind when he saw the death at the warehouse, and after two days he still could not fathom the type of man who would kill so callously.
'You claim the motive was robbery?' Jack asked as he followed the detective out of the room.
As they entered the hallway, several crime-scene people walked past with large cases. At the end of this line was a man in a white coat who snapped several pictures of a large bloodstain on the wall. As the five men walked off, the police photographer took several more shots and then left. He did not hurry or otherwise attract attention to himself as he made his way to the front after picking up a black case. He nodded at the uniformed officers outside and then moved past the onlookers, walked easily across the street, and disappeared.
Collins and the others were led into a very well-appointed office. A large bloodstain had soaked into the beige carpet in front of the oak desk. The detective pointed to a large portrait that stood out from the far wall. Jack saw the open safe built into a cavity behind it.
'The safe was found like that with only the fingerprints of the senior partner....' He looked into a small notebook. 'Mr. Jackson Keeler. Twenty thousand dollars in cash was found, along with several keepsakes and legal papers.'
'What was missing?'
'We don't know at this point. Mr. Keeler has no living relatives, and his partners were among the dead.'
'It had to be something pretty good to have murdered this many people,' Ryan said as he looked into the safe.
'At this point it could have been anything, or nothing. Whoever killed Mr. Keeler took a lot of pleasure in doing it. He was shot ten times.'
'So maybe they didn't get what they wanted. Maybe that's why he angered his killers,' Everett commented as he looked at the large bloodstain.
'Did the bullets from Keeler match those of the others?'
'We don't know yet; he hasn't been autopsied yet. The coroner seems to be a little bit behind schedule. Guess he wasn't ready for the rush.'
'Anything caught on security cameras?' Jack asked.
'No, the cables were--'
'What in the hell are you doing, conducting tours?'
Jack and the others turned at the sound of a booming voice with an Irish lilt. A large man stood in the office doorway with his hands on his hips, glaring at the detective.
'Captain, these men are from ATF and wanted--' 'I don't give a damn what they want. Get them the hell out of here! Did you know you have more people in here than Fenway! One of our CSI photographers was mugged outside just twenty minutes ago. We found him beat to hell. Now, all deals are off. You ATF guys go through channels.'
Three minutes later, Jack and the others were standing on the other side of the police cordon.
'What now, Colonel?' Mendenhall asked.
