hacker. What do they have in common? It dawns on me suddenly, but I’m afraid to be too optimistic. What has she learned? How far has she taken it?
“Talk to me,” I say.
“When I saw the Vancouver address, I remembered the case against the pedophile that Judge Green threw out on a technicality, so I got online and looked it up. David Dillinger was the witness the judge held in contempt that day, so I started doing my job. I checked with the airlines at Tri-Cities Airport and found out that David Dillinger flew back here three days before Judge Green was murdered. He took a plane home the morning the judge was discovered. I checked with the rental agency at the airport. Guess what model car David Dillinger rented? A white Subaru Legacy. I checked the hotels and found out he stayed at the Doubletree, the same hotel the state put him in when he came down to testify at the hearing. The Doubletree has security cameras at all of the entrances and in all of the hallways. When I went through the tapes, I learned that Dillinger had a tendency to sleep all day and stay out all night. On the morning of the murder, he showed up at the hotel at exactly 5:12 a.m. Shall I keep going?”
“By all means,” I say. “So far I’ve heard a fairly good circumstantial case, but I’m not sure there’s enough for a conviction.”
“Did I tell you about the part where I got his credit card bill and found that he’d charged some items at Wal- Mart in Johnson City the night before the murder? Let’s see, what was it? Oh yes, a bow saw, a length of rope, and a five-gallon plastic gasoline container. Wal- Mart had a tape, too. Dillinger is easily recognizable.”
The excitement is building. I’m picturing the look on Tommy Miller’s face when I walk into court and ask the judge to dismiss the charges against him.
“So you went to Canada to arrest him?”
“First I called the Vancouver police, and based on the information I provided, they arrested him and got a DNA sample. It matched two cigarette butts we found at the crime scene. So I flew up there and interviewed him. As soon as I showed him the DNA match, he knew he was dead in the water. He said when he got back to Vancouver, he hacked into Green’s computer. It was full of child pornography, along with a lot of other obscene material. Dillinger was so enraged that he started planning the murder that very minute. He confessed to everything, and I have it on video. He’s in the Washington County jail as we speak. I brought him back with me.”
She’s grinning broadly now. I get up from behind the desk, walk around in front of her, and reach out my arms.
“Give me a hug, Agent White.”
She stands and wraps her arms around my neck.
“Thank you,” I say. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
“Would you like to know what the best part of all this is?” she says. “Harmon doesn’t know anything about it. He thinks I’m on vacation.”
