WASHINGTON, D.C.
EARLY SUNDAY AFTERNOON
SAVICH LOOKED OUT over the thirty-plus agents and cops in the conference room. “Last night, as most of you already know, Gunter fired six shots into my living room, his primary target Fleurette. His performance last night shows he’s becoming increasingly less controlled, more desperate, but given what he did in the middle of Georgetown, I certainly can’t say he’s any less daring. So long as he continues, our chances of finding him improve. So far the only physical evidence we have are ballistics from the recovered bullets—probably a plain old thirty-eight. We’ve located Gunter’s approximate range and position, but apart from a few broken branches, some partial footprints in the snow, he left nothing behind.
“But we may have a lead. Two Metro policemen found a witness, an older man who was walking his dog two blocks over. They’re not convinced he’s reliable, but let me report what Mr. Avery told them. He said he saw a man running toward a car. He thinks it was a light gray, or maybe white, late-model Toyota. Said the guy was fast, ran easily, was tall and well-built. He was wearing a Burberry coat, black gloves on his hands.
“Now the thing is, the two policemen had major doubts about Mr. Avery’s mental acuity. They thought he might be embellishing, even creating, all these excellent details to impress them. Evidently Mr. Avery also told him that the car fishtailed as it drove away, headed east. He thinks it was a Virginia plate, the first two letters RT or BT. There’s no match for that plate to a late model Toyota, so we’re checking for recently stolen Toyotas and reports of stolen plates with those letters. Mr. Avery did not hear any shots.
“As I said, the police weren’t sure we could believe much of anything he said, that he wandered all over the lot—even asked his dog’s opinion—seemed a little too, well, old and odd is how they put it. Oh yeah, the police officers said when he asked his dog’s opinion, the little sucker actually barked.
“It’s clear we have no unified, specific theory for these latest crimes, the murder of Eliza Vickers and the attempted murder of Elaine LaFleurette last night. In Danny O’Malley’s case, there are strong indications he made contact with the perpetrators. For the two women, the connection to Justice Califano is of course clear, but the killer’s specific motives are not.”
He paused, looking out over the group. “All right, I want every idea, every speculation you’ve come up with on why Eliza Vickers was murdered, and why Fleurette was shot at. Ollie, you’re nearly busting out of your vest, so you lead off.”
Ollie Hamish, Savich’s second-in-command in the Criminal Apprehension Unit, cleared his throat. “Okay,” Ollie said, “let’s start with Eliza Vickers.” He sat forward, his hands clasped in front of him on the conference table. “Ben told us about last Friday when he and Callie were in Justice Califano’s office looking for Fleurette, but only Eliza was there, cleaning up things. He said that when he asked her if there was anything he could do, she hesitated. I can’t get that out of my mind.” He paused a moment, focusing his thoughts. “She knew something. Maybe she didn’t realize how important it was, but you know, that’s not very likely. What was it? Was she involved in Justice Califano’s murder? Did she turn on him because he wasn’t about to leave his wife for her?” Ollie shot an apologetic look at Callie. “Rage can do terrible things to people, we’ve all seen it. Eliza Vickers could have found out who Gunter was, maybe she’d dated him or met him some other way and hired him or persuaded him to murder Justice Califano—”
Sherlock shot to her feet. She bent over the table, her hands flat on the piles of paper on front of her. “No, that can’t be right, Ollie. Eliza was solid. Listen to me, it’s true I only met Eliza Vickers twice, then spoke to her briefly at Justice Califano’s funeral, but I felt I knew her in all the important ways. I even admired her. Eliza couldn’t have had Justice Califano killed, she was devoted to him, loved and respected him as both a man and as a Justice. Did she have him killed out of jealousy? No way. She knew there was no future for them. That isn’t it, Ollie. It’s got to be something else.
“Say you did believe she was responsible, then the logical follow-up would be that Gunter then killed her because she was cracking under the pressure. It doesn’t fly. No, this hesitation Ben and Callie saw, it was about something else entirely.”
“Okay, Sherlock, if it wasn’t about this, then what do you think she hesitated about?”
Dillon’s calm voice always cooled her down. She said, the emotional edge gone from her voice, “Maybe she wanted to say something about Danny O’Malley, or she was worried about Fleurette, thinking maybe Fleurette could be a target too.”
Agent Foley said, “All right, let’s go with that. So if Eliza was thinking about Danny O’Malley or worrying about Fleurette, then why wouldn’t she say something to Detective Raven? Why wouldn’t she warn him that Fleurette might be in danger, and why would she think that? Why?”
Ben said, “The thing is, the place was a madhouse. She was the only one there. The phone rang, and she waved us out. That’s what happened. What was she thinking?” Ben shrugged, then turned to Callie. “You got any thoughts on this? You were there, you saw exactly what I saw.”
Callie said, “Yes, she hesitated. I saw it. Wondered about it, but just for a moment. Unfortunately, I was focused on finding Fleurette, we both were.”
Ben said, “I’m thinking that maybe Eliza wondered if Fleurette knew something, but then again, why wouldn’t she tell us?” Ben saw that Sherlock was ready to break in, gave her a half-smile, and added, “No, I don’t think Eliza herself knew anything about Justice Califano’s murder. And I don’t think she’d want Justice Califano dead, for any reason. I think Eliza could have walked in and found Justice Califano making out with Sonya McGivens or Fleurette or Tai Curtis on his big mahogany desk, and still not have reacted with violence. Like Sherlock said, she was too together and on-track with herself. She was too accepting of who and what Justice Califano was.”
Ollie Hamish said, “All right, I’m hearing you guys. So her hesitation has got to mean that she found out something, or heard something, but she wasn’t quite sure what it meant, maybe didn’t want to say anything to Ben until she was sure, one way or the other—”
Ben said, “So whatever she heard was from someone she trusted or liked or simply couldn’t conceive of having anything to do with Justice Califano’s murder.”
Jimmy Maitland spoke for the first time. “Let’s say Eliza Vickers did find out something. In any case, it was the real deal. It got her murdered. And that means, people, that we’re back to tracing her movements. We need to know where she went, who she saw, or talked to, everything, since Justice Califano’s murder. And as far back as we can. Jagger, you and Brewer put your teams on it.”
Savich said, “We already checked her phone records, no go there. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she actually visited whoever it was. Maybe she asked too many questions, made this person nervous, and that signed her death warrant.”
Jimmy Maitland said, “The person knew she wasn’t going to let it go, knew she was smart, knew she’d gnaw on it until she figured it out, so the person called Gunter. Like you said, Savich, it signed her death warrant.”
Frank Halley said, “But what did she hear? And where was she? In Justice Califano’s office? Or maybe someone called her, warned her, but she wouldn’t believe it. Maybe there’s someone else here, someone else in the Supreme Court Building, another law clerk.”
Savich nodded. “Good. Keep going.”
Another FBI agent said, “But why wouldn’t this other law clerk, or whoever it was, tell us? We’ve been all over them, at least three, four interviews of everyone who works there. And why Fleurette?”
Savich said, “Okay, we’ve got some good solid ideas on Eliza, but still nothing definitive. Why Fleurette? I’m thinking now the reason Gunter wants Fleurette dead is pretty straightforward—he saw her speaking with Danny O’Malley last Friday, and he believed Danny was confiding in her.”
Callie said, “She walked with him for a block or so when they left the Supreme Court to go to lunch.”
“And Gunter saw them together,” Savich said. “Okay, we need to get back to the law clerks again just in case one of them knows more than they’ve told us. Also, we need to go back to my neighborhood today to canvass a wider radius. When you have your assignments, we’ll head out again.”
When the conference room cleared, Savich approached Mr. Maitland and Director Mueller. “Thank you for staying. I’d like your permission to let the world know that Elaine LaFleurette isn’t at our house any longer. Two reasons: first, for Sean’s safety, and second”—Savich searched the faces—“I think it’s time we became proactive. We may be able to flush Gunter out. We can select a volunteer to impersonate Fleurette, make her visible on the grounds at Quantico. Most assassins would never risk a kill at Quantico, but Gunter?”
Ben said, “For Gunter, it would be the ultimate high for him. Trying to kill Fleurette on the grounds of the
