“I’m on my way to meet Carson Lemond,” he replied and waited for her tirade.
“What!” she almost shrieked. “You were supposed to tell me as soon as you heard from him!”
“I am,” Tyler lied, “Why do you think I was calling you?”
“Where are you going to meet him?” she asked, getting down to business. He could see her in his mind’s eye clearing a page in a notebook and getting ready to take down whatever he told her.
“You know I can’t tell you that, Sarah,” he answered. “You can’t know that and not act on it.”
Sarah was silent at this for a long time but he knew she was still there. Was she seething or taking stock of the situation; it was hard to guess. Probably both.
“What did he say when you spoke to him?” she asked finally.
“He says he’s innocent, and to be honest he sounds it. He’s scared out of his wits about all this.”
“Why doesn’t he turn himself in, then?”
“He’s afraid of what will happen to him if he does.” Tyler said, thinking Carson was right to be afraid of being railroaded into the electric chair.
“I want you to call me as soon as you are done talking to him,” Sarah said sternly. “Don’t forget we are supposed to be on the same side here.” There was a bitterness in her voice that took Tyler by surprise. It wasn’t like her, but she was under a lot of stress and this news probably wasn’t doing anything to lessen that stress. Time for a sweetener.
“Yes, I promise,” Tyler said, “But there’s something else you need to know. I got another phone call today.”
“From who?” he could hear her perk up at once, her curiosity and drive overcoming her anger in a single moment.
“You know who,” Tyler teased out, “He didn’t have much to say except that the game is back on.”
“Is that all he said?” she asked.
“Apart from observing the formalities of a phone call, pretty much,” Tyler said and then added, “He called only a minute after I got off the phone with Carson.”
“Do you think they are working together?” Sarah asked suddenly and Tyler smiled but as he was about to answer he thought seriously about this. They hadn't actually both called at the same time like he told Sarah, but it was possible Carson was part of this game and was an agent of Spalding. Then he shook his head, no, that was ridiculous. Carson was a low level criminal and was terrified of everything.
“I don’t think so,” he answered Sarah, “But it is something to think about.”
“This is why I wanted to know what was going on,” Sarah said. “This is a lot more dangerous than I think you give it credit for.”
“This is all part of my work,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for years, I can take care of myself.”
“You haven’t dealt with anything like this before,” she said and he knew she was talking about Spalding, “Neither of us have.” Tyler nodded, from her point of view he supposed she was right, but only because she didn’t know the full extent of what his work had involved for the last ten years.
“We need to meet up soon and go over everything face to face again,” Sarah said.
“I’ll call when I’m back in town and we can set something up then?” he suggested.
“Yeah, fine, but that doesn’t mean you get to hold anything out on me until we meet. You call me later after you've spoken to Lemond and you tell me everything, you hear, everything.” This wasn’t a request and Tyler liked this side of her.
“Yes ma'am,” he replied smiling.
The call ended and Tyler thought more on Carson Lemond and any possible tie to Spalding. He thought back on his conversation with Carson and as he ran through it over in his head he came to a realisation. He’d just assumed it was Buddy who told Carson to ring him, but he’d never asked Carson himself. Was it possible Spalding had somehow been the one to tell Carson to call Tyler, or was it more likely Carson was in with Spalding all along? Perhaps this wasn’t as cut and dry as it seemed. Tyler would have to be careful with this one, a lot more careful than he was with young Danny Kercheck. There was no telling what Spalding was in control of and each step had to be taken with care.
Chapter 23
WHEN SARAH GOT OFF the phone to Tyler she was furious. She thought she’d hid it well from him, but the urge was to smash the receiver down and break the whole desk phone, and if she had been at home that is possibly exactly what she would have done.
What was she getting herself into! Why was this the thought she had to grapple with all the time! If only they would let her investigate the real case, the one for Spalding, everything would be fine. All this running around after Carson Lemond and the game playing of the ‘Agrarian’ was getting her nowhere, frustrating her and making her less effective at work. Why couldn’t they see that?
The agent whose desk she was occupying came and Sarah left the room without a word. Nothing she could say was going to come out right just then and there was no point in biting this fellas head off when he inevitably said the wrong thing to her.
Sarah went straight to her car; there was no need for her to be wasting her time searching for Carson Lemond if Tyler knew where he was and was on his way to meet him. She put an agent in charge to report any updates to her and then drove back to the Academy.
Her intention was to chew out the team who were supposed to be deciphering the latest message from the ‘Agrarian’ but who
