She let out an annoyed sigh but finally stepped back.
“What’s going on?” asked Lien-hua.
“They torched the whole thing,” I said. I zoomed out and saw four police cars racing down the road toward the ranch. Two fire trucks followed closely behind them. I told Lien-hua what I saw.
“How old is the video?” she asked.
I checked the data timer. “About five minutes. We’re between satellite passes. Hang on a minute.” I zoomed in on something in the corral. An animal. A whole herd, actually.
I zoomed closer.
None of them were moving.
Zoomed closer. Closer still.
It looked as if the livestock were covered with sores. At first I thought it might be insect activity.
No, not that high in the mountains. It’d be too cool this late in the year.
“Listen, Lien-hua, have the police call in a Hazmat team and tell them to avoid the dead livestock in the meadow. If Kincaid is planning another White Night, he might have developed some kind of drug or contagion. We need to isolate it ASAP.”
I heard a shuffle of movement behind me and turned around. Tessa was staring down at the screen. “What’s going on?” she asked.
I closed the computer again. “Please, Tessa, I’ll be off the phone in a minute.”
She didn’t move.
I pointed to the couch. “Work with me.”
She shook her head, slouched away, and situated herself on it with her arms folded tightly.
I heard Lien-hua call out for Dante Wallace to get in touch with the New Mexico state patrol and regional Hazmat teams. Then, her voice came through the phone to me again. “Pat, we’re at the Abrams’s scene now. Can you meet us here?”
“I need to hang out with Tessa this afternoon.”
“Who are you talking to?” asked Tessa.
Lien-hua continued. “Well, I guess we can email you the files.” You really should swing by the crime scene. “Are they done processing it?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded. Then I caught myself. “No, I really don’t think I can come.”
“Come where?” asked Tessa.
“OK,” said Lien-hua. “I guess I’ll just brief you later on what we find.”
Then again, maybe I could leave Tessa here for a little while, let her play with the cats… “What’s the address?”
“To where?” asked Tessa. “Where are we going?”
I held the phone to my chest for a minute. “ We are not going anywhere. I have to go to a crime scene.”
“I’ve never been to a crime scene.”
“I can’t take you.”
“I thought you wanted to spend time with me.”
Oh man, she was good. She was way good.
“I do but-look, it’s against the rules.”
“But if the cops are done, what would it matter?”
“How do you know the cops are done?”
She rolled her eyes. “You just asked the woman on the phone if they were done, and then you nodded- hello! — you wouldn’t have done that if she said no. So if they’re done, why can’t I come?”
“How did you know I’m talking to a woman?”
“Are you kidding me? Tone of voice.”
OK, it was official. So she was a better investigator than most of the FBI agents I’d worked with over the last nine years.
“Well,” I said. “I’m not taking you, and that’s final.”
I pulled to a stop in front of Abrams’s house on Cedar Point Avenue and turned to Tessa. “Stay in the car.”
“But then I can’t see-”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“How are we supposed to spend time together if you’re in there and I’m out here?”
“Ha. That’s not going to work this time.” I pointed to the two FBI agents who were stationed on the porch. “Don’t worry, you’ll be safe. I’ll be back in a couple minutes, and we’ll go grab some supper. Maybe steaks or something.”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I like meat. Nice, juicy catburgers whenever possible.”
“That’s not even funny.”
“Wait here.”
She set her jaw and slid down into her seat. As I stepped outside the car my phone rang.
Margaret.
She didn’t waste time. “Why aren’t you returning my calls?”
“I’m a little busy, Margaret.”
“You went to see the governor today?”
Wow. Word travels fast. “I needed some advice.”
“On what?”
“Fishing.”
“Well, listen,” she said. “I’ve looked over all the reports from last night, and I’m satisfied.”
I almost dropped Ralph’s phone. “You’re what?”
“Satisfied with Tucker’s response to the situation,” she continued. “Of course, it will have to go through all the official channels, but he really had no choice but to fire his weapon when the attacker refused to comply. You, on the other hand, did not respond appropriately.”
I shifted the phone in my hand. “Excuse me?”
“When the assailant was waving the guns in your direction and in the direction of your fellow agents, you did not fire. Standard operating procedure clearly indicates that-”
Anger rising. Rising.
“The man was holding toy guns,” I interjected. “And he couldn’t have dropped them even if he wanted to.”
“But you didn’t know that at the time, now did you?”
Don’t lose it, Pat. Don’t lose it.
“Oh, wait,” I said. “I see. Now I get it.”
“Get what?”
“Someone from Governor Taylor’s office called you, didn’t they?”
“Dr. Bowers.” She was speaking very slowly, very distinctly. “I hope you are not accusing me of acting unethically?”
“Why not? That’s exactly what I’m doing-”
“Bowers, your techniques are not working. We still have no idea who the killer is-”
“Vanessa might know a name.”
“Oh, haven’t you heard?” Her voice had become chilly. Distant.
My heart sank. “Heard what?”
“She died this afternoon, Dr. Bowers.”
No.
“How did she die? Who was assigned to guard her room? What was the time of death?”
“She died from being shot in the neck, Dr. Bowers, when you led your team into an ambush. Now I’d like you to stop all this nonsense about Jonestown and killer cults and focus on finding the man who shot her or I’m pulling you off the case. One more screw-up, and you’re going back to Denv-”
