of a riveway a few feet from where the body had been found.
According to Popkin, there ere no eyewitnesses to the ump. In fact, Gordon had probably been on the ground at least fifteen minutes before somebody found him.
“Guy making a delivery for a florist. Heck of a shock.”
“I’ll bet,” said Jackson.
The building dated from the late nineteenth century and retained much of its architectural charm. Unlike many modern hotels, its windows could be opened, though only after removing a lock and a grate that made it next to impossible to accidentally fall. Popkin had found a screwdriver and several small box wrenches in the room, along with the hardware that had been removed.
“If he came with tools, then he must have been planning on killing himself,” said Jackson.
“Looks like it.”
“But why here?”
“Damned if I know. Doesn’t make sense that he’d want to commit suicide at all,” added Popkin. “Owns a lot of land outside Atlanta. I talked with some people there; they were very shocked.”
“Maybe he was sick.”
“Checked into that. Doctor said he was in good health, no signs of depression.”
“Why was he in Washington?”
“Don’t know. He’d had some dealings with the Army Corps of Engineers, trying to get them to sign off on a project of his. But that all ended earlier this year. If he was setting up another appointment, he didn’t get around to it.
Didn’t talk with his congressman, either. I checked.” gordon owned several hundred acres in suburban Georgia, outside of Atlanta, which had once belonged to the federal government. He wanted to develop part of it into a shopping center, but the parcel had been declared federally protected wetlands. He’d asked the Army Corps of Engineers, which had made the designation in the first place, to change it.
“We tried to explain to him that it wasn’t really a discre-tionary designation,” the man who had met with Gordon told Jackson. “He was very adamant, and per sis tent. He even tried to get members of Congress to convince us. But of course, we don’t make that designation. We did the report on the property when it was designated because it was owned by the government. That was it. We had no other connection.”
“He had his congressman call?”
“And three senators. I guess he’s well connected.”
“Three?”
“That we heard from. Stenis and Archer from Georgia, and McSweeney.”
“McSweeney’s from New York, isn’t he?”
“Knew him somehow.”
Since he was in town anyway, Jackson decided that he would stop at Amanda Rauci’s condo and ask her if Forester had mentioned anything about Gordon. Jackson got to her home just before five; no one answered when he rang the bell.
Back in his car, he realized she would probably be back at work by now, so he called her work number. The call was immediately forwarded to her superior.
“She’s on suspension,” said the man after Jackson explained who he was. “She missed a meeting with our personnel people the other day. We’re looking for her, actually.
One of the hairs found on Forester’s clothes looks like it was hers, and we’d like to ask her about it.” 8 5
lia heard about the hair sample from Mandarin at roughly the same time Jackson did. She was packing in her hotel room, getting ready to go back to Crypto City. Now that the Vietnam connection appeared to be a bust, Rubens had ordered her home.
“So Amanda Rauci was with Forester when he killed himself?” Lia asked Mandarin when he told her about the hair.
“Whoa, hold on,” said Mandarin. “A strand or two of hair could
“I remember.”
“No way she killed him. No way.”
Lia thought of Amanda Rauci the day she and Jackson had spoken to her. Could she have killed her lover?
No.
What if he’d told her he was going back to his wife?
Lia didn’t think so even then.
“I was hoping you might do me a favor,” said Mandarin.
“What’s that?”
“She used her credit card at an animal hospital and vet-erinary clinic a few miles from Danbury on the New York and Connecticut border the other day. We want to check it out in person, but most of my people have already left with McSweeney. The soonest I can get someone up there will be late tomorrow afternoon.”
“Animal hospital? Did she have a pet?”
“No idea. We’re wondering why she’s up here in the first place. It may be a glitch — possibly she made the charge when she was ere with Forester and they only put it through now. But I’d like to check it sooner rather than later.”
“Sure, I’ll do it,” said Lia.
“Good. I’ll fax you a copy of the transaction.” it was going on six o’clock when Lia finally got to the animal hospital. The only one left in the office was a pimple-faced geek who started breathing hard as soon as she walked in the door.
Which really annoyed her, though she tried to ignore it.
“I’m looking for a woman named Amanda Rauci, who may have been in here yesterday,” Lia told him after she flashed her federal marshal credentials. “She hasn’t been seen since then. She’s a Secret Service agent, and we’re worried about her.”
“Secret Service?”
“That’s right.”
“She was a Secret Service agent. Wow. Wow.”
“Let’s make sure we have the right person,” said Lia, taking out her PDA. She tapped on a program and brought up a photo of Amanda Rauci. “Is this her?” The young man reached for the handheld computer.
“We look with our eyes,” Lia told him. “Only I touch my computer.”
“Oh yeah, that’s Ms. Rauci. She came in right about now.
I was just about to close. Rauci is her divorced name, though. She has another name.”
“What was it?”
“Hold on; let me think. It would be on the chart. That oughta be in the replace pile.” The kid went over to a large wire basket and began sorting through the files.
“What sort of pet did she have?” Lia asked.
“Dog. She needed something because she was going on a trip and it barfed in the car.”
“Lovely,” said Lia.
The name Amanda had given the vet’s assistant was Stevens, but the woman at the house had never heard of her. A check by the Desk Three people found no link, either.
“Probably she was driving north and her dog started giving her trouble,” suggested Rockman. “She stopped off and got something for him at a place she’d seen when she was there with Forester.”
“Why is that the only transaction she’s had in the past week?” Lia asked.
It had started to rain lightly. She flipped her windshield wipers on and pulled out of the driveway, starting back in the direction of Danbury.
“Maybe she doesn’t use the card that much because she prefers cash,” said Rockman.
“Or maybe she’s out of cash,” said Lia, answering her own question. “And this was important enough to risk
