Always Watching (17 page)

“
Of course, but
–”

The autopsy bay doors swung open. 
Preston appeared, looking none too pleased.  “You were to wait
for me to arrive, Dr. Eriksson.”

I smiled warmly.  “Sorry.  Maya
and I were supposed to have dinner last night.  We needed to
reschedule for obvious reasons.  Agent Preston, this is Dr.
Maya Winslow, chief medical examiner for Bay County.  Maya,
this is Special Agent Alfred Preston from the FBI field office in
Montgomery.”

“
Doctor,” he nodded
curtly.

“
How can I help you today,
agent?”

“
You didn’t tell her?” he
scowled at me.

I shrugged.  “You never explained how
this case got on your radar, Agent Preston.  I’m not sure why
our Jane Doe is of interest to the FBI.”

“
Someone entered
information last night that matched the specific parameters of a
child reported missing from Manila.  Since I was in town on
another child abduction case, D.C. requested that I look into
it.”

“
I wasn’t aware that the
bureau regularly monitored what local police are investigating,
Agent Preston,” I said.  “I thought you waited until local
officials notified you of the status of missing children before you
came charging in on your white steed.  At least that’s the way
these things were handled when I was working out of
Quantico.”

“
I’m aware of your history
in Washington, Dr. Eriksson,” he said with a sharp edge to his
tone.  “This is an international matter that was entrusted to
the FBI and other similar worldwide agencies specifically. 
The missing girl is the youngest child of a wealthy businessman
with political aspirations in the Philippines.  They wanted to
keep the incident quiet when it became clear that there was no
ransom demand forthcoming.”  Preston gestured to the
table.

“
Is that her?”

Maya nodded.

Preston produced a photograph from his
breast pocket and showed it to Maya.  “Is this the victim you
found last night, Dr. Winslow?”

I cursed softly.  It was.

“
Yes,” Maya said. 
“May I at least have her name for the death
certificate?”

“
Analynn Villanueva. 
She’s not quite eight years old, abducted from her home in Manila
last month.  The Filipino police have been aggressively
searching for her to no avail.  They suspected that she may
have been smuggled out of the country.”

“
She didn’t swim to
Darkwater Bay,” I muttered.

“
Did you determine the
cause of death?”

Maya said, “Yes, but until I’ve got the
final results from our microbiology lab, I’m afraid I can’t be more
specific than to tell you that it appears that this child died from
pneumonia.”

“
So you’re saying it was
accidental?”

“
I find nothing to
indicate otherwise,” Maya said.  “Her death was the result of
an overwhelming respiratory infection.  Now whether or not
hospitalization would’ve helped her, I can’t say.  We won’t
know until the cultures are completed.”

“
Interesting,” Preston
murmured.  “So you’re not seeing any signs of foul
play?”

“
Other than the fact that
someone abducted this child and she wound up washing up on the
beach several thousand miles away from home?  No, no signs of
foul play that contributed to her death.”

He seemed oddly satisfied
with Maya’s answer, though I felt the urge to slug her good and
hard for being sarcastic with him.  I shot my best,
tone it down
glare and
refocused on Preston.

“
So now what?  You
notify the State Department, they notify their counterparts in the
Philippines?  We end up with more suits crawling through
Darkwater Bay indefinitely?”

“
The Filipino police have
not requested our assistance in finding the kidnappers.  It’s
an internal matter for them to sort out.  If you wouldn’t mind
having your friend who is so powerful in the state police notify
the U.S. Department of State, I’d appreciate it.  I’d rather
get back to this matter with Mr. Datello, since this child
obviously wasn’t murdered.”

His blasé reaction put the scratching
sensation back into my brain stem.  Something wasn’t
right.  This was not how the bureau would respond to a
kidnapped child from a foreign country suddenly showing up dead on
our shores. 

Pragmatism forced me to accept it for the
gift that it appeared to be.  I really needed to get into the
habit of listening when doubt scratches at the back door.  It
was a colossal mistake to see anything from Preston as a gift.

Chapter 14

My primary coping mechanism when I’m
confronted with too much doubt and confusion is to shut down all
but the necessary thought processes.  Some call it the gift of
tunnel vision.  In hindsight, I have always looked at my
single-minded capabilities as a curse.  In the heat of the
moment, I don’t remember the lessons learned from the last time I
pulled a boneheaded move or ignored the screaming pleas of
intuition.

I knew that Datello would never tell the FBI
anything of value.  He was still trying to figure a way out of
the evidence we gathered against him and turned over to the bureau
in the prosecution of his uncle. 

Since Preston’s caveat included my exclusion
from witnessing the conversation, I sent Saul Becker in my
place.

“
Keep a close eye on him,”
I said.  “Pay attention to what he says to
Datello.”

“
Why?  Isn’t he
FBI?”

I nodded.  “I can’t find out if this
conversation is kosher without calling my former boss, something
I’d rather not do,” I said. 

“
I’d rethink that,
Eriksson.”  Saul shuffled his feet.  “If you got a bad
feeling about this, it’s good enough for me.”

He showed me to an office before he escorted
Preston down a long corridor behind a locked door to where Datello
would be brought for the one sided conversation I was sure would
take place.  I stepped in the office and debated whether or
not I should raise David’s red flags over the current events in
Darkwater Bay.

Ultimately, I had to agree with Saul. 
Whatever wasn’t sitting right with me couldn’t be ignored.  I
picked up the phone on the desk and dialed the familiar
number.  Even though it was nearly seven at Quantico, David
answered the phone.

“
Levine.”

“
Hello
stranger.”

“
Helen!  How are
you?  Enjoying the bliss of retirement?”

“
Oh, I wouldn’t go quite
that far.  I think I’m still adjusting.  It’s not as easy
as I thought it would be, living with someone who’s still in the
thick of things while I’m relegated to the sidelines.”

“
If I know you, nothing
could be further from the truth.  I’ll bet Johnny still runs
things past you left and right.”

“
To a point,” I
chuckled.  “I think he’s afraid I’ll jump back in head first
and end up in over my head.  It’s not something he’s eager to
see happen again, for his own safety, I’m afraid.”

David chuckled.  “Still, even though I
can’t blame the guy for concerns regarding your reckless nature, I
bet he can’t keep a single thing from you.  Things are still
solid, right?”

“
Yeah,” a little doubt
crept out of its compartment and invaded my thoughts.  Were
things solid?  “So, I suppose this is one of those instances
where Johnny wants my take on something.  Problem is, I
haven’t the first clue what to tell him.”

“
Ah-ha.  So
that’s
why you’re
calling.”

“
You make me sound like a
terrible person,” I said.  “Now I don’t want to
ask.”

“
Helen, you don’t have to
ask.  Whatever you need, you’ve got it.  Spit it out,
honey.  How can I help you?”

“
I suppose you’ve heard
about what happened out here this week.”

David’s chair creaked.  “No, actually,
I haven’t heard a thing.”

“
I thought about calling
you, but things happened pretty quickly, and it ended up working
out for the best in the end.”

“
Is this something that
would be of specific interest to the bureau?”

“
Danny Datello’s daughter
was kidnapped about 25 hours ago,” I said.  “She was found,
unharmed, early this morning.”

“
I see.”

“
There was an Amber
Alert.”

“
Which I’m sure the local
field office out of Montgomery handled,” he said.  “Still,
considering the victims in this case, a phone call would’ve been
nice.  May I ask why Johnny didn’t call me
directly?”

“
He wasn’t working the
case,” I said.  “Do you remember Devlin Mackenzie and Crevan
Conall?”

“
Sure,” he said. 
“Your former cohorts from Downey Division, correct?”

“
They’re with Johnny at
OSI now.  Anyway, they worked the case.  I sort of helped
a little bit.”

“
Which means you found the
baby.”

“
It was a team
effort.  Anyway, something happened this afternoon that made
Johnny uncomfortable.  After the case closed, an agent from
Montgomery showed up and started looking into our
investigation.  He seems determined to prove that Datello was
behind the abduction somehow, even though we found no evidence to
support that.  In fact, I’d have to say that Datello was
downright cooperative with the investigation, David.  He
actually spoke to me.”

“
Interesting.  Who’s
this agent?”

“
Alfred Preston.  I’d
never heard of him, but that’s no surprise.  There are scores
of FBI agents I never encountered.  You on the other hand
–”

“
Remember Preston quite
well.  A number of years ago, he set his sights on a
Washington assignment.  He decided that Quantico was the place
for him.  No one was especially impressed. 
Unfortunately, there was nothing particularly distinguishing about
his record that would’ve made him a valuable asset here
either.”

“
Do you know if the FBI is
still hoping that Datello will make a statement against
Marcos?”

“
Sure, we’ve always got
that hope.  At this point, it’s moot.  Until we’ve got
the leverage of a guilty conviction, he’s not going to be
interested in talking to us.  And if he’s acquitted, he’ll
never speak to us because he knows that Uncle Sully’s racketeering
charges are gonna snatch him up in a RICO charge before his lungs
fill with fresh air.”

“
That’s kind of what I was
thinking.  So if that’s the case, why is Preston demanding to
talk to Datello?”

“
He’s probably looking to
stand out with Washington again,” David said.  “I wouldn’t
worry about it, Helen.  Datello is far too smart to talk to
him.  Frankly, I’m inclined to agree with you about his lack
of involvement in the child’s kidnapping.  If he were playing
games, he wouldn’t have talked to you or anybody else.  But
especially not to you.”

“
No doubts?”

“
Not even a sliver, my
dear.  Don’t worry about it.  Listen, if Preston were
capable of being the caliber of agent that gets the cherry
assignments, he’d have been out there pitching in while the baby
was still missing, not arriving after the fact and dissecting the
fine work I know you did.”

“
It must be my residual
FBI paranoia.  You guys show up and my palms start
sweating.  I always get the sense that something else is going
on behind the scenes.”

Before I could continue, Saul pushed the
door open.  “Eriksson, you ain’t gonna believe this, but that
FBI guy got Datello’s confession.  Right off the bat. 
Damnedest thing I ever saw.”

I slammed the phone down and rushed past
Becker. 

“
Where you going,
Helen?  Did you hear what I just said?”

“
Unlock the door,
Saul.  Unlock it right now!”

He twisted his key in the lock as a shot
echoed down the corridor.  I turned, grabbed the sidearm from
his holster and raced at a full on sprint down the corridor. 
How the hell had Preston made it into the jail with a weapon?

Saul’s wheezes grew distant behind me. 
He tipped the scale at 300 hundred pounds stark naked and fasting
if he weighed a pound at all.

I flung the door open to the interrogation
room. 

Preston stood over Datello with a snub nose
revolver pointed at his throat.  Blood gushed and bubbled from
the neck wound.

“
Drop your
weapon!”

“
He attacked me,” Preston
said calmly.  “I had no choice but to defend
myself.”

“
Drop the gun now,
Preston!  He’s shackled.  There’s no way he could’ve
–”

Preston turned his gun on me and
smiled.  I lowered my aim and squeezed the trigger.  His
right knee exploded.

“
You shot me you crazy
bitch!”  He popped off a wild shot in my general
direction.

I aimed higher and squeezed again. 
Fleshy bits and blood sprayed from his right shoulder.  The
gun clattered to the floor.  I rushed into the room and kicked
it away.

“
You’ll never get away
with this,” Preston rasped.