Deadly Sins (11 page)

“My services are being offered pro bono.” Adam’s smile was chilly. “I’ll assume that eases your objection.”

Making a sound suspiciously close to a sniff, the man leaned back in his desk chair. He was tall, but his width barely filled it. He was a scarecrow of a man. “Remains to be seen what kind of objections I’ll have. I’m still trying to figure out why the hell you’re all here. I don’t have any information for you that will shed light on the shooting that occurred a couple days ago. Horrible atrocity.” That last seemed added as an afterthought.

“This is just a routine visit, Senator.” Shepherd addressed him with all the deference Hedgelin could hope for. “We have to follow up on everyone who might have had . . . disagreements with the justice in the past.”

“Damn right I disagreed with him. He was a left-wing activist judge on the circuit with no respect for the Bible or the constitution, and I did my damnedest to point that out in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.”

“In fact,” Jaid consulted her notes, “during your questioning you called him a liar a half-dozen times, compared him to a Marxist, and suggested his confirmation would result in anarchy breaking out in our country.”

The senator bared his teeth. “That’s right. Check your notes, missy. Do you also have down there that I use every opinion he writes in my campaign ads to underscore the need to put only strict interpreters of the constitution on the highest court?”

Missy. She smiled with as much sweetness as she could summon. “No, sir. But it does say that you have a poster in your campaign headquarters with a gun sight superimposed over Reinbeck’s photo. That you’ve used the visual to emphasize remarks you’ve made about removing various menaces to conservative values.” The atmosphere in the room went charged.

Newell leaned across his desk, his hands not so much clasped before him as clenched. “Young lady, I can assure you that you’ve taken my remarks, my meaning, out of context. Reinbeck isn’t alone on that poster. Are you accusing me of taking out hits on my Democrat opponents and our esteemed speaker of the house, as well?”

“It’s Special Agent Marlowe,” she said evenly. “And we are making absolutely no accusations, just informing you of the reason for our visit. Since his confirmation hearing, have you had occasion to speak to Justice Reinbeck in person?”

Apparently getting himself under control, the senator sat back. Straightened his tie. “Not that I recall. We exchange greetings if our paths cross. We would have little to say to each other, at any rate.”

Jaid refused to look away from the senator’s glare. If she met the man at a social function after some of the things he’d said about the judge, she’d be tempted to spit in his eye. Or at the very least, say something exceeding tactless.

A decade ago she would have done just that. But she’d learned a lot of hard lessons in the last several years. Selfcontrol was only one of them.

“I understand that your oldest grandson, Joseph, volunteers on your reelection campaign.”

At Adam’s words, the senator’s shoulders went tense. “I’m afraid I’m out of time here. I have another appointment.”

But Raiker went on. “Is it true that Joseph was arrested at fifteen for setting fire to his algebra teacher’s home?”

Rising, Newell said, “If you’ll show yourselves out?”

None of them moved. Jaid scarcely dared to breathe. She didn’t know where Adam had gotten that information. It certainly wasn’t in the notes she’d seen. But he had infinite outside resources, and given Newell’s reaction, she didn’t doubt the truth of his findings. Could guess where this was headed.

Adam’s voice was inexorable. “Joseph didn’t get the probation his lawyer was asking for, did he? In fact, he was proclaimed a habitual offender, a delinquent, and spent sixteen months in a juvenile correctional institution.”

“Those records were sealed!” The congressman was leaning across his desk as if he’d like nothing more than to leap across it, his weight braced on his fists. “You couldn’t have used legal means to access them.”

“The legal records are sealed but people’s memories can’t be, can they?” Adam rose. Silently, the agents did the same. “The fact remains that Byron Reinbeck was the judge who sentenced your grandson. It was early in the judge’s career, when he worked the juvenile court. How much of your antipathy for the man arises from his politics and how much from his actions resulting in your grandson being locked up?”

“Reinbeck was a godless ass who ran amuck in every courtroom he oversaw.” Newell’s voice trembled with fury. “It was only a matter of time before someone took him out. Are you expecting me to care that he’s dead? ‘There are many whose mouths must be stopped.’ He’s trampled the constitution his entire career, and he got exactly what was coming to him. And I will do everything in my power as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to be damned sure Jolson doesn’t nominate a godless carbon copy of Reinbeck to fill that vacancy.” The smile he gave them was chilling. “And that, people, is called a silver lining. Now get the hell out of my office.”

This time they left. None of them said a word until they reached their vehicle. Settled themselves inside it. “Nice guy.” Shepherd turned the key in the ignition. Looked in the rearview mirror before backing out of the spot. “I’m thinking about campaigning for him.”

Jaid turned in her seat so she could see Adam in the back. “Where’d you get that information? And why wasn’t it brought out at Reinbeck’s confirmation hearings? It should have disqualified Newell from taking part in them, at the very least.”

“Those records don’t even exist anymore. And you can be sure the people in the system who recalled the case would have been unforthcoming if a U.S. senator brought all his power to bear. Newell’s clout didn’t affect Reinbeck’s ruling on his grandson’s case, but he would have used every means at his disposal to get that record sealed and later to have it expunged completely.”

Jaid considered this. It was entirely possible that Reinbeck’s widow had given the information to Adam. She recalled his friendship with the couple from when she’d worked with him. Reinbeck had still been on the circuit then. Where he’d gotten the details, however, paled in importance to what they meant. “You realize that gives Senator Newell a pretty powerful motive for wanting the judge out of the way.”

Shepherd sounded doubtful. “And he waited, what, twenty years or so to enact his revenge? He doesn’t seem like the patient sort to me.”

“That merely set the stage for his hatred of Byron,” Adam said, his head bent over his phone. “No doubt his later rulings cemented it.” He stopped for a moment, brought his phone up to better read something on it. “ ‘There are many whose mouths must be stopped.’ Old Testament, Titus, chapter ten, verses ten and eleven.” His smile was grim. “So we’ve got a longtime congressman who quotes the Bible and has reason to despise Byron Reinbeck. It’d be interesting to look at the Supreme Court’s docket for the year. See what cases are going to be heard that Senator Newell’s opinion on could be predicted.”

Jaid turned back in her seat, pensive. The senator had taken no pains to disguise his feelings about Reinbeck. Was his confidence born of ego or did he think the power of his position would insulate him?

She needed to take another look at that risk-assessment data. Do a little digging into the other names that appeared there.

“What’s Joseph’s last name? Newell’s grandson?”

“Bailey,” Adam answered. “His mother is Newell’s oldest daughter.”

“Maybe we should have a talk with him, too. If the senator is still carrying a grudge all these years, there’s no telling what Bailey feels toward the judge.”

Her phone sounded in her hand, signaling an incoming text. She took a moment to read it. Turned to Shepherd. “Hedgelin wants us back in his office immediately.”

“You mean Newell already lodged a complaint about us?” Shepherd nosed the car out of the parking garage and onto the street. “That was quick.”

“I don’t think so.” She looked over her shoulder at Adam. “He mentioned Reinbeck’s phone.”

“I had them do another examination of the judge’s smartphone after you left this morning.” Hedgelin handed them each a copy of a faxed lab report. “They found a tiny singed area on the SIM card, just like Adam mentioned this morning. It looked like normal wear, which in and of itself wouldn’t be evidence of anything, since no sign of spyware exists in the phone’s files.”

“Did they also examine Patterson’s phone?”

The assistant director nodded. “And found the same singed spot. It’s unusual enough to raise suspicion.”

“That’s another link between the murders,” Shepherd put in. “The note cards may have been copied, but the phones suggest a connection.”

Hedgelin scrubbed a hand over his jaw. For the first time Jaid noted the fatigue that shadowed his face. He’d put in long hours on this case. It was undoubtedly the most high-profile of his career. She’d heard rumors that he had his eye on the bureau director’s job when the man’s term was up. A successful resolution to a case like this would go a long way toward impressing a future president and the Senate when the next opportunity arose.

Left unsolved, however, the case would be his career coffin.

“So far we’ve kept the detail about the card found at the site of Reinbeck’s shooting out of the press. Done a damn good job of keeping most crime-scene details suppressed, as a matter of fact. I want it to stay that way. The three of you will be assigned to determine if there are any other intersections in the two homicides. Did the victims know each other, have mutual friends, show up at the same social functions?”

“I assume DCPD compiled a client list for Mr. Patterson?” Adam’s tone was wry. “Given the bloodbath on Wall Street a couple years ago, it might also act as a list of potential enemies.”

The assistant director nodded. “I doubt too many came out on top of that disaster. But the specifics should be in the file Lieutenant Griega sent over.” He pulled open a drawer and withdrew three bulging file folders. “Here.” He shoved all three across his desktop toward them. “Familiarize yourself with this, and determine your manner of investigation. Clear it with me before you talk to anyone or question anybody.” His expression was fierce. “I’m keeping a tight hand on the reins on this case. I don’t want any surprises.”

The biggest surprise, Jaid thought as she rose to collect the files, was that they were being given the task at all. She wouldn’t expect Hedgelin to extend their team any leeway, not with Adam a part of it.

She remembered in the next moment that she and Shepherd were supposed to be keeping Raiker in check for the duration of the case. Maybe that was Hedgelin’s ace in the hole. Give Adam enough freedom to come up with something the bureau hadn’t—like the evidence of spyware—but keep him contained at the same time. He wasn’t above taking advantage of Adam’s staggering knowledge and his contacts. He employed some of the most brilliant criminologists in the country, after all. But when the case reached a successful conclusion, it was a certainty that Cleve Hedgelin would make damn sure Adam got none of the credit.

“Find an empty conference room and familiarize yourself with Patterson’s case file,” the assistant director ordered brusquely. “I’ll expect a tentative outline of investigation prior to your taking any action.”

Adam and Shepherd stood. Jaid’s gaze fell unenthusiastically to the pile of folders she held as she rose. The information would take hours to go through, and that was assuming they each took charge of a folder and summarized it for the others. Stifling a sigh, she turned toward the door.

“Jaid, do you have a makeup mirror?”

Pausing in the midst of rubbing her eyes, she aimed a jaundiced look toward Shepherd. “You trying to tell me something?”

His eyes looked as bleary as hers felt. They’d been poring over the file folders for—she checked the clock on the wall—six hours. Without a break, if one didn’t count the run to a nearby deli she’d volunteered for three hours ago. The sandwich and diet soda she’d washed it down with were a distant memory.