Дэвид Балдаччи - The Sixth Man

“Cutter’s Rock. What do you know about it?”

“It’s Federal. It’s escapeproof. Really bad dudes are kept there.”

She feigned a smile. “Yeah, those salient points I got. Edgar Roy looked like he was a zombie. They include drugging folks up there in their daily health planner?”

“Think that would be against the law, unless some medico ordered it.”

“They have docs there, right? Who maybe will order whatever is needed?”

“I suppose, yeah. But they do some of that tele-health stuff too.”

“Tele-health?”

“So they don’t have to transport prisoners back and forth. Docs can look at them via computer with health techs on-site. Look down a throat with a little camera, take vitals, stuff like that. Same with court appearances that don’t require personal appearances. All done via computer hookup. Transportation scenarios are where escapes are most likely to happen.”

“Edgar Roy doesn’t look like he could escape even if they gave him the key to the place and bus fare.”

“Don’t know anything about that.”

“Anything else?”

“Not really, no.”

Michelle eyed him evenly. “You could’ve told me this on the phone.”

“I like dealing face-to-face.”

“Doesn’t explain why you want to help us.”

“You helped my men. Returning the favor.”

“And a little payback to the FBI for taking over the investigation?”

“Got nothing against them. Roy is their problem.”

“Any results back on the postmortem on Bergin?”

“Feds brought in their own cutter. No report yet that I know of.”

“How’s the colonel taking being put in the backseat in his home park?”

“He plays by the rules.”

“Anything else that might throw light on why Bergin was killed?”

“Not on my end. Now how about from you?”

“We’re just drifting right now.”

“Heard tell your car windows aren’t there anymore.”

Michelle tried to hide her irritation. “Heard tell from whom?”

“True or not?”

“Okay, true.”

“Where did it happen?”

She told him.

“You should’ve reported that.”

“I’m reporting it now.”

“See anything?”

“Nothing to see except a long-range rifle round passing before my eyes.”

“Not many folks can make that kind of shot.”

“Oh, sure there are. I bet your little sister could do it.”

Dobkin grinned. “You always this casual during an investigation?”

“Helps to break the tension.”

“You also have a lady with you. Who’s that? Megan Riley?”

“So how long have you had a tail on us?”

“We don’t. Just eyes over at Martha’s.”

“Mrs. Burke?”

“She’s a good friend of my wife.”

“Your wife has really helpful friends.”

“Benefits of a small town.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So is it Megan Riley?”

“Yes it is.”

“Feds will want to talk to her.”

“I expect they will.”

“And you’ll let them know she’s with you?”

“I’m sure Agent Murdock, with the full weight of the FBI behind him, will figure out where she is, especially if your wife can.”

“I guess that’s it.”

“For now,” amended Michelle.

“I appreciate you keeping this little arrangement between ourselves.”

She rose. “One last thing.”

“Yeah,” he said quickly, his eyes looking over her shoulder as the sounds of a baby wailing reached them.

“Your youngest?”

He nodded. “Sam. Named after my dad. He was a state trooper too.”

“Was? Retired?”

“No. Line of duty. Argument between two drunks that went really wrong.”

“Sorry.”

He tensed as the baby’s cries picked up. “So what else? I got to help Sally,” he said in a tone designed to close the conversation.

“Why was Edgar Roy on an FBI watch list? He’s a suspected serial killer, granted. But still, his lawyer gets killed and an army of Fibbies jumps on a chopper from Boston in about twenty seconds?”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“But you strike me as the sort who would wonder about it.”

“Well, I guess you’re wrong about what sort I am.”

Michelle walked back to her car, conscious of the fact that Dobkin was staring at her until she was out of his sight line.

So much for helping Sally with the baby.

SEAN FLIPPED THROUGH the last few pages of a litigation binder and then looked over at Megan Riley, who was rubbing her eyes and sipping on a mug of now lukewarm tea. They were in Sean’s room. Mrs. Burke hadn’t put up any fight about another woman being in his room, so Sean concluded it was simply Michelle the lady didn’t care for.

Sean had confirmation of this after the innkeeper had brought them up sandwiches, a couple slices of pie, coffee, and the tea for Megan. Before leaving the room Burke asked, “Where’s your friend?”

“Running down a lead.”

“Has she had supper?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, it’s very late and the kitchen is closed.”

“Okay. I’ll let her know.”

Sean put down the binder and looked at the notes he’d written on a legal pad. “How did Ted come to take this case in the first place?”

Megan sat forward in her chair and put down her mug. She picked up half of her turkey sandwich. “I’m not sure. He mentioned it in passing several weeks ago. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t really focused on Edgar Roy. I mean I’d read something in the paper about what had happened, but I was busy getting my feet wet as a newbie lawyer. When Mr. Bergin told me I’d be on the legal papers too, I asked him about the case, and he spent a few minutes going over it with me. God, it was horrible. Edgar Roy must really be a wacko.”

“That wacko is now your client, so keep that opinion to yourself.”

She sat up straighter. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

“And you said you did some research for Ted on the case?”

She swallowed a bite of sandwich and wiped a smudge of mayo off her mouth. “Right. Pretty mundane things. Jurisdictional issues. Competency grounds. That sort of thing.”

“Any defense theories?”

“I’m not sure Mr. Bergin had any yet. But he seemed anxious to go to trial.”

“How do you know that?”

“From things he said. He really seemed to want to move forward with it.”

“Which again begs the question of how he ended up being Roy’s lawyer. If the guy was incompetent he couldn’t have hired Ted. And I can find nothing in the record that shows the two had a preexisting professional relationship.”

“Well, does he have any family that could have hired Mr. Bergin?”

“That was my next question. But the billing records aren’t in the file.”

“I think Hilary keeps those separate,” said Megan.

“But there’s no correspondence going out to a client. And that should be in these files.”

“I thought I got everything, but I might have overlooked something.”

Sean’s phone rang. Ironically it was Hilary.

“I just got back from Mr. Bergin’s house, Sean. There’s no one there.”

“No one there now . Could you tell if people had been there before you?”

“The place is pretty isolated, but there is a house you have to pass to get to Mr. Bergin’s. I know the woman who lives there. I asked her if the police or anyone had been by and she said no. And she’d been home all day.”

“Okay, Hilary, I really appreciate you doing that. Look, I’m here with Megan. Right, we had her fly up tonight. She brought the files, but there’s nothing in here about who Ted’s client was. It couldn’t have been Roy. At least I don’t think it was. And the correspondence file isn’t in here. Who do you send the legal bills to?”