Greg Iles - True Evil

"Excepting the fact that he couldn't foresee the timing of Cuban political upheaval, yes."

"Rusk sure placed a lot of trust in Tarver."

"Mistakenly, I'd say." Kaiser tilted his head toward Rusk's corpse.

"What do you think happened here?" Alex asked. "Do you think Tarver did this?"

"Had to be him. This is a torture scene. He put them in the most central room in the house. No windows, multiple walls to deaden sound. It must have been awful in here."

"What killed the wife?"

"Medical examiner says shock."

"From a gunshot wound?"

Kaiser shook his head. "Snakebite."

"What?"

"Isn't that something? She was bitten twice. Once on the forearm and once on the chest, just above the heart."

"My God." Alex shuddered at the idea of what must have happened where she now stood.

"An evidence tech bagged two scales off a bookshelf over there," Kaiser added. "Reptilian for sure, he said. Not fish scales."

"What's the difference?"

"Snake scales are the reptile's actual skin. They're dry and have their own color. Fish scales are attached to the skin. They're translucent and colorless."

"Did you know that?" Alex asked, impressed.

Kaiser chuckled. "Hell, no."

"What do you think Tarver was after? I mean, he didn't touch the safe, did he?"

"He might have. He could have taken some things but left the rest. But it's well hidden behind a panel under those shelves. He may not have known it was there."

Alex gazed around the room. "You found that legal pad on the desk? The one with the coordinates on it?"

"No. That was found on top of the kitchen refrigerator, underneath a serving tray. Also, Kelly found a hole out back, in the garden. Looks like something had been dug up recently. The hole was twenty inches deep, in a heavily mulched area. Twelve inches by twenty inches, rectangular."

"Cash?" she speculated.

Kaiser looked skeptical. "Burying cash is tricky business. I'm guessing something more durable. Gold, maybe. Or gems."

"Or something we can't even begin to guess at."

He nodded, grave apprehension in his eyes. "They found a hole at Tarver's house, too. Last night."

"Really? Where?"

"Under the floor of a shed attached to the house. Thin aluminum floor with a square cut out. Tarver's hole was twice as big as Rusk's. Freshly turned earth, same as this one."

"These guys were pulling up stakes."

"Sir?" said a tech who had been examining the study with a powerful light.

"Yes?"

"I've got something on the floor here. Looks like the victim tried to write something with his foot. It's here in the blood."

"What is it?"

The man leaned closer to the floor. "It looks like…‘A's number twenty-three.' The number sign, I mean, not the word number. "

"Like the Oakland A's?" Kaiser asked.

"Guess so. Was this guy from the Bay Area?"

"No," said Alex, searching her memory. "No connection that I know of."

"Make sure you photograph it," Kaiser said.

He took Alex by the arm and led her out of the study.

"May I see Lisa's body?" she asked, as they moved toward the front door.

"They're loading her out now. Nothing to be learned there. I think she was just collateral damage. It's too bad she didn't make it to the hospital."

"Why didn't she just dial 911?"

"Phone was dead. Somebody cut the wires outside."

"With your agents watching the place?"

Kaiser nodded, then paused before the front door. "This guy slipped right through six FBI agents. They're not wilderness masters or anything, but they're not stupid. They have ears and eyes. But Tarver moved through them like a ghost. In and out without a sound, and he tortured two people in between."

"And he's fifty-nine years old," Alex observed.

"This is a formidable suspect, no doubt. But now I'm thinking he may be getting help from professionals."

"The Cubans?"

"Who knows? Alex, this case just became a matter of national security. If the CIA finds out about that Castro document, they'll want to rip this case right out of our hands."

"Do you have to report it?"

"I should. Hell, Tyler will hand it to them on a silver platter."

Alex cursed in frustration. "Maybe you should kick this up to the new director. Roberts seemed like a decent guy to me. Maybe he's got some balls."

Kaiser didn't look hopeful. He took hold of Alex's shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. "Listen to me. You have to stay out of this. At least until we figure out how we're going to handle it. There is no wiggle room in what I'm saying. Do you get that?"

She suppressed the glib retorts that flashed to the surface. "What about those GPS coordinates? What if that's a rendezvous? Tarver himself could be there, for God's sake."

"Do you think Tarver would have left them here, if so?"

"You said the notepad was found hidden on top of the kitchen fridge, right?"

"True. The coordinates could be legit." Kaiser's eyes pleaded with her. "I'll speak to the director about you, Alex. I'll make clear to him that you were the one who first unearthed these connections. But if I go to bat for you, you have to stand clear while I do it. If Webb Tyler finds out you were here…let's don't even go there. You're going back to the hospital."

He opened the door and ushered her out.

Alex was the first to see Associate Deputy Director Mark Dodson walking up the porch steps. Dodson glared at her, then transferred the glare to Kaiser.

"Agent Kaiser, what is this woman doing here?"

"I invited Agent Morse to the scene, sir."

"She's not Agent Morse any longer. Please take note of that fact in your discourse."

"He warned me to stay away," Alex said quickly. "I disobeyed him and came of my own accord. I felt I might have specialized knowledge that could help Agent Kaiser understand this scene."

A satisfied look crossed Dodson's face. "I'll bet you do."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I think you were here last night."

Her mouth fell open. "Are you crazy? I was at-"

"Do you deny ever being inside this house?"

She wanted to deny it, but the truth was, she had been here before, and with damn good reason. Triumph shone from Dodson's eyes.

"What are you doing here, sir?" Kaiser asked.

"Last night, Webb Tyler informed me that you were taking unauthorized measures in his area of operations. It's a good thing he did, since you're obviously getting the Bureau deep into a case that belongs to the Mississippi authorities. What can you have been thinking, Agent Kaiser?"

"Sir, I had reason to believe that this case involves deadly biological weapons and, as such, required immediate federal intervention."

This brought Dodson up short. "Biological weapons?"

"Yes, sir. Yesterday we discovered a clandestine primate lab owned by one Noel D. Traver, which is probably an alias of Dr. Eldon Tarver. Under the guise of a dog-breeding facility, Dr. Tarver appears to have been conducting sophisticated genetic experiments on primates, and possibly even on human beings."

Dodson suddenly looked less certain of his position. "I'm aware of yesterday's fire. Do you have proof that such experiments were conducted?"

"We have some escaped animals in captivity. I was waiting for approval to proceed, due to the complexity of the laboratory studies required."

Dodson licked his lips. "I'll give that further consideration. But I want Ms. Morse held at the local field office for questioning."

Kaiser stiffened. "On what grounds, sir?"

"The Bureau received multiple complaints from Mr. Rusk before his death that he was being persecuted by Ms. Morse. We know she blamed Rusk for the death of her sister. I'm going to have to establish beyond doubt that Ms. Morse did not take the law into her own hands last night."