Jeffery Deaver - Roadside Crosses

How's everything going down there? You get to Chinatown, like you were thinking?

Wes got a perfect on the English test. He wore the gold star on his forehead until it fell off and had to buy some more. Mags decided to donate all her Hello Kitty stuff to charity-yes, all of it (yea!!!!)

Sad news from Mom. Willy, their cat, finally had to be put down. Kidney failure. Mom wouldn't hear of the vet doing it. She did it herself, an injection. She seemed happier afterward. She hates suffering, would rather lose an animal than see it suffer. She told me how hard it was to see Uncle Joe at the end, with the cancer. Nobody should have to go through that, she said. A shame there was no assisted suicide law.

Well, on a happier note: Got the website back online and Martine and I uploaded a dozen songs from that Native American group down in Ynez. Go online if you can. They're great!

Oh and went shopping at Victoria's Secret. Think you'll like what I got. I'll do some modeling!! Come home soon!

Her face burned-in shock and rage. "Where did you get this?" she snapped.

"A computer at your mother's house. Under a warrant."

Dance recalled. "It was my old computer. I gave it to her."

"It was in her possession. Within the scope of the warrant."

"You can't introduce that." She waved at the email printout.

"Why not?" He frowned.

"It's irrelevant." Her mind jumped around. "And it's a privileged communication between husband and wife."

"Of course it's relevant. It goes to your mother's state of mind in committing mercy killing. And as for the privilege: Since neither you nor your husband are subjects of the prosecution, any communications should be fully admissible. In any case, the judge will decide." He seemed surprised she hadn't realized this. " Is it yours?"

"You'll have to depose me before I respond to anything you ask."

"All right." He seemed only faintly disappointed at her failure to cooperate. "Now, I should tell you that I consider it a conflict of interest for you to be involved in this investigation, and using Special Agent Consuela Ramirez to do legwork for you doesn't vitiate that conflict."

How had he found that out?

"This case emphatically does not fall within the jurisdiction of the CBI and if you continue to pursue it, I'll lodge an ethics complaint against you with the attorney general's office."

"She's my mother."

"I'm sure you're emotional about the situation. But it's an active investigation and soon to be an active prosecution. Any interference from you is unacceptable."

Shaking with rage, Dance rose and started for the door.

Harper seemed to have an afterthought. "One thing, Agent Dance. Before I move to admit that email of yours into evidence, I want you to know that I'll redact the information about buying that lingerie, or whatever it was, at Victoria's Secret. That I do consider irrelevant."

Then the prosecutor slid toward him the document he'd been reviewing when she arrived, turned it over and began reading once again.

IN HER OFFICE Kathryn Dance was staring at the entwined tree trunks outside her window, still angry with Harper. She was thinking again about what would happen if she was forced to testify against her mother. If she didn't, she'd be held in contempt. A crime. It could mean jail and the end of her career as a law enforcer.

She was drawn from this thought by TJ's appearance

He looked exhausted. He explained he'd spent much of the night working with Crime Scene to examine Greg Schaeffer's room at the Cyprus Grove Inn, his car and Chilton's house. He had the MCSO report.

"Excellent, TJ." She regarded his bleary, red eyes. "You get any sleep?"

"What's that again, boss? 'Sleep'?"

"Ha."

He handed her the crime scene report. "And I finally got more four-one-one on our friend."

"Which one?"

"Hamilton Royce."

Didn't matter now, she supposed, with the case closed, and apologies-such as they were-delivered. But she was curious. "Go on."

"His latest assignment was for the Nuclear Facilities Planning Committee. Until he got here he'd been billing the nukers sixty hours a week. And by the way, he's expensive. I think I need a raise, boss. Am I a six-figure kind of agent?"

Dance smiled. She was glad that his humor seemed to be returning. "You're worth seven figures in my book, TJ."

"I love you too, boss."

The implication of the information then struck her. She riffled through copies of The Chilton Report.

"That son of a bitch."

"What's that?"

"Royce was trying to get the blog shut down-for his client's sake. Look." She tapped the printout.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Posted by Chilton.

Rep. Brandon Klevinger…Ever heard of his name? Probably not. And the state representative looking after some fine folks in Northern California would rather keep a low profile. No such luck. Representative Klevinger is the head of the state's Nuclear Facilities Planning Committee, which means the bomb-oops, excuse me, the buck-stops with him on the issue of those little gadgets called reactors. And you want to know something interesting about them? No-go away, Greenies. Go whine elsewhere! I have no problem with nuclear energy; we need it to achieve energy independence (from certain interests overseas whom I've written about at great length). But what I do object to is this: Nuclear power loses its advantage if the price for the plants and the energy expended in the construction outweigh the advantages. I've learned that Rep. Klevinger just happens to have been on a couple of posh golfing trips to Hawaii and Mexico with his newfound "friend," Stephen Ralston. Well, guess what, boys and girls? Ralston happens to have put in bids for a proposed nuclear facility north of Mendocino. Mendocino…Lovely place. And very pricey to build in. Not to mention that it seems the cost of delivering the power to where it's needed will be huge. (Another developer has proposed a far cheaper and more efficient location about fifty miles south of Sacramento.) But a source has snuck me the Nuclear Committee's preliminary report and it reveals that Ralston's probably going to get the go-ahead to build in Mendocino. Has Klevinger done anything illegal or wrong? I'm not saying yes or no. I just ask the question.

"He was lying all along," TJ said.

"Sure was."

Still, she couldn't concentrate on Royce's duplicity just now. There was, after all, no need to blackmail him at this point, considering he was headed home in a day or two.

"Good work."

"Just dotting my i 's."

As he left she hunched over the MCSO report. She was a little surprised that David Reinhold, the eager kid-the one she'd played cat-and-mouse with last night-hadn't brought it in person.

From: Dep. Peter Bennington, MCSO Crime Scene Unit

To: Kathryn Dance, Special Agent, California Bureau of

Investigation-Western Division.

Re: June 28 homicide at house of James Chilton, 2939 Pacific Heights

Court, Carmel, California.

Kathryn, here's the inventory.

Greg Schaeffer's body One Cross brand wallet, containing Calif. driver's license, credit cards, AAA membership card, all in name of Gregory Samuel Schaeffer $329.52 cash Two keys to Ford Taurus, California registration ZHG128 One motel key to Room 146, Cyprus Grove Inn One key to BMW 530, California registration DHY783, registered to Gregory S. Schaeffer, 20943 Hopkins Drive, Glendale, CA One claim ticket for car at LAX long-term parking, dated June 10 Miscellaneous restaurant and store receipts One cell phone. Only calls to local phone numbers: James Chilton, restaurants Trace on shoes, consistent with sandy dirt found at prior scenes of roadside crosses Fingernail trace inconclusive Room 146, Cypress Grove Inn, registered in name of Greg Schaeffer Miscellaneous clothing and toiletries One 1-liter bottle, Diet Coke Two bottles Robert Mondavi Central Coast Chardonnay wine Leftover Chinese food, three orders Miscellaneous groceries One Toshiba laptop computer and power pack (transferred to California Bureau of Investigation; see chain-of-custody record) One Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printer One box of 25-count Winchester.38 Special ammunition, containing 13 rounds Miscellaneous office supplies Printouts of The Chilton Report from March of this year to present Approximately 500 pages of documents relating to the Internet, blogs, RSS feeds