Lisa Gardner - The killing hour

Then there was the rock, of course, which Mac hadn’t even gotten to see. And the leaf they’d recovered this morning, but he’d had no luck tracing. And that was just the clues/evidence he knew off the top of his head.

He needed the body, that was the deal. The clothes would be good to study as well. And her purse, her hair, her sandals. This guy liked to leave clues in the damnedest places, and it sounded like he was refining his technique all the time. A live rattlesnake crammed into a body…

Shit. Just plain… shit.

Nearby doors opened. Mac heard footsteps approach, then a shadow fell across their patio. A man stood in front of them. Mac didn’t recognize him, but he could tell from the look on Kimberly’s face that she did.

“Kimberly,” the man said quietly.

“Dad,” she said with equal reserve.

Mac’s eyebrows had just disappeared beneath his hairline when the man, older, trim, and very impressive looking in a deep gray suit, turned toward him.

“And you must be Special Agent McCormack. Pierce Quincy. Pleased to meet you.”

Mac accepted the man’s handshake. And then he knew. A funny grin came across his face. The bottom dropped out of his stomach, and he heard a faint ringing in his ears. He had been so concerned that the NCIS had done nothing in the past eight hours. But, apparently, they had done something after all.

Pierce Quincy shouldn’t know his name. Former FBI Agent Pierce Quincy should have no reason to know anyone at the National Academy. Unless he had been explicitly told to look for Mac. And that could only mean…

“If you two would follow me, we need to have a meeting,” Quincy was saying in that carefully modulated voice.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Kimberly said tightly.

“I was invited.”

“I didn’t call you!”

“I would never presume that you did.”

“Dammit, did they tell you about the body?”

“Kimberly-”

“I am doing just fine!”

“Kim-”

“I don’t need help, especially from you!”

“K-”

“Turn around. Go home! If you love me at all, please for God’s sake just go away.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not!”

Pierce Quincy sighed heavily. He didn’t say anything right away. He simply reached out a hand and touched his daughter’s battered face. She flinched. And his arm instantly dropped back to his side, as if burned.

“We need to have a meeting,” Quincy said again, turning toward the front of the building. “If you’ll please just follow me.”

Mac finally rose. Kimberly much more grudgingly shoved back her chair. They both fell in step behind her father, Mac’s arm settling lightly around her waist.

“I think we’re in trouble,” Mac murmured in Kimberly’s ear.

And she said bitterly, “You have no idea.”

Quantico, Virginia

5:44 P . M .

Temperature: 97 degrees

QUINCY LED THEM TO AN OFFICE in the main administrative wing. The sign on the door read Supervisor Mark Watson. Inside, the man in question was leaning against the edge of his desk, facing two guests. The first person Mac recognized as being the NCIS officer from the crime scene. The second person was actually a very attractive woman. Late thirties, Mac would guess. Gorgeous long chestnut hair. A face that was startlingly angular, more arresting than classically beautiful. Definitely not FBI. For one thing, she already looked annoyed as hell with Watson.

“Kimberly!” the woman said. She stood the moment Kimberly walked in the room, and gave the girl a quick hug.

“Rainie,” Kimberly acknowledged. She offered the woman a faint smile, but immediately appeared wary again as Watson pushed away from his desk. It was clearly the supervisor’s show. He was now holding up his hands and awaiting everyone’s attention.

He started with the introductions: Rainie turned out to be Lorraine Conner, Quincy’s partner in Quincy amp; Conner Investigations out of New York; the NCIS officer was Special Agent Thomas Kaplan from General Crimes out of Norfolk.

Quincy amp; Conner Investigations, Watson announced, had been retained by NCIS to assist with the case. Given the location of the body on Marine grounds and near FBI facilities, the powers-that-be had determined the presence of independent consultants would be in everyone’s best interest. Translation: Everyone was keenly aware of what it would mean if the bad guy turned out to be one of their guys and it looked like they’d tried to cover it up. Score one for the politicians.

Mac settled in next to the door, which had now been closed for privacy. He noted that Kaplan stood next to Watson, while Quincy had taken the seat next to Rainie Conner. Kimberly, on the other hand, had put as much distance between herself and her father as possible. She stood in the far corner of the room, arms crossed in front of her chest, and chin up for a fight.

So everyone had their alliances. Or lack thereof. Now they could get down to business.

Mark Watson addressed his opening comments to Kimberly. “I understand you saw Special Agent Kaplan earlier today, New Agent Quincy.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I thought we had reached an understanding this morning. This is NCIS’s case. You are not to go near it.”

“As part of my pledge to cooperate with NCIS,” Kimberly replied evenly, “I found the officer in charge in order to volunteer my statement. At the time, interestingly enough, he was about to observe the autopsy of the body. I asked if I could join him. He graciously let me in.” Kimberly smiled stiffly. “Thank you, Special Agent Kaplan.”

Watson turned to Kaplan, who shrugged big Marine shoulders. “She told me her name. She asked permission. What the hell, I let her join us.”

“I never lied,” Kimberly spoke up promptly. “And I never misrepresented my interests.” She scowled. “I did, however, miss the snake. For that I apologize.”

“I see,” Watson said. “And earlier in the day, when you directly violated my orders and attempted to revisit the crime scene, were you also thinking of the urgency of NCIS’s investigation?”

“I was looking for Special Agent Kaplan-”

“Don’t play me for dumb.”

“I was curious,” Kimberly immediately amended. “It didn’t matter. The Marines obediently chased me away.”

“I see. And what about after you harassed the Marines in the woods, New Agent Quincy? What about the hour you then spent talking to Special Agent McCormack, after you were explicitly told not to discuss your find with anyone in the Academy? How would you care to explain that?”

Kimberly stiffened. Her gaze flickered to Mac, uncertain now, while he swallowed back a fresh curse. Of course: their meeting in the Crossroads Lounge. In full view of everyone. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

This time, Watson didn’t wait for Kimberly to reply. He was on a roll-or maybe he was aware of just how tense Quincy had grown in the seat opposite him.

“Imagine my surprise,” Watson continued, “when I discovered that far from returning to her room as requested, my student first wandered into the woods, and then was seen in animated discussion with a National Academy student who just happens to have once worked a case bearing a startling resemblance to the homicide discovered this morning. Were you sharing information with Special Agent McCormack, Kimberly?”

“Actually, I was getting information from him.”

“Really. I find that extremely interesting. Particularly since ten minutes ago, he became Special Agent Kaplan’s primary suspect.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Mac burst out. “I’m doing my best to help with a case that is only the beginning of one long, hot nightmare. Do you have any idea what you’ve waded into the middle of-”