Дэвид Балдаччи - The Fix

Jules said, “I told you what happened, Sam. Did you think they wouldn’t be investigating? Dad mur... Dad shot someone. Right outside of the FBI building.”

Samantha collapsed into the chair that Jamison had been sitting in. “I know that’s what you told me. But it... it can’t be, Jules. You know that. Why would he do this? He had so much to live for.”

“Daddy was terminal. He had a brain tumor.”

The blood drained from Samantha’s face. She jumped up from the chair and glared down at her sister. “What? And you didn’t tell me?”

Decker interjected, “I just told her . His autopsy revealed it.” He paused. “Did your dad phone you recently?”

“No. About three weeks ago he sent me an email. Nothing special. Just checking in.”

She shot Jules a glance. “First Dad shoots someone. And now a brain tumor. What is going on? Wait, do you think the tumor affected his mind? Is that why he did it?”

Decker said, “Anything’s possible. But if there’s another reason, we need to find it. Have either of you ever heard your father mention the name Anne Berkshire?”

They both shook their heads.

Samantha said, “Is that the woman he shot?”

Decker nodded.

Samantha looked at her sister. “Jules? You kept in touch with Dad more than me. You sure it doesn’t ring a bell?”

“No. I never heard of the woman.”

Jamison said, “It might have been random. There might be no connection. Maybe he was affected by his illness. Maybe Berkshire was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Decker said, “I found some medicine bottles in the cupboard. One was for increasing bone density, the other was Zoloft. Who were they for? Part of the labels were removed.”

Samantha looked at her sister and then back at Decker. “For Mom. She’s had a problem with brittle bones. The Zoloft was for her depression.”

“How long has she suffered from that?” asked Decker.

“At least since we were kids,” said Samantha.

“She also has kidney issues,” added Jules.

“But she looks so healthy,” said Jamison. “Tall and athletic and robust.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” said Jules curtly. “Anyway, Dad took good care of her. Now, I don’t know. I might have her come and live with me.”

Bogart returned a moment later. He said, “The warrant is coming in now. Let’s head to the bank.”

Samantha said, “What bank?”

“Daddy sent me the key to his safe deposit box,” said Jules.

“Why, what’s in it?”

Bogart held up the key. “That’s what we’re going to find out.”

Empty.

They were staring at an empty safe deposit box.

Decker gave a disappointed grunt. Bogart glanced up at him. Jamison mimicked this move.

Decker said, “He cleaned it out.”

“We’re just assuming he had anything in it,” said Bogart.

“He sent his daughter a key to access it. Why do that if there was nothing in it?”

“True,” conceded Bogart.

Jamison said, “They must have a record of him coming in.”

Soon they were sitting across from the bank manager, who tapped some keys on her computer. She nodded. “Five days ago Mr. Dabney came in and accessed his box.”

“And took things from it?” asked Bogart.

“We wouldn’t know about that,” said the manager. “What’s in our clients’ boxes is private.”

Decker said, “Then we’ll need to look at your video footage.”

Ten minutes later they were staring at a computer screen in a small room off the bank lobby.

“There he is,” said Jamison, pointing at Dabney walking into the bank on the day he’d emptied his safe deposit box.

“And he’s not alone,” said Decker.

There was a woman with Dabney. It wasn’t his wife. She was shorter and stout, with dark hair. They couldn’t get a good look at her face because she had on glasses and kept her gaze pointed down.

“The hair looks like a wig,” noted Bogart.

A minute later she entered the room next to the vault with Dabney and his safe deposit box. After a few minutes they came out.

The woman was carrying a small bag that clearly had something in it. From the bulge in the side of the bag that they could see when the manager magnified it, it looked to be rectangular in shape, about six inches long and half that wide.

Decker said, “Is there any other angle on this video we can look at?”

“That’s it, I’m afraid,” said the bank manager.

“We’ll need a copy of it,” said Bogart.

They left the bank with a copy of the video, dozens of questions, and not a single answer to any of them. They returned to the Dabneys’ house.

Another daughter, Amanda Riley, had arrived just a few minutes earlier. She was shorter than her sisters and rounder, lacking their athletic build. And she had a physical disability, her left arm ending at her elbow. Riley told them she was married with two young children.

They were surprised to see Ellie Dabney sitting with her daughters in the light-filled kitchen. She was dressed, her hair and makeup done, but the haunted look in her eyes made it clear that the normalcy of her appearance was only skin deep. They showed the video to her and her daughters. None of them recognized the woman.

“Why was she even there?” asked Jules. “I mean, it was Daddy’s safe deposit box.”

Decker answered, “She was there to make sure he emptied it.”

Jules and Samantha stared at him.

“What exactly does that mean?” asked Jules.

“That exactly means that your father was involved with some people who sweat the details very seriously.”

“This is cloak-and-dagger stuff,” said Samantha. “I mean, it’s like a TV show.”

Bogart said, “Your father dealt with highly classified matters, so it could very well be that he was involved with some folks in that world.”

Decker added, “And the fact that they sent someone with him to the bank shows that they didn’t trust him to do it alone. You’ll note on the video that the woman was carrying the bag, not your father.”

“So they were making him do this,” Jules said accusingly.

“Then maybe they made him kill that woman,” added Samantha.

Amanda spoke up. “You can’t make anyone kill someone else, Sam. Not really. Dad was the one who pulled the trigger.”

Amanda’s features were calm and her eyes intelligent. After she spoke she looked at her mother, whose gaze was pointed at her lap.

“Amanda!” snapped Jules, who glanced quickly at her mother.

Samantha said, “That is so out of line.”

“No,” said Ellie Dabney. “Your sister’s right. Your father did pull the trigger. He made that choice. No one else.”

Jules and Samantha stared at their mother as though they didn’t recognize her.

Ellie looked over at Decker. “I don’t know that woman. And I don’t know what Walt had in that safe deposit box.”

To Decker the woman’s demeanor had changed dramatically from the day before. Maybe it was the sight of another woman accompanying her husband to access a safe deposit box, the contents of which were unknown to her. She now seemed resigned, confused, and angry. Perhaps even betrayed.

Decker said, “Could that woman be someone your husband works with? Does she resemble anyone from his office?” He looked at all the Dabney women.

“Not anyone that I recognize,” volunteered Jules. “But I’m not really that familiar with the people that work there.”

Samantha and Amanda simply shook their heads.

Decker next looked at Ellie. She cleared her throat and spoke in the slow, halting manner of someone coming off powerful sedatives. “I would only see some of his colleagues at the holidays. I rarely went to his office. And not in the last five years.” She added wistfully, “I... I guess I had really lost touch with that part of his life.” She glanced around at the opulent interior of her home.