Дэвид Балдаччи: Daylight

“Can I bring any Bureau assets to bear on this?”

He shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but we’re well stocked with manpower and resources. And we’ll find him. He doesn’t have many places to hide.”

“Will you let me know when you do?”

“I’ll definitely do what I can.”

“I appreciate whatever you can do.”

“We better get going. Got paperwork to file on this.” Puller rose and so did McElroy.

“A lot more paperwork, because of me,” said Pine.

“If I had a buck for every wrong move I made, intentionally or not? So, kick it out of your head. Just one of those things.”

After they left, Pine stared down at her unfinished meal and muttered, “Shit.”

“You had no way of knowing,” said Carol Blum.

Pine had returned to her room at the hotel where she was staying with her assistant, Carol Blum, who was in her sixties and had been in admin at the Bureau for nearly four decades. A mother of six grown children, Blum was rarely surprised or intimidated. She was traveling with Pine to help her on this case. Normally, Pine and Blum worked out of a single-agent office in Shattered Rock, Arizona. Known in Bureau parlance as an “RA,” or resident agency, as opposed to the far larger FBI field offices that were located in metro areas.

“I know, but I still feel bad. Puller is a good guy. Knowing him, he’d planned this down to the last detail, only he had no way of realizing I’d walk right into the middle of it and blow the whole thing.”

“But Tony Vincenzo was there? He definitely was the one running away?”

“Yes. John thinks he can track Vincenzo down pretty quickly, but I’m not so sure.”

“Is there any other way to get to Ito’s whereabouts, other than his grandson?”

“Tony was Plan A. But Plan B is I can talk to Ito’s son, Teddy. He’s in the prison at Fort Dix right here in Trenton.”

“Is Fort Dix a military prison?”

“No. It’s just on the military installation’s land. It’s run by the federal Bureau of Prisons. Minimum to medium security, though they’ve got some crime bosses doing time there, along with politicians and businessmen gone bad.”

“Okay. By the way, have you heard from Jack Lineberry?”

“He was supposed to leave the hospital yesterday. He can afford the best home care around.”

“Yes, I’m sure. But I was talking about—”

“I know, Carol,” Pine said sharply. In a calmer tone she added, “I haven’t come to grips with it, if you want to know the truth. I thought he might be able to help me find my mother, but right now he needs to concentrate on healing.”

“Understood.”

“But I will check in and keep him in the loop. And he might have some information for me that could help.”

Pine pulled out her phone. “I was going to try to schedule a meeting with Teddy Vincenzo. But an idea just occurred to me.”

“What?”

“I’m going to have Puller make the request to the prison. He may very well want to talk to Teddy Vincenzo, too, about Tony. Teddy might have some clue about where his son has gone to ground. And while it’s a federal prison, it is located on a military installation, so Puller can help cut through the red tape. We can get in faster that way.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Blum.

Pine made the call and Puller answered on the second ring. She told him what she wanted, and he said he would make it happen, with one condition.

“I want to go with you when you talk to Teddy.”

“I was going to insist that you do,” said Pine.

“I’ll try for zero nine hundred tomorrow, okay?”

“Works for me. I’ll meet you there.”

“See you then.” Pine clicked off and looked at Blum.

Blum said, “Well, this might be a silver lining. I imagine Teddy might know more about his father than Tony would about his grandfather.”

“I was thinking the same thing. Now the only question is, will he talk?”

“With prisoners, it’s always about the quid pro quo.”

“I know, Carol. But we’ll come up with something to dangle in front of him.”

“So what now? We wait until you meet with him?”

“No. I have another plan.”

“What’s that?”

“After Tony got away we searched for other people in the house, but I didn’t really search the house . I think I need to correct that oversight.”

“Do you have a warrant?”

“No, but Puller did. I can piggyback off that.”

“He won’t have a problem with that?” asked Blum, looking skeptical.

“I don’t see why he would. We’re on the same side.”

“Well, he’s looking to nail Vincenzo for a crime and use him to get bigger fish. You’re looking to find out about Ito and solve what happened to your sister.”

“And you think they’re mutually exclusive?”

“Not necessarily. But I’m not sure they’re wholly compatible, either.”

“Well, I’m willing to risk it.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say.”

“And you disapprove?”

“If I did, I would have said so. But just keep what I said in mind, that’s all.”

“I keep everything you say in mind, Carol.”

“You didn’t get him, did you?”

Pine looked over at the front porch of the house next to the Vincenzos’, where the old woman was still in the rocking chair, though her yarn and needles were nowhere in sight. It had grown chillier and she had on a heavier coat. Pine saw the orange glow of a rusted standup outdoor heater next to her.

“No, I didn’t.”

“He’s fast. But I thought you might have a shot. You’ve got long legs.”

“Not long enough, apparently. Hopefully, I’ll get another chance. You stay outside all day? It’s pretty raw.”

“There’s nothing in the house to keep me occupied. I like to know what’s going on around me. People passing by, punks running from the cops. Speaking of which, they’re inside the house.”

“ Military cops, yeah, I know. I saw their cars parked out front. You have any idea where Tony might’ve gone?”

“They already asked me. I’ll tell you what I told them: no. I don’t make conversation with that man if I can help it. I know what he is, and he knows I know. Anybody pisses on flowers, well...”

“Okay. Anything else you can tell me that might be helpful?”

“I have to live here, you know.”

“I know, Ms....?”

The woman shook her head. “Sure you can find out if you want to but...”

“I’m going to leave my card in your mailbox. You think of anything and you want to tell me confidentially?”

The woman looked away, made the sign of the cross, mumbled what sounded like a prayer, pulled out a book from her coat, and started to read it in the fading light. Pine saw that it was a small Bible.

Pine watched her for a few more seconds and then knocked on the front door.

Her creds and mentioning John Puller’s name got her inside, where she spoke with a CID agent named Bill Crocker, a buzz-cut young man with a trim, runner’s build and a serious expression. She explained her interest and he said, “We’ve looked where we needed to look and bagged what we needed to bag. Chief Puller wants us to stay here until he says otherwise, and he told us about you. So look around. But if you find something we missed...?”

“You’ll be the first to know, I promise.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She started on the top floor and worked her way down. The place was a mess. There was a hole in one wall of a bedroom that allowed one to see outside. The faucets were all rusted, the sinks stained, and the carpet and padding was so threadbare she could see the subfloor in numerous places. Tony’s bed was a sleeping bag laid out in one room. His clothes were not hung in the closet; they were rolled into a massive ball on the floor. Empty fast-food containers littered the floor. A flat-screen TV hung on one wall. An Xbox controller lay under it.