Дэвид Балдаччи - Daylight

Okay, at least it was confirmed in her mind. But it was still not enough. Peanut would not carry any weight with a prosecutor against a “respected” man like Gorman. And Pine really had no hard proof that he was the man who had shot Jerome, just a brief meeting in a dark alley under incredibly stressful conditions, or so would say the defense attorney.

She next Googled Nora Franklin. The face that popped up on the Wikipedia page was an attractive blond woman in her midforties. She had an impressive résumé. Born and raised in Colorado, she went to UVA undergrad, and law school at Duke. Her father, at seventy-three, was a long-serving and respected judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. After law school she had moved to New York City and worked for a small law firm specializing in employment law and representing mostly workers. Then she moved to upstate New York, and then ran for city council. After that she had run a congressional campaign and won on her first try.

Since then she had won five more terms in Congress and made a swift run up the ladder. Her being the ranking member on Ways and Means at a relatively young age had surprised some, the article said, but she had been a loyal foot soldier and impressed leadership with her skills and knowledge. If the House flipped in the next election, she was expected to become one of the youngest chairpersons of arguably the most powerful committee in Congress. She had traveled widely, the article said. She had married young, but it had ended in divorce. According to her official bio she had practiced law only a few years. Pine checked an online database that listed the net worths of members of Congress. She was surprised that Franklin was listed as having a net worth of over twenty million dollars. After practicing law for a short period and in a field that was not known for huge payoffs for attorneys?

So where the hell had that kind of money come from?

Her phone buzzed. It was Sandy Wyatt from the Bureau.

“Hey, Atlee. I made some calls and checked some sources. As far as I can tell, NYPD has put a lid on this thing.”

“I know they don’t release vics’ names until the next of kin are notified. But they’ve surely had time to do that by now.”

“Only thing I can figure is maybe Driscoll asked them to hold it for some reason. And for him they probably would.”

“Okay, thanks, I owe you.” Pine put her phone away and pondered what to do next. She could stake out the building and follow Gorman to wherever he went next. But she had no idea how long it would be before the man came out of the building. And she couldn’t call in another FBI agent, because she wasn’t technically working this case. And other agents had their own matters to pursue. But she had one asset to deploy. She pulled out her phone again.

“Carol, I need you.”

Within thirty minutes Blum stepped out of a cab and walked over to her boss.

Pine told her what she wanted her to do and showed her pictures of both Gorman and Franklin.

Blum eyed the café behind them with a picture window and an unobstructed view of the building across the street. “Then I’ll just take up my position here. Where will you be?”

“Fort Dix.”

As Pine climbed into a cab she thought, What do I have to lose?

When she got to Fort Dix, she would find out.

“I don’t understand,” said Pine. “How could that be possible?”

She was standing in front of Tom Whitaker, a JAG lawyer at Fort Dix. He was a short man in his fifties, with rounded shoulders and a dour expression.

He said in a pedantic tone, “It’s like I just said, Bill Danforth and Phil Cassidy each took Article 15s; it’s akin to a plea bargain in a civilian court.”

Danforth and Cassidy were the two soldiers whom Tony Vincenzo had been working with on the drug distribution. Puller had arrested them both and had them confined in the stockade under guard of Army MPs. Pine thought they would still be there. But they weren’t.

“I know what an Article 15 is. I want to know how it happened.”

“The concept is pretty straightforward, Agent Pine,” Whitaker said in a bored tone. “It was offered and they took it. Most court-martial trials end up in conviction. They knew that. Then the penalties are a lot worse and they have a criminal record. With Article 15 that doesn’t happen. No criminal record. Just like civilian courts, most cases in the military system don’t actually go to trial. If every one of them did, we’d be clogged up for years.”

Pine said impatiently, “I know that, too. I meant why would they be offered a plea deal in the first place? My understanding was they were caught dead to rights by the CID. They were involved in drug dealing. How does that get them a slap on the wrist? These guys should have been tried, convicted, and sent to Leavenworth.”

The man shrugged. “That wasn’t my call. The CO referred the charge, meaning it was going to trial. And I agree with you, the evidence was very strong. Had they gone to trial they would have almost certainly been convicted. But then the Article 15 popped up and everything got thrown off the rails.”

“The Article 15 offer had to pop from somewhere, right?”

“Right.”

“So where did it pop from?” said Pine, trying to keep her voice calm although she actually wanted to start yelling at the man.

“From their CO. That’s the only place it could have come from. He referred the charges, but then he offered the Article 15.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. And I had no reason to ask. I wear a uniform. I do what I’m told. When the CO talks, we listen. Pretty simple.”

“When did all this happen?”

“Late yesterday.”

“And who is the CO on this?”

Whitaker shuffled some papers on his desk and then looked at her curiously. “What exactly is your connection to this case again?”

“I was working it with CWO John Puller.”

“Yeah, you told me that. He was the one who collected the evidence.”

“For an overwhelming case that just got dropped,” retorted Pine.

“I heard he got shot in New York.”

“You heard right. Probably by the same gang that Danforth and Cassidy work for.”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that. Is Puller going to be okay? All reports on him are that he’s a first-rate soldier and investigator.”

“Right on both counts. And yeah, he’s going to be fine. So, the name of the CO?” She took out her notebook and pen.

Whitaker deliberately glanced at both and said, “I’m really not at liberty to tell you that.”

Pine put her pad and pen away. “Okay, what punishment did Cassidy and Danforth receive?”

Whitaker glanced at the paper in front of him. “Reduction in rank, lost some pay, and got eight days’ confinement, but the CO suspended that for a year. They were in the stockade for a lot longer than that after they were arrested. He’ll probably just let that ride.”

“So they just walk away with fewer dollars and the loss of a stripe? For being part of a major drug ring inside this facility?”

“I admit it’s unusual.”

“You think? Where are Danforth and Cassidy now?”

“Back at the motor pool, as far as I know. I did hear some scuttlebutt that they’ve put in their discharge papers. Good riddance in my book.”

“This is a clusterfuck, you know that, right?”

Whitaker looked at her wearily. “Ma’am, I’ve been doing this job for twenty years. Nothing surprises me anymore.”

“Might be time for a new job.”

“What my wife keeps telling me.”

“If I were you, I’d listen to your wife. Do you at least have pictures of Danforth and Cassidy?”