Margaret Daley - Security Breach

Taking hold of Max’s leash, Nicholas showed the straw hat to the rottweiler, and the dog sniffed it. “Find, Max.”

Nicholas and Max disappeared out into the hallway. Previously, when she’d seen Nicholas working with his K-9 partner, she’d always been amazed at Max’s abilities. She hoped they’d find Miss Chick—whoever the costumed intruder really was.

* * *

Nicholas followed his dog through the crowds and out the door to the West Colonnade. Max headed east, stopping every once in a while and pointing his nose in the air, then charging forward. The dog entered the Rose Garden and headed to the lawn area bordered by flowering plants and boxwoods. The tulips were in full bloom, adding a brilliant splash among the greenery. Max came to a halt near the cluster of white furniture under a large magnolia tree and barked.

Nicholas checked the area, wondering if Miss Chick had sat here sometime recently. He moved behind two white chairs and inspected the bushes, plunging his hand into the middle. When he grasped a feathery material, glimpsing yellow, he tugged it free.

Miss Chick’s costume—discarded.

“Good boy.” He gave Max a treat.

He placed a call to Dan. “I found the costume in the Rose Garden minus Miss Chick. Are you still with Selena?”

“Yes. Do you want to talk to her?”

“Yes.” When Selena came on, Nicholas asked, “Who’s Miss Chick?”

“Just a minute. I’ll have to look on my list of employees.” A moment late, she answered, “Tara Wilkins.”

“When she bumped into you earlier, could you tell if it was Tara Wilkins?”

A long pause—he could imagine her forehead creasing with a frown while her blue eyes darkened—then Selena said, “No, not for sure. Her voice was low and husky, but I’m pretty sure it was a woman.”

“When was the last time you saw Tara Wilkins without the headpiece on?”

“When I talked with the costumed characters in the East Wing entrance before the event started. That was seven this morning.”

“What do you know about Tara Wilkins? Is she trustworthy? Could she have given the costume to someone so the person could break into your office after the morning briefing?”

“She was Miss Chick last year and did a good job. The Secret Service vetted her as they do for all the people I use as costumed characters for this event, but I suppose it’s possible.”

“I’ll have the police check her residence.” He didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“I don’t see her putting her reputation on the line like that.” Selena’s worry came through the line.

“One good thing is that all the people who are here are on a list. You don’t get in here without going through checkpoints.”

“Please let me know what’s happening. I’m responsible for the employees I hired for this event.”

“I will. Anything missing from your office?”

“No.”

“Let me talk with Dan again.”

When Dan came back on the phone, he said, “I’ll let Security know what’s developing.”

“Tara Wilkins needs to be found. Her residence checked. We don’t have any idea what’s going on. I’m not even sure it was Tara Wilkins in the costume, but I’m going to see if Max can follow the scent from the clothing. I’ll let you know what I find.”

“Good. In the meantime, I’m escorting Miss Barrow to the doctor’s office.”

Nicholas heard a protest coming from the background, and he smiled. Dan was going to have his hands full getting her to go. “Have fun. I’ll check in later.”

“Chicken,” Dan whispered. “You left me with the toughest job. Anyone can follow a dog around.”

Nicholas chuckled and disconnected the call, then let Max smell the yellow feathery costume. “Find.”

As Max sniffed the air, Nicholas couldn’t get the sound of Selena’s voice out of his mind. What he had seen of her around the White House only reinforced the image of a woman dedicated to doing a good job. Did she think she had failed at her job by hiring Tara Wilkins?

As Nicholas followed Max through several areas of the Easter Egg Roll, he scanned his surroundings, wondering if the person who had discarded Miss Chick’s costume was still here. If so, Max would find her—or possibly him. He had a photo on his phone of the volunteer who was supposed to be Miss Chick. If she wasn’t the one who ran into Selena, then where was she?

Passing the Storytime Stage, Max dodged around the adults and children attending and finally came to a stop at the entrance to the women’s restroom on the west side of the lawn.

Was the person still inside?

Nicholas started to look for a female security officer, but before he could, his rottweiler sniffed the ground then the air and took off toward the nearby exit to the event. When Nicholas emerged onto West Executive Avenue, Max halted in the middle of the road then trotted toward E Street. Near the Souvenir Egg Pickup, his K-9 came to another stop then wandered around the area but never picked up the scent again.

“Sorry, boy.” Nicholas petted his dog. “She must have gotten into a vehicle. At least we know how she left and an approximate time.”

Could that woman also be the same one who had gone through General Meyer’s office? The intruder couldn’t have picked a better day, with thirty thousand visitors and over a thousand volunteers. He’d have to watch a lot of security tapes to see if he could pinpoint who had ransacked the general’s office and who had stolen Selena’s keys. And why her keys? To rob her? Nothing was missing from her office.

Was something else going on here involving Michael Jeffries’s case? That could be the connection between what had happened in General Meyer’s office and in Selena’s. Selena was a first cousin to Erin Eagleton—a person of interest in Congressman Jeffries’s shooting and the murder of his son. When the Capitol K-9 Unit had begun investigating, Selena had been questioned to determine if she had helped Erin Eagleton disappear. They couldn’t find anything to indicate she had assisted her cousin. Yet.

Did someone think Selena knew something? Did she? Had she helped her cousin somehow? He hoped not. He would hate to have to arrest her if he discovered she had.

Security had been breached with the two break-ins —likely by someone who had been at the White House before, possibly a frequent visitor or staff member. This probably wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment theft, and he would have to let General Meyer know about this latest development just as soon as he spoke to Selena again.

Max barked, interrupting Nicholas’s thoughts.

“Come on, boy. Back to the party.” Nicholas shortened the leash as they headed to the White House to find Selena.

A voice came over Nicholas’s earbud. “We’ve found Tara Wilkins.”

With Selena’s keys in her possession? Or, had someone hurt Tara and taken the costume?

TWO

“Where is Wilkins? Is she all right?” Nicholas asked Security as he neared the White House.

“She was found drugged in the ground-floor restroom of the West Wing. The last time she was seen was in the Situation Room where kids were playing video games. Someone must have caught her in the restroom, and then stuffed her into a stall. One of our Secret Service agents found her. She talked to Tara, but the woman doesn’t know who grabbed her. She’s with the doctor in an examination room.”

“I’m on my way now.”

“I let Agent Calvert know about Miss Wilkins. He’s already at the medical office with Miss Barrow. He’s going to talk with her.”

“So am I,” Nicholas said to the man who manned the communication in the security office at the White House.

“Since he’s working with you on the break-in at General Meyer’s office, I’d like him to be included on anything concerning Selena Barrow. There could be a connection between what happened in her office and General Meyer’s.”