Capital Crimes

5

JAMES HELLER, back in his office at the Hoover Building, called a meeting of the half-dozen highest-ranking people at the FBI, all of them men.

“Gentlemen, I have some news for you,” Heller said, self-importantly. “Senator Frederick Wallace of South Carolina was murdered this morning.” He waited for a response.

“Yes, sir,” the deputy director for criminal investigations said. “It was On CNN a few minutes ago.”

Heller blinked. “But the president himself told me about it only a few minutes ago. He got it from the sheriff down there.” He somehow viewed this as a personal betrayal by CNN.

“Yes Sir,” the DDCI said.

“Bob,” Heller said, fixing the DDCI with his gaze. “I want you to call the agent in charge of the Columbia office on the phone right away and have him get some men over to Chester and talk to that sheriff.”

“I have already done so, sir,” the DDCI replied.

Heller blinked. “Oh.” He took a deep breath and tried to think. “As I’m sure you know, the murder of a federal official is a federal crime-”

“Yes, sir, I know that.”

“So we’re taking over this investigation. This small-town sheriff isn’t going to have the resources to properly investigate this killing.”

“I have already given those instructions to the AIC in Columbia,” the DDCI said. “The investigation is ours now.”

“Good. So, what do we know so far?”

“I spoke to Sheriff Stribling, and he tells me that Senator Wallace was shot through a kitchen window by a sniper, who was probably three hundred yards or more away, since the land around the cabin was cleared to that distance, affording no hiding place for a shooter. A single twenty-two-caliber bullet struck him in the left temple, killing him instantly.”

“Good, good. And what have our people turned up there?”

“Sir, Chester is more than an hour’s drive from Columbia. They would have left Columbia no more than fifteen minutes ago.”

“Do we have any suspects?”

“Sir, as you know Senator Wallace was a very popular man on the right wing of the Republican Party.”

“I didn’t know there was any other wing of the Republican Party.”

“Be that as it may, sir, the senator was very unpopular with almost everybody to the left of him. He was a very skillful obstructionist in the Senate, managing to block many pieces of legislation and judicial appointments, some of them sent up by Republican presidents. He had many enemies, and the first assessment of people with motive to kill him would run into the hundreds, perhaps thousands. By the time we eliminate everyone who could not have been in Chester, South Carolina, this morning, we may have pared the list to dozens.

“It’s possible that he was killed for political motives, but it’s just as possible that he was killed because of some personal grudge, by someone in his own hometown. We expect Sheriff Stribling to be valuable in that part of the investigation, so I’ve told our AIC to leave the sheriff in charge of the local investigation, liaising through one of our agents, who will be assigned to assist him.”

“So you’re telling me we don’t have a clue as to who killed him?”

“Sir, we’ve known about the murder for less than half an hour. It’s a bit early in the investigation to begin drawing conclusions.”

“Well, let me give you my take on this, Bob,” the director said.

"I’d very much like to hear that, sir,“ the DDCI replied without apparent irony.

"I think what we’ve got here is a vast left-wing conspiracy to eliminate a senator who has driven the left nuts for decades.”

“Sir, with respect, I don’t think we’ve had a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country since the forties, maybe as far back as when Stalin and Hitler signed a nonaggression pact, which caused a lot of American communists to leave the party.”

“Are you suggesting a communist conspiracy, Bob?”

“No, sir, I am not,” the DDCI said, rather desperately.

“So, you think it’s a vast right-wing conspiracy?”

“I have not formed that opinion or any other opinion, sir. I think we have to wait until we have some evidence upon which to base a judgment, and that may take days or weeks, assuming there is any evidence.”

“There’s always evidence, Bob,” the director said.

“Usually, sir.”

“We won’t have any trouble tracking down this sniper, I’m sure of that”

“Sir, may I point out how long it took to catch Eric Rudolph? And we got him only because a cop got lucky. A lone perpetrator, especially one with a support network, is a very difficult man to catch.”

“Yes. yes, Bob, I understand that, of course. But I hope you understand that we’re going to be under enormous pressure to come up with a suspect and make an arrest.”

“We’re always under pressure in a high-profile crime, sir. My people are accustomed to it.”

“Well, that’s good, Bob. Now, I’m calling a press conference this afternoon timed to make the national TV news shows this evening, announcing progress in the investigation, so you get down to Chester, South Carolina, right now and get me something to announce.”

“Sir, I think it would be a mistake to schedule a press conference when we don’t yet have anything to announce. We could make fools of ourselves.”

“Well, you just get yourself down to Chester and call me when you’re on the ground there, and we’ll figure out something for the press conference.”

“Yes, sir,” the DDCI said.

“Don’t sound so morose, Bob,” the director said. “We’re going to crack this one, you and I.”

“Yes, sir,” the DDCI said, even more morosely.