Brimstone

{ 23 }

As the vintage Rolls-Royce approached the gates of the East Cove Yacht Harbor, D'Agosta shifted in the backseat, staring out the window, trying to forget just how stiff and sore he felt. What with Cutforth's murder and all the attendant crime-scene business, he couldn't have gotten more than two hours' sleep.

For this particular errand, Pendergast had left his chauffeur, Proctor, behind, preferring to drive the big car himself. It was a beautiful fall day, and the morning sun shimmered on the bay like silver coins tossed on the waves. The Staten Island ferry was lumbering out of its berth, churning the water behind, flags snapping, trailed by a screaming flock of seagulls. The blue hump of Staten Island rose on the horizon, grading imperceptibly into the low outline of New Jersey. The smell of salt air flowed in the open windows.

D'Agosta turned his gaze toward the marina. A wall kept the gaze of the vulgar from the ranks of gleaming yachts, but from the top of Coenties Slip you could still see them lined up in their berths, splendid and sparkling in the bright sun.

"You're never going to get in without a warrant," said D'Agosta. "I talked to Bullard. I know what the guy's like."

"We shall see," said Pendergast. "I always prefer to start with a gentle approach."

"And if the gentle approach doesn't work?"

"Firmer measures might be in order."

D'Agosta wondered what Pendergast's idea of "firmer" was.

Pendergast slowed the Rolls and, turning to a custom-built cherry wood bay beside the driver's seat, tapped on the keys of the laptop set within it. They were approaching the chain-link gate leading into the marina's general parking area, but the man in the guardhouse had seen the Rolls approaching and was already opening the gate. Pendergast stopped the car just inside the lot, where they had a good view of the Upper Bay. On the screen of the laptop, the image of a magnificent yacht had appeared.

It didn't take long to locate the real thing among the forest of masts and spars riding at anchor just beyond the lot.

D'Agosta whistled. "That's some boat."

"Indeed. A 2003 Feadship motor yacht with a de Voogt custom-designed hull. Fifty-two meters in length, with a displacement of seven hundred and forty metric tons. Twin Caterpillar 2,500-horsepower diesels, cruising speed thirty knots. It's got enormous range and it's extremely comfortable."

"How much?"

"Bullard paid forty-eight million for it."

"Jesus. What does he need a boat like that for?"

"Perhaps he doesn't care for flying. Or perhaps he likes to operate away from prying ears and eyes. A boat like that makes keeping to international waters easy indeed."

"Funny, in the last interview with Bullard, I had the impression that he was anxious not to be detained in the country. That maybe he was planning an international trip."

Pendergast looked at him sharply. "Indeed?" He eased the car toward the second layer of security: the gate into VIP parking, manned by a pugnacious little redheaded security guard with a jutting chin. D'Agosta immediately knew the type. He was the kind who made it a point not to be impressed by anyone or anything: not even a '59 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith.

"Yeah?"

Pendergast hung his shield out the window. "We're here to see Mr. Locke Bullard."

The man looked at the badge, looked back at Pendergast. His face was creased with suspicion. "And him?"

D'Agosta passed his own badge to the man.

"What's it about?"

"Police business."

"I gotta call."

The man took the shields back into his cubicle, got on the horn, spoke for a few minutes, came back with the badges and a cordless phone.

"He wants to talk to somebody named D'Agosta."

"That's me."

The man handed him the phone.

"D'Agosta here."

Bullard's deep voice filled the wire. "I figured you'd be back."

At the sound of the voice, D'Agosta immediately felt himself bristle. This was the man who had tried to humiliate him at the Athletic Club; who, just perhaps, had very nearly gotten him shot. Nevertheless, he tried hard to check his temper. "We can either do this nicely," he said as evenly as possible, "or it can get unpleasant. Up to you, Bullard."

A burst of laughter sounded at the other end. "You tried that same stale line on me back at the club. Let me tell you something. Since we had that pleasant little chat, I've had my people check into you. And now I know all about you. I got every sordid detail of your existence. For example, I know all about that wife of yours in Canada, the one who's been playing hide the salami behind your back these past six months. The guy's name is Chester Dominic, and he sells Winnebagos out of Edgewater-and hey, maybe she's doing him right now. Think about that , huh?"

D'Agosta's hand tightened around the phone.

"I also got the sales figures on your novels. Last one sold 6,215 copies. Hardcover and paperback. And that's counting all the copies your mother bought. Watch your back, Stephen King!" More harsh laughter. "Then I got your personnel files from your stint with the NYPD, including your disciplinary records. Interesting reading. And I got your medical and psychiatric records, too, even the ones from Canada. Too bad about those hard-on problems. Maybe that's why your wife's spreading her charms for old Chet. And depression, gee, that's tough. Did you take your Zoloft this morning? Amazing what you can find out when you own an HMO, isn't it? Reading all this over, a couple of phrases come to mind. Phrases like broken-down. Washed-up. Loser."

A thin curtain of red seemed to drop before D'Agosta's eyes. "You've just made the mistake of your life, Bullard."

More laughter and the line went dead.

D'Agosta handed the phone back to the attendant. His face was on fire. The son of a bitch. The son of a bitch . It was illegal-wasn't it? Digging up that kind of personal information. Bullard had been speaking loudly, and D'Agosta wondered if his voice had carried as far as Pendergast. He swallowed, fought hard to master his rising rage.

"You're blocking the gate," said the man in the booth. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Sir."

"We'll drive around the block," Pendergast told the attendant, "and give Mr. Bullard time to change his mind."

"He's not going to change his mind."

Pendergast gave the attendant a long, sympathetic look. "You'll know when to step aside, I hope? For your own sake, of course."

"What do you mean?"

Without waiting for an answer, Pendergast put the Rolls in reverse and hit the gas, leaving a satisfying patch of rubber. He turned around in the parking lot, then nosed out onto State Street. He glanced over at D'Agosta. "Are you all right, Vincent?"

"I'm fine," D'Agosta said through gritted teeth.

Pendergast turned right and began circling the block. "Mr. Bullard, it seems, needs a firmer hand."

"Yeah."

Pendergast reached down with one hand and punched in a number on the in-dash cell phone.

A ring sounded over the speaker, then the phone was answered by a familiar voice. "Captain Hayward."

"Captain? It's Pendergast. We're going to need that subpoena and warrant I called you about this morning."

"On what grounds?"

"Refusal to cooperate. Imminent flight risk."

"Come on. Bullard's not some Colombian drug dealer or Middle Eastern terrorist. He's a leading American industrialist."

"Yes, with overseas accounts and overseas factories, who happens to be on his yacht, fueled to its maximum capacity and fully stocked for a transatlantic voyage. He can reach Canada, Mexico, South America, or Europe on one tank-take your pick."

There was a sigh. "He's an American. He's got a passport. He's free to leave."

"He's an uncooperative witness. He won't answer questions."

"A lot of people won't answer questions."

"Both Grove and Cutforth called him just before they were murdered. There's a connection, and we need to find it."

Another irritated sigh. "This is just the kind of irregular operation that looks bad in court."

"He threatened Sergeant D'Agosta."

"He did?" Her voice sounded a little sharper.

"An implied blackmail threat over personal information he collected through Northern Health Atlantic Management, the HMO he owns."

So he did hear, D'Agosta thought.

"That right?" There was a pause. "All right, then, go ahead. The papers are all ready and just need to be signed."

"Excellent." Pendergast gave a fax number.

"Agent Pendergast?"

"Yes?"

"Don't make a hash of this. I care about my career."

"I care about it, too."

The fax peeled out of the tiny impact printer just as they rounded Pearl Street and headed back toward the yacht harbor. Driving slowly through the outer lot, Pendergast tore it from the printer and handed it to the VIP attendant.

"You again?" the man said as he took the fax.

Pendergast smiled, put his fingers to his lips. "Not a word to Bullard."

The man read the fax, handed it back. There was something in his face that, perhaps, didn't look entirely displeased at the turn of events.

"Time to step aside," said Pendergast quietly.

"Yes, sir."

They parked in the VIP lot, and Pendergast opened the trunk. He gestured to D'Agosta. "For you."

D'Agosta peered in. A federal-issue battering ram lay inside, black and ugly and about three feet long, the kind DEA agents used in drug busts.

"You got to be kidding."

"Firmness, my dear Vincent," said Pendergast, smiling faintly.

D'Agosta grabbed the ram by its two handles and hefted it out. They headed down the walkway to the central dock. Ahead and to one side, tethered in its own private slip, the yacht loomed bigger than life: white with three enclosed decks, dozens of smoked windows, and a conning tower bristling with electronics. The name Stormcloud was stenciled on the stern.

"What about crew?" D'Agosta asked.

"My information is that Bullard's alone."

The private slip had its own dock behind a locked gate. Pendergast knelt before it, raising his hands to the lock. It looked to D'Agosta as if the FBI agent was just testing the lock to see if it might be ajar. Perhaps it was, because the gate swung open obediently in his hands.

"We need to be brisk ," said Pendergast as he rose.

D'Agosta humped himself forward, lugging the ram. Despite renewed sessions in the gym since the gunfight in the park, he was still out of shape, the ram weighed at least forty pounds, and his bruised limbs protested with each thudding step. The gangplank of the Stormcloud was up, but in the rear, a locked boarding hatch lay just at dock level. Pendergast stopped, plucked his custom Les Baer .45 from his jacket, and stepped back, gesturing toward the hatch.

"After you, Vincent," he said.

D'Agosta reached deep down in his memory. What had they taught him at the Academy? Don’t run at the door, swing it into the door. He took a deep breath, gripped the handles as tightly as he could, and heaved the ram forward. The door flew inward with a satisfying smack. Pendergast ducked inside, gun ready, and D'Agosta clambered in behind.

They were in a narrow corridor, with painted bulkheads along one side and smoked-glass windows along the other. Pendergast threw open a door set into the bulkheads, and suddenly they were in the grand salon of the boat, cocooned in plush cream carpeting with black lacquered tables piped in gold trim.

"FBI!" Pendergast barked. "Freeze!"

Bullard stood in the center of the room, wearing a pale blue warm-up suit, cigar in hand, with a look of complete astonishment and-it seemed to D'Agosta-momentary terror.

"Don't move!"

Bullard recovered immediately, his face reddening, the veins pulsing in his neck. Surprise gave way to ill-concealed rage. He raised the cigar to his thick lips, sucked in a lungful, exhaled. "So. The sorry fuck brought backup."

"Keep your hands in view," Pendergast warned as he advanced, gun aimed.

Bullard spread his hands. "Here's a scene for your next novel, D'Agosta. Bet you never saw anything like this boat in that slum you grew up in on Carmine Street, with a cheap, poolroom-hustling cop for a father and a mother who-"

D'Agosta rushed at the man but Pendergast was even quicker, interposing himself with lightning speed. "Sergeant, don't give him what he wants."

D'Agosta took a strangled breath. He could hardly breathe.

"Come on," Bullard sneered. "Let's see if there's anything at all hanging under that belly of yours. I'm sixty, and I could take your fat ass with one hand."

Pendergast held D'Agosta's gaze, shaking his head slowly. D'Agosta swallowed, stepped back.

Pendergast turned and fastened his silvery eyes on Bullard.

"And look at this, an undertaker playing FBI. White trash from the Deep South. Very white, it seems."

"At your service," Pendergast said quietly.

Bullard laughed and swelled like a black mamba, stretching the fabric of the warm-up suit. He still had his cigar tucked between two huge spatulate fingers, and now he stoppered the laugh by inserting it between his lips again and blowing a cloud of smoke in their direction.

Pendergast dropped the fax on an ebony table. Then he pointed to a large lacquered panel in the far wall. "Sergeant, open that panel, please."

"Just one goddamn minute, you need a warrant-"

Pendergast pointed a slender finger at the fax. "Read."

"I want my lawyer."

"First, we will secure the premises and obtain the evidence outlined in the warrant. One misstep will mean cuffs and an obstruction-of-justice charge. Is there anyone else on the boat with you?"

"Fuck you."

D'Agosta went to the panel that Pendergast pointed to, pressed the lone button. The panel slid back to reveal a wall of electronics, a monitor, and a keyboard.

"Seize the CPU."

D'Agosta pushed the monitor to one side, followed its cabling, and found the box tucked into a niche beneath.

"Don't you touch my computer."

Pendergast nodded toward the table. "It's listed in the warrant, Mr. Bullard."

D'Agosta yanked the cabling free with a satisfying jerk and hauled out the CPU. He dug into his pocket, pasted evidence labels over the drive bays and the plugs for the mouse and keyboard, set down the box, crossed his arms.

"Are you armed?" Pendergast asked Bullard.

"Of course not."

Pendergast tucked his Les Baer back into his suit. "All right," he said, voice low and suddenly pleasant, the southern accent rising like cream. "In addition to the warrant, there's a subpoena, Mr. Bullard, which I suggest you read."

"I want my lawyer."

"Naturally. We're going to take you to One Police Plaza and question you under oath. You may have a lawyer present at that time."

"I'm calling my lawyer now."

"You will remain in the center of the room with your hands in view at all times. You do not have a right to call a lawyer just because you feel like it. When appropriate, you will be permitted to call."

"My ass. You have no jurisdiction. I'll pull your badge and eat you for lunch, you albino prick. You have no idea who you're dealing with."

"I am sure your lawyer would advise you to dispense with the small talk."

"I'm not going to One Police Plaza."

Pendergast unclipped his police radio. "Manhattan South? To whom am I speaking, please? Shirley? This is Special Agent Pendergast of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I'm at the East Cove Yacht Harbor, on the yacht of Mr. Locke Bullard-"

"You shut that radio off right now."

Pendergast's smooth voice continued. "That's right, Locke Bullard, on his yacht, the Stormcloud . We're taking him in for questioning in the Grove and Cutforth murder investigations."

D'Agosta watched Bullard go white. No doubt he knew that every news organization in New York monitored the police frequencies.

"No, he's not a suspect. I repeat: not a suspect."

The very emphasis Pendergast placed on the word had the curious effect of giving precisely the opposite impression.

Bullard glowered at them from beneath his beetled, Cro-Magnon brow, swallowed, made an effort to seem reasonable. "Look, Pendergast, there's no reason to play tough cop."

"Shirley, we're going to need backup, crowd control, and a squad car with escort to take Mr. Bullard downtown. That's right. Three should do it. On second thought, make it four. We're dealing with a well-known personality. It's likely to get busy."

Pendergast slipped the radio back into his suit, removed his cell phone, and tossed it to Bullard. "Now you may call your lawyer. One Police Plaza, interrogation section, basement floor, in forty minutes. We'll supply the coffee."

"You prick." Bullard dialed, spoke in low tones. When he was done, he handed the phone back to Pendergast.

"I imagine he just told you what I already advised: to keep your mouth firmly closed." Pendergast smiled.

Bullard said nothing.

Now Pendergast began poking around the grand salon, in a desultory kind of way, peeking here and there, admiring the sporting prints on the walls. It was almost as if he was killing time.

"Are we going?" Bullard finally burst out.

"He's talking again," said D'Agosta.

Pendergast nodded absently. "It seems our Mr. Bullard is a man who doesn't listen to his minders."

Bullard fell silent, his body shaking with malevolence.

"I think we need more time in here, Sergeant. Just to check things over, you understand."

"Right." Though he was still steaming, D'Agosta found he had to conceal a smile. Now he realized what Pendergast was up to.

Pendergast continued strolling about the room, adjusting a newspaper here, looking at a framed lithograph there. Ten more minutes passed as Bullard grew increasingly restive. Now D'Agosta began to hear faint sirens, the distant squawk of a bullhorn. Pendergast picked up a copy of Fortune , flipped through it, laid it back down. He checked his watch. "Do you see anything of interest I might have missed, Sergeant D'Agosta?"

"Have you checked the photo album?"

"An excellent idea." Pendergast opened the album, flipped through it. At a couple of pages, his hand paused and an intent look came into his face. He seemed to be memorizing faces; at least, it seemed so to D'Agosta.

He shut it with a sigh. "Shall we, Mr. Bullard?"

The man turned and shrugged into a windbreaker, his face dark. Pendergast led the way, followed by Bullard. D'Agosta brought up the rear, battering ram over his shoulder. As they stepped out of the hatch onto the dock, the crowd noise increased dramatically. There was shouting, the whoops of police sirens, the megaphoned voice of an official. Beyond the gates, photographers were jockeying for position. The police were struggling to clear a lane for their vehicles to pass.

Seeing this, Bullard stopped short. "You bastard." He almost spat the words at Pendergast. "You delayed deliberately, letting this build."

"Why hide your light under a bushel, Mr. Bullard?"

"Yeah," said D'Agosta. "And you're going to look great on the cover of the Daily News with your windbreaker draped over your head."