Capital Crimes

41

Kate got back to the family quarters at the White House a little after seven. Will was sitting in the living room watching CNN. She headed for the bar.

“Not so fast,” Will said, switching off the TV. “You’re still on duty.”

“I am? Until when?”

“Until I tell you some things. Have a seat.”

Kate sat down next to him on the sofa and kissed him.

“No kissing the commander-in-chief,” Will said.

“All right,” she replied, folding her hands in her lap. “No sexual harassment until the workday is over. Get to it. I want a drink.”

“Kinney at the FBI called this afternoon. He thinks they’ve found the killer. Well, not found him, exactly, but identified him.”

“Who is he?”

“It's bad news.”

Kate’s face fell. “Not one of mine.”

“Yes, but fortunately, he retired before you took charge.”

“Who is he?”

“His name is Theodore Fay.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell with me.”

“He was in Technical Services, so as an analyst, you probably wouldn’t have had contact with him.”

But Ed Rawls might have, she thought. As much as she hated learning that the killer was ex-CIA, she was relieved that she wasn’t going to have to deal with Rawls to find out who he was. “Is the evidence against him strong?”

“Well, that’s the problem. There isn’t any evidence just yet.”

“Then how do we know Fay is the guy?”

“First, he has all the qualifications-the skills to make the bombs and poisons. That’s apparently what he did at the Agency. Second, he’s faked his death, cashed in everything he owns, except his house, which hasn’t sold yet, and sent the proceeds out of the country. It seems likely that he would have created one or more new identities for himself before he left the Agency.”

“But how is the FBI going to connect him directly to the killings?”

“I don’t know. Maybe their lab will find something in one of the crime scenes that will connect him. Or a witness will turn up, somebody who can put him at a scene.”

“And what do you want me to do?”

“This evening-right now, in fact-Kinney is assembling some retired Agency people who knew Fay. He wanted to do it earlier, but none of them would talk to the FBI without Agency approval. I want you to call Kinney’s office, speak to the group on speaker-phone, and tell them to cooperate fully.” He handed her a sheet of paper. “This is a list of their names.”

“Okay, I can do that right away.”

“Then I want you to let the FBI talk to anybody in Technical Services who can help them catch Fay.”

“Where?”

“At the Agency, where they work.”

“You want me to let FBI agents into Technical Services? My people down there would rather meet with Osama bin Laden and his boys and show them around the shop.”

“Kate, this is not about interservice rivalry, this is about catching a murderer who is an embarrassment to the CIA and to this administration. Tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, two FBI agents are going to present themselves at Langley, and I want them to talk directly to anybody they need to talk to who can help them find him.”

“They don’t have to see the labs and the shops, do they?”

“They are to see anybody and anything that will help them.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it until they need something else. And there will be something else. When they catch this guy there’ll be a trial, and an appropriate person in Technical Services is going to have to testify about how he made the Vandervelt bomb and the Calhoun poison and about any other skills or devices he has employed to murder people, and when that happens, I don’t want any crap from the Agency about revealing its secrets.”

“You’re really a barrel of fun, you know that?”

“You’re talking to your commander-in-chief. Watch it”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s better. Now, are we perfectly clear on what you have to do?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then go do it, and then you can have a drink.”

Kate went meekly to the phone and made the calls. When she came back, there was a gleaming vodka martini waiting for her on the coffee table.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said, kissing her.

“Hey, Will,” she said. “How was your day?”

“I’ve had worse,” he said, touching his glass to hers.