Cutting Edge

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Nora walked into FBI headquarters before eight in the morning while talking to Agent Nathan Dunn of the Lake Tahoe satellite office on her cell.

“It was dark when we finally made it last night,” he told her. “We had a warrant to deliver, and it ended up being a testy situation. Payne’s place was locked up tight and we had no indication that anyone was in immediate danger.”

“The man is dead,” Nora said bluntly. “We confirmed that he left his Auburn residence at oh seven hundred on Saturday, and his intended destination was his house in Lake Tahoe. The medical examiner confirmed that he wasn’t killed at the research lab, so yeah, I think we have probable cause to enter his house. Do it and call me right back.” She hung up, not giving him a chance to argue. Technically, she wasn’t his supervisor. He and his partner worked independently, running the Lake Tahoe office. But she’d worked with them many times over the years, and she was the acting SSA of the domestic terrorism squad while Nolan Cassidy was at Quantico. She had no problem using the little authority she had if it got the information faster.

The tight rules and regulations that Nora worked under day in and day out were beginning to annoy her. For once she wished she had the freedom to act when she knew damn well something was up. If Payne hadn’t been killed at his vacation house, they needed to know that ASAP. If he had been, they needed their evidence response team on-site immediately. And while Dunn was a competent agent, too many times he and others had their heads knocked around by the U.S. attorney’s office for overstepping procedural boundaries. And with the recent electoral changes, nearly every U.S. attorney had been replaced. No one quite knew what to expect from the new people, and thus were doubly sensitive.

But a man was dead and an anarchist group apparently had a psycho in charge, which made almost everything Nora had learned since becoming an agent fifteen years ago irrelevant. She had to go way back for lessons in this kind of aberrant psychology, to the two years she had lived under the same roof with Cameron Lovitz. His powerful personality had convinced her mother that breaking into a nuclear power plant was a good idea.

Who had that kind of charisma? Leif Cole for one. However, after reading his published works and talking to him half a dozen times over the twenty months since the first arson at Langlier, Nora had thought the academic a highly unlikely suspect. Just because he was the most vocal opponent of genetic research didn’t make him an arsonist, or a killer.

But maybe she was wrong. She needed to talk to him again. Pressure him to help.

If a traditional anarchist cell had killed someone, it would have been an accident, and most likely they would then disband. There was still one cold case from five years ago where that had happened. After a homeless man died in an arson fire at a new apartment development, a string of seventeen related arsons stopped cold.

But Jonah Payne’s death was premeditated murder. A psychopath, even one with a political agenda, operated under a different set of guidelines. Would the public outrage slow him down or encourage him?

She sent a message to her team to meet in the main conference room at 0830 for a debriefing and assignments, then stopped by SSA Megan Elliott’s small office. Megan handled violent crimes.

Kincaid, Nora reminded herself. She rarely worked with Megan, and it would take time getting used to the fact that she’d gotten married over the summer. Nora had never thought about how she might manage her workaholic life within a marriage. It was all so much easier when no one else depended on you and you could make your own schedule.

Megan was at her desk, and motioned for Nora to come in while she wrapped up her call. “What’s going on?” Megan asked.

“I’m dealing with a psychopath in the Butcher-Payne arson, and that’s your area of expertise.”

“Lucky me,” Megan said.

“I’ve called my team together for a debriefing in twenty minutes. Would you mind sitting in and sharing your thoughts and wisdom?”

“Count me in. Any word on Nolan?”

Nora shook her head. “Nothing new. He loves it at Quantico.”

“You ready to take over for him?”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” Nora said. She’d thought about it, and while being in charge of her squad didn’t intimidate her, she wasn’t entirely confident that she was the best person for the job. As Pete always told her, she got too emotionally involved with her cases.

“Nolan wouldn’t have put you in charge of your squad if he didn’t have one hundred percent confidence in you,” Megan said.

“Thanks. I appreciate that.” She glanced at her watch. “Fifteen minutes?”

“I’ll be there.”

Back in her cubicle, Nora checked her messages and wrote a quick update for her ASAC, Dean Hooper. He’d just been transferred from Washington the week Nolan went to Quantico, and Nora was still a little nervous around him. Hooper had been an assistant director at headquarters, specializing in white-collar crimes, and took the lower position when he’d married a local immigration agent.

Quin walked into her cubicle, startling Nora. “Hey, sis.”

Nora frowned. “You said you couldn’t make it.”

“I only have a few minutes, but I went to the lab first thing this morning to grab the test results on the accelerant.” She slid over a thin folder. “There’s your copy. Exact same brand of vodka. And that’s something the press never knew.”

Nora read the printout. She said, “And you were right, no trace of accelerant in the office.”

“Nothing we didn’t know.”

“You didn’t have to come down.”

Quin shrugged. “You asked me to. I don’t mind. But I have to get downtown by ten for a staff meeting, then Ulysses and I are meeting at Butcher-Payne to catalog everything, then turn it over to your ERT by tomorrow morning.”

As they walked together to the conference room, Nora’s phone vibrated. She glanced at the number. Dunn.

“English,” she answered. “Did you get in?”

Dunn’s voice was strained. “You were right. We have what appears to be a major crime scene.”

“Where in the house?”

“In the bedroom. The bed is saturated with blood. There’s also other biological matter-the place stinks to high heaven.”

“Don’t touch anything. I’m sending the ERT there. Secure the scene and start the canvass. Any neighbors who saw him arrive, when, if anyone spoke to him, saw him with anyone, whatever you can find out. Then send me a report.”

“This place is in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t get much more private than this.”

“I’ll have research shoot you off his recent credit card transactions and phone records. See if you can follow up on any of them. I’m going into a briefing, but call me if you find anything.”

She hung up.

“Payne was killed in Tahoe,” she told Quin as she shot off an email to the ERT leader and ASAC Hooper about the crime scene and asking for a group to go to Tahoe to process the scene.

They entered the conference room. Within minutes, her entire team had gathered, as well as Megan Kincaid. Nora wondered where Duke was, but she didn’t have time to call him.

“I’m going fast because we have a lot to do. First, to bring everyone up to speed, Nathan Dunn called from our Tahoe office. There is substantial evidence of violence in Dr. Payne’s vacation home. We’ve secured the house and are sending the ERT. We’ll need to confirm that Dr. Payne was killed there, but all evidence points in that direction.”

She sipped water and continued. “Everyone should have gotten my notes from the coroner’s office and the crime scene. Dr. Coffey hasn’t made his report official, but we’re going off the preliminary until we hear something different. The victim was dead at least six hours before the fire started. He was killed off-site and transported in an enclosed pickup truck bed. Dr. Coffey is working on matching up the marks on his back with a make and model. It may give us our first real lead.”

From the minute Dr. Duncan said Jonah Payne was a creature of habit and went to his vacation house the last weekend of every month, Nora had known that he’d been killed there. Organized murderers plan their kills down to the last detail. They follow their prey, plan the best method of attack, and pounce.

Before she could share the additional information, ASAC Hooper opened the door and said, “Nora, when you have a minute I need to see you in my office. Go ahead and finish up here.”

He left, but Nora was distracted. She glanced at Megan, who just shook her head, not knowing what was going on.

Finish up here. Right.

She looked at the team. “I asked Megan to be part of this because she understands psychopaths. And whoever killed Jonah Payne is not a typical anarchist.”

Megan said, “I’ve been thinking about it, and I’d like to go through like crimes, see if there are any unsolved cases similar to Dr. Payne’s, but not connected to genetic research or arson. I’m looking at the manner of death. If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk to the M.E. myself.”

“Please do,” Nora said. “Pete, can you follow up with both Sheriff Sanger and Sheriff Donaldson on the canvasses at Butcher-Payne and Lake of the Pines yesterday? See if they’ve found anything new, have them walk you through it. They might need a fresh pair of eyes.”

“Will do. What about Cole?”

Nora was trying to avoid going there until she had a chance to reassess her previous analysis. “We need to talk to him again.”

Pete cleared his throat. “Without meaning to offend, Nora, but are you the best person to do it?”

Nora knew where he was going with this. Pete had always felt that she was too close to the investigation, that Nora tried too hard to think like the arsonists. He worried she was overly sympathetic, but nothing could be further from the truth.

“Yes,” she simply said, “I am.”

Nora turned to Ted. “Duke Rogan with Rogan-Caruso sent over the background reports on Butcher-Payne staff. Go through it with a fine-toothed comb. Anything odd, you know what to look for-flag it and follow up.” To Rachel she said, “Learn everything you can about Jonah Payne and Jim Butcher. We can’t rule out that Butcher-who has the most to lose because he isn’t a scientist-may be peripherally involved. Maybe someone wants to punish him by killing his meal ticket.”

“That doesn’t sound like anarchists,” Pete said.

“No, and anarchists don’t generally kill. But someone died yesterday.”

“Unless it isn’t connected.”

“A bit too coincidental to me,” Nora said. “There’s a reason why Dr. Payne’s body was brought back to the research lab. Maybe it was just to watch us run around trying to figure out the unexplainable, but that would have been thought out by the killer. I doubt it’s so immature a reason, but there’s got to be a reason. When we find it, we may just discover the killer.”

She glanced at her watch. Ten minutes had passed.

“Go,” Pete said. “Let me know what’s happening when you’re done.”

She thanked her team, said good-bye to Quin, and went directly to Dean Hooper’s office.

Duke Rogan shook Dean Hooper’s hand when he entered his office. “Good to see you again, Hooper.”

“Likewise. How’s Sean?”

“Good.” He refrained from saying anything about Sean at Rose College this week. Better that Hooper didn’t know. Plausible deniability, should Sean learn something important to the investigation.

“I appreciate you coming in,” Hooper said.

“I was coming in anyway. What’s going on?”

“I had a disturbing call from Quantico. Our key profiler went over the case and wanted to discuss it immediately.”

There was a knock on the door, and a moment later Nora entered. Duke wanted to talk to her alone-hell, he just wanted her alone-but she was all business as usual.

“You wanted to see me?” She caught Duke’s eye and for a second, Duke knew she was thinking about last night. Good. That would keep her on her toes. He winked at her and she diverted her eyes, a faint blush rising.

Damn, but that was sexy.

“Yes. Everything taken care of? I read your report,” Hooper said.

“ERT already left for Payne’s cabin.”

“I’m planning to talk to Leif Cole again today.” She put up her hand before Hooper could object. “I know he’s threatened us with lawsuits every time we say boo, but I honestly believe that he knows something. I don’t think he’s involved-” Her voice trailed off and Duke wondered what, exactly, she did think. “But he has to suspect someone. Though they operate independently, it’s not a huge group of people.”

“You’re not going to get someone like Cole to turn state’s evidence.”

“No, but I might be able to feel my way around the situation and see if I can prod him hard enough to give up something without realizing it. It’s worth a shot, because right now we have next to nothing-unless ERT picks up a fingerprint in Lake Tahoe that we can match,” she added with a hint of sarcasm, enough to make Duke think she didn’t believe it would happen.

“Good plan,” Hooper said. He hit the speakerphone button, then dialed. “Hans Vigo called this morning and wanted to talk to us about the last letter sent by the BLF arsonists. Since Rogan here has been consulting, I hope you don’t mind I asked him to join us.”

“No,” she said, clearing her throat. She glanced at Duke, and he smiled at her.

Hans Vigo picked up the phone himself.

“Hans, it’s Dean Hooper. I have Nora English and Duke Rogan here with me.”

“Thanks for getting back to me so quickly,” Vigo said.

“What’s going on?” Hooper asked.

“I’ve been analyzing the four letters BLF sent after each arson, and I think we need to revisit the references to Agent English’s past cases.”

Duke straightened. “I hadn’t heard about that.” He glanced at Nora, who looked ill.

Hooper passed over a photocopy of the set of letters to both Nora and Duke. “The last one is on top. The places it references are all cases that Nora worked as an undercover agent.”

Duke watched Nora read. The way Hooper spoke … “Are you suggesting that the killer knows Nora?”

“No,” Nora said automatically. Somehow Duke didn’t even think that she’d heard what he’d said.

Hooper said, “When Hans called I pulled the cases that Nora worked. Only two were on file in the system.”

Nora tapped the letter. “The first two listed here I was an informant, not an agent.”

Hans spoke through the phone. “Which makes me think that the person who wrote this letter knows a lot about you. Killers who reach out to the media want attention,” Hans said. “And I think that this killer wants your attention.”

Duke’s chest tightened and he shifted in his seat. He didn’t want Nora under the gun from any nutjob.

“My attention?” Nora said. “What the hell for? Anarchists like the group we’re dealing with want attention for their political cause. Not from the FBI or anyone in it.”

“Correct,” Hans said. “It’s why they spray-paint their message on buildings, publish their ‘manifesto’ of action, and escalate. The letters posted on the newspaper message board are their way of making sure that they put their spin on their crimes-before the public is even aware of the arson from the regular news media, the arsonists post their reasons for the crime. Corrupt companies, animal testing, gene manipulation, whatever their specific cause is.”

Duke didn’t like the direction this was going. He skimmed the first three letters while Dr. Vigo spoke, then read the fourth letter carefully. It had a different tone and focus.

Vigo continued. “The first three letters focus on the individual entity and their so-called crime. For Langlier, it was that they engaged in animal and genetic testing to develop their pharmaceutical products. For Sac State, it was genetic engineering in agriculture. For Nexum, it was using animal by-products for profit. But for Butcher-Payne? That letter mentions in passing the use of animals in genetic research, but the primary focus of the letter is the actions of law enforcement in resolved investigations. None of these listed cases are open.”

Hooper said, “The earlier cases where Agent English was an informant aren’t cases where there was any doubt. All parties were convicted on solid evidence. I reviewed them thoroughly.”

“All it tells us is that another person in the group wrote the letter.” Nora put the letter aside, but the way she kept looking at it had Duke concerned. Because Nora was worried, no matter what she said.

“Yes, you’re right,” Vigo said. “But why?”

“Maybe there’s a new person in the group,” Nora suggested.

“Possible,” Vigo responded skeptically.

Nora said, “Based on past cases, we know that there are usually three or four people involved in these types of groups. Maybe one of them dropped out. Maybe someone else wanted to take a stab at public relations.” She sounded sarcastic, a way to distance herself from the intensity of the situation.

“Nora, you can’t ignore this,” Duke said.

“Let’s assume-just for a minute-that the killer fixated on me as the person trying to stop him. He does a little research and-voila! — learns of my high-profile cases and is trying to distract me.”

“Possible,” Vigo said once again.

The idea of a killer targeting Nora terrified Duke. He had no problem with Nora being an FBI agent working dangerous cases; he had a huge problem with her being the focus of a psychopath. His specialty was personal security, and he wasn’t letting Nora English out of his sight.

“This last letter is personal,” said Vigo. “It focuses on the ‘corrupt’ government-a phrase often used by these people when talking about both politicians and federal law enforcement. I went through the files on all those cases, and there are no other common factors except Agent English.”

“And the types of investigations,” Hooper said, “were all domestic terrorism cases.”

“I’m hardly the only agent who works domestic terrorism,” Nora said.

Duke watched her closely. She was thinking about what Vigo and Hooper were saying, but she didn’t want to believe that somehow this case was becoming about her. Nora didn’t want to be the focal point. She didn’t want to think of herself as a victim.

Hooper said, “I’m having an analyst pull all Nora’s cases and see if anyone she’s arrested is out of prison.”

“Have them look into relatives of prisoners as well,” said Vigo. “Someone who lives on the West Coast. Originally, I thought the killer was older, but this letter seems to be singsong, taunting-a younger, immature voice. Under thirty, with no college degree, though, who likely spent some time in college and is comfortable around students.”

“Leif Cole,” Nora mumbled. “He doesn’t seem the type. And he’s older. Also, I don’t think he’s a killer.”

“He didn’t write this letter,” Vigo agreed, “but he may be familiar with the unique writing style. Remember that it was Ted Kaczynski’s brother who recognized his distinctive phrases in the published manifesto.”

“Cole hasn’t been willing to help on any level,” Nora said, “and he wouldn’t even look at the other letters, but I’ll try again. Now that the group has escalated to murder, maybe he will help.” She didn’t sound optimistic, but Duke had complete confidence that she would push Cole hard.

“What’s our next step?” Hooper asked.

Nora rose from her seat, agitated. “To keep the investigation moving forward,” she said. “I have a great team working on this case, covering all the bases. The answers are out there, and we’ll find them.”

“Yes,” Vigo agreed, “but I think the fastest way to find the answers is to find out who is so angry with you, Agent English, that they created an elaborate and drawn-out plan to draw you into their game.”

“Maybe I should put Pete in charge and have Nora take some time off,” Hooper said. “I’ve only been here six weeks, Nora, but I’ve looked at your personnel records and you haven’t taken a vacation in years.”

“That’s not true,” Nora said, but Duke could see her thinking about it. Of course it was true, he thought. He knew her better than she knew herself. “I’m not giving up this case. Call Nolan, my SSA. Dr. Vigo, find him and he’ll tell you that I am the best suited to getting to the bottom of this. I know these people. I know how they think.”

“Your safety is more important,” Hooper began, “and there are other trained agents who may work this case without a personal connection.”

Dr. Vigo said, “I don’t know that pulling Nora is the right thing.”

“Of course it’s not!” Nora said. “If it was Pete, would you pull him?”

Duke heard the tremble in Nora’s voice, the fear. Not of the killer, but of losing her identity. She was her job. And Duke wondered if he could ever claim enough of her to where he was as important to her as her work. And was it even fair of him to ask?

He didn’t care about being fair, not about this.

“I’ll take responsibility for Agent English’s personal safety,” Duke said.

She faced him with shock and something like distrust. He didn’t want to read too much into it, she was on an emotional roller coaster, and one he realized she’d never ridden before. But he was irritated that she didn’t try to understand.

He needed her to trust him. Without trust, there could be no relationship.

“I can accept that,” Hooper said. “Hans?”

“Great. We need to go over the cases, and it wouldn’t hurt if you reviewed them as well, Nora, when you have a chance.”

She quickly calmed herself, and said in a measured tone, “I understand your point, Dr. Vigo, but I can’t imagine anyone who would have a personal vendetta against me, to such an extent that they would kill to … to do what?”

“Nora, you understand terrorism. I understand psychopaths. This is a case where the two have collided, and I think we have a wholly new, and dangerous, monster on our hands. Be careful.”

Duke’s phone vibrated and he looked at the message. It was his partner, J. T. Caruso.

He stared at the message with a heavy heart, but not surprise. Maybe he’d already sensed the truth, because he couldn’t imagine that Russ Larkin had any part in killing Jonah. But it didn’t make the news any easier to swallow.

He told the three FBI agents, “Russ Larkin’s car was found in Reno. He’s dead.”