Heat

Chapter 31

Pat Casey sat in Kurt Ruger’s office at the bank and watched the young man on the sofa. He had trained the man himself, and he felt proud.

“The two subjects made the plane on schedule,” the young man, whose name was Ken Willis, said. “At La Guardia they got their luggage and took a cab to the Hotel Roosevelt and checked in. Barron put the briefcase in the hotel safe, just as you said he would. He and the woman stayed in their room until dinnertime, then left the hotel and went to a restaurant on West Sixty-Seventh Street. They were back at the hotel and in their room by eleven o’clock.”

“Tell me about the next day,” Ruger said.

“Barron was earlier than I’d expected,” Willis said, glancing at a notebook. “He picked up the briefcase at the front desk at eight o’clock and walked uptown. He seemed to be on a sort of sightseeing trip.”

“What sort of a sightseeing trip?” Casey asked.

“He walked uptown to Central Park and through the zoo, then he started down Fifth Avenue. At Rockefeller Center he watched the skaters for a couple of minutes, then he went into the NBC building and took the elevator to the roof.”

“Good place for a meet,” Ruger said. “Did he speak to anybody?”

“No, sir.”

“Did he bump into anybody, even look at anybody?”

“No, sir; he seemed preoccupied with sightseeing.”

“Then what?”

“He did some more walking; went into Sak’s and bought some things, apparently for the woman and a little girl, also some neckties. Then he walked up Fifth to number 666 and arrived at the office exactly on time. I waited in the hallway, and when he came out I asked him for the briefcase. He insisted on calling the chief before he’d give it to me.”

“From the time Barron picked up the briefcase at eight o’clock until he turned it over to you, was he ever out of your sight? Even for a few seconds?”

“No, sir,” Willis lied solemnly.

“Did you follow him anymore after that?”

“No, sir; I went straight to the airport, as I was instructed to do.”

Casey spoke up. “I only wanted to be sure he delivered the case; I saw no point in any further surveillance. If he’d done something untoward, we’d have heard about it.”

Ruger nodded. “Let me have the briefcase,” he said to Willis.

The young man placed the aluminum case on the desk.

Ruger worked the two combination locks, opened the case and removed two sheets of papers. “The receipt is in order,” he said, then he examined the other sheet. “Enzberg says that Barron behaved correctly and expressed no curiosity about the transaction.” He looked at Casey. “Pat, do you have any other questions for Ken?”

“Nope,” Casey replied.

“That’ll be all, Ken,” Ruger said. “You did a good job.”

“Thank you, sir,” Willis said, and left the office.

“Are you pleased, Pat?” Ruger asked.

“I certainly am,” Casey replied. “He did as he was asked to do, and I’m particularly pleased that he wouldn’t give Willis the briefcase until he’d called me.”

“Yes, I agree that was kind of a bonus. Shows he’s both a thinker and that he’s of a cautious nature.”

“I think Jesse Barron is quality material,” Casey said.

“What is Jack Gene’s take on him?”

“You know Jack Gene; he relies more on intuition than judgment.”

“And what did his intuition tell him?”

“That Jesse is covering up something.”

Ruger chuckled. “Who isn’t? Did you pick up anything like that on the polygraph?”

“Not really.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, I got the impression that he lied about a couple of things there was no need to lie about. He could have been planting a lie or two to cover a real lie.”

Ruger frowned. “If he actually did that, then we have something to worry about.”

“I know. Nobody of Jesse’s background — his stated background — is going to know anything about defeating a polygraph.”

“Pat, if you were Jesse and you were a fed, how would you have played the New York delivery?”

“I’d have tried to find out what was in the briefcase,” Casey replied. “But there’s no indication that he tried, and there’s no indication that he even contacted anybody before he delivered the case.”

“But if you were a cop trying to gain our confidence, might you just do as you were told?”

Casey shook his head. “Maybe, but I think the briefcase would be too much of a temptation.”

Ruger took a magnifying glass from a desk drawer and began examining the case closely. Casey joined him, switching on the desk lamp. “You see any sign of attempted entry?”

“Nope, not a thing.”

“Could they have X-rayed it?”

“The lead foil lining would have obscured the contents, and the combination has to be reset after the case has been opened twice. If they’d cracked it, you wouldn’t have been able to open it with the same combination.”

“What do you think our recommendation to Jack Gene should be?”

“Well, Jesse has had as much or more scrutiny as anybody else who’s joined us, and he’s passed with flying colors so far. Still, as long as Jack Gene has doubts, I don’t think we want to go the whole hog.”

“I agree. What should we do then?”

“I’ve already done it.” He explained his action to Ruger. “All we have to do is wait.”