Mortal Faults

13

Crandall led her to the squad room, where rows of desks sat nearly empty, only a few agents working the phones or reviewing notes on yellow legal pads. She saw one agent going over a stack of files in the brown and white folders used by all Bureau offices, with a few of the older tan folders from an earlier era. The tan ones presumably related to the original MEDEA investigation twenty years ago. On another desk she saw blue documents, color-coded to signify urgency.

She followed Crandall to the rear of the bullpen, where a secretary gave them permission to enter the office of the squad supervisor.

His name was Hauser, and Tess pegged him instantly as an ex-Marine. He was a tall, no-nonsense hard case with a gray crew cut, and he looked to be pushing the Bureau’s mandatory retirement age

Shell-shocked after her conversation with Crandall, she expected only more hostility and mistrust. She was surprised when Hauser proved friendly.

“Agent McCallum,” he said as his big hand wrapped itself around hers, “I’ve heard a lot about you. You have a reputation for getting things done.”

“My reputation is probably a bit overblown.”

“I’ve looked at the cases you worked-the big ones, anyway. Mobius, STORMKIL… You impress the hell out of me, I have to say.”

“I’ve been lucky in L.A.”

“Yeah, luck.” He winked at her. “Funny how some people have all the luck, and some don’t. Anyhow, we need all the help we can get. We’ve opened a genuine can of worms, which is a lot less fun than a barrel of monkeys.”

“I read the case report. But it wasn’t very detailed. How exactly did you find the woman, anyway?”

“Wasn’t easy. She did a pretty good job of dry-cleaning herself. We knew she must have gone underground, and she’d probably done it eight years ago, shortly after her release. It was likely she’d used somebody who was active in the Los Angeles area, probably somebody well known, because she wasn’t a person with a lot of criminal contacts. We found a guy who matched the description serving a ten-year sentence in federal prison. Fellow by the name of Rodriguez, who used to run a little identity-swapping operation out of Studio City. Couple of our people visited him in lockup and asked whether our subject had ever been one of his clients. There was the usual bargaining-he wanted to be moved to a less life-threatening part of the facility, which we arranged-and he gave her up. Told us what name she was using now. Once we had the name, we tracked her down easily.”

“But not until last week,” Crandall said. “The GPS surveillance is a recent development.”

Hauser looked at Tess. “How much has Crandall told you about that?”

“Just that you instituted it.”

“Then he left out the most important part. Last night Andrea Lowry drove her car to a political event in Orange County hosted by none other than Congressman Jack Reynolds.”

“Did she?”

“Global positioning does not lie. We know every place that car has been and what time it was there, and one of those places was the high school where Reynolds was addressing his constituents.”

“She’s stalking him?” Tess frowned. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense, under the circumstances.”

“You don’t think she’d have a desire for revenge?”

“If she did, wouldn’t she have taken action years ago?”

Hauser shrugged. Clearly the mysteries of human motivation were of little interest to him. “Sometimes it takes a while for a person to get up the nerve. And you know what they say, revenge is a dish best served cold.”

“After twenty years I’d say it would be ice cold.”

“Well, maybe she has some other motive for going there. Maybe she’s trying to renew her contact with Reynolds. Or just trying to spook him, shake him up a little. Or she wants hush money. It’s campaign season, you know.”

He didn’t have to say more. If the updated section of the MEDEA report was accurate, Reynolds couldn’t afford to have Andrea Lowry talk.

Of course, it was possible that Reynolds was innocent, his misconduct purely a fantasy in a disturbed woman’s mind. The ambiguity was what made the case so radioactive. If word of the accusation got out and was later found to be baseless, there would be many kinds of hell to pay. A sitting congressman would not take kindly to the trashing of his good name.

“She may have been going to his events for weeks, even months,” Crandall said. “And the poor son of a bitch probably doesn’t even know it.”

Reynolds knew, Tess thought. It explained Abby’s involvement. Reynolds had hired her to deal with the threat of the stalker.

“So how are we playing it?” Tess asked.

“We’re continuing the GPS surveillance. Full-fledged mobile surveillance would be preferable, but it’s manpower intensive, and there’s always the risk of detection.”

“And we still make no attempt to contact her?”

“Everything we know about this woman says she’s paranoid, especially where the government is concerned. We don’t expect her to cooperate with any FBI agents who come knocking at her door. We need to keep our distance for now.”

“How about talking to Reynolds?”

“That’s a no-go, also. We’re staying clear of the congressman. We haven’t even initiated surveillance on him.”

“Why not?”

“We’re working with an insider in his organization, someone well situated to be helpful. We can’t risk raising Reynolds’ suspicions. It could mean exposure for our informant. Right now it’s hands-off.”

“If we don’t contact him or her, aren’t we basically waiting for one of them to make the first move?”

“Not entirely. We’re making one change. We’re upgrading the electronic surveillance on Lowry. Or I should say, you are.”

“Me?”

“You and Agent Crandall. I’m teaming you up, because you two worked together on the Rain Man. That okay with you, Crandall?”

Crandall uttered a half-hearted, “Yes sir.” The question had been a pure formality, anyway.

Tess was confused. “I assumed Michaelson had arranged some nice, boring scut work for me to do.”

“The ADIC isn’t running this show. This is my case, and I’m not giving you scut work. That would be a waste of your abilities, which I deem to be considerable.” Hauser grinned. “The director and I don’t see eye to eye on everything. He may not be happy you’re here, but I am. I want some of that, shall we say, luck of yours coming my way. We can use it.”

Suddenly Tess was almost happy she’d bluffed her way onto the squad. “I'll do my best,” she promised, feeling a bit like a rookie on her first assignment.

Hauser gave her another smothering handshake. “Sounds okay to me. From what I understand, Agent McCallum, your best is very damn good indeed.”