President's assassin

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The FBI's Washington Metropolitan Field Office is among the four largest and busiest field offices in the country.

I located a place to park near the corner of 4th Street, NW, crossed the street, and passed through the surprisingly nondescript entrance. I flashed my CIA credentials and was allowed by the nice front-desk guard to sign a form and wiggle through the metal detector directly into the inner sanctum. His directions were good and I had no trouble locating the office with the plaque that read, "Senior Agent in Charge, National Security." At least, very little.

I opened the door and entered the office, which turned out to be an outer office with a door leading to the boss's office. Elizabeth, Jennie's nosy, chatty executive assistant, looked up and was surprised, though not delighted, to see me. She said, a little uncertainly "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Drummond."

I smiled back. "Nice to see you, too, Elizabeth. That's a… lovely dress you're wearing."

"Oh… well…" Actually, her dress was surprisingly ugly, a pink paisley top with a bright red skirt, and I wondered if Elizabeth was color-blind, or, these days, I guess, "chromatically challenged." She giggled self-consciously and confessed, "I made it myself."

"Well… who would ever have guessed?"

"Do you think?"

"I think you should open a business… start a line. You'll be the talk of Washington in no time," I informed her with some insight. "So is her ladyship in?"

"I'm… well, you should have called ahead. She's in a meeting downtown."

"I see." Actually, only forty minutes before I had called ahead, though Elizabeth could be forgiven for her faulty recall, as I think I might have been a little confused and identified myself incorrectly. So I knew that Jennie had left the building twenty minutes before, and I knew she would not return till one, which was fine. I said, "I wanted to surprise her. Take her to lunch." I leaned against Elizabeth's desk and complained, "Now that the case is over, we're experiencing a little trouble connecting. Her schedule… my schedule…"

Apparently something on Elizabeth's computer screen suddenly became very absorbing, because she avoided my eyes. "Yes, it's certainly gotten… hectic… around here. Miss Margold is now carrying two very demanding jobs." Just in the event her boss's butt wasn't covered enough, she pointed at a stack of message slips and added, "She doesn't even have time to return her calls."

"Of course. I just wanted to be sure she's okay. Considering what's going on."

"She's fine. Very busy as I said."

"Good. I'm glad the internal investigation's not weighing on her. I mean, if I had something like that hanging over my head, I'd be a wreck… I couldn't sleep or-"

"Investigation?"

"Yeah… about the missing money"

"I don't think I know what you're talking about."

I withdrew from my pocket Larry Boswel’s business card, which I displayed for Elizabeth's benefit. "This guy dropped by to see me this morning. What nonsense. Twelve million in bounty money's missing. Do you believe they suspect Jennie has it?"

Oops, there I went again, getting my identities confused. The thing is, this Lady was very protective of Jennie and, given the sensitive nature of this office, was not likely to be forthcoming with me. Sometimes it takes a lie to get truth; the point is, I needed to know if Jennie had spoken with Larry, and I needed to know whose side she was on.

Elizabeth eyed the name on the card, and I detected a note of recognition. I said, "I mean, in the event Jennie didn't know they were interviewing people behind her back, I thought… you know, I'd give her a heads-up."

"I… well, I think she must already know."

"You think?"

She hesitated momentarily before she pointed at the card. "He's been here. Last week. Several times, with two other agents."

This was the last thing I wanted to hear, though I obviously wouldn't be going through this charade had I not suspected something. Of course, the topic Larry came to discuss with Jennie was not her, but me. So I could now put a motive behind Jennie's repeated failures to return my calls. Either she had a guilty conscience because she had dumped on me to Larry or Larry had ordered her to withhold contact until I was cleared-or on my way to Leavenworth. Oh, there was, I suppose, a third possibility, but being irresistible, I completely ruled that out. The point is, my personal problems were becoming my professional problems.

Regarding me, I was sure Jennie told Larry to piss off, that Sean Drummond was one of the good guys, pure in mind, body, and soul, that obviously I had nothing to do with the disappearance of the money. Partners help each other out in a jam, right? But by the same token, don't partners also call each other when somebody's ass is hanging out?

Elizabeth misinterpreted the worried expression on my face and asked, "Do you think this is serious? Is she in trouble?"

"Nah. A waste of everybody's time. She's a hero."

Elizabeth was proud of her boss and said, "She is amazing. Her intuition is extraordinary. I sometimes think she can read minds and predict the future."

"Well… I wouldn't go that far."

"Oh, I would. Do you know that three months ago, she studied our file on that Jason Barnes character? Almost as if she foresaw this coming."

I looked at Elizabeth.

She said, "What were the chances of that?"

What were the chances of that? "Elizabeth… what file?"

"Jason Barnes's clearance packet. As I recall, Barnes's Top Secret clearance was nearly five years old. They expire at that point. A complete new background investigation had to be completed."

"I think you're mistaken."

"Oh, no, I'm not mistaken. So many clearance requests come through here, I'm sure I wouldn't remember, except… well, afterward, Miss Margold asked me to retrieve another file… a background investigation on Jason Barnes's father."

I was staring at Elizabeth, or perhaps past her.

"It was quite sensitive. I had to go through a lot of trouble to get my hands on it."

Elizabeth was now looking at me a little oddly. She said, "Are you all right?"

Was I? No-I was two beats short of a heart attack. I could not keep the shock and amazement from my face. I felt a numbness beginning in my chest, working its way up to my throat.

"Can I get you some water?" Elizabeth asked, peering at me closely

"No… I'm… I just remembered…"

"Remembered what, Mr. Drummond?"

It was none of Elizabeth's business what I remembered. Without another word, I left.