“What’s up?” asked Earl Beckett as Sullivan popped his head inside the man’s office at the federal building in Norfolk. It was a couple of days after Sullivan’s meeting with Francine and Gibson.
Sullivan took a seat across the desk from the marshal. “Look, can I talk confidentially?”
“Why, you think somebody’s eavesdropping on us in here?” Beckett said with a wry grin.
“No, but what I’m about to tell you I don’t want to go any further.”
“Okay.” Beckett sat up straighter and put his elbows on his desk as he took in the serious expression on the Virginia police detective’s face. “Shoot.”
“The Langhornes?”
“What about ’em?”
“I think I’ve found Francine and Doug Langhorne. And the mother.”
Beckett exclaimed, “What? Where are they?”
“The last place was an abandoned cottage about two miles from Stormfield.”
“What the hell are they doing there? And how did you find them?”
“It was actually Gibson who did the heavy lifting. She had some specialized software program on her computer that ProEye provided her. It’s a tracking device that takes in like ten thousand different factors.”
“How do you know they were there? Did you see them?”
“Gibson said she did.”
“Said she did? And you believed her?”
“She sent me these. Took them with a long-range camera.”
Sullivan pulled his phone out and held it up. “Just swipe across.”
Beckett did so and glanced up at Sullivan.
“Well?” said Sullivan. “You knew them, I didn’t. Could it be them?”
“It could be,” said Beckett slowly. “Can you text me those pictures?”
“Sure.” Sullivan took a few moments to do so. “So, do we head over there and arrest them?”
“For what?” said Beckett.
“For murdering their father. They might be intending to do the same to their mother, for all I know. And they’re after the treasure. Gibson is sure of that. She’s tracked some stuff down online and she says she can trace their digital signatures back to Francine.”
“Francine always was the smart one,” Beckett said absently.
“Yeah, so if we arrest them and make them talk, they can tell us where the money their father stole is, and that will all go to the government. It was mob money, after all. We’ll both probably get medals for that,” he added with a grin.
“Yeah, medals,” said Beckett absently again, his mind clearly elsewhere. “Did Gibson have any idea where the treasure is?”
“She’s convinced it’s somewhere at Stormfield.”
“Where? It’s a big place.”
“Gibson might be able to find it. Or we can get that from Francine.”
Beckett leaned forward and began speaking slowly and intently. “See, what I’m thinking is Francine is never going to tell us squat. You didn’t know the girl, but I did. She doesn’t give up anything without a fight. But if we can find the treasure on our own? That’s a whole different story.”
“But what about arresting them?”
“They can keep. Just put them under surveillance for now so they can’t slip away.”
“Okay, yeah. And then if we find the money we turn it in. Hold a press conference. Maybe the governor will come. And somebody from Washington. It’ll be a big deal. I’ve been waiting a long time to bust a big case like this.”
Beckett rubbed his chin and gave Sullivan a sideways glance. “Yeah, I bet you have. You really think Gibson can find it?”
“Well, she found the Langhornes. So my money would be on her. And she sounded really confident when I talked to her. Said she had it all figured out. This is what she does for a living, after all. And what could it hurt to see?”
“Couldn’t hurt at all. Sure save us a lot of trouble. You want to arrange things with her? Maybe the three of us can go there?”
“The three of us? I thought we would take a team over there tomorrow and just go through everything.”
“Tomorrow. Yeah, I guess that would make sense. Is Gibson at home now?”
“Yeah, she’s got the kids and all. I can contact her and set it up for tomorrow. You want to meet out there, say around ten?” Sullivan rose. “This could be really big for both of us, Earl.” He held out his hand. “Here’s to good luck tomorrow.”
Beckett stood and shook his hand. “Yep, to good luck tomorrow. I’ll see you there.”
Sullivan left, and Beckett immediately made a call.