The Collectors

Chapter 59

Annabelle and Stone made a phone call from a service station, reaching Caleb. He had not yet fully recovered from finding Norman Janklow’s body but was able to relay some of what had happened. Stone called Reuben, and all arranged to meet back at Stone’s safe house. An hour later they were reassembled, and Stone and Annabelle reported their experience first.

“Damn,” Reuben said. “Good thing you thought of the oxygen, Oliver.”

Caleb and Milton told their story next.

Caleb added, “We called the police from a pay phone. Only took about an hour to find one in our cell-happy world. Thank goodness I remembered to take the candleholder; it has my fingerprints on it.”

“Did you touch anything else?” Stone asked.

Caleb looked worried. “I grabbed the handrail on the outside stoop.” He glared at Milton. “Because gadget boy here decided to scare the crap out of me. And I might have touched something else inside the house, I don’t remember. I’ve actually tried to block it out of my memory.”

“Your prints are in the federal database?” Stone said.

“Of course.” Caleb gave a resigned sigh. “Well, it won’t be the first time the coppers have come for me, and I doubt it’ll be the last.”

“What connection could this Norman Janklow have to all this?” Reuben asked.

Stone answered, “Janklow could’ve been a spy, like English. That means the books he looked at could’ve been secretly coded too.”

“They must’ve only pretended to dislike each other,” Caleb said. “To help maintain their cover.”

“Okay, but why kill Janklow?” Reuben persisted.

“If he was a spy, once we exposed English, maybe the whole thing started to unravel, and they had to start tying up loose ends,” Annabelle ventured. “They might have gotten English out of the way and left Janklow there dead to confuse things.”

“I’d say they accomplished their goal, then,” Caleb pointed out.

“We should go to the police now,” Milton said anxiously.

“And tell them what?” Stone argued. “The marks in the book have disappeared. And if we explain that we were almost killed tonight, we’d have to admit to having broken into Albert Trent’s home. I’m sure he’s already called the police to report the burglary.”

He glanced at Annabelle. “And even though you saw him, it’s your word against his. And I didn’t call the police about what happened at Fire Control, Inc., because I felt sure by the time they got there, the two men I attacked would’ve disappeared.” He looked at Caleb. “And since Caleb was at Jewell English’s home and his prints might be found there, if we go to the police, he’ll instantly become a suspect. Couple that with the fact that the authorities already have Caleb and Reuben on their radar, it’s all far too complicated for the police to believe.”

“Well, hell,” was Reuben’s sole comment to that analysis.

Annabelle said, “So what do we do? Wait for them to come after us again?”

Stone shook his head. “No. Caleb will go to work tomorrow as if nothing’s happened. The library will be in an uproar having lost a director and a patron in such a short time. Caleb, find out what you can. The news will give us some hint as to what the police think. And if they’ve killed English too, the body might turn up.”

Milton said, “I’ll keep my eye peeled on the Net for any of that. That’s where it’ll break first.”

Stone continued, “Bob Bradley, Jonathan DeHaven, Cornelius Behan and now Norman Janklow have been murdered. I believe Bradley died because he was forcing Albert Trent to leave the intelligence committee staff. Trent couldn’t do that, because if I’m right, Trent was using that position to pass secrets. DeHaven was killed either because he was involved in the reading room being used to convey these stolen secrets or he stumbled on the scheme and had to be silenced. That might be the same for Norman Janklow, or else he was also a spy like English. Behan was killed because he figured out that one of his companies’ equipment was used to murder DeHaven and would no doubt have investigated further. Trent had a mole at Fire Control who probably tipped him off about Behan’s suspicions, and he had to be eliminated.”

Caleb said, “But how could Jonathan, Jewell English or Norman Janklow become involved in a spy ring? Who would think to use the Rare Books reading room to communicate stolen secrets through coded letters in the first place?”

Stone said, “Well, because one wouldn’t logically think of it makes it a good plan. And remember, most spies are captured because they’re placed under surveillance for some reason, and then they’re observed making the drop of information, usually in a public place. Instead, we have coded letters in rare books. There’s no surveillance possible. Old people read old books and go home. No one would even consider them remotely suspicious.”

Caleb said, “But you still have to get the secrets Trent was presumably stealing to the library somehow. It wasn’t Albert Trent highlighting those letters in the books. And Jonathan couldn’t have done it in the Beadle we took from the library. He was dead by then.”

“Agreed. And that’s the part we still have to figure out. In fact, that’s the most important part, because it’s our main hope of solving this case. If Janklow, English or DeHaven were spies, there has to be some evidence of that.”

Milton said, “We’ve already searched DeHaven’s house and found nothing.”

“And I looked through Jewell’s,” Caleb said, “and only found a dead body.”

Stone nodded. “Perhaps Norman Janklow’s home may yield some results.”

Reuben interjected, “The only problem with that is the police will be crawling all over it now. Same with English’s place.”

Stone said, “Things are getting very dangerous now, and we all have to be extremely careful. I suggest that we double up from now on. Milton and Caleb, you two can stay at Milton’s house; it has a very good security system. Reuben, you and I can stay at your place, since certain people already know where I live.” He looked at Annabelle. “You can stay with us too.”

Reuben looked hopeful. “My shack’s not much to look at, but I’ve got plenty of beer, chips and a wide-screen plasma. And I do a mean chili. On the protection side, I’ve got one nasty pit bull named Delta Dawn, who’ll take a bite out of anyone I tell her to.”

“I think I’ll stick to my hotel. But I’ll watch out for myself, don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?” Stone said.

“I’m sure. But thanks for the offer. I’m really more of a loner, actually. That’s how I prefer it,” she added, averting her gaze from Stone.

As the meeting broke up, Stone stopped Annabelle on the way out.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine, why shouldn’t I be? Just another day in the life.”

“Almost being killed isn’t such a normal thing.”

“Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t.”

“Okay, are you game for another run at Albert Trent?” She hesitated. “I don’t mean breaking into his house again. I mean tailing him.”

“You think he’s still around?” she said.

Stone nodded. “They have no idea really what we know or don’t know. My guess is they’ll maintain the status quo until conditions dictate otherwise. If he skips town now, it’s all over. If this is a spy ring, they might want to see if things can be salvaged. These people have obviously worked hard to put it together.”

“These people don’t play around, do they?”

“Neither do I,” Stone replied.

Roger Seagraves was a very unhappy man. While Janklow had been sacrificed to muddy the waters and silence a potential witness, English was in a secure place far away from D.C. Yet because she’d allowed her glasses to be taken and their operation blown, Seagraves didn’t see her remaining alive for long. That was the good news. The bad news was Oliver Stone and the woman had escaped, costing him two men in the process. The Triple Six had somehow managed to beat the death chamber and smash their skulls in. That was impressive, especially for a guy who must be sixty by now. Seagraves chastised himself for not killing the man when he had the chance. He had cleaned up the bodies at Fire Control, but the police were all over Jewell English’s place. Fortunately, she had kept nothing incriminating at her home, and the same for Janklow. However, Seagraves’ perfect scheme was ruined.

Now he only had one goal. To go right to the source and end it once and for all.

From the small table next to him, he picked up Stone’s old shirt and the watch taken from Annabelle. Seagraves promised himself that these items would still become part of his collection.