“Go on.”
“We had a good day out on the boat. His buddy, Danny Garcia, came along with us. We had our beers and caught a couple of marlins and nearly landed a big-ass tuna. We were heading back and I was feeling good about things when he told me.”
“Told you what?”
“That he’d just been diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer.” He looked at Decker probingly. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“Garcia told me about it.”
“Right. Anyway, he seemed to be in a contemplative mood. I guess anyone would be with death staring them in the face. He said he had about a year, eighteen months if he was lucky.”
“And what else did he say?”
“Just so you know, he never really came out and said anything definitive.” He stared at Decker. “But I think he wanted to make amends for something, Decker. Something he’d done in the past. End-of-life kind of remorse and penance, I guess. It happens.”
“Yes, it does. Anything specific?”
“No. If there had been I would have told you before now. And frankly I didn’t see how anything having to do with Kanak would be relevant to this case.”
“Remorse. Recent or far in the past?”
“I don’t know. He did mention his daughter. How proud he was of her. But there was something there, something else. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.”
“Try. Best guess.”
Andrews’s face screwed up in pain for a moment. His hand went to a control on one of the lines going into him and he hit a button. “Thank God for morphine.”
“Yeah.”
“My guess was he didn’t really know if his daughter was the right person to carry the firm into the future.”
“Why not? She seems very competent. Highly professional and intelligent. And driven.”
“Maybe too driven,” said Andrews.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning she might push the envelope too far. Way too far. Right over the cliff, in fact.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“If you’re thinking that I’m suggesting she might have had something to do with her father’s disappearance, then yeah, maybe that’s what I’m saying.”
Chapter 50
WHITE LANDED IN DC AND immediately took a cab to the Washington Field Office, or WFO as it was referred to at the Bureau. There she met with John Talbott and brought him up to speed on the case and also what she was doing back in DC.
“You okay working this with just Decker?” he said.
“Yes sir. I’m fine with that.”
She didn’t like the way he looked at her at all.
“He’s a good agent,” said White unprompted.
“If a little unorthodox.”
“I think Decker and I have it under control. And the local police are involved as well. Sometimes too many cooks in the kitchen, you know.”
“Your call, Agent White.”
For some reason she couldn’t explain, Talbott seemed pleased by all this.
After arranging for a series of appointments with people she needed to speak to, White called her mother on her way to the first meeting.
“How are the kids?” she asked.
“Missing Momma, of course, but all right. In school and hopefully working hard. How are things with you?”
“I’m actually in DC. I’ll be up tonight to see you and the kids.”
“That’s wonderful. And how are you and your new partner doing?” her mother asked.
“We had a come-to-Jesus meeting and things seem to have smoothed out.”
“And the case?”
“It’s coming. Slowly.”
“Well, I’ll let you get back to it then, honey.”
*
White’s first interview was with Felicia Campbell, who had taken Alice Lancer’s position as communications director at the Kingston Group, the lobbying firm headquartered on K Street. The place looked busy and prosperous. Campbell was in her thirties and full of energy.
“It was awful news about Alice,” she said as they sat in her spacious office, which held the usual business trophies and pictures of her with what were probably politicians and other clients.
“And how did you learn about her death?” asked White.
“I saw it on the news. And someone posted it on the firm’s social media accounts.”
“What can you tell me about her?”
“We only overlapped for about a year. Even though she was a full-fledged lobbyist by then, she helped me learn the ropes. I’ve recently been promoted from communications director to a lobbyist here, and on a fast track to partnership.”