The kettle’s on/off switch popped up and Steelie turned to pick it up. ‘Yeah, I can, but she’s already complaining about the sofa bed.’ She emptied packets of powder into four mugs, then poured water over them. She pulled out a drawer to find a small whisk, which she used to vigorously stir the drinks.
She pushed a mug toward him and indicated the wiretap. ‘How serious is this?’
‘I don’t know but we’re in “better safe than sorry” territory.’ He took a sip of the steaming, frothy drink. ‘What the hell is this?’
‘Matcha au lait.’
He just raised his eyebrows, apparently expecting further explanation.
‘Instant green tea with milk. Chinese,’ Steelie said.
‘Got anything stronger?’
‘Jayne doesn’t drink so, no, we don’t got anything stronger.’
She took a sip from her own mug and made exaggerated noises of satisfaction. ‘Think Scott’ll dig it?’
‘I think you’ll be lucky if he put the safety back on his gun. That’ll buy you some time to get away.’
They carried the drinks to the living room, leaving the transmitter on the counter. Jayne looked like she’d been in a wind tunnel, hair pushed this way and that, her eyes watery. One of Scott’s sleeves was rolled up, the other down, and he looked like he’d come in contact with some dust. Same wind tunnel, Steelie thought.
‘So, what’s your professional opinion?’ Steelie asked.
Eric put his mug down. ‘We clearly found a place where a wire could have been inserted into the floor of the apartment. That’s not to say a wire was inserted there, but I gotta say that the location makes it likely. It’s common practice to install a listening or video device in a threshold segment because it can be easy to access without entering the premises.’
Jayne covered her face with both hands.
Scott compressed his lips and shook his head at Eric, who got the message and rushed on. ‘As I said, this is only an indication. There may never have been any device. But the reason I mentioned video is that we found a tap on the phone line—’
Jayne splayed her fingers so she could see Eric with one eye.
He spread his hands. ‘All I’m saying is that whoever put on the tap could already hear you. No need for another audio bug in the threshold, which just leaves video.’
‘Sounds like Big Brother to me,’ Steelie said, crossing her arms. ‘How do we know it’s not some other arm of your office that put this in?’
Scott sounded impatient. ‘Why, because that racketeering thing Jayne’s been developing has finally taken off?’ He shook his head. ‘Look, this stuff wasn’t Government and it wasn’t sophisticated. The person who did it had some knowledge but no experience.’ He turned to Jayne. ‘Do you use your landline for work-related calls?’
She dropped her hands but looked unhappy. ‘No. I mean, occasionally Steelie and I might mention something while on the phone.’
‘How many people have the number? Are you listed?’
‘I’m listed. Last name, first initial.’ She paused. ‘What are you getting at?’
‘Well, one interpretation of what we’ve found is that the person who planted this stuff may know you but not well enough to get invited in. Doesn’t stop him from wanting to get closer to you and maybe he doesn’t mean any harm. You’d probably never even notice the guy. And he’d have to be nearby to pick up the low signal this transmitter would’ve given out. Who lives downstairs?’
Jayne answered. ‘Alex, but you’re not seriously suggesting—’
‘How well do you know him?’
‘Like, Hi/Bye.’
‘What does he do? Do you know?’
Jayne stood up and went to look out the sliding door. ‘Something to do with computers . . .’
Scott and Eric exchanged a glance.
Steelie noticed it. ‘This is crazy!’
Eric put his hands out in a calming gesture. ‘You won’t know what it is until you get more information. And until you do, Jayne, you might want to stay somewhere else.’ He twisted to look at her. ‘Your place is fine; we’ve checked everything and disabled the tap outside but that could also draw him back, to see why his transmitter’s not transmitting. And you should have what we found tonight evaluated by professionals.’
He faced Steelie again. ‘Get the Agency premises checked, including your phones, in case this isn’t just a Peeping Tom.’ He pulled his BlackBerry from a shirt pocket. ‘I’ll give you some names of people. Reputable sweeping companies, ex-Bureau guys. Tell ’em we told you to call.’
Steelie eyed him. ‘What, so they’ll charge us double?’
Jayne opened the sliding door and stepped on to the deck. Her table looked bereft without its white cloth. The tea light holders’ glassy surfaces were dulled by dried wax drips. She walked to the railing and looked down into the driveway. Her neighbor’s car wasn’t parked in its spot. She was trying to recall what kind of car he drove – a white Subaru, she thought – when she realized that Scott had joined her.
He said, ‘Steelie thinks you should go to your mother’s until you know what’s going on.’
She looked at him in exasperation. ‘But why can’t I just go to Steelie’s?’
‘Because she’ll be at your mother’s.’
She saw his mouth twitch and she smiled reflexively. The movement broke the surface tension that had kept her face taut since she’d hissed at him in the bedroom.
And then he was walking away from her, moving on, pushing through, going forward.
DAYS FIVE AND SIX
Saturday and Sunday
FOURTEEN
Scott caught the mayonnaise just in time as it squirted out the bottom of the sandwich. He looked to see how his partner was doing. Eric had the Suburban’s steering wheel in one hand and his sandwich in the other. On his first bite, barbeque sauce dripped out in a fat droplet. Part landed on his pant leg and part on the fabric seat, but, to his credit, the vehicle’s speed remained steady as it hurtled east along Interstate 10 towards Arizona.
‘Shit,’ Eric mumbled while he chewed, then noticed Scott. ‘What’s so funny? Turner’s not going to be laughing when you bring his vehicle back looking like a minivan after a trip to Disneyland.’
‘I got the impression from Turner that he couldn’t care less if we brought it back at all, so long as we secured a suspect.’
He leaned across and balanced a paper napkin on Eric’s thigh. ‘I’m not wiping it up, even if you ask me nice.’ But he forgot to keep an eye on his own food and mayo got on his shirt. ‘Dammit.’
Eric looked pleased. ‘Did Turner get a call from Franks?’
‘He didn’t say as much.’
‘But he was concerned we were on a wild-goose chase?’
Scott nodded as he chewed.
‘Did he actually use those words?’
‘No, but you know Craig Turner. He can be a diplomat. A nice quality in a boss.’
‘For a change. Man, when I think about how Franks held us back on this case in Atlanta! Who knows how many leads we missed.’
‘It’s not like we stopped following leads.’
‘Yeah, but we didn’t have the resources to do proper surveillance to generate the high quality leads. You know we were slowed down by only getting the leads the streetwalkers could remember to give us. We had a short list of suspects—’
‘Hey, you don’t have to remind me.’
‘And thanks to SSA Franks, we couldn’t do what was needed to rule ’em in or out. And now we’re tracking the same perp out here. He’s probably killed again, too.’
Scott balled up his napkin, put it in a paper bag, then balled that up and threw it in the footwell. ‘We don’t know that it’s the same guy. Our perp’s stomping grounds are in Atlanta. Right now, we’re in . . .’ He looked out the window just as they passed the sign for the Arizona State Line. ‘We’re fifteen miles west of Quartzsite. What’s our perp doing in Arizona?’