"Because of the nature of the offenses alleged, FBI supervision of the cases involved, collectively referred to as 'the Chenowith Group,' has been assigned to the Anti-Terrorist Group at FBI Headquarters.
"The fugitives sought are known to be armed, and should be considered highly dangerous."
Abruptly the screen went white, and the room lights brightened.
"Nice friends you have, Payne," Wee Willy Malone said.
"I think that we should keep that in mind, Detective Malone," SAC Davis said.
"Excuse me?" Malone asked.
"If I had to offer one reason that the FBI has so far been unable to apprehend these fugitives, the so-called Chenowith Group, it would be that they are 'nice.' They all come from upper-middle-class backgrounds-in the case of the Ollwood woman, an upper-class background. Not only are they highly intelligent, but they can move, with relative ease, from one socioeconomic environment to another. We don't really know where to look for them at any given time."
"Okay," Wee Willy said after considering that.
"Should we go on, sir?" Williamson asked.
"Please do," Davis said.
Special Agent Leibowitz got up from the table and took Williamson's place at the lectern.
The lights dimmed again and the slide projector began, with a thunk, to show a color slide of what Matt recognized as the Bennington College campus in the spring.
"We wondered why Ollwood and Fitzgerald went to Bennington, which is way to hell and gone from Pittsburgh in Vermont," Leibowitz began. "I mean, they both got the boot from the college, and there was still a local warrant outstanding against Ollwood for socking the campus cop, so why go back? Unless, of course, they had a good reason. We found it. There's a little white box around a blonde's face in the next couple of slides. Take a good look at her."
The slide machine thunked, and a black-and-white slide of a group of young women sitting on the wide steps of a large brick house appeared on the screen. There were circles around the faces of Misses Ollwood and Fitzgerald and a white box around the face of Susan Reynolds. And he recognized two other faces in the photo.
"I know a couple of other faces in that picture," Matt said. "Is that important?"
The slide was replaced by another snapshot.
"It could be," Davis said. "Who?"
Leibowitz, with some difficulty, managed to get the group shot back on the screen.
"The blonde, second from the left in the second row, is the former Daphne Elizabeth Browne," Matt said. "Now Mrs. Chadwick Thomas Nesbitt the Fourth."
"Interesting," Davis said. "The hostess of the party, right? We should have picked up on that."
"I don't think Daffy is the type to blow things up, and/ or help fugitives," Matt said.
"Take my word for it, Detective," Jernigan said. "Assuming that 'nice' people can't be involved in some pretty nasty business isn't smart."
"Which is rather what I had in mind when I mentioned to Detective Malone that 'nice' is something we should all keep in mind."
Matt didn't reply.
"You said you knew a couple of faces?" Davis went on.
"Sitting beside Daffy is a female named Penelope Alice Detweiler," Matt said, "who I know is not aiding and abetting our fugitives."
"How do you know that?" Jernigan challenged,
"She's dead," Matt said.
"Penny Detweiler died of a narcotics overdose," Chief Coughlin said.
"I see. Well, that would seem to buttress my observation about the meaning of the word 'nice,' wouldn't it?" Davis said.
The group shot disappeared from the screen and was replaced by a series of other snapshots of Bennington girls, each showing Susan Reynolds with a square box around her face and a circle around the face of either (or both) Eloise Anne Fitzgerald or Jennifer Ollwood-in some shots, of both.
"The blonde is Miss Susan Reynolds, of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, white female now twenty-six years of age, five feet five, 130 pounds, blond hair, pale complexion, blue eyes, who has puncture wounds, entrance and exit, on her inside upper thigh caused by her having taken an arrow during archery practice at summer camp when she was sixteen. "
There were chuckles around the table.
Somebody-Matt could not tell for sure, but it sounded like Jack Matthews-asked incredulously, "Archery practice? Some girl didn't know the bow was loaded?"
There were more chuckles.
Another photo of Susan appeared, a more recent photograph. In it she was wearing a dress.
"This was taken three months or so ago, outside the Department of Social Services Building in Harrisburg, where Miss Reynolds is employed as an appeals officer," Leibowitz said. "She resides with her parents in Camp Hill and drives a red Porsche 911-which she obviously didn't buy with what they pay her at Social Services-and in which she frequently drove to her family's summer home in the Pocono Mountains on weekends."
"When this came to our attention," Leibowitz continued, "we sought and received assistance from the local authorities."
"What 'local authorities'?" Chief Coughlin asked.
"The county sheriff, Chief," Leibowitz said. "We gave him a camera with a tripod and a telephoto lens-"
"You gave him a camera?" Peter Wohl asked.
"I asked about that myself, Peter," Walter Davis said. "It was cost-effective, Agent Leibowitz told me. I suppose a good camera like that is worth five hundred dollars…"
"I think that particular camera outfit cost us $412.50," Leibowitz said.
"How do I get on your gift list?" Wohl asked.
"Anytime you're willing to place a premises such as the Reynolds summer home under at least part-time surveillance and save the FBI the man-hours of keeping it under surveillance ourselves."
"Clever," Wohl said appreciatively.
"And it has a certain public-relations aspect, too, Peter, " Davis said. "Getting a camera from the FBI makes the local authorities look on us as their friends. As hard as you may find this to believe, not all police officers look on us fondly."
"But on the other hand, Walter," Wohl said, "some of my officers like FBI agents so much that they take them on sight-seeing tours, absolutely free of charge."
"Actually, now that my temper has had time to cool down," Leibowitz said, "I have to admit that was sort of funny. But let me show you what our $412.50 bought."
A somewhat grainy photograph of a Ford sedan came on the screen.
"We ran the plate. The plate was stolen. There were no recent reports of a Ford like that having been stolen in a four-state area."
"They switched plates," Denny Coughlin thought out loud.
"We think that's probable. And there are just too many two-year-old Fords like that to make it cost-efficient to run every one of them down."
"Yeah," Wohl agreed.
"This is, in case anyone can't guess, the Reynolds summer house," Leibowitz said. "And this gentleman is Mr. Bryan C. Chenowith," he said, as a picture of a young man in sports clothing and wearing horn-rimmed glasses getting out of the Ford appeared on the screen.
"Bingo!" Chief Coughlin said.
"On this occasion," Leibowitz said, "Mr. Chenowith was accompanied by Miss Ollwood."
The screen now showed Jennifer Ollwood, wearing a tweed skirt and a sweater, standing on the porch of the Reynolds cabin. She was being embraced by Susan Reynolds.
Jesus Christ! Matt thought. There's no question about it now. Susan is in with these lunatics up to her cute little ass.
"Obviously," Chief Coughlin said, "you didn't get this in time to do anything about it, and the sheriff's deputy?"