“And you found the connections between them and Treville and Dawkins?”
“Right. See, Radcliffe had agreed to the principle of CJ’s plan, but wanted nothing to do with the operations. So, he had Treville dealing directly with Eisenbein. They set up the separate account, with Treville and Richmond’s name on it. The money came from the fortune Odbert, or Hoppe, had collected during and after the war.”
“What was the plan?” asked Sarah.
“Well, to put it simply, they wanted to kill certain individuals, and blame it either on the far left or the far right, whichever they could, to make themselves seem more rational. Meanwhile, they started getting rid of people who were either in their way, or who stood for things they hated. They also wanted the left to be afraid, too afraid to act — and for a short while, they succeeded.”
“Okay,” David sat up a little straighter and frowned. “So, you guys found the connection, and the papers that named the guilty parties. Then you came back. Why didn’t you just go to Cliff and the Justice Department and have them arrested?”
“Because we had no idea who CJ was. With him still loose, nothing was certain. We could have arrested whoever, and he would have either killed them to stop them from talking — which is what he sent Treville and Davies to do —or he would have found a way to destroy our case. Director Collins knew from Ken and Cliff that there had to be a traitor, and he knew the guy would protect himself — which was why he had a CIA badge waiting for me when Teren and I got to the safe house. He figured that if he could get me out of the clutches of CJ, whoever he was, no more information would slip through— and Teren and I could close in on the others. Because of the international connections, the CIA had legal right to be involved. And while they couldn’t hold White and Dawkins as prisoners for the US, they could for Germany — which they did. The BKA wants all of them for their participation in Eisenbein’s Nazi agenda. It’s a serious crime in Germany, and if we hadn’t ever gotten to CJ, White and Dawkins would have been handed over to them.”
“But now?” Maggie asked.
“Now, they’re testifying against Richmond. In return, the BKA will not prosecute them in Germany. Though, they did have to agree to a long prison sentence, and a very large restitution. Basically, they both lost everything.”
David shook his head. “I still don’t understand. If Mark and Ben were able to get the information on Richmond while reporting in at the Bureau, why didn’t CJ, or rather, Bishop, warn Richmond, or try to get rid of Mark and Ben?”
“Cause he didn’t know. Mark and Ben had told Cliff they were chasing the money angle. They also told him that they thought there was a traitor in the FBI. He agreed, and let them have free reign. They didn’t tell anyone anything. So, nothing got to Bishop on what they were doing. With Tom and Rudy off chasing White, there was no one else on the team to give Bishop, or Richmond, the message.”
“How did they get their information?”
“Through the tax returns I’d requested, and through Jenny, from Research, who spent several days with them going through the records.”
“And they found a way to link him to the killings?”
Alex laughed and shook her head. “No, David, they didn’t. Which is really ironic. Richmond wasn’t originally arrested for anything involving the conspiracy. He was arrested for tax fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, and money laundering. If Dawkins and White hadn’t agreed to testify against him, he wouldn’t have been linked to the conspiracy by anything but two very flimsy German documents. He’d have pled out and be serving time at a federal resort, instead of looking at life in Leavenworth or some other place.”
“Think it’s a strong case against him?” Miri asked.
“Yeah, definitely. I mean, we were able to bring charges on the original warrant, and then add conspiracy, six counts of conspiracy to commit murder, six counts of murder, one attempted murder, as well as a myriad of lesser felonies. If convicted, he’ll never get out. And if ever he does make parole, he’s to be sent to Germany on charges against the German people.”
“Thank the Goddess,” Maggie said.
Alex nodded.
“Okay. So, you confronted Richmond, and he told you about Bishop? That he was CJ?”
“Nope.” Alex smiled. “But he gave me a clue without realizing it. He said he could call CJ. The phrase kind of stuck in my head, and I started thinking about calling, and phones, and cell phones, and last dialed numbers, and then numbers in the memory. I figured if Treville and CJ were that close, he’d have the number in his cellular. So, Teren and I went and found the phone. Bishop’s house was number 4 in Treville’s cellular memory.”
“Once you knew that, you went to Cliff?”
“Right.” Alex nodded. “Once we knew for sure that it wasn’t Cliff, we knew we needed his help to get Bishop. So, we went to see him, and Director Collins — who reinstated my badge that Wednesday morning. But, as a final precaution, he had us bring White and Dawkins in from the safe house where they were being held. They’d already identified a picture of Bishop, but Collins wanted a rep from the JD there, along with himself, to make it official. After that, Cliff would come up to help in the arrest.”
“So, what went wrong?” Miri asked quietly.
Alex stared at the floor. “Everything.” She sighed. “For starters, Teren and I were supposed to just wait in the office. Cliff was supposed to join us, and we’d all arrest Bishop. But he he came in early for some reason, and Cliff was late.” She shook her head. “No one even considered the possibility that anyone else was in it with him. I mean, we knew about Tom and Rudy, but figured that had been it. So, when his secretary tried to stop Cliff and the others from entering Bishop’s office, it was a complete shock. It’s a good thing she couldn’t shoot, or there would have been several dead agents in that hall. Instead, they got lucky, and took her down with a couple shots. She’ll stand trial in place of her boss — who we later found out was her lover.”
David tilted his head. “I thought Bishop was married.”
“He is. Had two mistresses, it turned out. One is going to prison, the other is trying to convince everyone that she knew nothing of what was going on.”
“Think she’s telling the truth?”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, Sarah, I do. I think it’s very likely that she didn’t have a clue. After all, she was a twenty-two year old dancer that he picked up one night and decided to keep as his lover. She barely knew anything about him — he just paid her rent and came by to screw her once in a while.”
Maggie wrinkled her nose. “That’s sick.”
“Uh-huh.” Alex leaned her head back again, and sighed. “I really wanted to take the son-of-a-bitch alive, but I’m not that unhappy he’s dead, you know? I mean, the Conspiracy is broken, Brogan, Treville, and Bishop are dead, as well as their German counterpart Eisenbein. White and Dawkins will testify against Richmond, who’s going to go to jail for a long time. Hell, he might just end up with the death penalty — who knows?”
David nodded. “We can only hope.” He held Miri’s hand. “So, Alex, what about Tom and Rudy? They were working for Bishop?”
“Yeah. That was the reason they were put on the task force — to basically make it an inefficient operation, and keep Cliff under control. Tom made the phone call from Cliff’s office to the Philly P.D. Rudy was the one who kept CJ informed of things in our investigation. That’s how CJ knew that we were meeting with Brogan. Cliff told the task force, and Rudy told Bishop.”
“And how did Davies fit in? He was in it, too?”
“Yeah, Dave. He pulled the trigger on the bomb that killed Mather and Wilford. He was there, remember?”
“Right.”
“Well, I checked the tape again yesterday, and found him. There’s one point where he turns and makes eye contact with Mather, then he quickly leaves the room. It’s just minutes before Mather kills Dabir.”
“He left so he wouldn’t be in the room when Dabir was killed?”
“Well, no. He left because he needed an unrestricted place to detonate the bomb. He left the hotel by another entrance, and waited till Mather and Wilford were moving, then he flipped the switch.” She shifted her position in her chair. “He also killed Wister, before the ambush, so he couldn’t call for back up. The gun he killed Treville with was the same .22 he used that night in Philly. They found it in the limousine with his body.”