“But you went over again Sunday morning.”
She was chewing on her lips. They were chapped. “Yeah, I did.”
“Why?”
“I guess I wanted to know what was really happening with him. I suppose I was worried about Fleurette again. Have you ever seen Sonya McGivens, Justice Wallace’s law clerk? Have you seen how she dresses when she’s outside the Court?”
He was hard-pressed not to smile. “Yes, I have.”
“She works out,” Annie Harper said. “She really works out hard. Over at Interior, nobody works out.” And she turned her face away from him, squeezed his hand until she was nearly cutting off the circulation, and began to weep.
Savich waited, trying to comfort her, when her mother turned toward them, the tortured look on the woman’s face painful to see. He nodded to her and mouthed, “Annie will be all right.”
When Annie quieted again, Savich said, “I would like to hypnotize you, Annie.”
“No, there’s no way you’re going to do any hocus-pocus on my daughter! She’s been through enough!”
Savich looked up at Mrs. Harper. “It’s a very safe way for me to help her remember things she can’t recall right now. Please remember, Mrs. Harper, Danny O’Malley was brutally murdered like Justice Califano. If Annie can remember more, it could help us immensely. You and your husband could be present, of course.”
But again, it was Annie who answered. “That’s fine with me, Agent Savich. I want to know who did this to Danny more than you do.”
CHAPTER
22
HOOVER BUILDING
FIFTH FLOOR
LATE MONDAY MORNING
“I DON’T BELIEVE IT,” Frank Halley said, looking through the sheaf of papers in his hands. “MAX gives recommendations? You’ve got an alien inside that laptop, don’t you, Savich?” Savich, who’d just slipped quietly into the big conference room, merely nodded at Sherlock, who was at the head of the room, in charge of the meeting.
Sherlock said, “Nope, Frank, Dillon programmed it. Maybe he’s an alien. But I’ve never before met an alien that good in bed.”
Savich grinned at his wife and felt his chest expand. He knew some of the agents had already seen him and were hooting and giving him high fives. When the laughter died down, Savich realized Sherlock had already handed out all the updated assignments five minutes before he’d gotten there. There was optimism in the air now, not the stark confusion that had reigned in yesterday’s meeting. From listening to the other agents talk, Savich realized Sherlock had covered everything perfectly.
When the meeting broke up at last, Savich said, “Sherlock, you’re coming with me.”
“Where are you going, Savich?” Frank Halley still wasn’t over his snit, given the aggression in his voice.
Savich said mildly, “We have a date with Dr. Emanuel Hicks out at Quantico. He’s going to hypnotize Annie Harper for me.”
“O’Malley’s girlfriend?”
“The very same,” Sherlock said. “You want to come along? You can deal with Annie’s parents while Dr. Hicks and Dillon work with her.”
“No, now that I think about it,” Frank said quickly, “I’ve got more than enough to go over with my team.”
“You do that so well,” Savich said, kissed Sherlock’s ear, and whispered, “I’m better in bed than any alien you’ve ever met?”
“So far,” she said, and gave him a wicked smile over her shoulder as she walked out of the conference room.
JEFFERSON DORMITORY
QUANTICO
SHERLOCK SAT WITH Mr. and Mrs. Harper, having directed them to the farthest side of Savich’s office. Savich heard her soothing low-pitched voice, the same voice she used when she was trying to talk Sean into doing something he really didn’t want to do.
He turned when Dr. Hicks sauntered into the room. Dr. Emanuel Hicks always sauntered, it was one of his trademarks. His other trademark was the three very long hairs he combed from near his left ear over the top of his bald head. The three hairs didn’t go all that well with the saunter, but since he was so gifted, Savich wouldn’t have cared if he danced the salsa when he came into a room wearing a pink turban. He’d admired Dr. Hicks since he’d been in the academy. He’d realized what a valuable resource he was.
He rose and shook hands. “Thank you for coming, Dr. Hicks. Anything else you need to know about this situation?”
“No, Savich, you covered it well.” Dr. Hicks nodded toward the parents and without pause pulled a chair up to Annie’s. He smiled at her. “I’m Dr. Hicks and I promise you that none of this is going to hurt. It was part of the oath I had to take to work for the FBI. How are you feeling, Ms. Harper?”
“Okay. Well, I really feel bad, like I want to cry all the time, but there aren’t any more tears.”
“No wonder, you’ve been through a terrible experience.”
“I’m not the one dead, Dr. Hicks.”
“The dead don’t care anymore, Annie, only the living,” Dr. Hicks said. “Now, you think you’re ready?”
“I’ve never done this before. Don’t you want me to lie down or something?”
“No, that’s not necessary. Just get yourself comfortable in the chair. May I call you Annie?”
She nodded.
“Okay, now, I’d like you to look closely at this silver dollar. It originally belonged to my great-grandfather. Look at it, nothing else. That’s right, follow it with your eyes.”
While he gently swung the silver dollar on its chain about four inches from Annie’s face, he began talking about the people he knew who worked at the Department of the Interior—there were at least a dozen of them. His voice was soft, without inflection. Within four minutes, Savich thought she was under. Dr. Hicks slipped the silver dollar back in his vest pocket and said in his slow soft voice, “Annie, how do you feel?”
Annie was still looking at the place where the silver dollar had been swinging. “Cold. On the inside. Could Agent Savich hold my hand?”
Savich clasped both of her hands between his. The three of them were very close now. He saw from the corner of his eye that both the Harper parents were staring toward them, but thankfully, Sherlock was keeping them under control.
“Better now, Annie?”
“Yes,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. “I wish Danny could have been more like Agent Savich. This wouldn’t have happened if he’d been like Agent Savich, but Danny was an opportunistic jerk.”
Now this was interesting, Savich thought. He kept stroking her hands, which were becoming warmer by the minute.
He waited until Dr. Hicks nodded to him, then said, “Annie, did you realize Danny was an opportunistic jerk only yesterday, or some time before?”
“I guess I’ve always known, Agent Savich. He played a good game, what with his sweet Irish lad act. He liked me, don’t get me wrong; I know he did. But he didn’t love me, not like I talked myself into thinking I loved him. Can you believe I even did his laundry because he told me he loved the way I folded his clothes? What an idiot.”
“What did Danny do to make you question his integrity?”
“Well, he lied to Eliza, told her he’d done stuff when he really hadn’t, but not that much because Eliza’s really smart, and he knew he couldn’t get away with it. Then he’d kiss up to her big time because he knew she had real power over his life. She could get him fired if she wanted. Justice Califano really listened to her, at least that’s what Danny was always telling me.”
“Eliza never noticed when Danny didn’t follow through? That he lied?”
“Not that he ever told me. He’d laugh about it, you know, like a little kid in grade school who’d pulled something over on the teacher. Eliza was always really nice to me. I think I could have been a close friend to her, only there wasn’t time in her life, and I understood that. As for Fleurette, I don’t think she knew Danny all that well, but I could be wrong.”