“Or maybe she was afraid of someone.” He cleared his throat again. “Guess she was right about that, eh?”
“It does look that way, doesn’t it?” she replied, momentarily distracted by the call-waiting signal. She walked to the phone base to check the caller ID. It was an overseas number she didn’t recognize. Connor?
“Well, I guess I’ll give your agent Mancini a call, see if he’ll throw me a bone or two and give me a few leads.”
“If he has any, I’m sure he’ll be more than happy-”
“Please, Dr. McCall. I’ve been down this road with the FBI before. We both know that you know what’s at the bottom of this. I just hope that if you find Melissa Lowery’s killer, you’ll at the very least let me know so that we can stop wasting our time looking for him-or her-out here.”
“Sheriff Brody, you have my word. If we find the killer, you will be the first to know.”
“ ’Preciate that, Dr. McCall. Hope it’s soon. We’ve got some nervous people out here.” He hung up without waiting for any further comment.
Annie immediately placed a call to John, but had to leave voice mail detailing her conversation with Brody. She was relieved that he was away for a few more days. At least he had a legitimate excuse for ducking the sheriff.
Annie started to return the phone to the cradle when she remembered the call that had been coming through while she was speaking with Sheriff Brody. She sat on the end of her desk and listened to the message.
“Hey, Annie, it’s Connor. Sorry I missed you, but I wanted to get back to you about Santa Estela. When you get into the office, ask John to give you clearance to look over a report that would have been written, oh, I guess around the end of 2002, maybe early 2003. It concerns our successful efforts to shut down some traffic. I tried to get in touch with one of the agents involved, but I haven’t heard back. I’m guessing he’s in the field or undercover somewhere and hasn’t gotten the message. I don’t know who was in charge of this at a supervisory level, or who else was involved, but it must have been a fairly big op. If you see the report, you’ll know who the agent is, and you can probably get the green light to talk to him directly. But until you’re cleared, I can’t give you any other information. All I can say at this point is that there is a report, and it should contain names and places. Read the report-you’ll know where to go from there. Sorry I missed you. Get back to me if you have any other questions. See ya.”
Annie listened to the message two or three times before hanging up the phone.
There was a report. The Bureau had a report. Names, places… contacts. Maybe they’d even be able to locate the families of the girls who’d been killed. She practically danced into her room to finish getting dressed. She couldn’t wait to tell Evan, couldn’t wait to see the report.
She put in another call to John, but there was no answer. She pulled on a pair of linen pants and slipped her feet into flat shoes, searched her dresser for earrings, a bracelet, all the while thinking of how wonderful it would be if she could find the evidence that could lead to the resolution of these killings.
She went back into her office, picked up the autopsy report on Melissa Lowery, and tucked it into her briefcase. She tried both John and Evan one more time, but wasn’t able to reach either one of them. No matter, she told herself. She’ll get through to both of them before the day was over.
Buoyed by the turn of events, she turned off the light and headed off to work.
20
“She was my brother’s wife, Luther.”
“She was a loose end. Another of your loose ends,” Luther said calmly.
“She wouldn’t have gone back on the deal.”
“You don’t know that. And with Annie McCall right on her heels, there was too big a risk. She knows how to work a witness. I don’t think Melissa would have had a chance.”
“Melissa didn’t even know I was involved. I was really careful. She had no clue as to which name on her report was the one that wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“All she had to do was give Annie the names of the agents she remembered seeing that night-and we know she would have remembered having seen you-and sooner or later, McCall would have been able to put it together.”
“There were a lot of agents there that night.”
“Only one of whom wasn’t assigned to the op.” Luther spoke as if explaining something tedious to a child. “And let’s not even bother to talk about the fact that you were family, Shields, and never mentioned to anyone in your family that you were there that night? You think that wouldn’t seem odd to anyone?”
His comment was met with silence.
“I saw the report, Shields,” Luther continued. “She saw you with the rifle case.”
“About fifteen people were carrying rifle cases, Luther.”
“Only one of them was noted coming out of the building. A building that no one had been assigned to enter.”
“I explained that to her. I told her I’d gone upstairs after hearing the shots fired. I told her I was looking for the shooter. She believed me.”
“She might have, but someone less trusting, someone trying to put the pieces together-someone like Annie McCall-might not be so quick to accept your explanation.”
“Melissa wouldn’t have told Annie anything.”
“Look, this whole thing has been stupid on your part since day one. It was stupid to even try to deal with her. You should have just pushed her in front of a train or something.”
“We could have moved her, we could have-”
“Enough, all right? It’s done. I did what you should have done in the first place.”
“Luther…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Your brother was in love with her. I heard it before. I never should have let you handle that yourself. You just let your emotions get in your way. You’re pretty much useless to me at this point.”
Another silence.
“But you can still redeem yourself. I’m going to give you one chance-but only one.”
“Connor.” The name was said with a sigh.
“Forget about Connor. I’ll deal with him myself. You’ve already proven that you cannot be trusted when it comes to your own family.”
“Are you kidding? Didn’t we just talk about Dylan?”
“That was two years ago, you killed the wrong man, and you came close to being caught.” Luther laughed out loud. “Besides, what have you done for me lately?”
“Not funny, Luther.”
“I wasn’t trying to be.”
“What is it you want me to do?”
“As I said, Dr. McCall is getting a little too close.”
“You want me to kill Annie?”
“I want you to help me set it up. Just get her to the right place at the right time, and I’ll take care of the rest.”