“Again, that’s bad?” Sally replied, coming around in front of him.
Mac smiled — a small wan one.
“The FBI can often be territorial and condescending. They consider the local cops to be good for traffic control, writing parking tickets, breaking up domestics — and maybe, just maybe, a run-of-the-mill homicide. We usually don’t have college or law degrees, nor have we gone through the mystical Quantico. We’re not the almighty F-B-fuckin’-I.”
“You’re paranoid, you know that?”
“Only the paranoid survive.”
Sally laughed and then continued.
“I’ve hear that about the FBI before, but they want to make the case just like you do. They want to get Shannon back — maybe not at the emotional level that you do, but they want to get her back just the same.”
“You’re probably right,” he said, leaning down and kissing her on the lips. She returned the kiss, slowly putting her arms up around his neck and pulling him to her. After kissing him deeply, Sally pulled away and looked Mac in the eye as she slowly guided him down onto the bottom of the tub and then followed, straddling his body while kissing him deeply, probing with her soft, moist tongue. Mac pulled his mouth away.
“Is this what you meant by relaxing me?” he whispered.
“Uh huh,” Sally replied in a hushed moan. She rose up and let Mac softly suckle on her breasts while she eased him in, the water of the shower cascading down on their bodies. Sally slowly increased her pace, breathing faster and arching her back, her breasts flattening. Mac responded to her need, pulling her hips closer and pushing his thighs up so that her back rested against them. He moved his hips faster and in rhythm with her, causing her moans to become louder. He felt the wet ends of her hair brush against his legs as he brought her close to climax. And then, as she so often did when they made love, she brought her mouth back to his, breathing heavily and moaning lightly as she came, her body trembling, causing him to respond in kind, as he exhaled a breath into her mouth, his lips brushing against hers.
As the water continued to flow down, the two lay in a silent embrace, looking in each other’s eyes, quietly catching their breath. After a minute, Sally sat up, and he looked into her deep green eyes.
“I love you, you know that?” he murmured.
“Yeah, I do,” she replied softly, leaning back down, and gently kissing him on the lips. “The feeling is quite mutual.”
6
MONDAY, JULY 2ND
7:54 AM
Mac, Lich, Riley, and Rock were joined by a half dozen other detectives milling around in a conference room, mixing coffee, and talking the case. Burton and his crew, along with Duffy, joined them with a quick exchange of pleasantries and introductions.
The map of the area around the cafe was tacked to the left side of a bulletin board. Pictures of the scene and a sketch of the woman suspected of signaling the kidnappers were pinned up on the right. The St. Paul cops and FBI agents discussed the situation that was less than sixteen hours old. A couple of hours of sleep and contemplation provided no answers, only more questions.
Peters walked in and called everyone together.
“I’ve got two things,” he announced through a yawn. “First, this is a list compiled by Hisle of former clients that he thinks might have the ability to pull this off.”
“What’s the second think?” Rock asked.
Peters turned and into the room came men with boxes on dollies.
“We’ve got boxes and boxes of Hisle’s old criminal files coming, stuff from his firm and an off-site storage place. We need to start digging through it all.”
“What are we looking for?” someone asked.
“You’re the cops, you tell me,” Peters replied edgily. He was sleep deprived, all of them were. He stopped, took a deep breath, and said, “Sorry, it’s been a long night. What you’re looking for, it’s a little bit of you-know-it-when-you-see-it. These guys yesterday set up and executed a complicated plan. In looking through the client files, does anyone strike you as having the ability to develop and execute such a plan? It wouldn’t necessarily have to be a kidnapping. Lyman’s represented jewel thieves, break-in artists, confidence guys, and the leaders of some crews who specialized in high-end crimes. Not to mention all the white-collar criminals he’s represented. So, if you run across anyone who has pulled off or was accused of pulling off an elaborate, well-planned crime, let’s take a look at them.”
“It also could be someone who wasn’t a client,” someone else noted.
“That’s right,” Peters said. “This is just one avenue to pursue. We’re looking at other angles as well. We’re talking to Hisle’s family, her roommates, her friends to see if anyone unusual was hanging around, any strange phone calls, angry ex-boyfriends, etc.”
“Anything from the cafe or over in River Falls?” someone asked.
“Not yet,” was Peters’ response. “BCA and FBI are going through it all, but our sense is, don’t hold your breath.”
“How about from the Clearwater phone?”
“Ditto,” Peters replied.
“These guys know what they’re doing and probably have a pretty good idea of what we’ll be doing,” Mac added. “So we’re not just looking for someone who would have something against Lyman. We’re looking for someone who has something against Lyman and the mental acuity to pull it off without a trace.”
“Mental acuity?” Lich whispered mockingly. “What the fuck’s mental acuity?”
“Something you don’t have, knuckle-dragger,” Mac snickered back, though Lich possessed plenty of it.
“One other thing,” Captain Peters added, pointing to four other people who entered the room. “These are lawyers from Hisle’s office. They’re in a…” the captain struggled for the right works. “…a difficult spot. There are some attorney-client issues related to our reviewing the files. These lawyers will help with that.”
“How will they help?” Lich asked.
“By helping us work through the files. They have clearance from the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board for us to access the files. But at the same time, we don’t know if anyone in these files is even involved with this. So there needs to be some sensitivity to that.”
“So what’s going to happen?” Double Frank asked. “Are they going to read it first and tell us if something’s relevant? What we think matters and what they think matters could be entirely different.”
Summer Plantagenate, one of the Hisle’s lawyers, spoke up.
“We’re not going to pre-screen for you. You can look at everything. We’re more concerned with where the information goes after you review it, especially for people you conclude are not involved. My firm needs to protect those folks, so that’s where we could have issues. But you can access everything and we’ll go from there.”
That answer satisfied everyone. Coats were jettisoned, more coffee was brewed and poured — and boxes were opened. Mac sidled up to Summer, who he’d know since law school, they’re time at William Mitchell overlapping. She had recently been named a partner at Lyman’s firm and was viewed by many as his protege. Always immaculately dressed, Summer was a cool customer, and an attractive woman with icy blonde hair and a cool demeanor to match. That demeanor caused some to call her “Winter.” But at the moment, it wasn’t hard to see the anguish on her face. Not only was Lyman like a father to her, she also knew Shannon Hisle well.
“So you guys get to work the other side of a case, huh?” Mac asked.
“Yes, we have to,” was her short reply. The attorneys were there to help, but also ethically bound to protect their clients’ interests. Letting the police rifle through clients’ files created an ethical quandary for any attorney.
“So what do we have here?”
“All of Lyman’s criminal files, both from the office and from off-site storage,” Summer replied.
“How about his civil stuff?” Mac asked, taking a sip of his coffee. Burton walked up as Summer answered.