“Okay, but where does that get us?”
In answer Reel pulled out her phone. “How about we get the Agency to dial up a satellite in this part of the sky to see if it saw the van that night and recorded something about it, the license plate, the direction it went, or even the destination?”
“Good idea,” said Robie. “Let’s do it.”
They went up to Reel’s room, where she made the call and laid out what she wanted.
She clicked off and said, “They’re going to see what they can do.”
“How long?”
“You heard me tell them to give it a top priority. I used the DCI update tonight as the stick.”
Three hours later she received a call back. Her expression told Robie all he needed to know. When she clicked off he said, “They found nothing?”’
“They didn’t have a bird pointed in that direction during the relevant time period. So there goes that.”
Robie said, “Wait a minute, didn’t Lambert say that they have a satellite-based network so they can monitor what’s going on outside the silo?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“You would think his bird would be pointed in the right direction. Meaning at the silo and the area around it. If memory serves me correctly, the silo’s in the same general vicinity as Clyde’s Stop-In.”
“We’ll need to get the details on the sat from Lambert in order to do that.”
“Which would mean explaining to him why we want it. The fewer people we loop in on this the better.”
Reel picked up her phone again. “Let’s see what they can do with the information we do have.”
She made the call and relayed what she wanted. Then Reel clicked off and looked at Robie. “They’re working on it.”
“Let’s hope they work fast. I don’t want to tell the DCI we have no progress to report.”
“I don’t care what she thinks,” shot back Reel. “I just want to find Blue Man alive.”
“So do I,” said Robie.
“Good, I’m glad we’re in agreement on that.”
They walked downstairs to the hotel restaurant to grab some lunch.
Midway through their meal Roark Lambert walked in, spotted them, and hurried over. He grabbed a chair and sat down at their table.
“How’re the Randalls?” asked Reel. “Still screaming?”
“Look, I’m sorry about that. I think I got them calmed down so they won’t sue.”
“I don’t give a crap if they do. They assaulted me. They can go to a federal prison for that. So they should be thanking me for not arresting them, not feeling generous for not suing me!”
“I pointed that out to them seven ways from Sunday, but in case you hadn’t noticed, they don’t listen too well,” Lambert retorted.
Reel said, “Piece of advice. If the world blows up and those two are in the silo, you might want to just put them in the chill-out room permanently, because I don’t see either of them playing well with others.”
Lambert nodded. “You’re probably right about that. Just about all the other owners are as nice as they can be. I’m sorry you had to run into the Randalls. They are not representative of the other folks. I know rich people get a bad rap, but the other owners are really good people. Considerate and respectful and reasonable.”
“I have no problem with rich people,” said Robie. “I’ve met rich and poor and people in the middle of the pay scale who are great, and I’ve come across people along that same spectrum who are jerks.”
Lambert said, “I think Randall’s daddy spoiled him. And his wife just enables that crappy attitude because I think she’s even worse than he is. I mean, she was screaming at him for not shooting you, Agent Reel. Slapping him in the face and everything. I finally had to hold her back. I mean, damn.”
“If he had tried to shoot me, he’d be dead,” said Reel. “I hope you know that.”
“I have no doubt,” said Lambert. “Anyway, they’re in their quarters now. Her knee will be fine. She’s got some ice on it.”
“Trust me when I say I wasn’t worried in the least about that,” said Reel.
Lambert cracked a smile. “I wish you two could be in the bunker when things go to hell.”
“If they go to hell,” corrected Robie. “Remember, let’s think positive.”
With a hurried good-bye, Lambert rose and left them.
“I think he might be regretting this whole thing,” said Robie.
“He made his bunker, now he has to sleep in it. Literally.”
“So what do we do while we’re waiting on the agency to see if they can access Lambert’s satellite?”
Reel took a last sip of her iced tea. “Let’s check Blue Man’s cabin one more time.”
“Why? There was nothing there.”
“Blue Man is one of the most resourceful people either of us knows. There was no sign of a struggle at the cabin, so I don’t think he was taken completely by surprise. He might have known they were coming. If so, he would also know that people from the Agency would be dispatched to find him.”
“So you’re saying he might have left a clue?” said Robie. “Something we missed earlier?”
“Let’s hope to God he did.”
CHAPTER
43
Someone was waiting for them when they came out.
Malloy was leaning on the front fender of her patrol car.
“What’s up?” asked Robie.
“What I was just about to ask you. After our little jaunt to the bunker, I figured you two would be heading out to do some investigating. So that’s where I’m going too.”
Reel said, “What we do is classified. We can’t have conversations with you around. We can’t examine information we have related to our investigation. So having you as a third wheel would pretty much make our work impossible.”
“I thought you wanted to find this guy,” said Malloy.
“We do,” said Robie.
“Then it seems to me that you would use any tool at your disposal. I can be one of those tools.”
Robie looked at Reel. She looked back at him with an expression akin to a fist coming right at him.
He turned back to Malloy and said, “We’re going to search Walton’s cabin again. If you want to follow us up there, fine.”
He took his seat in the truck and started it up.
Reel slowly turned to look at Malloy.
“Just so we’re clear — you die, it’s not my responsibility.” Then she climbed into the truck next to Robie.
Robie waited for Malloy to get in her cruiser and then pulled off down the road. They had driven for about five minutes before Reel broke the silence.
“You want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Robie didn’t look at her. “She’s local law enforcement. She could be useful. And her sister’s dead and we know it but she doesn’t. I feel sorry for her.”
“Feeling sorry for her does not justify letting her screw up our search for Blue Man.”
“She’s not going to screw it up. She’s a trained professional.”
“So you’re really not going to tell me what’s going on?” said Reel.
“There is nothing going on!” barked Robie.
Reel turned to look out the windshield.
When Robie glanced over at her a few moments later, he did not like what he saw.
They drove on.
“Someone’s been here,” said Reel.
They were standing outside of Blue Man’s cabin. The door was still padlocked and the police tape was still up but there were fresh muddy boot prints on the porch. It had rained some the previous night.
Reel glanced at Malloy, who was looking at the prints. “I thought this was a crime scene. Shouldn’t it have been secured?”