Burden checked his watch. “Where are you assigning us?”
“Just so you know, searching this place properly would take hours.”
“We don’t have hours,” Vail said.
“Right. So we’ll do what we can. Vail and Dixon, take the northwest quarter. Burden, you and the guard have the northeast. Price’s coming with me to cover the southeast, and Yeung and the other agent have the southwest. The island’s kind of a bird sanctuary, so if someone wandered into their nesting areas, we’d probably have heard a ‘bird alarm.’ I’m not sure if that means anything, but keep it in mind if you hear the gulls going off.”
“I’ve seen one of those already,” Vail said. “At that Palace thing.”
“In the dark, it can just about give you a heart attack. Just warning you.” Carondolet held up his phone as he started backing away. “Stay in touch, if you’ve got service. Regardless, let’s meet back here in forty-five.” The detective turned and jogged off.
Burden swung his gaze back to Vail. “Finish. And make it fast.”
“This can wait-”
“Doesn’t sound like it,” Dixon said.
Vail sighed. “Fine. So Eugenia comes to me one day and tells me she needs nine hundred bucks. Her father has cancer and the drug he needs is expensive. She can’t wait the two weeks it usually takes for the paperwork to go through channels. And no way would they’ve approved a nine hundred dollar advance. Mike told me not to do it, but…”
“You gave her the cash anyway.” Dixon spread her hands. “But so what? Big deal.”
“Wrong. A very big deal. The Bureau loves its procedure. Our Manual of Investigative and Operational Guidelines is four thousand pages long. Bottom line is I filed the paperwork anyway, for the usual amount-three hundred bucks-and figured I’d pay myself back after about three months. But Eugenia was busy with her dad, and for six months she didn’t have any tips for me. But I’d already paid myself back. You see the problem?”
“You falsified docs,” Burden said. “And you lied-”
“Fraud. It’s called fraud. And all the while, Mike’s on my case about it, and I couldn’t get in touch with Eugenia… So on top of everything else, it looked like I’d taken FBI money without getting info in exchange.”
“But you were just trying to help Eugenia and her dad. It’s not like you benefited financially.”
“Not the point. It wasn’t kosher, no matter how you sliced it. Anyone ever found out, I’d have been censured. And forget a promotion to BAU. You know how many agents want one of those coveted spots? I get passed over, I probably never get another shot. And I needed the promotion because Jonathan was young and it was too risky being on the front line. I figured BAU would be safer. But a letter of censure-I would’ve been permanently fucked.”
“So Hartman knew about this,” Burden said. “And apparently he told someone else. Our UNSUB. Or he told someone who told our UNSUB.”
“No way of knowing which,” Vail said.
Burden cocked his head. “Given the tight timeframe, it’s more likely that he told our guy directly.”
“Why didn’t you just level with us?” Dixon asked. “With me.”
Vail knew what she was asking: given their friendship, couldn’t she at least tell her?
“There was nothing anyone could’ve done. I tried reaching out to Hartman. He wasn’t taking my calls.”
“But you could’ve gone to his ASAC,” Dixon said. “Hartman would’ve answered his boss’s calls. And what could the Bureau do to you now?”
Vail chuckled. “When the shit starts flying, everyone watches their own ass to make sure it doesn’t stick to them. Even if Gifford had my back, I committed fraud and broke vaunted FBI procedure, then knowingly concealed it for years. No offense, but I’d rather not hand them a gift-wrapped excuse to throw the only woman out of BAU-or even out of the Bureau.”
Burden spread his arms. “Just so we’re clear. You put your own interests ahead of Robert’s life?”
“No-I didn’t think-” Vail stopped. Shit, that is what I did. “I didn’t think. You’re right. If I had gone to Hartman’s ASAC, we might’ve gotten an answer from him.” She looked up at Burden. “I know this doesn’t help, but I’m more sorry than I can possibly express with words.”
Burden frowned and shook his head. “We’ll discuss this later. Right now-”
The sound of footsteps coming down Broadway made them all turn. A man dressed in a security guard uniform was approaching on the run. “Here comes my new partner,” Burden said. “Your chance to redeem yourself, Karen. Find Hartman. And find out who he’s been talking to.”
VAIL PULLED OUT HER MAP and consulted it for a moment to identify their area of coverage before they began jogging down the hill. In addition to the whipping, icy Bay winds, Vail was experiencing another type of chilclass="underline" Dixon chose to express her dissatisfaction with Vail’s poor choice by giving her the silent treatment.
They headed up the main road, past the burned-out Officer’s Club, which was now a shell of a building. They rubbernecked their heads, looking left and right, ahead, and behind them.
This is ridiculous. Dim light…an entire island, several large buildings, a bunch of small ones…he could be anywhere.
“Roxx, I know you’re pissed at me. And you have every right. But can’t we deal with that later? We need to focus on finding Hartman.”
“You’re the one who seems to have a problem with priorities.”
Ow. Guess I deserve that. But the hurt was blunted by the sight of something that lay ahead of them. Vail slapped Dixon’s shoulder, then took off on a run. “Follow me,” she said, heading toward a prominent smokestack that protruded into the foggy mist of an Alcatraz evening.
Down the road, off in the darkness, Vail heard the cry of gulls. They weren’t swirling in a frenzy, but perhaps they had been earlier; in the cellhouse, toward the other side of the island, they may not have heard it.
Vail did not know what building this was until she pulled the map from her pocket and held it out so Dixon could look on. Vail stabbed at the paper with a finger. “Quartermaster warehouse on the right, Powerhouse on the left. Caponier behind it.” She shoved the brochure back into her jeans. “That’s it, Roxx. The smokestack.”
Dixon craned her neck into the darkness. “You sure about this?”
Vail walked forward and ascended a metal staircase that led to the roof of a flat-topped structure. “About as sure as I can be, without having a clue what I’m doing.”
“That’s very confidence-inspiring.”
Vail and Dixon climbed the steps, then ran toward the roof’s edge-and the smokestack, which telescoped skyward from behind the building.
Vail peered down into the darkness. Although she could not see much, she saw enough. She bent over and rested both hands on her knees. “Shit.”
Dixon pulled her phone and dialed Burden. “We’ve got him,” she said. “Behind the Powerhouse building, on top of the Old North Caponier.” Dixon shared a frustrated look with Vail. “No, Burden. He’s tied to a smokestack. Dead, just like the others.”