And right on cue, Dudley Do-Right came cruising around a corner, trailed by three of his stooges. Special Agent Meany was waving his arms and barking instructions, and the three agents were scribbling notes and nodding obsequiously. I mean, it was just too frigging obvious that this jerk was trying to impress his former belle with what a busy, roundly admired, take-charge kind of guy he was.
He suddenly glanced in our direction, like he had just noticed us, then sent his three aides scurrying. He approached, shaking his head, oozing with concern, and said to Janet, “My God, honey, that was a very dumb thing you did. You’re lucky to be alive.”
Honey? Had I missed something here?
Janet replied, “That’s not the way it looked at the time. We had him, George. He was within three feet of me. I fired two shots at him.”
His hands were all over her arms again. “I understand. And I admire your courage. Really… I don’t blame you.” He glanced at me and said, “I blame the idiots who let you expose yourself. You were responding to your grief…” Still looking at me, he said, “Why didn’t you call me? You needed advice from someone you could trust. Don’t do anything again without checking with me. That’s an order, honey.”
Well, fuck you, George.
“There wasn’t time,” Janet said. “We had a narrow window of opportunity, and we didn’t want to lose him.”
“I understand.” His hands moved to her shoulders and he looked into her eyes and added, “But I don’t want to lose you. Not now… not again. Now that we’ve resolved our little problem, I… well, I’m glad you’re okay.”
Yuck. I mean, there’s a murderous maniac out on the streets, and I’m stuck with this asshole in a live episode of Days of Our Lives. Turn the channel, please.
But Janet appeared to buy his malarkey, and replied, “Well, I’m fine, George.” She then asked him, “What are the odds of catching him?”
“Hard to tell. I’ve put out a multistate alert. I’ll be directing the search from the Boston Field Office. Also, I’ve distributed the composite sketch you provided-that’s an edge I didn’t have before.” He paused a moment, his expression turned all oozy and charming, and he said, “You know, I can’t believe you had the coolness and presence to study him that closely. You are really something, babe.”
Geez. I’ve had tiffs with some formers, and of course you have to work it a little if you want to get back into their good graces and panties. But there’s a point where you give your whole sex a bad name. Meany was working her too hard. And I wondered why.
And as if that wasn’t enough, his expression turned grave, and he added, “Honey, I don’t want to worry you, but there’s a chance he’ll come after you again. We think he fled the city, but you can never be sure. You’re the only living witness who can ID him in a courtroom.” He paused, like this pained him greatly, then said, “You know the standard procedure in these things.”
Janet was already shaking her head. “I’m not going into protective custody, George.”
“But-”
“No. Don’t even think about it.”
He studied her face a moment. “Oh, come on. It would make things easier for all concerned.”
She stared back at him.
As much as I hated to agree with George on anything, I said, “Do what he says. He’s right.”
She said to both of us, “We all know I cannot be forced into this program. This asshole is not going to chase me into protective custody.”
I opened my lips, but she cut me off: “No-Subject closed.”
I looked at her and tried to figure out what was going through her head. Playing Parcheesi with a bunch of Fibbies in a hotel room for a month or two was bad, but dying was very, very bad. Unless… well, unless Janet wanted this guy to strike again. To draw him back to her, she had to remain accessible and vulnerable.
Anyway, Meany was shaking his head, saying, “I knew you’d say that.”
“Well then, you’re right.”
“But you will be guarded and protected until the picture clarifies. Refusal is not an option.” She did not say yes; nor did she refuse.
He continued, “Remember Bob Anderson from my old office? He’ll stay with you until I can spare more agents. But at the moment, with this search, I just can’t.”
Janet said, “Thank you, but I’ll be fine, George. Sean and Danny are here also.”
He smiled knowingly. “Right. I’ll get Bob to ask the Boston PD to back him up.”
Boy, George was racking up big-time points.
Then his beeper went off, he yanked it off his belt, studied the screen, scrunched up his forehead, and said, “Got a fast-breaking emergency here, babe. The New York State Police think they’ve just spotted the stolen car on the New York Thruway. They’re initiating a chase.” And off he raced.
Something about George really bothered me. Well, a lot about George bothered me, but something, I don’t know, something I couldn’t put my finger on, really bothered me. I was sure he was very smart, and all those awards and promotions implied some level of professional competency, right? But why couldn’t Meany and his people see the astounding brilliance of the detective work Spinelli and I had done? False modesty aside, maybe he had such a hard-on for me, he couldn’t admit I was right.
Or maybe the answer was simpler. The FBI is a bureaucracy- which is both its strength and its Achilles’ heel-and when the powers that be have publicly stated that the killer is the same ponytailed runt who was such a big hit in L. A., ambitious guys like Meany know it’s a bad career move to contradict the big guys. What they do is wait for their bosses to change their minds before they can change their own minds.
Anyway, we all three walked out together, and, lo and behold, we were met at the building’s entrance by a young, gawky-looking kid in a lumpy gray suit.
I guess he recognized Janet because he approached her with a big smile, and said, “I don’t know if you remember me… Special Agent Bob Anderson. I worked on that Shelton case you prosecuted a few years ago.”
Janet smiled, too. “Of course. I had you on the stand, didn’t I?”
“That was me.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, I… gosh, that defense attorney…”
“I remember,” Janet said. “That can happen.”
Bob looked down at his feet. “The way he peppered me with all those questions… and kept misquoting me-”
“Put it behind you, Bob.” She glanced at me and added, “Sometimes, mistrials just happen.”
Bob said, “I guess.”
Spinelli’s eyebrows were ever so slightly raised. We were both staring at Bob, and sharing the same thought.
I suppose it was possible Meany had picked his best and brightest to go after the killer on the theory that the best way to protect Janet was to eliminate the threat. A less charitable interpretation might be that Meany wanted to bag the country’s most notorious asshole, become famous, and jump another peg up the career ladder. If that meant his former lover got whacked because the biggest fuckup in the Boston office had been assigned to protect her, success sometimes requires sacrifice. Right?
“Call me Bob, by the way,” the kid said to Spinelli and me. “I like to keep things loose and informal. But make no mistake, I’m in charge. Do everything I say, and everything’s going to be just fine.”
Spinelli rolled his eyes.
Anyway, Janet directed Bob to Aunt Ethel’s house. The traffic was heating up, and Bob was an overcautious driver, which is lousy tradecraft when your passenger’s a target, not to mention it dragged out our trip to nearly forty minutes. But as we climbed out of the Crown Victoria in front of the house, I looked up and down the street, for some reason bothered by something. What? Janet and Spinelli were already up the steps and opening the door, Bob had his hand stuffed inside his jacket, and I couldn’t shake the feeling.
Janet turned around and asked me, “What is it, Sean?”