“That qualifies as a unique way into the agency, I’ll give you that.”
DiCarlo didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Not so different from how you came to us, Mr. Robie.”
“This isn’t about me. It’s about her. And from what you’ve just told me I could go in either direction on Reel.”
DiCarlo looked puzzled. “Explain that.”
“I’m assuming that because of her traumatic childhood you gave her a series of psychological tests to see if she was mentally up to the demands of the job?”
“Yes, and she passed all of them with flying colors.”
“Either because she was okay mentally or she’s a great liar.”
“She is a great liar. She fooled the skinheads for over a year.”
“And it sounds like she’s patriotic, which gets us back to the question of why she’s turned on us. So either something happened and she’s doing this for reasons we don’t as yet understand, or she’s been turned in the traditional way, which means she fooled all of you and wasn’t as patriotic as you believed.”
“I follow your reasoning.”
“And while I appreciate better understanding her history, what I need to know more about is her missions from the last two years.”
“Why two years?”
“That to me is the outer reaches of how long she would carry something around inside her and then lay the plans necessary to execute her response. That’s only in the case of her not being turned in the traditional sense, which could be simply about money.”
“I would never believe that about Jessica.”
Robie cocked his head and stared at her. “Would you believe it about me?”
“I don’t know you the way I do her.”
“The fact is, ma’am, you don’t really know either one of us. That’s why people like Reel and me are so good at what we do. It’s why you approached us in the first place. You don’t get to be like us if your childhood was normal. We’re not Beaver Cleavers with a stay-at-home mom in pearls making us pies and pouring us milk after school.”
“I understand that.”
“Until I’m proved wrong I will assume that Jessica Reel is doing this for some reason unrelated to being bought off. To better understand that I need to know what she was involved with in the last two years.”
“I would have assumed that you were given her fles.”
“I require all of her files. Not just the redacted ones.”
DiCarlo looked startled. “What are you talking about?”
“The electronic files I was given were censored. Some information was deleted. There were time gaps. I need the whole picture if I’m going to be able to do my job.” Robie paused and then decided to say it. “And the crime scenes were tampered with. Things were removed. Not by the police. By our people. I need to know what was taken, and why.”
DiCarlo glanced away. But before she did so Robie saw in the woman’s eyes an apprehensive look.
When she looked back she had composed herself. “I will look into that matter immediately and get back to you.”
Robie nodded, not trying all that hard to disguise his look of skepticism.
He stood. “So do you want me to kill Jessica Reel?” he asked.
DiCarlo stared up at him. “I want you to find the truth, Mr. Robie.”
“Then I better get to it.”
CHAPTER
24
ROBIE DROVE BACK INTO D.C., but he didn’t return to his apartment. Instead, he drove to a school.
He parked at the curb and looked around. This was a nice section of D.C. The school Julie Getty attended was one of the best. But it was not one where uniforms were issued and all the students were the progeny of the upper crust. Kids got in here solely on their merits, not based on their parents’ ability to pay the tuition or donate to the school. Once you got in the tuition was taken care of. The place was based on individuality. There were rules, of course, but the students at the school were expected to march to the beat of a different drummer.
Robie assumed that Julie Getty was thriving in such an environment. He had discovered that her beat and her drummer were as individual as was humanly possible.
He thought about how he would handle this first encounter with her. And then he stopped thinking about it. There was no good way to approach this.
I’m going to take my lumps and maybe that’s best.
The rain seemed to want to linger, and Robie turned on his windshield wipers and watched them shove the water off the glass. He looked at his watch. Anytime now. There was a line of cars waiting to pick up students. There was no bus service at the school, although there was a stop across the street for a public bus.
A few seconds later the doors to the school opened and the students started to stream out. Robie got out of the car when he saw her, turned up his collar against the light rain, and jogged across the street.
Julie was walking near the back of a group of girls. She had her earbuds in and was pecking away on her smartphone. She had come a long way in a short time, thought Robie. When he first met her she couldn’t afford a phone of any kind.
He let the group of girls pass and then stepped forward.
Julie stopped, looked up, and Robie could see first happiness and then anger on her features.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“Fulfilling my promise to come and see you.”
“Little late for that.”
“Is it?”
The rain started to fall harder.
“You need a ride home?” he asked as he saw her shiver.
“I take the bus across the street.”
Robie turned to see a bus gliding to a stop at the far curb. “I thought after last time you’d never get on another bus.”
Robie could see a glimmer of a smile on her face and sought to press this advantage. “I can drive you. We can talk. I can check up on Jerome. Make sure he’s being a good guardian.”
“He’s fine. I told you.”
“Nothing like seeing it for myself.”
“I don’t want you to be here just because you feel shitty about how you’ve treated me.”
“I do feel shitty, but that’s not why I’m here.”
“Why, then?”
“Can we get out of the rain?”
“Afraid of melting?”
He pointed to her earbuds and phone. “Don’t want you to be electrocuted.”
“Right,” she said sarcastically.
But she followed him over to his car. They slid in and Robie started the engine and drove off.
Julie pulled on her seat belt. “So why are you really here?” she asked again.
“Unfinished business.”
“That doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“You’re not making this easy.”
“Why should I? You dissed me, but I bet you’ve seen super agent Vance plenty of times.”
“I have, but only once and it was for professional reasons. She was trying to pick my brain on something.”
“More murders?”
“Why do you say that?”
“What else could it be? You and Vance deal in dead bodies. Lots of them.”