Twenty

Neither Newman nor Taylor had the authority to make that sort of decision. All they knew was that the man in their custody had refused to talk, saying he would only speak to Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD. Hunter had been brought in, but as far as everyone was concerned, he was there simply as a listener. His job was to get Lucien Folter to talk. He wasn’t supposed to be involved in the investigation, and he certainly wasn’t part of the team. This was not a joint venture between the LAPD and the FBI.

‘I thought that you couldn’t wait to go on vacation, Robert,’ Adrian Kennedy said, staring straight into the web camera.

Hunter, Taylor and Newman had gone back up to the BSU floor and were now sitting inside an ample office, facing a very large flat-screen monitor mounted onto the west wall. The dot-sized green light at the top of the monitor indicated that the in-built camera was on.

Despite being less than an hour away, Director Adrian Kennedy’s overbooked schedule prevented him from making the trip back to Quantico. He was speaking to everyone via a video link from his office in Washington, DC.

‘Well, that plan got screwed up yesterday when you showed up in LA, Adrian,’ Hunter said, matter-of-factly.

‘I’m sure we can fix it, Robert,’ Kennedy replied. ‘If you just give Agents Taylor and Newman the information they need to proceed, I can arrange to have a jet fly you over to Hawaii tonight.’

Hunter looked impressed. ‘Wow. Is the FBI budget that loose that you can actually justify getting a jet just to take me all the way to Hawaii from Virginia? Damn, and at the LAPD we don’t even get a big enough budget to supply us with enough bulletproof vests.’

‘Robert, I’m serious. We need this information.’

‘So am I, Adrian.’ Hunter’s voice went grave all of a sudden and his stare hardened. ‘I didn’t ask for this. You came to me, remember? You threw me into this mix. Now I’m part of it, whether you like it or not. If you think I’m just going to hand over the information and walk away like an obedient little boy, then you don’t know me at all.’

‘Nobody really knows you, Robert,’ Kennedy hit back, his voice still calm. ‘You’ve always been this cryptic enigma for as long as I’ve known you. But you’re now playing a very risky game . You do understand that what you’re doing is withholding information that’s pertinent to a federal homicide investigation. I can have your ass for that.’

Hunter looked unfazed.

‘If that’s how you want to play it,’ he replied evenly. ‘I’ve never explicitly told anyone that I understood what Lucien’s little riddle meant. I can’t be withholding information if I have none, Adrian, because I don’t think I remember seeing any posters in my old dorm room, and Professor “Hot Sauce” is no professor I can recall.’ Hunter paused and, from the corner of his eye, saw frustration start to color Agent Newman’s face. ‘You’re not the only one who knows how to play hardball, Adrian, and I’m not one of your puppets.’

Kennedy didn’t look angered or offended. In fact, he wasn’t really expecting Hunter to react in any other way, not after watching the footage recorded from the interrogation room. Hunter was being asked for help, on one side by the FBI, on the other by his old best friend.

‘Sorry to interrupt, Director Kennedy,’ Newman said, leaning forward on his seat. ‘But we still have the subject in our custody. If Detective Hunter is refusing to cooperate, sorry, but fuck him. Let him go back to LA.’ He looked at Hunter. ‘No offense, pal.’

He got absolutely zero reaction from Hunter.

‘We can still extract the information directly out of the subject,’ Newman continued. ‘Just give me a few more sessions with him.’

‘Of course we can,’ Kennedy said. ‘Because that has worked brilliantly so far, hasn’t it, Special Agent Newman?’

Newman was about to say something else but Kennedy lifted a finger, indicating that he’d heard enough. The look in his eyes was a clear indication that he was running through a few possibilities in his head.

‘OK, Robert,’ Kennedy said, after several silent seconds. ‘I’ll play nice if you play nice. You and Agent Taylor go check out this property in North Carolina. Agent Newman, I need you back in Washington . . . today. I’ve got something else I want you on.’

Newman looked like he’d been slapped across the face. His mouth half opened to say something but Kennedy cut him short again.

‘Today, Agent Newman. Is that understood?’

Newman took a deep breath. ‘Yes, sir.’

Kennedy addressed Hunter again. ‘Robert, no more games. You do know what this Lucien character was talking about in his riddle, right? You know the answers to those questions?’

Hunter nodded once.

‘OK.’ Kennedy consulted his watch. ‘We’re lucky. North Carolina is close enough that we can move fast. Agent Taylor, get everything organized. I want you and Robert there by tonight, at the latest. Let’s go seize this diary, or notebook, or whatever it is, and let’s start figuring this whole mess out. Call me with any news as soon as you get it, no matter the time. Is that understood?’

‘Yes, sir,’ Taylor replied as she peeked at Hunter.

Kennedy cut the connection.

Twenty-One

‘OK,’ Agent Taylor said, using a wireless keyboard to type a new command into a desktop computer.

Taylor and Hunter had gone back to the same conference room they were in earlier, the one with the large monitor showing a detailed map of the United States on the far wall. As she hit the ‘Enter’ key, the map changed to a county-detailed version of the entire state of North Carolina.

‘So what was this poster that Lucien Folter had on his wall?’ Taylor asked. ‘The one you liked. The one with the sunset.’

Hunter gave her a subtle shrug, stepped closer to the map, and allowed his eyes to carefully study it.

‘It was a poster of the mountains,’ he said. ‘The sun was just about to set over them. The sky had taken this striking reddish-purple color. And that was what I really liked about that poster – the sky color. And there was also a camp fire.’

‘A camp fire?’

‘That’s right,’ Hunter agreed.

‘Was that it?’ Taylor asked.

‘No, there was a lone figure sitting by the fire, watching the sunset.’

‘What figure?’

Hunter’s eyes had stopped searching the map.

‘An old man.’

Taylor frowned. ‘An old man?’ she said, joining Hunter by the map. ‘So what are we looking for here? Oldman County? Granddad County? Or did this old man have a name? Lucien Folter said that the county carried the same name as the figure in that poster.’

‘No name,’ Hunter clarified. ‘But that old man was a Native American. More precisely, a . . .’ He pointed to a county on the far left-hand side of the map. The county of Cherokee.

The state of North Carolina is divided into three regions – Eastern, Piedmont and Western. Cherokee County is the westernmost county in the Western Region. It borders both Georgia and Tennessee.

‘A Cherokee Indian,’ Taylor said with a different rhythm to her voice. ‘I’ll be damned.’

Hunter paused and looked at her. The expression on his face asked the question.

Taylor tilted her head to one side. ‘My ex-husband was half-Cherokee. We just got through a tough divorce. Strange coincidence, that’s all.’

Hunter nodded.

Taylor’s attention returned to the map as she considered the county’s position in relation to their location. ‘Damn,’ she said, returning to the computer. ‘That will be a hell of a long drive.’