Blindside - By Gj Moffat Page 0,69

his belt and Logan saw the holster clipped on his right hip as his jacket pulled back.

Cahill stood.

‘It would be better if we spoke in private.’

‘Why’s that?’ Collins asked.

‘It’s kind of sensitive.’

Collins looked down at Logan, who was still sitting, then back at Cahill.

‘Who are you guys?’ he asked.

Logan sensed that Cahill was going to struggle getting anywhere with this guy if he took his usual approach so he stood to speak instead.

‘My name’s Logan Finch,’ he said, holding out his hand. ‘And this is Alex Cahill.’

Collins shook his hand.

‘You’re not from around here.’

‘No. I’m a lawyer and we’re here at the request of the wife of a federal agent in connection with his death.’

Collins tilted his head to the side. He appeared unimpressed by what Logan had said. Probably dealt with lawyers all the time and no doubt had a low opinion of most of them.

‘The Feds know about this mission of yours?’

‘We’re only asking to speak to Detective Hunter in private for a few minutes. We’d rather not discuss this out here.’

Collins blinked.

‘If you think we’re wasting your time, you can show us the door,’ Cahill added.

‘And who are you again?’ Collins asked Cahill.

‘He’s a retired US army NCO and former member of your Secret Service.’

Collins looked at Cahill again for a moment and told them to follow him.

They went through the same door that Collins had used to come into the reception area and a metal detector beyond that. From there, Collins led them along a narrow corridor to an interview room. Collins held the door open for them and waited till they were seated at the small table in the room.

‘Wait here,’ was all he said before closing the door, his footsteps echoing as he walked away.

‘At least we got past the first line of defence,’ Logan said. ‘Though I still think we should have spoken to Webb about all of this first. I mean, Tim Stark was his guy. He wasn’t a cop.’

‘Let’s see where this takes us. I want to see Hunter’s reaction to all of this.’

‘But we’re going to tell Webb after this?’

‘Sure.’

Cahill had a way of saying ‘sure’ that meant: let’s wait and see how this pans out first before we make a decision.

10

They waited for around fifteen minutes before the door opened again and Collins came in followed by a slightly older man about Logan’s height with close-cropped dark hair. He wore black trousers and a white shirt with a plain red tie and no jacket. He had a holster on his belt like Collins.

‘I’m Detective Hunter,’ he said, extending his hand to shake Logan’s.

Hunter’s shirt cuffs were rolled up on his forearms and when he shook his hand Logan noticed a pale scar running up his right arm: the wound from the bank robbery. He looked serious. In fact, he looked like he was always serious.

Cahill shook hands with Hunter and they sat looking at each other across the table. Collins stood leaning against the wall just inside the door. He folded his arms across his chest and crossed his feet.

‘Danny … I mean Detective Collins said this was something about the death of an FBI agent.’

Logan nodded.

‘What does it have to do with me?’

‘We don’t know that it has anything to do with you yet. That’s why we’re here.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Hunter said.

‘Maybe we should start at the beginning.’

‘That usually helps.’

Logan looked at Cahill.

‘Detective,’ Cahill said, ‘so that you are aware of who we are and that we can be taken at our word, I’m a retired US army soldier and former Secret Service agent. Now I run a close protection business over in the UK. In Scotland.’

Hunter looked closely at Cahill as he spoke but said nothing.

‘I’m a lawyer,’ Logan told him. ‘I work in-house with Alex.’

‘We’ll try not to hold that against you,’ Collins said, smiling.

Hunter continued to look at Cahill.

‘You can check us out if you like,’ Cahill told him. ‘Go do it now and we’ll wait.’

‘Already done, Mr Cahill. You checked out.’

‘I used to work in the Secret Service with a guy called Tim Stark,’ Cahill said. ‘He was a Fed before he joined the service. A real all-American, you know?’

Hunter nodded.

‘And a friend too. Anyway, I got a call out of the blue this week from his wife Melanie. She said he was on that plane that crashed here but no one would tell her anything and his name wasn’t on the passenger list that the airline had.’

Logan could tell from Hunter’s face that