on the witness stand Casey just couldn’t handle the stress and kept slipping up during questioning. He was looking at twenty to life when next thing you know, he’s off after a late witness testimony gives him a cast-iron alibi. Now, look at the investigating officers listed here, and the officer who supposedly found the witness.”
Kaczynski looked at the list of officers at the bottom of the page, and stopped at one.
“Sergeant Louis Powell,” he whispered as he read the name.
“Ring any bells?” Lopez asked. “A body found by Casey Jeffs, a locked-room homicide, an overdose? Tyrell must have worked this all out after he was suspended. Casey Jeffs is the bastard son of Bradley Stone. Bradley must have been paying Casey’s hooker mom off for years to keep her silent and avoid a scandal, and MACE has paid for Casey’s hospitalization and treatment both then and ever since. Somewhere along the line the hooker gets too greedy, someone decides that enough is enough and has her iced. What if Tyrell worked it all out, but it’s not Casey who’s planned this and he’s just the fall guy?”
“Patterson,” Kaczynski guessed, “or Byron Stone. And you linked Casey to his dead mother through the blood taken at the scene of the homicide?”
“Exactly, and to his father, through genetic profiling that wasn’t available when this homicide case went to trial. Powell must have been in Byron Stone’s pocket for decades, ever since this case put a black mark on his career. It’s no wonder nobody’s picked up on these suspicious overdoses in the District before now if Powell’s been sweeping them under the carpet. He’s covering for either MACE or the Evangelical Alliance, maybe even both. You know he’s retiring soon, got himself that nice condo down in Florida? Think it’s worth finding out how he paid for it?”
Kaczynski stared at her with an expression of bewilderment.
“Christ,” he finally muttered. “If I get the national security letter we could tap some bank accounts, see what they’ve been up to, but what about jurisdiction? This case was signed off by the commissioner herself. I go strolling down to Dulles without any paperwork I’ll get my cojones chewed off.”
Lopez nodded.
“I’m officially off duty, Powell’s orders. Just get the letters. I’ll head down to the airport and see if I can find the jet we’re looking for before Axel Cain hears about what’s happened here and screws the whole goddamn thing up.”
Kaczynski nodded and hurried away, leaving Lopez to stand over Lucas Tyrell’s body.
“It ain’t over till it’s over,” she said softly.
NEW COVENANT CHURCH
WASHINGTON DC
Kelvin Patterson walked around his desk as Senator Isaiah Black swept into his office with two staff on either side of him, extending his hand and smiling brightly.
“Senator, thank you for coming by at such short notice.”
Black’s jaw creased into a smile.
“My pleasure, Pastor, but we must be swift. The rally begins in an hour and I can’t afford to be late.”
Patterson nodded.
“I understand. Please,” he said, gesturing to one of the chairs behind the desk, “take a seat.”
The senator sat down, his two guards flanking him. Patterson took his place behind his desk, folding his hands together for a moment, looking at his own two security guards as they appeared in the office doorway before speaking.
“The polls are with you, Isaiah. The people are following you, with or without the support of the alliance. I realize that now.”
“Faith is no match for good policy when the people need a leader,” Black said simply. “That is the true power of our Constitution.”
Patterson gritted his teeth as he smiled.
“Indeed, and we must make every effort to sustain our campaign to ensure that the wishes of the moral majority are carried through by Congress and the Senate.”
Black took a deep breath.
“What’s your point, Kelvin?”
“That perhaps we can find a compromise between the practicality of leadership and the enlightenment of spiritual guidance that I can bring to your administration.”
“It’s not my administration, Pastor.”
“Not yet, but soon it will be.”
Black shook his head.
“You still don’t understand, do you, Kelvin? You expect your influence to penetrate the halls of Congress and the Senate, in direct opposition to the very voters who have considered your support for my campaign and rejected it. Democracy is the will of the people, and they do not want your theocratic agenda influencing our administration.”
Patterson struggled to control his frustration. “The people know not what they do,” he insisted. “What would you say if I told you that I could make you