important than the death of a human being. But the reality of what he and Wire discovered an hour ago made him realize there was so much more at stake.
The voting machine suggested election fraud which fell within the purview of the FBI and in particular the Civil Rights Division. The FBI would be taking over—and at this point, should be taking over.
This was one reason Wire was now picking up Dixon at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and transporting him down to the storage locker. McRyan and Wire both worried about the FBI slow walking the case to get through the election. Wire worried that the director was three years into his first five-year term and he undoubtedly would be looking for another five years after that from the next occupant of the White House. The director wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side and Wire speculated he would tread carefully. Mac deferred to Wire on bureau politics but he thought it was unlikely the bureau would move slowly given what was in the locker and the letter. To be safe, Mac also took several photos of the letter and e-mailed copies to Pat Riley and Bobby Rockford in St. Paul with the notation, “I’m not making this up. This is what the case is about. Keep these in case the bureau decides to bury this.”
Wire took photos with her own camera so that the Judge could read the letter. Now there were copies in case of an attempt to cover up the discovery. There would be something to show the media if need be. The Judge’s presence would apply the necessary pressure to ensure their discovery would be properly and immediately investigated.
The early signs were promising.
Special agents from the FBI Milwaukee office arrived on the scene quickly and in force, with crime scene techs and agents. You could always count on the bureau to want to make a display of power when they wanted jurisdiction, hence the excess of dark suits hovering around the scene. Yet they were working with Kenosha and Milwaukee police and had acknowledged Mac’s presence. Crime scene people, both from the county and from the bureau were snapping photographs and logging evidence.
The Local Special Agent-In-Charge (AIC) for the bureau was special agent Margaret Berman and in charge she was. There was no doubt who everyone from the bureau would be answering to. Mac met with Berman briefly, giving her a run down on the situation and was reasonably impressed with her response. He called Wire and the Judge to clue them in on Berman.
Mac took in the scene as he placed a call to Ed Duffy.
“Duffy.”
“McRyan.”
“How’s Milwaukee?”
“A party town like always.”
“I saw the car chase and you hovering around the scene. Do tell?”
“Over beers at the pub, another time, I promise. I’m pressed for time. What can you tell me about Special Agent Margaret Berman?”
“Maggie?” Duffy laughed. “She’s known as the Little General. You’ll love her. She doesn’t take shit from anyone and can be a real ball breaker if you get on her bad side, so I might suggest you hide your usual contempt for us bureau types if I were you. Good news is she’s a hell of a cop and gets the job done. Oh, and one other thing.”
“What’s that?”
“She’s very ambitious. She doesn’t want Milwaukee to be her last stop. She’s very attuned to what it takes to climb the ladder.”
Mac thought about the case they were dealing with and an ambitious FBI agent could be good or bad. Good if she goes after the case. Bad if in her efforts to climb the FBI ladder, she would be willing to sack a sensitive case for a promotion. Duffy usually read people okay and if he thought Berman was the goods, he’d go with it. Plus it was consistent with at least his initial impression of the agent. He changed topics, “Ed, have you had any luck on the man we gave you pictures of?”
“Your call is good timing, I was getting ready to call you anyway,” Duffy replied. “The answer is yes and no and I can e-mail you some more information or have Riley do it if you’d like.”
“Yeah, get it to Riley and me. It may be helpful on both ends. But for now, I’ll take the quick version.”
“Okay, the guy you captured that killed McCormick, Montgomery and probably Stroudt at The Snelling, we don’t have an ID on him yet.”
“Nothing, huh?”
“Nada yet,” Duffy answered. “He’s