McRyan?” Mitchell asked. “How was it the shooters knew to find Wire and Dixon at … what’s it called?”
“McRyan’s Pub.”
“Right, how did they find you there?”
“We think it was through a LoJack tracking system in Montgomery’s laptop.” Mac described how Jupiter found the LoJack tracking system on the computer.
“So whoever these men are working for, they were able to get into LoJack’s system and track the computer? That’s not something the average person can do. That requires certain … resources … and … skills,” Mitchell commented, his arms folded, giving it some thought.
“That was our thought as well, Director,” Mac added.
“Detective, you mentioned the laptop, camera and notebooks, what did you find there?”
“We were able to get into Montgomery’s laptop and found that he conducted extensive web searches on DataPoint and their voting machines. It was actually through the DataPoint website that we identified Checketts as one of the men at the meeting in Kentucky. At this point, our investigation shifted to Milwaukee.”
Mac poured himself another cup of coffee and this time put in a little cream and sugar. He took a sip and then changed to a picture of Checketts’s house. “After we found our killer in Eden Prairie, I, along with former Agent Wire, traveled to Milwaukee to investigate further, looking to speak with Mr. Checketts.”
“How did you get to Milwaukee so quickly?”
“Judge Dixon arranged a flight.”
“Did he now?” Mitchell replied, a whimsical smile on his face.
Mac shrugged his shoulders. “If it makes you feel any better, he cleared it with Chief Flanagan before I accompanied Ms. Wire to Milwaukee.”
“And how is it that former Agent Wire suddenly became part of your investigation?”
“My partner was wounded in the shootout outside my family’s bar,” McRyan replied. “Our other detectives remained back in St. Paul to watch over our killer in the hopes that his friends tried to retrieve him before his death. Ms. Wire offered her assistance. She is quite capable.”
“Yes she is,” Mitchell answered knowingly.
“The next morning, along with two Milwaukee detectives, Wire and I went to the home of Peter Checketts where we found him dead, hanging from an exposed beam over his family room.” Mac put up a photo of Checketts hanging. “At first blush it appeared to be a suicide. Mr. Checketts is apparently in considerable personal financial distress. He was significantly indebted to a couple of casinos in Las Vegas. So at first, it looked like a suicide.”
“But it wasn’t, was it?”
“No. It looks like his death was staged as a suicide and he was murdered.” Mac added details about Checketts’s personal finances as well as the footprints leading to the house. “Add to that the fact that Checketts is dead and this Domitrovich and Khrutov are dead.”
“Domitrovich and Khrutov are dead?” Mitchell asked, surprised, sitting up in his chair now.
“Yes, sir. Domitrovich was found in his Kiev apartment with a bullet in his head on Friday and just a few minutes ago, just as I arrived here at the Hoover Building I received a text from Agent Duffy that Khrutov was found dead at his dacha northwest of Moscow, also a bullet in the head, killed execution style. You add that with Checketts, not to mention the deaths of Montgomery and Stroudt and McCormick, and someone is covering up.”
“You’re right,” Mitchell answered, looking again at the photos of Khrutov and Domitrovich, shaking his head. “Care to tell me what is being covered up?”
“Election fraud that could have massive consequences on Tuesday’s election,” Mac gestured towards the voting machine that was sitting on the end of the conference table. “Let me show you how,” Mac put up a new picture. “This is Gabriel Martin. He was the chief information officer for DataPoint. At about the same time as the meeting was taking place in Kentucky at the Hitch cabin Wednesday night, Martin was killed in Milwaukee. I have some video,” Mac pulled up the video supplied by Detective Ring and played it for the director. Mac pointed to the screen to a man standing in the median of the street, “This is Wednesday night. This man is Gabe Martin and I’ll just let this roll.”
“Sweet Jesus,” Mitchell muttered.
“That was with intent,” Mac stated. “The Suburban makes no evasive move. After finding Checketts dead and learning of Martin’s murder, we went to DataPoint to interview key staff about the two men to determine if the staff knew of any reason why anyone would want to kill them. Turns out Mr. Martin was dating his secretary,