that flight in Nashville and I haven’t tracked him down to any other flight. So again, what happens last night that causes them to change their plans?” Mac flipped through several pages of his notes. He stopped on a page. “Hmpf.”
“Hmpf what?”
“You know what these guys do?”
Lich shook his head.
“They’re political writers.”
“Reporters?”
“Kind of. I traced the corporate name on the credit card used for the flight to Nashville to their business which is TCP Enterprises. TCP stands for The Congressional Page. That’s a political blog that Stroudt and Montgomery operate. They write some articles, a few of which I found with an Internet search. It’s mostly on stuff happening on Capitol Hill and some campaign finance reform stuff.”
“Interesting,” Lich said. “Given we’re in the height of the silly season.”
“Exactly,” Mac answered, walking up to the board, looking at the timeline. “So these guys are into politics and a week before the election they are flying into Nashville and the next night they’re driving through the Kentucky countryside and this morning they split up, one comes up here and the other one makes like a submarine and runs silent and deep.”
“When did they purchase the tickets to Nashville to begin with?”
“That’s not a bad question, partner,” Mac responded and flipped through his notes. “The tickets to Nashville were purchased on …” McRyan’s eyes lit up, “Tuesday morning.”
“So in other words,” Lich speculated, “If I’m catching your drift, you’re thinking that these guys might have got onto something.”
“Might have,” Mac nodded. “It’s at least a theory that would explain the timeline and behavior. It’s a normal trip until last night and then something suddenly causes them to change their itinerary. The original plan was not to end up in St. Louis this morning. They had tickets back to DC. Another thing that’s odd, if you decide you need to fly up here to the Twin Cities, why not just go back to Nashville and see if you could change the ticket?”
“Maybe there wasn’t a flight here from Nashville as quickly as they wanted and there was from St. Louis.”
“That’s possible,” Mac answered. “We should check that out. Of course, another possibility might be they were trying to avoid someone.”
“That’s a bit of an intuitive leap, don’t you think?” Lich said skeptically.
“I have Stroudt’s dead body that says otherwise,” Mac retorted. “And why is Montgomery so hard to find now? His cell phone isn’t turned on or he certainly isn’t answering it. He wasn’t on the flight back from Nashville. No record of him being on a flight anywhere and he dumped the rental car in St. Louis. It’s as if he literally disappeared.”
“Or given how you’re suddenly thinking,” Lich replied, “he figuratively disappeared. Maybe he’s dead too?”
Mac raised his eyebrow. “Might explain why he’s not reachable. Why we can’t get a sniff of this guy. Or …”
“Or …”
“Montgomery is scared of what they saw last night and he’s hiding. If Stroudt gets to St. Louis to take the flight, chances are Montgomery is the one who got him there. Then Montgomery goes into …”
“… hiding.”
“Yeah. It’s an alternative explanation. He splits up from Stroudt, sending him up here to the cities. He goes into hiding and is not interested in coming out—at least not yet.”
Lich sighed and shook his head. “I know you like to see conspiracies everywhere and the good Lord knows you’ve been right a few times, but come on, Mac. I mean, if these guys are worried about someone tracking them, then why would Stroudt use a credit card to buy a flight to the Twin Cities? Why use a credit card to rent a car? You are not exactly hiding when you do that.”
Mac sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. “Agreed. But then why pay cash for a trashy hotel?” Mac asked. “It’s like he wasn’t hiding and then all of a sudden decides to hide. Why else go to The Snelling?”
“Usual reasons. Drugs. Sex.”
“I look for conspiracies, you always look for sex.”
“I obviously have my priorities in order.”
“No,” Mac answered chuckling, “I just think with my upper unit and you with your lower unit.”
“Whatever,” Lich answered dismissively.
“But seriously, Dicky Boy,” Mac pressed, “it’s as if sometime between when he landed and then checking into The Snelling, he changed what he was doing. He landed around 10:00 a.m. and gets to The Snelling sometime after 2:00 p.m. That’s four hours. Where are Stroudt’s cell phone records?”