“Never really thought about it, because I could never verify my guess.”
“But why meet at the Pentagon? Especially since no one else there knows what we’re up to.”
Reiger prodded a burger with a long fork. “DNI isn’t like the spider at the center of the web. It’s more like the snake slithering through the backyard. A mandate to go everywhere, see everything. Pentagon is as big an intelligence player as they come. Used to going its own way, sucking down dollars and data. We saw that when we were in uniform, Don.”
“For sure we did.”
“But even it has to kowtow to DNI. And so Burns makes the rounds, has offices everywhere, Langley, NSA, National Geospatial.”
“And the Pentagon?”
“I know two- and three-star generals who hate the DNI’s guts for all the good it’ll do them. Sam Donnelly does the daily presidential intelligence briefings now instead of the DCI. Locked tight. You got the man’s ear and trust, you can’t lose. You’re golden.”
“Yeah, but Burns is a piece of work. Half of me wishes he’d drop from a stroke.”
“And the other half?” Reiger said grinning.
“Nothing you haven’t thought about.”
Reiger put some cheese on top of an almost done burger. “Read up on him too when we were recruited for this. Vietnam vet. One hard-ass guy. Medals out the ying-yang. Guy was as brave as they come, did his thing, laid it all out there for the Stars and Stripes. Flipped to the intelligence side soon as Saigon fell. Wounds made him unfit for active duty.”
“The leg.”
“Right. He’s in his sixties. Could have got out before now, but apparently he’s got nothing else in his life.”
“Wife? Kids?”
“Wife left him, apparently his two kids did too.”
Hope looked impressed. “Where’d you get that scuttlebutt?”
Reiger cracked a smile. “Your security clearance isn’t high enough.”
Hope finished his beer. “The hell you say.”
“A hardass,” Reiger said again. “Loves his country, though. Do anything to protect it. And he expects us to do anything to protect it too. And anything covers a lot.”
“Piece of paper, Karl. That’s what we need. Our get-out-of-jail-free card.”
The ball flew toward them, landing a couple feet from the grill. Reiger snagged it and threw it back to his oldest son.
“Thanks, Pop.”
Reiger pointed at the black sedan that had just pulled into the driveway next to the minivan. The man who got out wore a plain suit that did not stand out in any way. It was the sort that Reiger and Hope wore while on duty, allowing them to just blend in. In the man’s hand was an equally plain white envelope.
“Well, here it comes right now, Don. I guess we’re back to killing Americans.”
“I don’t like this any better than you, but don’t get cold on me now, Karl.”
“I’ve been cold ever since I put a round in Jamie Meldon’s brain.”
He slapped another piece of raw meat on the grill and watched it sizzle.
CHAPTER 85
AFTER PHONING her sister that morning, Mace picked up Roy and drove him in to work. When they arrived she told Roy about the call.
“So you didn’t tell her about Meldon having dinner with Diane, but just about the DNA testing?” he said as he climbed off the bike.
“That’s right.”
“Mind telling me why?”
“It could be the key to breaking this case. If I’m going to use this sucker to get back on the force I have to solve it. And I don’t want Beth to get in trouble for pulling strings for me.”
“I can understand that. You really do care about her.”
“She’s pretty much all I have left.”
“Hey, haven’t I gotten a little bit in the loop?”
She smiled. “You’re sweet, Roy. And yes you have.” Her expression hardened. “So what’s the connection between Meldon and Tolliver?”
“It has to predate her coming to Shilling & Murdoch. She never once mentioned him, and I never saw him come to the firm.”
“Wouldn’t have been some legal dealings?”
“We don’t do criminal work. What other legal dealings would they have?”
“Okay, like you said, it must predate her time at Shilling. Where was she before?”
Roy thought for a moment. “She mentioned New Jersey.”
“I read that Meldon used to practice law in Manhattan. If she was in Newark or thereabouts, that’s practically the same place. They could have had dealings then. She was in private practice up there too?”