Walk the Wire (Amos Decker #6) - David Baldacci Page 0,13
up to tell you. I just couldn’t find the words last night. You Feds coming to town was a little bit of a surprise. I hadn’t decided how to handle it.”
“Minister? Like a preacher?” said Jamison curiously.
“No, as in the leader of the organization.” He eyed Jamison. “The Anabaptists are a male-led sect. The women do a lot of the work, including all of the butchering, cooking, cleaning, and sewing. But the men are the leaders.”
“Welcome back to the 1950s,” said Jamison drily.
“They’re good people, like I said,” replied Kelly defensively.
“How do you know so much about them?” asked Decker.
“My grandparents used to belong to the sect when I was a kid” was Kelly’s surprising reply.
“And they got tired of communal living in an age of male dominance?” retorted Jamison.
“No, but my parents did, apparently. They left after my grandparents passed on, when my sister and I were still kids.”
“Do your parents live here?”
“Nope. They retired to Florida about three years ago.”
“And your sister?” asked Jamison.
“She passed away a few years ago.”
“I’m so sorry. She was really young then?”
“Yeah. She had a rough life.”
“What else can you tell us about the Brothers?” asked Decker after a few moments of silence.
“They’re antiwar pacifists. Some of the Hutterites, the largest branch of Anabaptists in the country, were persecuted for that stance during World War II.”
Decker nodded. “So that covers her place of lodging and her work as a teacher. What about her work as an escort? You said you weren’t sure if she actually was one, even though you recognized her from the website. But are you sure it was her?”
“I am.”
“How?”
“I contacted her through the site. I made arrangements to meet with her. It was at a flophouse on the other side of town. I got there before her. Badged her when she showed up.”
“Did you arrest her?” asked Jamison.
“No.”
“Why not?” asked Decker. “You’re a cop. She broke the law. Seems pretty simple.”
“Look, I was trying to help her out. She didn’t need a prison sentence. She just needed some positive reinforcement and guidance. Only it looks like I failed on both counts.”
“But when you met with her did she confirm that she was selling sex?” said Decker. “Because earlier you intimated that you weren’t sure what she was up to.”
“She never admitted to being a prostitute, or an escort. She did say she was lonely and that while she admitted to arranging to meet men from the website, she never took any money from them. And they didn’t always have sex. Sometimes they just talked.”
“Right,” said Decker skeptically. “I’m sure they did.”
“And she wasn’t dressed like most hookers I’ve run into. Her outfit was pretty normal.”
Their meals came and they ate fast, with a lot of work ahead of them.
As they prepared to leave Decker said, “You ran her prints through IAFIS, right? To see if she had a record?” He was referring to the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
“I did, but how’d you know that?”
“It’s the only reason we’re here. When her print came through it obviously dinged some pretty high-up corridors at the Bureau. You said it was a request from the Feds that sent your reports to DC. That had to be how they knew.”
“So she was important?” said Kelly.
“They’re all important,” retorted Decker.
“But we didn’t get any hit on our submission,” said Kelly. “As far as the FBI was concerned, they had no criminal record of Irene Cramer.”
“Well, maybe they didn’t under that name,” replied Decker.
“But if they had another name in that database with those prints, they should have let us know that,” said Kelly a bit angrily. “You sure you’re not withholding anything from me?”
“Scout’s honor,” said Decker.
“Didn’t figure you for a Boy Scout.”
“I wasn’t. Now let’s go. Busy day and I’m not getting any younger. And Irene Cramer’s not getting any older. And somebody has to answer for that.”
Decker headed out.
Kelly looked thoughtfully after the departed Decker before glancing at Jamison. “Anything I need to know about your partner?”
Jamison managed a smile. “Oh, it will become readily apparent all on its own.”
A FEW DROPS OF RAIN hit them as they trudged to their rental SUV. Kelly rode next to Jamison while Decker took up most of the back seat.
“So Cramer had no family in the area?” asked Jamison.
“None that I know of or could find.”
“How’d she end up here?”
“She arrived a little over a year ago. No record of her before, that I can find, other than she went to Amherst. And