pensively. “That seems to be a standard tagline to any conversation with you.”
“Does that mean you want to go back to your law books?”
“God, no,” she said. “Please, I’m begging you, implicate me.”
“I’m not sure that this extortion was a one-man job.”
“There’s an awful lot of happy FBI bosses who think otherwise.”
“Self-congratulating management—is there any bigger canary in the mine that something is wrong?”
“I wouldn’t argue with that,” she said. “Do you have any proof?”
“The timing at the tunnel isn’t right.”
“Are you sure? Stress can distort time, especially when you’re going through something as sensory depriving as you did.”
“I’m not talking just about inside the tunnel. I checked all the logs, the time that the GPS started away from the tunnel, and the time of the explosion when I blew open the hatch. Last night, I went back out there and timed the walk from the tunnel to where the truck was intercepted. Anyone coming back from that would have run into the surveillance agents. And whoever it was would have had to come back to pick up the money.”
“So you think Bertok had a partner?”
“One person couldn’t have done it alone, no. So, is there anyone you know that could have been in this with Bertok, if it was Bertok?”
“If it was.”
Vail chose not to explain. “Yes, if it was.”
“Well, you’re the guy he was shooting at, so if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, who am I to argue? I assume you mean someone in the FBI.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you asking me instead of people at the Bureau?”
“I don’t want anyone there to know that I’m not buying the Bertok-alone theory. That’s why I want this kept quiet for now.”
“If you have doubts about his involvement, why another agent?”
“I’ve taken a look at Bertok’s phone records. There were no calls to anyone other than his brother in Minnesota, and his ex-wives both here and in Arizona. That suggests someone he had regular contact with, like at work. Again, that’s why I’m here; I don’t want to ask the wrong person in the office.”
Tye took a long drag on her cigarette. “I hate to point any fingers, but there is one person Bertok worked with on occasion. Vince Pendaran. And he is sort of connected to the enemies list.”
“How?”
“The first victim—Connie Lysander, a former reporter turned whistle-blower. You know about her?”
“Just what’s in the file.”
“She made a lot of allegations around here, most of which were false. However, there were some firings, most notably the United States attorney, who was a good guy. There were also some suspensions, one of which was Pendaran for using the services of prostitutes. I don’t know why he wasn’t fired. He seems to be one of these guys who continually fall through the cracks.”
“What’s he like?”
“Different. He worked undercover until he got caught stealing from a UC project. Again, I don’t know why he wasn’t fired. Instead, they transferred him to Bertok’s squad. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, it’s a dumping ground for problems in the office. The word is that the supervisor, Allen Sabine, never complains, so they keep handing him the problem children. Anyway, Pendaran came up here a couple of times with Stan when they needed the okay for an arrest that was a little shaky. There’s something about the way he looks at you. I don’t know, it’s cold, like he’s trying to figure out where your buttons are. I’d see him at parties. Very taciturn until he got the requisite number of drinks in him, which I think was one. Then you’d find his hand on your ass. Everyone pretty much treated him like he had the plague, you know, an OPR incident looking for a place to land. That is, everybody but Bertok. For some reason Pendaran seemed to respond to him. You know, Stan could get him to do some work even if it was only as his gofer. And to a degree, socially as well. He’d take the effort to drag him into conversations at office functions. I guess even the most downtrodden needs the occasional project to ensure there’s at least one person below him on the food chain.”
Vail’s cell phone rang. It was Kate. “We just got word. They matched Bertok’s gun to the four victims and the shooting yesterday.”
“Does that include the shell casing from the third murder?”
“Yes,” she said. “Why is that important?”
“I’ll explain when I see you. Will you be available to take a