ride a little later?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll see you in an hour or two.” Vail hung up. “As you could probably tell from that call, they matched Bertok’s gun to everything from the first homicide to yesterday’s shooting.”
“Then are you still interested in Pendaran?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting,” she said. “I assume you’d prefer someplace away from the office to converse with him.”
“Like where?”
“It came out during the Lysander exposé, his trips to professional ladies were almost daily. That’s why he was so easy for her, and OPR, to catch. The names and addresses are in the DOJ file.”
“Where is that kept?”
She stubbed out her cigarette on the outside sill, tossed the butt into the six-story air shaft, and pulled the window closed. She sat down at her desk and typed on her keyboard. “I obtained a copy of it for my own private edification, trying to find a loophole for the old United States attorney when he was under fire for not properly leading the troops. Unfortunately, like the FBI, we have strict rules about showing files to outside agencies, so you can’t see this.” She gave him a crooked smile. “I’m going to lunch. Do me a favor when you leave, shut down my computer.”
“I owe you one, Tye.”
“That’s a funny thing, Agent Vail. I keep hearing that around here, but no one ever seems to pay up. Care to be a trendsetter?”
Vail smiled noncommittally and watched as that vague loneliness seeped back into her eyes.
AS VINCE PENDARAN exited the Swedish Academy of Massage and walked to his Bureau car, Vail watched him, trying to decide whether his gait was the same as that of the man who had walked into the house on Spring Street the day before. As he put the key in the lock, Vail walked up behind him silently and measured his height and weight. “I guess you don’t have to worry about going to these places now that Connie Lysander is dead.”
Pendaran spun around. His sweaty black hair hung low on his forehead, his eyebrows thick and lowered in disdain. He was powerfully built, his stance now angry. “Who are you?”
Vail pulled out his credential case with the gold badge on the outside. He didn’t bother opening it.
“You OPR?” Pendaran asked. “I was just seeing a source.”
Vail laughed. “That’s it? You’ve been hit for this once before and that’s as creative as you can get? Let me give you a tip: get a better story because the next time OPR comes for you, they’re bringing machetes.”
Pendaran’s eyes darted around the lot before he said, “Why don’t we talk in the car.”
Vail went around to the passenger’s side and got in. “I’m Steve Vail.”
“The guy from headquarters that Stan is supposed to have tried to shoot?”
“Supposed to have?”
“Stan was a friend of mine, and I know he did some out-of-bounds stuff, but shooting at people, that wasn’t him.”
“Money can change people in a hurry.”
“You’d have to prove it to me.”
“Was he a good enough friend that you might want to get something going on the side?”
Pendaran’s head snapped toward Vail. “I hope you’re not saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Actually, I am.”
“Oh no, not me. I don’t know anything about any murders.”
“Weren’t you two partners?”
“On the job, sometimes. And that was all.”
“If you didn’t help him, who else could have?”
“Why don’t you get out of my car.”
“And if I don’t?”
Pendaran smiled viciously. “That would turn a very mediocre afternoon into a very pleasant one.”
“Then, between you and Bertok, that would make you the violent one.”
“Do yourself a favor and leave before you find out.”
“Not the way I would have played it, Vince, but then I never murdered anyone.” Pendaran glared at him, and Vail stared back with an amused calm. “At least not in cold blood.”
Vail got out and watched as the Bureau car sped out of the lot.
SIXTEEN
WHEN VAIL CAME THROUGH THE DOOR OF KATE’S OFFICE, SHE SAID, “Where have you been?”
“Out looking for the guy on the grassy knoll.”
“You think someone else is involved?”
He told her about his time analysis at the tunnel.
She took a moment to consider what he had found. “What about—no, that wouldn’t work.” She took a few more seconds to consider other possibilities. “It sounds like he couldn’t have done it without help.”
“Bertok worked with a guy named Vince Pendaran. He’s got some speed bumps in his personnel file. One of them was Connie Lysander. I just caught him coming out of a full-service massage parlor. I put some angst on him but not enough