move to recover the three million dollars, he had to kill him.
IT WAS A LITTLE after 5 a.m. when Kate was awakened by a knock on her hotel room door. Before she could get up, a second one came. She reached for her automatic on the nightstand. As quietly as possible she walked to the door, not wanting to alert whoever was on the other side. Through the peephole she saw Vail and unlocked the door.
She sat down heavily on the bed and put her gun back on the side table. “Guess you were still sleeping,” he offered as an apology.
She was wearing a short nightgown and noticed that Vail had discovered its thinness. “You should see me in this with my hair combed and some makeup.”
A quick flash of red rose and disappeared from his face. Even the slightest embarrassment in him pleased her. “I’ve got time,” he said.
“Is that why you came?”
“If I say yes, what happens?”
“Sorry, no hedging your bets.”
“Ahhh, yes,” he offered.
“Oooo, so close, but not quite sincere enough.”
He walked over to a chair where she had left her robe and handed it to her. “In that case…”
She pulled the robe on and tied the belt loosely. “You don’t look like you’ve been to bed.”
Vail rubbed the stubble of his day-old growth. “Not yet. I just finished rereading the file.”
“And?”
“What’s the most logical way to investigate this case?”
“It’s a little early for a pop quiz, but I don’t think it’s by going after Pendaran. I don’t know, I guess you have to dig into Salton’s history, see who he was tight with inside and look for anyone he might have hooked up with when he got out.”
“That’s logical, but it’s one of those things where there are just too many possibilities. While he was in prison, thousands of prisoners came and went.”
“I suppose then you have to go back to investigating the murders, separately and as a group.”
“And that’s what the Bureau’s been doing. But it’s not working, because whoever is responsible was using that investigation to lead us to Bertok and Pendaran. The murders are not the key.”
“Then what is?”
“The drop locations. While the selection of the murder victims can be almost random, the drops are much more critical because they are the most vulnerable phase of the extortion. They’re the only time when the Bureau and the criminals have to be in the same place at the same time, so the Pentad has to be familiar and comfortable with them. There are three locations. The Arizona highway, which is just too long to reveal anything. And we know that the group is centered in Los Angeles, so for them to have knowledge of that railroad tunnel and the area in general doesn’t help us at all. But the naval prison in New Hampshire may be a way into this.”
“Do you think that one of them was a prisoner there?”
“It’s been closed for thirty years, so probably not. But that island is more than a prison. It’s a naval base with a lot of civilian employees as well. It has a hospital, a hotel, and everything in between. It’s a small city.”
“How does that narrow it down?”
“It doesn’t. But with Salton identified, it looks like there’s a reasonable chance we’re dealing with career criminals. Federal ex-cons. New Hampshire is a small state, less than a million people. Social Security numbers issued to residents begin with 001 to 003. Can you get ahold of someone at the Bureau of Prisons and get a list of everyone with a New Hampshire Social Security number who was released within the last year from Marion? Then two years, up to the last five years. Five lists.”
“I assumed you checked Salton’s.”
“New Jersey.”
“That sounds like it still could be a lot of people. With just the two of us sneaking around, it could take forever,” Kate said. “I assume you’ve come to me with this because we are going to be sneaking around.”
“I prefer ‘parallel investigation.’ It’ll sound better at your trial board.”
“So what do we do with this list of people with New Hampshire Social Security numbers?”
“Our target extortionist is now living here, and if I’ve learned one thing about Los Angeles, it’s that you can’t live here without driving. When you get the list of the New Hampshire names, run them for current California driver’s licenses.”
“That makes sense. I’ll get on it as soon as I can get dressed. What will you be doing?”
“Well, I could stay and watch.”