Deadly Little Secrets Page 0,106
Should I contact them?”
“I think you’d better, see if they kept copies. Also, I got Agent TJ Michaels’s boss on the phone—he claims Michaels is off on sabbatical, not on a case.”
“The Inquiry Panel said he was pursuing leads on the Rome case, on his own recognizance, but that he’d gotten sanction to pursue.”
“Have you discussed that data from Davis, the info on your shipper, with any of the victims?” Pretzky asked now.
“Not yet. I was working on a flight to White Plains, and got the e-mails about the case crossovers. Then you called.” Ana didn’t say she’d been trying to decide if she could call Gates.
“I see. You hear anything from Davis?”
“Davis? No, should I have?”
She heard the worry in Pretzky’s voice when her boss replied. “He was supposed to contact you, let you know that he’d found two more victims who used the shipper you’re checking on. What the hell is the name of it? I hate calling it ‘the shipper.’”
“Ark Shipping Inc.” Ana read the data. “There’s a probable sub-corp, D’Or Shipping.”
“D’Or? That means gold. Gold shipping? That’s original,” Pretzky scoffed. “Ark? That’s weird too. Not like they’re moving paintings or anything else two-by-two.”
Ana hadn’t put it together that way, but Ark was a biblical reference. Gold. Gold Ark. It was worth a try. She pulled up her favorite search engines and entered gold ark in one search field, gold ship, and then gold box in the others and hit SEARCH.
“What else?” she asked Pretzky. “You don’t sound like you’re finished.”
“I’m not,” Pretzky said. “We got word from Berlin that Pratch’s remains may have turned up.”
“You’re kidding, right? Why now, I wonder?”
She heard the phone ring on Pretzky’s end, and her boss said, “Hey, gotta go. Call you later.”
Pretzky hung up so fast there was no time for Ana to say good-bye.
Nothing obvious pulled up on her search, so she checked e-mail again, but there was nothing from TJ. Checking the time, she called McGuire in New Orleans. He answered on the fifth ring.
“Hello?” The gruff voice was hard, insistent. “Who is this?”
“Agent McGuire, it’s Agent Burton. I’m calling about the cold case again, the art fraud—”
He cut her off. “Yeah, yeah. I know. You’ve hit on something, for sure, Burton. I’ve had visitors.”
“Visitors?” She’d been afraid of something like this.
“Couple of thugs, aiming to rough me up, or worse.”
“Oh, my God. Are you okay?”
“I’m good, but they’re not. One’s in the morgue. Gotta say my aim’s not off by much, even if I am an old fart. The other’s in jail, but he ain’t got much to say. Got hired by phone, had my address.” He gave a short barking laugh. “Guess their boss didn’t tell ’em I was armed and dangerous.”
“I know I told you we’d had more action on the case, Agent. This isn’t acting like a cold case now. It’s had me hopping, but I didn’t feel like anything substantial was moving,” she admitted. She hadn’t either, certainly not on the case, even though everything else seemed to be shifting and going straight to hell right under her feet. “Then all hell broke loose over the weekend, but even then, it didn’t seem related.”
“I think you better reconsider that, missy,” McGuire advised, his voice still gruff. “And be careful.”
“I will, as much as I can. Have you been in touch with Agent Hines? I’ve been unable to reach him at his office or on his cell.”
There was a short pause. “Yeah, tried to call him, got no answer. His office says he’s on vacation.”
“You don’t think so.” She knew the answer, but she wanted to hear him say it.
“No.” The pause was longer. “No, I don’t.”
“Shit. Okay, listen, I’ll keep you posted. If you get any more visitors, give me a call.” She gave him her cell number. “You should know too, I just heard they found Pratch’s remains.”
“There’s something to throw you off the scent,” McGuire said, stopping Ana in her tracks. “Right on time.”
“You think it’s a diversion?”
“I think someone wanted him found, wants you to focus some time in Europe on that, rather than on this,” McGuire snapped. “This is getting crappier and more convoluted by the minute. I think you need to send someone to find Hines, you get me?”
His implication came through loud and clear. Crap, crap, crap. This was the last thing Ana needed in an already brutally tangled case. Partner or not, McGuire was pissed and thought Hines was involved.
“I’m gonna say this once, missy,” McGuire