to me. No, wait a minute. I gotta go to this meeting. Have somebody in the library—”
“Don’t you listen, Jack? You aren’t going to any meeting. I want you on the next plane back here to write this for tomorrow.”
I watched Rachel blow a kiss at me and then go out the door.
“I understand. You’ll have it for tomorrow. But I can write it here and ship it.”
“No. This is a hands-on story. I want to work this one right here with you.”
“Let me go to this meeting and call you back.”
“Why?”
“There’s a new development,” I lied. “I don’t know what it is and I have to go and find out. Let me go and I’ll call you. Meantime, have the library take the Times story off their wire and ship it to my basket. I’ll call it up here. I gotta go.”
I hung up before he could protest. I quickly got dressed and headed out the door with my computer bag. I was in a daze. I didn’t know how this could have happened. But a thought was pushing through.
Thorson.
We each grabbed two cups to go from a hospitality stand in the lobby and then headed to the federal building. She had packed all her things again. I had forgotten.
We didn’t talk until we had finished our first cups. I imagined we had completely different dilemmas and different thoughts going through our mind.
“Are you going back to Denver?” she asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
“How bad was it?”
“It was bad. Last time he’ll ever listen to one of my promises.”
“I don’t understand how it could’ve happened. They would have had to call Bob Backus for comment.”
“Maybe they did.”
“No, he would have told you. He would have kept his deal. He’s second-generation bureau. I’ve never seen anyone toe the line like that man.”
“Well I hope he keeps the deal now. Because I’m writing today.”
“What did the story say?”
“I don’t know. I should have it as soon as I can hook up to a phone.”
We were at the courthouse. She pulled into the garage for federal employees.
Only Backus and Thorson were in the conference room.
The meeting began with Backus expressing his regret that the story had leaked before I could write it. It seemed legitimate to me and I regretted impugning his integrity with my comment earlier to Rachel.
“Do you have it? I can get it on my computer if I can use the phone line.”
“By all means. I’ve been waiting for someone from the L.A. field office to fax it. The only reason I know about it is because Brass tells me we’re already getting calls from other media into Quantico.”
I plugged in and turned on my computer and dialed into the Rocky system. I didn’t bother to read any of my messages. I went right to my personal basket and looked at the files. I noticed there were two new ones: POETCOPY and HYP- STORIES. I remembered then that I had asked Laurie Prine for stories on hypnosis and Horace the Hypnotist but I’d have to look at those files later. I called up POETCOPY and got a shock that I should have seen coming before I had even read the first line of the story.
“Damn it!”
“What?” Rachel asked.
“It was written by Warren. He resigns from the Law Enforcement Foundation and then turns around and uses my story to get back with the Times.”
“Reporters,” Thorson said with unhidden joy. “Just can’t trust them.”
I ignored him but it was hard. I was angry about what had happened. At Warren and at myself. I should have seen it coming.
“Read it, Jack,” Backus said.
I did.
FBI, POLICE SEEK SERIAL COP KILLER
The Hunted Turns on the Hunters
By Michael Warren
Special to the Times
The FBI has begun a manhunt for a serial killer who has claimed as many as seven homicide detectives as his victims in a nationwide rampage begun as long as three years ago.
Dubbed the “Poet” because he has left notes containing lines of poetry from the work of Edgar Allan Poe at each murder scene, the suspect has attempted to disguise the deaths of his victims as suicides.
And for as long as three years his victims were counted as such until the similarities of the crimes, including the quotes from Poe, were discovered last week, according to a source close to the investigation.
That discovery prompted the FBI to act quickly in its efforts to identify and capture the Poet. Dozens of FBI agents and police in seven cities are carrying out the investigation under the