including Agent Presidio’s bottle of Scotch.”
“It had been on his desk when I found him. His BAC was elevated.”
“There are some discrepancies in the autopsy and his body is being sent to our lab to be reautopsied, and an extensive toxicology panel has been ordered. There are some drug interactions that may have caused an elevated BAC. They’re also specifically checking for legal and illegal drugs that may cause cardiac arrest.”
“You think Tony was murdered.” Lucy shifted in her seat and stared at Noah. “I told Hans on Friday that it seemed suspicious that Tony died and all the McMahon files were gone.”
“Hans contacted the lab after he talked to you, then called Rick Stockton and opened a classified investigation into Tony’s death. You, me, and Chief O’Neal are the only three people at Quantico who know about this investigation. And Kate—Hans told her last night, but she’s not taking an active investigatory role. Everyone else will be told that Tony died of natural causes, case closed, and that Hans had an accident when he cut through a poorly marked construction site.”
“Someone we know did this?”
“If Tony was killed at Quantico and not poisoned earlier, and since Hans was attacked on campus, the person responsible is either staff or someone from your class. Chief O’Neal is investigating the staff.” He glanced at her. “You and I are investigating Class Twelve-Fourteen.”
“My class? There are three new-agent classes here.”
“Class Twelve-Thirteen spent the weekend with DEA trainees on joint border and jurisdictional situations, and Class Twelve-Twelve was on survival weekend.”
“Survival weekend is still within Quantico boundaries.”
“I have someone verifying that all class members were accounted for—it’s possible, though unlikely, that someone could have slipped away. Everyone is paired up and between the survival grounds and campus is an active Marine training zone. Off-limits, well marked, and extremely dangerous to traverse. In addition, someone had to be following Hans to know when he left the building, or waiting in the construction area knowing that was the path he would take to his temporary housing.”
Noah paused to merge onto the highway, then continued, “I have a list of everyone who was signed in, but as you know, there are ways to get on campus without signing in, or signing in later than you arrive. I pulled all records from the main gate. Those will be harder to fudge because they’re maintained by the Marine base. But we need to consider everyone a suspect.” He glanced at her. “Are you okay with this?”
She nodded, but she didn’t feel okay.
“Lucy, talk to me. Once we get on campus we’re not going to be having this conversation.”
“Essentially, you’re telling me that someone I know and trust killed Tony and attempted to kill Hans.”
“It’s not going to be easy, but I need you at the top of your game.”
“I know.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll be okay.” Would she? Could she look at her friends in the same way, knowing that one of them was a killer? One of them had manipulated her? Lucy always felt she was a good judge of character—and one reason she had so few friends was because she had a hard time trusting people. But here she had felt a bond instantly with her fellow new agents, a kinship because they were all in the same place—physically, professionally. And she liked them.
Noah said, “Fill me in on everything you know, and we’ll go from there. Start with Dominic Theissen. Hans told Stockton last night that he wanted to look at his accident.”
The comfort in reciting facts calmed Lucy and turned her mind from Hans to the job.
“Theissen got in the middle of a fight at a subway station in Queens and was pushed onto the tracks. The police ruled that it was involuntary manslaughter. Sean and Agent Suzanne Madeaux in the New York office are pulling the files on it.”
“And Theissen was the media officer during the McMahon investigation.”
“Correct. And he was friends with Rosemary Weber. Bob Stokes was a Newark cop when Rachel McMahon went missing, and Weber’s main contact for her book, in addition to Theissen.”
“While you were flying, Sean said Stokes came to talk to Weber after Theissen’s funeral. He died of a heart attack the next day.”
“Sean doesn’t think it’s a coincidence and neither do I. But to poison someone means that the victim trusted the killer, or the killer knew the victim’s routine well enough to slip poison into their food or drink.”
Lucy continued, “We also don’t know