Unsolved (Invisible #2) - James Patterson Page 0,15

doors with Ross, has seen him up close and in action, and his view of Ross is the same as his view of many people he encountered at the Bureau—he overvalues his own importance and takes himself too seriously, but at the end of the day, he is doing the job for the right reasons.

“We told her,” says Ross, “that if she was going to reach out to local jurisdictions, she had to emphasize that she wasn’t speaking in her official capacity as a Bureau analyst. We even wrote up the words she had to use. But she hasn’t been using them. Reading her e-mails, I can see she’s leading people to believe that she’s doing official Bureau business.”

“Sounds like a technical foul to me, at worst,” says Books.

Ross says, “You call conducting unauthorized business in the name of the FBI a technicality?”

Books looks at Ross, then at Moriarty, his eyebrows raised. “Yes,” he says. “What’s the harm? If her hunt leads nowhere, no big deal. You don’t waste any resources, and the only thing she wastes is her own personal time. But if it leads to something real, then she’s helped stop a killer. When did that become a bad thing? I thought that was, y’know, kinda what you guys did here.”

“Books, I know you’re close to this,” says the director.

“Maybe, but I’m still right. She’s not hurting anything or anybody.” Except herself, he does not say. “She discovered Graham’s crimes,” Books goes on, “and the Bureau took down an evil sociopath.”

“Emmy took down Graham,” says Ross. “Or so the press seems to imply. You’d think the rest of the Bureau had nothing to do with it.”

Books turns on Ross, feeling the heat rise within him. “Emmy didn’t grant a single media interview. She never said a word in public. Nothing. The victims’ families spoke up for her. Local cops she’d contacted for help spoke up for her. Other agents on the team—Lydia and Denny and Sophie and I—spoke up for her. Because she deserved it. She never sought credit for it even though the rest of us had our thumbs up our asses while she was uncovering the most brilliant and horrific crime spree I’ve ever seen.”

“Enough,” says the director.

“I mean, that’s what this is really about, isn’t it, Dwight? That a lowly data analyst did the work that the superstar special agents were supposed to be doing—and did it better than them? That you got shown up by some numbers girl?”

“I said that’s enough.” Moriarty raises a hand.

“That’s not true at all,” says Ross, his eyes cold.

“It’s a little true, Dwight,” says Moriarty. He looks at Books. “But listen, Books, we can’t have her running around claiming that she’s doing FBI business when it’s not FBI business. Dwight’s right about that. Your girl’s doing that. And she can’t.” He lets out a sigh and looks up at the ceiling. “But we can’t call her out on this without revealing that we’ve been inside her computer. She can’t know we’re onto her until we’re ready to make a move.”

Books feels something stir inside him.

“If we make a move,” the director says, correcting himself.

Books turns to Ross. “You haven’t found any evidence that she’s leaking secrets, have you? Forensics hasn’t pulled anything incriminating from her computer?”

“Not yet,” he says. “It will take us some time.”

They won’t find anything. Books is sure of it. Emmy’s no traitor. “You still haven’t told me about the case she’s working on,” says Books. “The one where she’s supposedly leaking secrets.”

“Emmy never mentioned it?”

Books shrugs. “It’s Bureau business. I’m a private citizen. She keeps that wall up.”

Ross seems dubious about that claim. But it’s true. Emmy and Books don’t discuss her work. He doesn’t even bother asking. If the roles were reversed, he wouldn’t say anything to her either.

“Tell him, Dwight,” says the director. “Tell him about the investigation.”

16

“YOU’VE HEARD of Citizen David,” Ross says to Books.

Of course he has. Books has read several accounts of his exploits. He’d even discussed it with Emmy one lazy Sunday morning while they were reading the Washington Post in bed.

Citizen David is the person who has claimed responsibility for a number of acts of civil disobedience and domestic terrorism over the past six months. His manifesto is, simply stated, The deck is stacked against the little guy in this country. Businesses have no moral center and will rob, cheat, and steal their way to maximum profits at the expense of the consumers. Higher education is reserved for