Carnival of Shadows (50 page)

46

It was past one by the time Travis arrived at the McCaffrey, and the message that awaited him did not come as a surprise.

“Someone called Bishop has been after you,” Danny told Travis. “He called Sheriff Rourke, and Rourke came down here looking for you. Anyway, the message was simply that you were to call him as soon as possible. He said it was important.”

Travis did not doubt that Bishop now knew of his visit to Oklahoma City, his data request, the material that had been forwarded via Donald Kline. And if Bishop knew what he was looking into, then alarm bells would be ringing. And yet there was always another possibility, that Bishop was just as much in the dark about the true nature of what was happening here as Travis had been. Six days had passed. Travis had not filed any reports—at Bishop’s request, of course—but how long would Bishop be permitted to let Travis work alone without Bishop having to answer up to his own superiors, especially if the real target of this investigation was Edgar Doyle?

To be safe, Travis would have to assume that Bishop knew at least some part of this, at least a greater part than Travis, and that everyone above Travis—Section Chief Frank Gale, Executive Assistant Director Bradley Warren, Tolson and Hoover themselves—were knowing and willing co-conspirators in this charade. And for what purpose, and where would it end?

Travis knew he’d have to call Bishop. If he didn’t, Bishop would send someone to find out what was going on. Perhaps Bishop would come in person. Kansas City was little more than an hour away.

No, he could not delay. He would call Bishop immediately, and thus he asked once again if he could use the private line in the kitchen.

“Sure thing,” Danny told him. “You know where it is.”

Travis went on back and was surprised to find Laura there. He felt momentarily awkward, and then told her he needed to make a private call.

“Of course,” she said, evidently uncertain as to how she should now be around him. She had presented him with an invitation to be himself, to share a little of that self with her, and he had—in essence—refused her. It had not been a direct rejection, and even as he stood there by the table, waiting for just a moment as she made her way to the door, he felt the compelling need to stop her, to try to explain what was really going on. Once again, as with all matters beyond the scope of regulation and protocol, she beat him to the punch.

“Michael,” she said.

“Laura.”

“Last night, when we spoke…” She looked at him, and there was sadness in her eyes. “I did not mean to presume anything, and I am sorry if I—”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Travis said. “Really, honestly, seriously, you have nothing at all to be sorry for.”

“I thought that perhaps I had… well, you know, assumed something.” She smiled hesitantly. “And you know what they say about assumption, right?”

Travis felt his heart in his temples. He needed to tell her what he was thinking, what he was feeling, but he could not. Not yet. Not until he knew his own mind.

“Something is happening here,” he said, knowing how little he could say and yet desperately wanting her to understand that he just needed some time to deal with his own world as it fell apart. For that’s how it felt—as if the world within which he had lived for as long as he could remember was nothing more than a house of cards.

Laura looked expectantly at Travis. “What is happening here?”

“This case,” he said.

“What about it? Is it over? Are you leaving?”

“I wish I were,” Travis replied. “Not to be away from here. Not that. But to be somewhere else, not having to deal with what I’m facing right now.”

He thought back to the moment he had discovered Andris Varga’s police record in the floor safe, the simple and inescapable truth that the Bureau—whoever or whatever that was—had known who Varga was before they’d even given Travis his assignment briefing. That—in hindsight—had really been the turning point in his own understanding of what he was doing.

“Sit down for a moment, Laura,” he said.

She shook her head. “I don’t want to sit down, Michael. I have to go. I have to be at the diner.”

“You can’t understand what is happening,” he said. “Not that you
can’t
, but there’s just too many things that I cannot tell you. That’s what I mean. I want to tell you, but it’s just that—”

“I don’t want to know why, Michael,” Laura said. “I don’t need to know why you can’t do something. You have a job to do. I understand that. I also appreciate that whatever you are doing is confidential, and to be honest, I don’t think I want to know all the details of some murder investigation.”

“It has gone so far beyond a simple murder investigation,” Travis said.

“Is there such a thing as a
simple
murder investigation?” she said, almost smiling.

“What I’m trying to say, Laura, is that there are some decisions I have to make. They relate to what I am doing here. Not the case, not the dead man. I’m talking about my life. The whole of my life. Who I am, why I am doing this job at all.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’ve never been more serious, Laura.”

“What’s happened? Did something happen here?”

“Everything happened here,” Travis said. “At first I thought it was everything that I didn’t want, and now I think it might be the opposite.”

“And did I even appear among all these happenings, or was I just a distraction on the sidelines?”

Travis laughed suddenly, a reaction to her question, but also a reaction to so many other things.

“Laura… you were anything
but
a distraction on the sidelines. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you were the catalyst for a great deal of what I am trying to deal with right now.”

Laura blushed visibly.

“I am sorry,” Travis said. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“And I didn’t mean to say what I said last night.”

“About what?”

“About you pretending.”

“But it was true.”

“It might have been true, but sometimes it doesn’t need to be said. It was hurtful.”

Travis smiled. He reached out his hand toward her. She hesitated for a moment, and then she reached back.

“I want to tell you a great deal,” he said, “but I can’t. I have things to do, and I don’t know what will happen as a result. I am in a very uncertain position, and it may go very wrong indeed. If it does go wrong, I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire. It doesn’t concern you, and it doesn’t need to concern you, and even though that might sound like an attempt to avoid what is happening here, it isn’t.”

Travis squeezed her hand reassuringly, and then he let go.

“I am going to wait for you to do whatever you have to do, Michael Travis, and when it is done, you can explain these things to me. However, I am not as quiet and well mannered a young lady as you might believe. I am a troublemaker, and I say what I think. If you upset me, I will…” She paused for a moment and then added, “Well, just don’t upset me, okay?”

“I won’t.”

“I’ll take that as a promise, and I believe you might just be a man of your word.”

“I am… I try to be.”

“I am trusting you, but only for so long. I have wasted too much time expecting people to be something they’re not.”

“I believe I have done the same,” Travis replied.

“So now I am going to work,” Laura said, “and maybe I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yes,” Travis said, and just reached out toward her once more as she left the kitchen.

Travis paused for a moment. He tried to focus himself on the matter at hand. He did not know what to expect from Bishop, but there was only one way to find out.

Travis dialed out. The phone rang barely twice before it was lifted at the other end. Travis asked for Bishop, and Bishop was there immediately.

“Special Agent Travis,” Bishop said.

“You called, sir?”

“I did. I wanted an update on your progress. It’s almost a week since you arrived. I expect you are coming to some sort of conclusion in your findings.”

“I am, sir, yes.”

“And so?” Bishop asked.

“I understood that you required a full and final report, not an ongoing commentary of events.”

“That is correct, Travis, but I am being asked questions, and I need answers for those questions.”

“I have a couple of questions first, if that is okay with you.”

“You have questions?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Okay, fire away.”

“I was curious as to why a daily report was not required in this case,” Travis said. “A daily report is the administrative backbone of any investigation. It is something we are required to provide in all instances, and there have never been any exceptions. I was wondering why this case was different.”

“Because this case
is
different, Agent Travis,” Bishop said.

“Can you explain that, sir?”

“I don’t know that I can enlighten you a great deal more than I have already. Just like you, I receive orders. They are not to be contradicted, of course, and sometimes they are not to be questioned. That is the essence of duty, Agent Travis.”

“So you don’t know?”

“No, I don’t know.”

“Very well.”

“So, your conclusions, Agent Travis?”

“I have some other questions,” Travis said.

Bishop was silent for a moment, and then he said, “Okay,” but his tone was measured and patient, as if Travis was now testing his patience.

“I have learned the identity of the dead man.”

“You have?” Bishop said, and it was most definitely a question. There was no doubt in Travis’s mind that Bishop was surprised.

“You seem surprised, sir,” Travis said.

“Not at all, Travis. You have had a week. I would have expected this much at the very least.”

“I have learned some other things about his identity, also his past, and they are of significant concern to me.”

“Concern?”

“Yes, concern.”

“And what is it that concerns you, Travis?”

“Where he came from.”

“Before Seneca Falls?”

“No, sir. Before he arrived in the United States.”

Again there was a moment’s silence, almost as if Bishop was taking a moment to absorb, to process, to ascertain what he could or could not say in response. Either that, or Travis was feeding his own suspicion and paranoia.

“You don’t want to know where he was from?” Travis asked.

“I want to read it in your final report, Travis,” Bishop said.

“Did you already know where he was from, sir?”

The silence this time was longer, noticeably so.

“What are you asking me, Travis?” Bishop said.

“I am asking for a clearer explanation of the nature of this case, sir. I am asking for a better understanding of the actual purpose of this investigation. I am asking you to tell me the truth about why I was sent here to Seneca Falls.”

“I think it’s time you returned to Kansas City,” Bishop said. “Perhaps it was a mistake to assign you to this case alone. Possibly you were not ready to manage such an investigation single-handedly.”

“I have more questions, sir,” Travis said.

“Enough with the questions,” Bishop replied, his voice now edged with irritation. “As I said, it is time to come back to Kansas. You can make a full report of what you have learned thus far, and we can make a determination of the best—”

“Where is the body, sir?” Travis interjected.

“I am sorry?”

“Where is the body? The dead body, sir, remember?”

“I do not appreciate the tone, Travis—”

“And I do not appreciate being misled or lied to or being—”

“Okay, I have had about as much of this as I am prepared to take, Agent Travis. I expect you back here within two hours. That’s no later than four thirty, you understand? And that is a direct order.”

Travis did not respond.

“Agent Travis, I have just issued an order. I expect that order to be complied with on an immediate basis.”

“Tell me why the body was taken away, sir,” Travis said. “Tell me where they took the body of Andris Varga, the assassin, the Hungarian hired killer who belonged to Black Dog? Tell me why the body was removed from Seneca Falls without informing me. After all, am I not heading up this investigation?”

“Travis, seriously—”

“Seriously what, sir? Seriously
what
?”

“I don’t think you have the slightest comprehension of what is actually happening here—”

“Oh, I think I’m starting to get a pretty good grasp of it.”

“I am filing a report about this conversation right now.”

“Excellent. I am pleased to hear that. And where will that report be going? To Section Chief Gale, Executive Assistant Director Warren, to Mr. Tolson, perhaps even to the director himself? Or will it be going to Sidney Gottlieb and Allen Dulles?”

“Travis, you have no idea what you are saying. You cannot even begin to appreciate the amount of trouble—”

“Oh, I think I can, sir. That’s the problem. I
can
appreciate the amount of trouble, and—”

“And nothing, Agent Travis. As I said, I expect you back here within two hours. By the end of the day I will need a full and detailed report of everything that has happened in Seneca Falls, and I am sure that others besides myself will be very interested to hear what you have to say about these allegations.”

“Allegations? I haven’t made any allegations.”

“Accusations, inferences, whatever you want to call them. You know precisely what I am referring to. Suggesting that there was some other agenda in sending you to oversee this investigation, implying that something untoward occurred regarding the removal of the body. I think you understand well enough that the Bureau has a very firm and intractable policy regarding being wholly responsible for the things we say, both verbally and in writing. That is not something I should have to remind you of, Agent Travis.”

“Perhaps it is something that Mr. Hoover needs to be reminded of,” Travis replied.

“How dare you—”

“How dare
you
, sir. You sent me here. You knew who Andris Varga was before I even arrived, didn’t you? I think you have made it very clear by your complete inability to even answer a straight question that there is a hidden agenda here, that I have been misled, that I have been lied to—”