COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) (9 page)

            “The ambassador may be behind the arson or he may not even know about it,” she said. “He may think he’s stopped whoever’s doing this.”

            “But he hasn’t,” Rob said.

            “We need an insurance policy,” Mac growled.

            “Some surefire way to blow the whistle,” Rose said, “if anything happens to Kate.”

            “Or to anyone else,” Kate said.

            Rob started flipping through the old-fashioned Rolodex on his desk. He pulled out several cards as he went. “I can send the information about the ambassador’s true identity, in sealed envelopes, to several colleagues, with instructions to go to the FBI with them if I fail to contact them at given times.”

            “That’ll work,” Rose said.

            Rob reached over and hit the power button on his computer to boot it up. “The question is, how do we let the ambassador know we’ve done that?” He opened his word processing program, then flexed his thick fingers and started to hunt and peck on the keyboard.

            Rose rolled her eyes. She walked over and nudged Rob’s shoulder, then made a shooing motion. “If we wait for you to type out the whole sorry story, we’ll be here ’til midnight.”

            Rob vacated his desk chair and Rose sat down. Her fingers flew over the keys. “Do you know how to get in touch with this ambassador?” she asked Kate without missing a stroke.

            “No, I don’t know his name, or even what country he’s from. Mill... uh, my client knew where his mistress lived. That’s where he sent the PI to get a picture.”

            “I’m going to need to put your client’s name in here.” Rose nodded toward the computer monitor. “If someone has to eventually give this information to the authorities, they’ll need to know the connection to his death.”

            Kate hesitated, then sighed. Miller would want her to do what she had to do to protect herself and her loved ones, not to mention his own family. “It’s Miller Dawson.”

            Rose hit the page up key and filled in the name.

            “Miller was going to turn the ambassador in. Until he got the second letter. He called me, all torn up...”  Kate’s throat tightened as she remembered that wrenching conversation. “He decided to go to the meeting. But either the ambassador wasn’t as sincere as he sounded, or someone else got to Miller first.”

            “This ambassador won’t know we don’t know his name,” Mac said. “We just need to figure out how to contact him, so’s we can tell him ’bout the insurance.”

            Rose clicked the mouse and pages started spewing out of Rob’s printer. Then she opened the computer’s browser. “I can find out who he is.”

            “No!” Kate reached across the desk and grabbed Rose’s arm. “The ambassador warned me not to do an internet search or do anything to find out about him.”

            “They can’t be monitoring every search engine out there,” Rob said.

            Rose sat back in the desk chair. “No, but they could be monitoring the hits on the embassy site. Once I find him, they’ll know it. And they might be able to track it back to this computer. I’ll have to get Dolph to work on it.”

            Kate thought about that for a moment. Dolph Randolph, a retired police detective, was the oldest member of the Canfield and Hernandez staff, but he was by far the most computer savvy of them all, with the exception of Rob’s wife, Liz. But still...

            “I don’t want to involve anybody else,” she said, shaking her head. “The private detective would have the mistress’s address. Miller said the ambassador goes there several times a week.”

            “Who was the PI?” Rose asked.

            “Skip gave me two referrals, but I can’t remember their names. I shredded the paper with the information on it once I passed it on to Miller. The guy he most likely used was the one Skip said was a little sleazy.”

            “Howie Kaplan?”

            “Yeah, that’s it.”

            “Will this Howie character tell you the address?” Mac asked. “That’d be violatin’ client confidentiality.”

            Rose snorted. “He will if I offer him enough money.”

            “Whatever it takes,” Kate said. She had a sizeable investment account thanks to a life insurance policy Eddie had taken out a couple years before he died. Normally she didn’t touch it, except in emergencies. If this wasn’t an emergency, she didn’t know what was.

            Rose raised an eloquent eyebrow at Kate. “Since my partner’s conspicuously absent, I’m assuming you haven’t told him yet.”

            Kate dropped her eyes. “I chickened out.”

            “I’m going home with you.”

            Kate shook her head. She didn’t want to put Rose at risk, and she doubted Skip would enjoy having an audience for this particular conversation.

            “Nobody’ll think twice about my coming to visit Maria,” Rose said. “I’ll be nearby, just in case you need reinforcements.”

            Kate’s heart sank.
She thinks Skip’s gonna blow up.

            Kate decided not to argue. Rose had a point. She was Maria’s cousin and she often stopped by the house.

            “I’ll send a follow-up letter when we find out the ambassador’s name,” Rob said. “We’re sending these out today.” He picked up some of the papers from the printer tray. “In sealed envelopes, with a cover letter saying the recipient should take it to the nearest FBI office if they don’t hear from me at least once a day.”

            “Dictate your cover letter,” Rose said. “Mac should mail them, just in case someone’s watching you.” She typed almost as fast as Rob dictated.

            She instructed the computer to print, then opened a new document. “Next, the letter to the ambassador.”

            “Dear Mr. Ambassador,” Rob said. “I have taken out an insurance policy on behalf of the acquaintance you have in common with the late Mr. Dawson. Sealed envelopes containing all relevant information have been delivered to various people around the country, with instructions to take the envelope to the nearest FBI office should they not receive a telephone call once a day. If anything should happen to the mutual acquaintance or any of her friends or family, that call will not be made. We bear you no ill will and have no intention of revealing any information about you, unless you give us no choice. Sincerely, A Concerned Friend.”

            “Add something about the fire,” Kate said.

            Rob and Rose both nodded. She typed as he dictated. “P.S. It may interest you to know that Mr. Dawson’s house burned down. The fire marshal has concluded it was arson.”

            Once the insurance packets were put together and addressed, Mac picked them up. He nodded at Kate. “Rose’ll take you home, sweet pea. Try to relax now. This should put it to rest.”

            “Easy for you to say. You don’t have to face Skip.”

~~~~~~~

            On the way to the house, Rose used her hands-free car phone to call Howie Kaplan. She got his voicemail. “Rose Hernandez here, Kaplan. I need some info from you asap. There’s a fifty in it for you.”

            Rose rattled off her cell number and disconnected.

            “Only fifty,” Kate said. “Are you sure he’ll tell you the address for that?”

            “Hell, no. That’s just where we’re starting the negotiations.”

            Skip was home when they got there. “Hey, Rose, I landed a new account this afternoon with another insurance company.”

            Rose expressed an appropriate level of enthusiasm for this news, then excused herself to go visit with her cousin and the kids. “Hey, you two, it’s nice out,” Kate heard her say. “Let’s go out back and play catch.”

            As the pounding of little feet receded, Kate turned to Skip. He gathered her to him and kissed the top of her head. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed, savoring the warmth of his embrace since she knew he would be furious with her in just a few minutes.

           
Get to it before you lose your nerve again.
She leaned back in his arms. “Sit down, sweetheart, I need to tell you something.”

            Once they were seated at the table, Kate took a deep breath. “The client I was worried about is dead. In his youth, he was an operative for the CIA. A little over a month ago, he ran into someone he knew from back then, someone who had changed his identity and is now an ambassador to the U.S. for his country.” She quickly summarized the encounter at the party. “My client–Miller is, was his name–thought everything was okay, but then there were several attempts made on his life.”

            Skip had been listening patiently up to this point. Now his body tensed and his eyes went wide. “Shit, Kate! What the hell have you gotten yourself into?”

            “Sh, keep your voice down, or the kids’ll be in here wanting to know what’s going on. There’s no reason to be... Well, let me put it this way, we should be safe soon. It’s being taken care of.”

            “What’s being taken care of? And by whom?” Skip’s face was calm on the surface, but she noted the telltale tightness in his jaw.

            “Please, sweetheart, let me finish,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Miller made every effort to keep me out of it, but he needed a sounding board. He was going to turn the ambassador in, to protect himself and his family, but then he got a letter, assuring him that the ambassador meant him no harm and wanted to meet to warn him about something.”

            “And your client fell for that?”

            “Not exactly. He was very conflicted about it. He called me.” She could hear Skip’s teeth grinding together. “From a disposable cell phone. This man used to be a spy, sweetheart. He knew what he was doing.”

            “Oh yeah, then why is he dead and my wife’s in danger?”

            “I’m getting to that. The ambassador may or may not have been on the up-and-up. He claims the killer was someone on his staff who got wind of what was going on–”

            “Wait! He claims? You talked to this guy?”

            “I’m getting to that. Let me tell it in sequence. Miller had left a letter for his wife to find. She came to see me.”

            Skip grabbed the hair on the sides of his head and pulled.

            “Sweetheart, please calm down. She’s the grieving widow of my former client. Why wouldn’t she come to see me for a counseling session? I’ve tried to be careful every step of the way with this.”

            “My God, Kate, do you have any idea how far in over your head you are? Why didn’t you come to me about this right away–”

            Pressure built in her chest as her own temper flared. “Yes, I’m fully aware of how far over my head I am. And there’s nothing you could’ve done without putting yourself at risk, and
increasing
the risk to me.” She struggled to rein in her anger and soften her voice. She had to get the rest out so he’d know things were already under control. “That is exactly why I
didn’t
tell you. Not to mention the whole confidentiality thing.”

            She took another deep breath. “The ambassador came to my office on Tuesday to reassure me–”

            Skip jumped up, paced across the room, then turned and stared at her.

            “Yes, he somehow figured out my connection to Miller. But he was there to reassure me that he’d identified the killer and had dealt with him. He also told me that no one, not even his most trusted employees, knew he was at my office or knew anything about me.”

            “Come on, and you believe him? You know a secret that could destroy him and you think he’s not going to do anything about it?”

            “I didn’t say I believe him. But to his credit, we were alone in my office and he could have very easily tried to kill or kidnap me and he didn’t.”

            “No, he wouldn’t have tried, he would have succeeded. He killed a trained CIA operative.”

            “We don’t know that,” Kate said. “What we do know is that whoever killed Miller is still cleaning up loose ends because Miller’s house burned down–”

            Skip narrowed his eyes. “
We
?”

            Kate ignored the implied question. “To be on the safe side, we’ve taken out an insurance policy.” She rushed through a description of what they had done, trying to get the rest out before he exploded. “Rob sent out the packets with instructions to take them to the FBI if they don’t hear–”

            This time Kate was stopped by the stony look on Skip’s face. She stood up and took a step toward him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I really couldn’t.”

            “No, but you could tell all your friends, apparently.”

            “I just told Mac and Rose yesterday, to get their input. I was going to tell you last night, but...”

            He was glaring at her, his hazel eyes the flat muddy brown they became when he was angry. “How long has Rob known?”

            “I needed a sounding board, and I could justify telling him because of the whole lawyer confidentiality thing.”

            “How long?”

            “A week.”

            Skip turned and walked out of the room. A few seconds later, she heard the bedroom door slam.

~~~~~~~

            Rose stepped into the kitchen doorway. “That could’ve gone worse.”

            “It could’ve gone better too.” Kate sat back down at the table and dropped her head into her hands.

            Rose caught movement in her peripheral vision. She turned and saw the bedroom door opening. Her partner closed the distance to the study in a few long strides.

            “Uh oh, spoke too soon.”

            After a moment, the gun safe door slammed with a metal clang. Kate winced. Rose spotted Skip’s keys lying on the kitchen counter and snatched them up.

            “I’m going out. Don’t wait dinner,” Skip growled from behind her. He leaned over Rose’s shoulder to look around on the counter. “Where are my damn keys?”

            Rose used her elbow to not so gently move him out of her way. She headed for the front door. “I’ve got them, partner. Come on, we’re going for a drive.”