Die-Off (11 page)

‘To the Sacramento safehouse.’

‘How far away are you?’

‘Two hours.’

‘I’ll see you there and we’ll go somewhere and talk.’

L
ate that night Marquez sat on lawn furniture in the chill air of the backyard at the safehouse talking on his cell with Katherine. Undercover work and the policies of secrecy surrounding can betray a marriage, and for years he avoided talking about ongoing SOU investigations with her. He obeyed department policy and let her live with uncertainty, long silences, the empty nights and weeks when he was gone. It all took its toll.

Then, as he resigned as patrol lieutenant heading the SOU and was no longer responsible for the team and moving into a sometimes more dangerous role, something snapped in him and he left the department rules in a desk drawer and wrote his own. He and Katherine had each other. That’s what they had. He told Katherine now as best he could how it felt.

‘I feel shock, surprise, anger, everything, Kath. I never saw it coming and now I’ve got to start pushing back.’

In the California Department of Fish and Game Marquez was legendary for taking the battle to the enemy. That was long his style and maybe that would never change, but working alone as he often did now he was more careful how he picked his battles. Katherine didn’t know Voight but she did know him and he walked her through what he saw happening next.

‘It’s going to get rough. Voight will come after Maria.’

‘How can he do that?’

‘She was a friend of both Terry Ellis and Sarah Steiner.’

‘So were a lot of people.’

‘Maria is how I learned about them and Voight knows Maria is the tie between me and Terry and Sarah. He’s known that for a while and I think he’s got some new theory about it. He’ll want to question Maria again.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘From the questions they asked me.’

‘She can say no.’

‘She can but he won’t quit. He’ll make the case that she can help him solve the murders of her friends.’

‘He’ll spin anything she says. You shouldn’t help him do that.’

‘I can’t stop him from questioning Maria and sooner or later he has to talk with her.’

‘But she doesn’t have to talk to him.’

‘Voight took it to the edge when we met. To me that says he believes he has information I don’t know about. He and the sheriff got as far as trying to get me to confess. They held me for hours and got the district attorney involved. She is why they backed off. Harknell followed up with a call to the chief and to Captain Waller. He knows naming me as a suspect could end my career. At a minimum I’d be off until it was resolved.’

‘Is this investigator Voight doing this because of bad blood between you?’

‘I don’t think so. The sheriff can’t stand Fish and Game and maybe he’d push it farther without evidence but I don’t think Voight will. That’s why I think he’s trying to verify something he got from a tip or someone who came forward.’

‘Call Maria and let her know what’s coming.’

‘I’ll call her now.’

Maria’s voice was bright, light-hearted, and teasing as she asked, ‘Dad, what’s up?’

He told her and she was quiet then indignant and asked for Voight’s phone number, insistent that she was going to set him straight.

‘Here’s his phone number but I would let him call you first.’

‘I’m going to deal with this, Dad.’

Early the next morning Marquez switched vehicles again and left Sacramento driving north on 99 thinking about his conversation with Waller last night. Waller’s view was thoughtful and unemotionally frank. If Marquez was named a person of interest the media would circulate his photo and his viability as an undercover operative would end, or in a best case be compromised enough to bring him into the office and find a new role.

That was a place they both knew he would never go, so the assessment was stark and in truth it was worse than Waller said. If Voight didn’t solve the murders yet named him as a person of interest, then until he did solve them Marquez’s name would hang like a question mark. He would become the guy the police were sure did the killings but didn’t have enough evidence to arrest.

Among the law enforcement across the country there was some small fraction of cops who were killers. Inside that tiny fraction were a few who killed and then taunted the detectives by insinuating themselves into an investigation. That was the implication here and it was hard to deal with and not dwell on. It made it hard to concentrate on what he needed to do today.

He drove north of Sacramento and into the area where Emile Soliatano claimed the illegal hatchery was. It was also the location of a legitimate hatchery that ENTR built as part of their project to restore native species. That’s where Marquez was headed. As Hauser had pointed out, the Department of Fish and Game was among ENTR’s partners. The hatchery manager was waiting for him to arrive and he was close now, eleven miles out.

He took the cut-off and was looking at the foothills of the Sierras, the foothills in hazy light this morning and the Sierras beyond hidden by clouds. When he made the next turn he was within four miles of the hatchery that ENTR ran as a non-profit research station and that, according to Hauser, gave cover to the pike project.

Twenty minutes later he was through a painted metal swing gate and driving a narrow paved road through pasture land brown with the fall. The ENTR website described it as a former sheep ranch purchased in a bank sale and given a new life.

The manager was a biologist named Reid, an easy-going guy glad for the break in his routine and oblivious to the cold wind, wearing a worn camouflage coat over a gray T-shirt. His jeans were stained and he smelled a lot like the fish he was raising.

‘Where do you want to start? I don’t do many tours.’

‘Anywhere you want to; I’d like to know why ENTR chose this spot and what you look for in a hatchery location.’

‘Did you look at the website?’

‘I did.’

‘So you know we have three in California and two in Oregon and Washington. We’re going to do a third in Washington, and one in both Idaho and Nevada. They want to do even more but I don’t know much about the plans, I’m just a farmer growing fish. Just a minute,’ he said, and looked surprised as he answered his phone.

Marquez overhead, ‘Yeah, he’s here now,’ and a surprised, ‘What? You’re here. Okay, sure, we’ll wait.’

‘This is different,’ he said as he hung up. ‘That was someone who is part of internal security for the company. She’s at the gate and coming in now. She wants to walk with us. Do you mind telling me what’s going on here? I’ve worked for the company eight years and have never met anyone from internal security.’

They both watched the car drive up and Barbara Jones get out. She was a striking woman, some mix of races, mid thirties, and intending to take charge of this tour. She shook his hand, asked for a card, patted Reid on the back, asking, ‘How’s the fishing?’

She turned to Marquez.

‘Is this your territory? I didn’t see your name with any territory on the Fish and Game website. In fact, I couldn’t find your name anywhere. Would you mind showing me some ID?’

He did and she apologized and said the company was skittish after the pike incident on the Sacramento River.

‘It’s not getting much media coverage but we understand the significance of it, Lieutenant, and we know the fish were raised somewhere. Is that why you’re here?’

‘Indirectly. I’m a lieutenant specialist attached to the Special Operations Unit, which is our undercover unit.’

‘And probably why I couldn’t find your name.’

‘As you guessed, we’re trying to figure out where the pike fingerlings came from. I haven’t worked around hatcheries and this one is close enough to headquarters that I thought I’d come take a look and talk to someone who knows how to grow fish.’

‘You’ve got plenty of people in your department who can do that. Your Fisheries Branch is on S Street. You could walk there from your headquarters and Stafford Lehr is there. Who in the state knows more than him?’

‘I left Sacramento early before that office opened and I’m headed north so this seemed like a good idea. Where did you drive from? You’ve got an earpiece in your right ear, you look tech savvy. Why didn’t you call our headquarters and tell them you’re looking for me? I would have called you and saved you a drive.’

‘I appreciate that.’

‘I can see that.’

He and Jones looked at each other; she smiled and Marquez said, ‘I’m not investigating, I’m touring. I’m here to learn.’

‘I’ll walk with you both. I could use a tour too.’

As they did, she talked about the broader goals of ENTR and the modern design of the facility with its museum and interactive displays to teach visitors about the California river ecosystems and the keystone fish raised here. An arched roof design with open-air sides and a fiberglass roof let light in to the pools. Reid pointed out brood stock, explained the hatchery and nursery systems, how the fish were fed, the live food supply and water recycling system that cleansed the water.

‘We fertilize the fields and lease twenty acres to a local farmer who grows vegetables.’

There was a solar array and storage batteries that went with it and Reid got enthused explaining that the buildings were almost fully automated and that the company has invested heavily in solar storage batteries. Jones stood to the side and texted as Reid talked.

‘The price of batteries is coming down and we’re at the front end of that,’ he said. ‘We’re also funding the development of an inverter that will finally make it affordable to be off-grid.’

Jones reached and touched Reid’s arm; impatience showed.

‘The lieutenant can get this off the website. He doesn’t need us for that. He’s looking for any evidence that we could have taken part in what happened. Isn’t that right, Lieutenant?’

‘It’s pretty much what I said earlier.’

‘Sure, and I heard there were at least a thousand pike fry and that’s scary to us too. That would make this facility with its modern solar array and all its gadgets a waste of time and Mr Reid here would be looking for a new job or maybe we would help stock lakes where the pike hadn’t got to yet. We have a lot at stake too, Lieutenant. Our reputation is our capital. Without our reputation, there would be no investment money, so we’re on hyper alert. What else can you tell me about Fish and Game’s investigation?’

‘That it just got started.’

‘Are you part of it?’

‘Everyone in the department is and plenty of them know a lot more about hatcheries than me.’

‘So they don’t need to come out here and tour.’

‘I suppose not—and like you said earlier, there’s also ENTR’s website. It’s stunning by the way, quite a website.’

She laughed. She smiled and gestured at the fish grow-out tanks.

‘Some of this is funded with federal money. DOE is interested in energy efficient aquaculture. I’ll send you a link.’

‘Please do.’

She turned to Reid. ‘The lieutenant and I need to talk privately now.’

That was fine with Reid. His early enthusiasm had waned. Marquez shook his hand, thanked him, and watched him walk away.

‘I’m going to be very upfront and honest with you, Lieutenant. I believe we’re both looking for the same result, but let me tell you where I’m coming from. The unit I work in spends seventy percent of its time keeping our information secure from cyber theft and prying competitors. The other thirty percent goes to damage control and sometimes that’s an employee or a contractor working for us.’

‘How many of you are there in the unit?’

‘Five and it’s nowhere near enough. We need more techs sitting in front of computers,’ Jones said.

‘That’s not you.’

‘Right, that’s not me. I’m like you. I’m out investigating. I do my homework and try to go and figure out what’s happening or what’s happened. I know you ran the Special Operations Unit for a decade and still work closely with them and that you’re not here to learn how fish grow. I’m guessing you already know how they grow. I’m aware that one of our former contractors who is now an employee has contacted Fish and Game allegedly with information that ENTR is engaged in something illicit, something having to do with seeding rivers with invasive species.’

‘When did you become aware of that?’

‘That’s a smart question to ask but I don’t have the answer this morning. Let me check into that for you and let me bring you up to speed on Matt Hauser. The first thing you need to know is he thinks that without his help global warming wouldn’t have been discovered. In some ways that’s all you need to know, but I’m told his analysis of future microclimate trend-lines is brilliant work and so the company has put up with his ego until now.’

‘What’s changed?’

‘Well, for one thing we know he embezzled eight point two million dollars and I won’t go into the mechanics of how he was able to do that, but let’s just say he was overseeing three research projects and had the authority to move money. The missing money was discovered right away but by then it was bouncing around the world in smaller amounts. Basically, he transferred it offshore three and a half weeks ago and then started moving it around. That’s FBI territory but Hauser has been one of our key guys and the publicity would spook investors, so we’re trying to get it back quietly first. Has he mentioned any of this to you?’

Marquez held Jones’ gaze and didn’t answer.

‘We know he has called you. We know when he first called you. He may be a brilliant scientist but he’s lousy at covering his tracks.’

‘Does that mean you know where the money is?’

‘Not yet, but we’re getting there. All communications are recorded and stored and employees sign a significant non-disclosure agreement. It’s not the type of agreement you want to fuck with. If you have privacy issues, you go work somewhere else.’

‘So cut to the chase.’

‘We think his call to Fish and Game was to try to use you as he negotiates a severance package.’

‘A what?’

‘He stole money and wants to hold the company’s reputation hostage as he negotiates keeping part of it. There’s more to it that I can’t go into right now that involves his pride and an affair and his humiliation. It’s complicated.’