No Good Deed (27 page)

Lucy flipped rapidly through Nicole’s file. “Sergeant Rollins, during Nicole’s application process sixteen years ago, an Agent Adam Dover contacted you via phone while you were stationed in Iraq. He indicated that you had given him no reason your sister shouldn’t be admitted into the DEA agent training program.”

“I never spoke to any federal agent in the DEA or the FBI about my sister prior to three months ago when Agent Archer contacted me about my sister’s arrest. I told her I didn’t care, wasn’t surprised, and I had to leave—we were in the process of breaking down camp.”

“What would you have said had you been interviewed?” Hans asked.

“I would have told the truth, sir. That Nicole is ill suited for any law enforcement position because she has no respect for authority.”

“Did she have a problem with your father? He was in the military and then a police officer.”

“Nicole worshipped our father. I used to as well.”

“Used to?”

“Until I learned that he was a bad cop. None of that will be in his file, because no one knew until he was dead. But my uncle Jimmy certainly believed it.” He paused. “You don’t know about Jimmy, do you?”

“No, Sergeant, we don’t,” Hans said.

“Jimmy Hunt. My mother’s brother-in-law. Born and raised in LA. He said once, after my dad was killed, that he’d lost his best inside man. I didn’t know it at the time—but I later learned that Jimmy was a narcotics dealer. My father targeted his competition and protected Jimmy’s people on the street. I got out of LA as fast as I could. Army ROTC saved my life, sir.”

How Hunt and John Rollins operated was almost identical to how Nicole worked both sides in the DEA.

“Can you prove any of this?” Hans asked.

“I left home twenty-two years ago and have never been back. Uncle Jimmy told me if I walked out, I was no longer part of the family. I couldn’t prove anything, just talk around the dinner table. Truthfully, I didn’t want to know.” He paused. “Jimmy implied that if I said anything about what I thought I knew, I’d be dead. Since my dad was a corrupt cop, I figured there were others. Jimmy’s charismatic, smart. I’m not surprised that Nicole fell for his line of bullshit. She has no moral code to speak of. And—” Again, he hesitated.

“Anything you can tell us will help us find her.”

“I don’t see how this helps, but Jimmy told us that the DEA had killed our dad. That they were so gun-happy and empowered by the war on drugs that they would kill innocent people if they could get at one of their targets. Collateral damage, he said. That was my dad. I wanted to believe it—until I found out the truth.”

“There was nothing in the LAPD report on your father’s death that indicated the DEA was involved in the shooting,” Hans said. “It would have come out in Nicole’s application process.”

“I don’t know what was in the report. And you know what else should have come out but didn’t? Me. No one spoke to me. When I heard Nicole got into UCLA I thought that maybe she was turning her life around somehow, that she’d get out from under my uncle’s thumb, but it didn’t happen.”

“How do you know this if you haven’t spoken to her in twenty-two years?” Lucy asked.

“Fair enough. Like I said, I don’t talk to my mom much, but when she calls, she blabs. Nothing incriminating, but she once said that Nicole was Jimmy’s bright, shining star. I didn’t ask what that meant. You should definitely look into Uncle Jimmy’s record. Jimmy, not James. Jimmy Hunt. I heard on the news, or read in the paper, that he had to leave the country, he was wanted for questioning. I never talked to my mother about it—in fact, I don’t think I’ve spoken to her since. She probably bolted with him.”

Chris turned to listen to someone offscreen, then turned back to Hans and Lucy. “Agents, I really need to go. If you have more questions, contact my commanding officer.”

“Thank you for your time.” Hans nodded to Zach to shut down the call. “Agent Novak in LA is going to be interested in this information.”

Zach said, “If you don’t need me, I need to bring Juan some papers at the hospital.”

Lucy reached out and touched his arm. “Is Nita okay?”

“I don’t know. It was a lot worse than Juan told me this morning. They almost lost Nita and the baby. The baby is healthy, but Nita is still sick and they don’t know why.”

“Would Juan be up for visitors later?”

“I’ll let you know.”

Zach left, and Hans got on the phone. “Assistant Director Hans Vigo for Supervisory Special Agent Blair Novak.”

While he waited to be connected, he said to Lucy, “What office was Dover assigned to when he allegedly interviewed Chris Rollins?”

“Los Angeles, the same office that recruited Nicole out of college.”

“Your report said she moved around a lot.”

“Yes. She asked for more transfers than she received, but she moved several times before landing in Houston. She didn’t ask—at least not officially—to be transferred to San Antonio, but San Antonio is under Houston leadership.”

“Call Noah. Tell him exactly what you told me, and then ask him to talk to Rick about any investigations into the LA or Houston DEA offices over the past fifteen years.”

She was going to ask why, but Hans began talking to Agent Novak, and it was clear they had known each other for a long time.

Lucy left Hans and went to her desk. She picked up the phone, but realized she was out in the open. Anyone could listen to her call, and she remembered Kane’s admonition that there was someone corrupt in her office. She didn’t want to believe it was anyone on her team, but what did she really know about these people?

Zach had already left, so she went into Juan’s office and closed the door. Took a deep breath, feeling out of place in her boss’s office, especially without permission. But Juan had an open-door policy and she needed this conversation to be strictly confidential. Just in case. Juan’s office was neat but it was obvious he’d left in the middle of work. Files were stacked on the desk, the blotter had a stack of messages, and on the short credenza behind his chair were the squad’s open case files. Most information was routed through the computer system, but so much was gathered from external sources they needed to maintain paper files, which would later be digitally archived.

She picked up the phone and dialed Noah’s direct line.

“Armstrong,” he answered briskly.

“Noah, it’s Lucy.”

“I was going to call you.”

“News about Agent Dunbar?”

“Not exactly. Do you have something?”

“Hans wants you to talk to Rick about past investigations into the Los Angeles or Houston DEA offices, going back fifteen years.” She told him about the conversation with Chris Rollins, Agent Adam Dover’s false report, and the rumor about Nicole’s father possibly being a corrupt cop. “Sergeant Rollins also said he’d heard his uncle, Jimmy Hunt of Los Angeles, had fled the country to avoid arrest. Hans is working on getting information about Hunt now.”

She could hear Noah writing everything down. “I’m seeing Rick in an hour, we’ll talk about this. I need your help on something.”

“Anything.”

“Agent Dunbar’s computer was cloned—his killer copied his hard drive. It was password-protected, he probably couldn’t crack the code on sight, but he was able to copy all the data.”

“To bring to a hacker.”

“Exactly. They didn’t take the laptop, and there was no sign that it was tampered with, no sign that the killer went through the house. He may not have known that there’s a log generated for every action—even copying the hard drive. He must have brought his own equipment.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“I have a copy of all the data on Dunbar’s laptop. I’m going through the financials because I’m familiar with Dunbar’s investigation, but there are hundreds of emails, memos, and reports and nothing has popped out at me as being important to Rollins or her people. Some of it is public information or soon to be made public, such as a copy of the entire report into Adeline Worthington and her real estate and money laundering partner James Everett, plus Everett’s statements. Everett is already in witness protection, and nothing on Dunbar’s computer relates to his whereabouts. We’ve contacted the other witnesses who may be in jeopardy—most of them are in DC. The marshals are taking point on protection. So far, going through these memos, there is nothing they couldn’t get through a less violent approach.”

“I’ll take a look,” she said. “I wasn’t as involved in Dunbar’s investigation, but I know the players.”

“That’s what I was hoping. There’s one more thing you need to know.” He paused, and Lucy sensed bad news. “The ballistics report came back—the gun that killed Agent Dunbar matches the gun used in the hospital shooting. Specifically, the gun that hit you.”

Her stomach flipped. “You’re sure?” Of course he was sure. “Why? It connects Dunbar to us. It proves this wasn’t a random murder.”

“That’s what the killer wanted.”

“It isn’t logical.”

“It is if they want to issue a direct threat to law enforcement. Specifically, a threat to you.”

A chill ran through her bones. “They want us to know they can get to us. Anywhere. In the line of duty, in our own homes.”

“Be extra careful, Lucy. I used to think that Sean was paranoid when it came to security, but listen to him now.”

“Our house is a fortress,” she said. “But—” She stopped.

“What?

“Nothing. But nothing. I’m in good hands.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

She hesitated again, then said, “Sean had to go out of town.”

“Sean would never leave you if your life was threatened.”

“I can’t go into details, but he had no choice. A friend is staying with me.”

“Friend? Tell me it’s one of your brother’s military buddies. Because not just any friend can go up against these people. I’m not saying you’re not capable, but no agent should be alone right now.”

“Nate is on my squad. He graduated Quantico a year ahead of me, but he was in the army for ten years. Sean trusts him.”

“Nate Dunning?”

“Why is it that everyone knows Nate Dunning but me?”

“I—okay.”

“Tell me what you know. Sean instantly connected with him and when he had to leave this morning, he asked Nate to stay at the house. Even Hans knew who he was, but I didn’t think much about it because Nate had gone through Quantico when Hans was there. But now I’m very curious.”

“It’s not my story to tell.”

“Tell me,” she pushed.

“I really can’t. Dunning was involved in several off-book operations in Afghanistan, and I don’t know the details. All I can say is that he earned the respect of people I respect. He has two Purple Hearts. Rick told me that he’s up for the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism during an ambush outside Kandahar.” He paused, then said, “I’m still surprised Sean left. It must be serious.”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Is it Kane?”

She hesitated. Kane didn’t like anyone knowing what he was doing or where he was. “It’s complicated,” she said.

“Watch yourself, Lucy. Kane Rogan is the definition of complicated.”

“You never told me you knew him.”

“Like you said, it’s complicated.” He paused. “I’m sending you log-in information to access Dunbar’s files on the intranet. Let me know immediately if something jumps out at you.”

Noah hung up before Lucy could ask him anything else about Kane. She sat in the silence of Juan’s office and wondered why Noah had never discussed Kane with her before. Maybe he’d talked to Sean. She knew that Noah had been hostile toward Sean from the moment they met, and she thought it had something to do with Sean’s brothers or RCK operations that ran afoul of one of Noah’s investigations. Last year, he and Sean had worked together undercover and mended fences, but there was an underlying uneasiness when they were in the same room.

She took a deep breath. Silence. She hadn’t had silence in thirty-six hours, not since Zach had come in yesterday morning, ten minutes after she arrived, and told her and Kenzie that Nicole Rollins had escaped.

Thirty-six hours working almost nonstop. Investigating. Interviews. Murder. Sam Archer was dead, Brad was losing his focus, and Kane was missing. Chaos reigned.

Exactly what Nicole wanted.

Lucy snapped her fingers. The AUSA. She needed to make sure she was on the docket to speak tomorrow at Elise Hansen’s hearing. The AUSA had been working solely with Barry. He’d said he’d be back on Wednesday—but the hearing was Wednesday afternoon. It was cutting it close, especially since no one could reach him.

Again, fear clawed up her spine. Earlier, ASAC Durant had sent her a message that there was no news on Barry—he had checked into his flight from his home computer thirty minutes before he left his house. But he never boarded his plane. His car hadn’t been found. He’d been missing since three thirty Friday afternoon—which meant that he was almost certainly dead.

She hoped she was wrong. She glanced at the files behind Juan’s desk searching for Worthington’s folder. Barry would have the AUSA contact information, but it should also be in the files on the Harper Worthington investigation. She didn’t think twice about pulling the thick folder from the slot on the credenza—half of this information she and Barry had compiled anyway. Her reports, Barry’s reports, memos from the AUSA on evidence—she pulled out a sticky note and wrote the name and direct phone number for the lawyer in charge of Elise Hansen’s case.

And then she saw it.

She shouldn’t read it. It said
CONFIDENTIAL
at the top. But it had her name on it, and she couldn’t help herself. It was written the day she’d left for San Diego, the day before Barry’s vacation started. The day before he disappeared.

TO: Supervisory Special Agent Juan Casilla

FROM: Special Agent Barry Crawford

RE: Special Agent Lucy Kincaid

Per your request, I have evaluated and assessed Special Agent Lucy Kincaid during our investigation into the murder of Harper Worthington, CEO of Harper Worthington International. It is my opinion that Agent Kincaid should be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for conduct inappropriate for a federal agent.