Chapter 41
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Jane had no idea how they’d gone from questions to threats of being fired so fast.
The conversation had started out nicely enough.
Rapp asked about Haversham’s family, the move, how he’d liked Las Vegas, and then they’d chatted about people they both knew.
Jon Haversham had real presence. Tall and broad chested, with chestnut hair flecked with gray and a stern countenance that melted when he smiled. A handsome older man who projected confidence and sincerity.
When he’d first sat down to talk to Rapp, he’d been magnetic. But as Rapp’s questions continued, Haversham’s charm and affability faded. Fast.
“Fired, sir?” Rapp asked. “For what? For asking why the FBI would bury a case that should have been investigated and is now directly tied into our Code Blue Killer’s motives?”
“Exactly what are you implying?” Haversham asked.
Rapp continued to speak calmly. “I’m not implying anything. I’m asking questions. Why did the Harvester case go nowhere?”
“Agent Rapp, I did my job in Las Vegas to the best of my ability.”
Jane didn’t understand his emphasis on Rapp’s title.
Haversham continued, “In no way did I bury the Harvester case. We had a lot of movement on the investigation you’re not privy to. Not that I need to answer to you.”
“You need to answer to someone.”
“Who the hell are you to take me to task?”
The questions around Haversham leaving Las Vegas hadn’t hurt him any. Hell, the guy had been promoted to ASAC of a major field office. Everyone here spoke his praises.
Trust Rapp to get under her boss’s boss’s skin.
Watching him stand up to Haversham told her things she hadn’t known about him, though.
Rapp didn’t buckle under the stern glare of authority. And he didn’t cave under threats.
“Just answer the question, sir.”
She picked up on the attitude, and so did Haversham.
But screw it. She hadn’t appreciated Haversham’s threat to fire her for doing her job either.
She kept her voice even, unemotional, and stern.
“Yeah, sir. Why did you bury the fact that the Harvester ring that you’d been investigating reached into Seattle?
That’s the reason we’ve got the Code Blue Killer thinking he has to rectify the FBI’s apparent incompetence. ”
Haversham’s angry glare bored into her, but she refused to back down, even though she saw Rapp subtly shaking his head at her from the corner of her eye. Apparently, only he was allowed to question authority.
“I see you’re learning a lot from Gunther. How to be insubordinate, how to insult your superiors, how to—”
“Stick to the truth no matter where it takes me,” Jane said over him, aware she was likely kissing her career goodbye. “And for the record, I work with, not for, Agent Rapp.”
Rapp blew out a breath. “Look, sir, you’re missing the point. The rumors that Kaminski was involved with the Harvesters was a closely guarded secret, but I saw the case files.”
“They were buried.”
“Not deep enough,” Jane muttered and quickly closed her mouth when Haversham glared at her.
Surprisingly, the guy was intimidating on the same scale as her uncle. Though she didn’t like him all that much, she could understand why so many respected him.
“Why didn’t you tell Phillip there was an open investigation, at least?” Rapp asked. “He had a right to know.”
“Because I was ordered not to,” Haversham admitted and sat back down, his bluster fizzling out. “The Agency screwed up. The Kaminski family couldn’t be tied to what happened because evidence got lost and informants disappeared or died. The way they always do around August Kaminski.”
Jane pointed out, “Then he came out here. But he’s not doing much except getting his drunk kid out of trouble for killing Phillip’s parents. He runs restaurants and strip clubs with his family. That’s it?”
Haversham rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know how it ties together, but I always thought the Harvesters eventually got caught because they got careless. They weren’t filling their orders fast enough. Then Anton had an accident, and two donors appeared like magic.”
“Why the brains though?” Rapp asked. “I’ve always wondered. Who would want those?”
“A collector in Reno, from what we later found out. The hearts were lost to a black-market transplant list. But the brains we tracked to a man who died not long after under suspicious circumstances. He kept the brains in jars with another two dozen in his study. He had…issues.”
Jane said, “All that is beyond bizarre. Phillip started killing people two and a half years after his parents died. Why not before? Why now? Why those six people, who we know had nothing to do with the Harvesters?” She stared at Haversham.
She knew she’d never get a better time to ask.
“Are you working with Matthew Scott to uncover corruption in Seattle or to bury your guilt?”
He and Rapp froze.
“What?” Haversham asked in an icy voice.
Jane was done with all the secrets. “I know I didn’t get Dan Simmons killed.
And I’m pretty sure Jenn Sullivan didn’t either.
So why are you dirtying our reputations in the pursuit of supposed justice?
” She heard Phillip’s voice in her mind repeating the word, “justice.” And she understood him better for it.
“I could have helped you find the killer. Instead, you’re possibly ruining my future with the FBI on some hairbrained scheme that makes little sense. ”
Haversham glared at her. “You sound remarkably like your uncle. No filter whatsoever.”
“Excuse me?” Great. Someone else who knew Chris North.
Rapp nodded. “It’s true. She’s just like him.”
“Hey.”
Haversham surprised her by laughing. “Anything connected to Chris starts as a headache and turns into the migraine from hell.” He muttered under his breath, swearing like the sailor he used to be. “This does not go beyond this room.”
Rapp nodded. “Of course not.”
“Yes, sir.” Could she keep that promise? Even with her family?
“There’s a little too much of what I went through in Las Vegas going on here in Seattle. The Kaminski case never closed because it’s still ongoing. I brought it with me, following him.”
“Huh?” Since when did an ASAC work smaller cases when he had a field office to help manage? RAs to keep track of? Caseloads to supervise?
“Don’t you think it’s a little strange that the Mazzucas are in the wind with nothing sticking to them? They’re not behaving the way they did years ago. It’s like they’re learning from someone else.”
“What does that have to do with Phillip losing it and killing people?” she asked.
“No, he’s right,” Rapp interrupted. “That puts a whole new perspective on things.”
Jane normally caught on fast, and it bothered her to be in the dark.
Haversham explained, “I always thought Kaminski had someone on the inside when I was in Las Vegas. I think that someone is here now, helping the Mazzucas evade the law. It’s a little too convenient that Phillip went off the rails right when the Mazzuca case was heating up.
Except the Mazzucas are gone, a DEA agent is murdered, and one of our undercover agents is dead. ”
Jane blinked. “What?”
“Mike Stevens, an EMT and one of the Code Blue’s victims, used to help the Mazzucas when they needed medical attention. He was feeding us intel. Then he died from two gunshots. A message from the family to keep our distance.”
“But that’s a little more subtle than usual,” Jane murmured. “How did I not know about Mike Stevens?” Phillip’s fifth victim, EMT1.
“Because we’re not sure who we can trust on the squad.
Matthew and I are working closely on this.
We know you had nothing to do with Dan’s death, but we wanted you out of the way so the mole would feel free to act.
With you watching too closely, he or she had all but stopped sharing info with their organization. ”
“Why accuse Sullivan?”
Haversham sighed. “She, Williams, Jim Broderick, and Ian Tann are at the top of our suspect list. All of them came from Vegas, though Ian got here before the others. It all fits.”
“It does.” Jane had sensed ties between the Mazzucas and Kaminskis from the first. But making the pieces fit hadn’t been easy because she’d been missing information.
“What else don’t we know?” Jane snapped.
“Jane.” Rapp shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, but you should have told us.”
“I know. I wanted to, but we thought it best not to. Not yet.”
“We?”
Jane didn’t think he meant Scott.
Rapp groaned. “Gambol. Lionel’s in on this too?”
“Yes.”
Jane wanted to slap both Haversham and Gambol for making this so much harder. “Do you happen to know who Phillip is working with?”
“No. Personally, I think he’s crazy. Although August or someone in the Mazzuca crew might be feeding him names of people to eliminate.
Of the six victims, Mike Stevens is the only one who was working for us.
We can’t link the other vics to the Harvesters outside the fact that they were in the medical field. ”
“Neither can we,” Rapp admitted. “And it’s frustrating as hell because the answer might help us locate our killer.”
Jane nodded. “If we can’t find out why he chose those others or find him, he’ll kill again. Soon.”