Chapter 53
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
To Jane’s surprise, they arrived at the warehouse where Dan Simmons had made his last official appearance before being murdered.
Flashing lights strobed across the building’s wall and crime scene tape draped around the warehouse and adjacent building on the dock.
“Seriously? They found the bodies here?”
“What’s the significance?” Rapp raised the yellow tape and flashed a badge at the officer standing close by while he and Jane ducked under it.
“This is where we were surveilling the Mazzucas.” She looked over her shoulder at the apartments on the other side of the street.
“We set up back there, fifth floor. We couldn’t see too much, but we kept track of comings and goings.
Until, of course, the few days prior to Dan going missing.
The Mazzucas just up and left with no witnesses. ”
They walked into the center of the dock to find it empty.
“Over here,” one of the detectives said when she spotted them. Jane recognized her as the same woman who’d interrogated Harding with Gina a few weeks ago and found it curious the detective would be so far away from her precinct. “How’s Gina doing?”
“Better now that I’m out of her hair,” Jane confided.
The detective grinned but said nothing else.
They entered the large warehouse space and stopped.
In the middle of the cement floor, a dozen dead bodies lay sprawled in a large circle, each covered in blood. Leo Mazzuca especially. He’d been shot in each eye, his sockets dark, heralding a hard death.
And in the middle of the circle, Phillip lay flat on his back, smiling at the ceiling. He stared, unseeing, a blanket of blood pooling under his head and neck from a bullet wound at his temple.
Flat on his belly lay an envelope.
Jane and Rapp stood back while the forensic team did its job, but to Jane, it was clear Phillip had arrived to clean up a mess. His mess or someone else’s?
“Why?” she mused aloud. “He was presumed dead. He could have used the time before we found out he hadn’t died at the hospital to get away clean. Make a new life for himself.”
“Maybe that voice that told him what to do insisted he stay.” Rapp crossed his arms over his chest as they watched. “I’m glad we found him, but not like this. He was messed up, no question. But he started the ball rolling on fixing corruption in the Agency.”
The media had been all over the incident at the hospital, as well as the Code Blue Killer. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on one’s perspective, the FBI’s internal problems hadn’t come to light with the press, though questions were being asked.
On the one hand, Jane wanted the rot exposed so it couldn’t grow back. On the other hand, she didn’t like the idea of the public losing faith and trust in an organization that genuinely helped people. Either way, Jane had never been so happy not to be in public relations.
However, the news reports also thought Code Blue had killed himself in the bombs he’d set. Because that’s the message Phillip had left them.
One of the forensic team walked over to Jane and Rapp. He had gloves on and held the envelope that had been sitting on Phillip.
“Jane Cannon? This is for you. You can look at it over there.” He nodded to a table, beside which more tech and lab equipment had been staged.
She headed over with Rapp, careful to stay clear of everyone still processing the scene. It would take months to get everything back from Quantico.
After donning the gloves one of the techs handed her, she opened the flap of the envelope and pulled out a handwritten letter.
In black ink, Phillip had written the following, which Jane read out loud, “I only ever wanted to help. And so I end my life by helping one final time. These were not good people, Jane. Not like your Agent Rapp, Agent Holtz, and Diego Rivera. And you, Jane. You stand for honesty and integrity. I’m glad we’re on the same side. ”
“Not quite,” Rapp murmured, reading over her shoulder.
Jane continued. “I know what I said before. But I’ve changed my mind. You can stop what’s coming. There’s always too much at stake…but you can win when you have the courage and commitment of brave soldiers and Marines to win the war.” Jane paused and glanced at Rapp. “War? What war?”
“Maybe the war on crime. Or the war on violence. I’m curious about how he knew to come here. Did he bring everyone with him? How did he convince them to meet him here? Or did he maybe kill them elsewhere and stage this scene?”
A nearby detective overheard and commented, “No. He shot them here. We got a call an hour ago about shots fired. But we were dealing with some crazy who lit himself on fire down near the market. By the time we got here, everything was silent and locked up tight. When we got in, we found it like this.”
Jane frowned. “How did Phillip know about our investigation?”
“My bet is Rob Williams let it slip at some point, and Phillip, acting like the arm of justice, decided to make peace with the way he went out. We’ll know more when all this is processed, I’m sure.”
As she and Rapp drove away, she asked him, “Will we know more? The task force is done.”
“Gambol will likely assign the cleanup files to someone in Seattle. Maybe even you.”
“If I’m unlucky.”
They both smiled.
“Do you think this is done then?” Jane couldn’t have said why, but she felt as if they had left something unfinished. And it bothered her.
“I hope so. It’s done for me at least. I’m reinstated and back with my unit.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what you got suspended for.”
Rapp looked serious when he answered, “I could, but then I’d have to kill you.”
She just stared back at him. “Like I haven’t heard that a million times before.” A favorite tease Hal, her family—all of them, including Raine—continued to use on a daily basis.
He chuckled. “But it’s true. Suffice it to say the guilty has been found out. I’m clean and mean and ready to—”
“Just stop. Please. Keep your black ops-ness to yourself.”
“Ha. You know, there’s nothing stopping you from joining Team Ten. I guarantee your uncle would be giddy to have you.”
“Not for me. I’m more a rules kind of gal. Besides, I like my job.”
He nodded. “And you’re good at it, even if you do bristle overmuch with authority.”
“I do not.”
“Case in point.”
Jane huffed. “Whatever, Rapp.”
He grinned but didn’t answer.
They drove back to the office in contented, and complete, silence.