Chapter 44
Before Jane could leave his office to track down their new lead, Haversham asked, “Where did you get the information?”
“From TS Cooper. Matthew had him digging into Kaminski. As a safeguard, he told Cooper to contact me if he hadn’t responded in forty-eight hours.”
“Cooper?” Haversham frowned and went to his desk. “I don’t know that name.”
“I don’t either.” Grimshaw joined him at his desk.
Haversham typed into his computer. “Is he new? I know I’m not on top of admin around here, but I typically introduce myself to the new people.”
“I’ve never met him before either. But I did talk to him on the phone.” Jane flashed to that conversation. “He had an odd accent.” One she’d attributed to a bad American accent, a cross between Boston and Chicago with exaggerated pronunciations.
Or a foreigner trying to sound American.
Her heart raced. “Can you pull up that picture we have of Victor Bednarek?”
Haversham frowned at her, but he quickly pulled up the photo.
Jane leaned in, studying it, looking for comparisons.
Seeing what had been right in front of her all that time.
“Son of a bitch.”
“Jane?” Grimshaw looked at the photo then back at her. “What?”
“I saw him.”
“Victor?” Haversham asked.
“No, his cousin. Casimir. Rook.”
Her bosses froze.
“Are you sure?” Haversham asked.
“Yes. I knew something was off about that guy. Last Thursday I got a call from TS Cooper. He filled me in on Matthew being incommunicado, and how he’d been told to dig into Kaminski and that he’d found something.
He sent me the file. I couldn’t read it, because I thought it was corrupted. But I had a tech guy work on it.”
“Not corrupted?” Grimshaw guessed.
“No. It was intentionally coded so only someone super smart in computer speak would figure it out.”
“He stalled you.” Haversham frowned. “But why did he let you see him? You’re sure it was him?”
“I’m positive. After I talked to Cooper on the phone, I was leaving the office and ran into a man in the hallway.”
“Of our building?” Grimshaw scowled.
“Yeah. He had a badge around his neck. I remember the lanyard. He never gave his name, but he looked familiar. He looked like him.” Jane pointed to the photo of Victor Bednarek.
“You’re sure?” Haversham asked again.
“Positive.” Giddy at the revelation, she had another thought. “Sir? The Bednareks are Polish. What does Bednarek mean in English?”
“You mean, what does the name translate to?”
She was onto the answer. She could feel it. Jane nodded.
He typed the name into his computer and sat back in astonishment. “Bednarek means Cooper. That bastard wasn’t even trying to hide.”
“He had someone’s clearance. I’ll look into it right now.” Grimshaw took off.
“Sir, that means he’s been one step ahead of us because he’s been one of us.” It made Jane ill to think of him inside the building.
“Maybe. Or maybe he snuck in. But Jane, he gave us Kaminski.”
“Because he and Kaminski are no longer on the same team anymore. They’re at odds. One of them killed the Scotts’ aide.” She subconsciously connected the pieces. “The other killed Matthew. They’re playing with each other, sacrificing pawns.”
Rook would look at it that way.
Haversham corrected, “Sacrificing the Scotts, which I find interesting. You did hear Ronald pause when you mentioned getting at the truth.”
“Yeah. Matthew was worried his parents were involved. I think he was right.”
“I agree. I told him to be sure. Maybe I should have spoken with Ronald and Belinda sooner.”
“You can’t do that,” she said automatically. “You can’t second-guess yourself.”
At his startled expression, she apologized.
“Sorry. That’s something my uncle keeps telling me.”
“He’s right.” Haversham paused. “I assume your tech specialist, who helped you with the not-corrupted file, was from Team Ten?”
“I, ah…”
“Jane, it’s impossible to get tech support around here. We’re understaffed as it is. Fighting for help with our forensic analysts is always tough. You got answers pretty fast.”
“I have sources, sir. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Let’s.” He gave a weak chuckle. “But at least we can trust what they learned. So Kaminski and Rook are at odds. The Scotts are the rope in their tug of war. But three of the ten—”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven families are dead. Why kill them? Why not just steal from them and make them go away quietly? The killer didn’t just target the head of the company. He killed the entire family.”
“Because the killer isn’t all there. Victor Bednarek’s arrest record was from an altercation over something minor, correct? He’s got mental issues, I’m betting. So Casimir is the brains. His cousin the muscle. And they work, or used to work, for August Kaminski. But then they had a falling out.”
“But why? What are they both after?”
“That’s what we need to figure out.”
“After you find Victor and stop him from killing again. He didn’t kill Harte, probably because Harte is the linchpin connecting the money to the mission.
But now that we know there’s a mission, no one is safe.
Not if August wants to sweep his part in this under the rug.
” Haversham scowled. “He’ll go scorched earth. No one and nothing left.”
“And Matthew was the first to go.” She sighed.
“No. He was a message. But the Collective? We need to get to them before August kills the rest.”
“You really think he will? He needs them.”
Haversham shrugged. “Maybe you’re right.
I’m tired and still not sure what anyone needs.
We have so many questions. So let’s focus on what we do know.
Victor Bednarek’s face is on every BOLO in the city.
We need to get him before he does more damage.
Let’s bring him in. Then we’ll get his cousin. And finally, August.”
“I sure hope so. But I’m not so sure.”
Haversham walked her to the door. “Who do you think killed Matthew, Jane? Rook? His cousin?”
“I don’t know. But at this point, Rook is our best suspect.”
“Agreed. Bring him in. Alive,” he warned. “Dead men don’t answer questions.”
“I know. That’s why I told my uncle to let me handle things.”
“Good God. I don’t want to hear anymore. Go get our bad guy.”
“Yes, sir.”
If only wishes were that easy.