Chapter 70
THE LOCAL SHERIFF’S deputies arrived at the house about ten minutes later. It took almost two additional hours to call out crime scene personnel from the state police.
At least it felt like the local cops believed us now.
Counting the blood on the kitchen floor from Mona Trilling’s knife attack, it appeared that four of our five attackers had been injured in some way. We provided good descriptions, and the state cops seemed to be taking the issue seriously. I liked that.
The Trilling family took it all in stride as a whole.
I don’t know if it had anything to do with being raised in the West and being self-reliant, but it was impressive nonetheless.
The only word of complaint I even heard from Mona was that she was having a hard time cleaning up all the blood on her kitchen floor.
She said, “I can’t believe how this gets into every crack and crevice.”
Gary said, “Next time, Mom, flip the knife around and try knocking him unconscious instead.”
I relaxed when I heard Mona laughing in the kitchen.
I sat down next to Chet, who wasn’t quite used to this much excitement. I didn’t waste any time. “I wanted to thank you for saving my butt earlier. If you hadn’t let go with that shotgun blast, I have a feeling this night would’ve been much different for me.”
The old man nodded his head. “Young folk think the fancy new automatic weapons are what they need. There’s nothing like a shotgun.
Even one loaded with #2 bird shot, like I had in the shotgun.
Pellets are smaller than buckshot but still pack a wallop.
From that distance, I didn’t think I’d kill anyone.
But maybe now, with a couple holes in him, some hospital will notify the police about the wounds. ”
After everything had been secured, I grabbed a couple of hours of sleep back at Gary’s house.
I don’t know why I was surprised to discover upon waking that Rob had gotten up and gone for a hike before I even got out of bed. Young people. They can annoy you in any number of ways.
After coffee and a light breakfast with the Trillings, we were all extra cautious when we noticed a dark sedan pull into the driveway. Rob was the first one out of his seat and at the window before the rest of us, to watch the two men stepping out of the car.
Both were around forty. One was a tall Black man with glasses and the other was a much more squat man with short hair that looked like it used to be a crew cut.
The Black man was dressed in a suit and heavy jacket, and the squat man looked to be wearing casual pants and God knows what under his thick winter coat.
When Rob opened the door, the two men identified themselves as FBI agents and asked to speak to me and Rob specifically. Mona was her usual gracious self as she ushered them into the dining room and set them up with coffee.
We sat down and gave them a little background information. The Black man was named Leland Ackerley, and he was assigned to the Bozeman field office, which was part of the Salt Lake City division.
I looked at the other man, whose name was Brian Hadley, and said, “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’re from the Los Angeles field office.”
Hadley smiled. “And how’d you come to that conclusion?”
“Because this isn’t a federal crime, but the man who committed it, Arjan Marku, a.k.a. Arnold Marks, has worked with the Bureau in the past. Now you’re here to try and get him off the hook one more time. Tell me I’m wrong.”
The long silence and exchange of looks between the two men told me everything I needed to know.
Hadley said, “You want to tell me who leaked that information to you?”
“No leak. Just common sense. I’m aware that Marks is a suspect in more than one murder in Los Angeles, but no one has investigated him. Any cop with experience can figure out that there’s someone protecting him.”
Hadley said, “Can we speak frankly without any of this ever leaving the room?”
Rob said, “We won’t tell anyone. The NYPD is not known for its leaks.”
“Unlike the FBI,” I added.
“Do you want to talk seriously or do you want to insult us a little more?”
I said, “I don’t see how both things are mutually exclusive.” I was pretty pleased with that retort, though it didn’t get nearly the response I’d been hoping for. Although Agent Ackerley didn’t do a very good job of hiding the smile that spread across his face.
Hadley sighed. “I know it feels like you’ve been through a lot. But Arnold Marks has provided us with information about Russia and Eastern Europe that virtually no one else ever has.”
“So that means he should be able to do anything he wants? He started a fire yesterday that killed a woman.”
“I’m not sure exactly what went on here—or about any fire.
From what I’ve gathered from the state police, the only people wounded tonight were the intruders.
No one in this house was hurt. Is that correct?
I mean, it sounds like this could be chalked up to a serious business disagreement.
Maybe Mr. Marks was being a little too passive-aggressive. ”
I all but screamed, “Passive-aggressive?! You mean aggressive-aggressive. He intended to murder us.”
“I don’t think anyone can predict what someone intended to do. We don’t even know exactly what happened yet.”
I looked over at Rob, whose face was turning red with anger. I politely scooted back my chair and said, “This conversation is over.”
Hadley tried to say something else. Even the local agent, Ackerley, was trying to get him to shut up.
I held up my hand. “I’m sorry, Special Agent Hadley, but you’ve forced me to exceed my daily limit on dealing with morons.
Of course Arnold Marks was trying to murder us.
He was furious about the refusal to sell the car lot.
A woman died in a fire he started at that same car lot.
You can try to justify his information and his cooperation. It’s wrong on every level.”
The agents left, but it was more than three hours before I felt my blood pressure return to normal.