by R E Gauthier
Deb’s hand brushed against her back as they came to a wet and washed out area of the trail. “We’ll be there soon,” Deb whispered.
Nikki wanted to smile back, but her mouth felt stiff. She nodded.
The SWAT team leader raised his hand, indicating that they were stopping. He signaled his team to use a flanking maneuver to surround the suspect.
Nikki sat in on the SWAT team’s discussion on signals and the need for silence as they approached the location where the pilot said, they found the man. The leader instructed the pilot to make a sizeable circular pass around the lake so that he wouldn’t scare the man. Through texts, the co-pilot of the helicopter was able to communicate with the command leader, and he could relay them to the SWAT leader.
The SWAT leader motioned for her to come closer.
Nikki walked carefully around the brush to listen to what the man had to tell her.
“You and Agent Norman can go directly toward the man on my signal. At the slightest provocation, my snipers have orders to take him out.”
“They better not have trigger-fingers. I need that man alive; I don’t need to tell you how important it is that they use lethal force only when necessary.”
“I won’t tell you how to conduct your behavioral analysis, and you don’t tell me how to do my job. Some of my men have been doing this longer than you have been an agent; don’t interfere.”
Nikki bit down on her lower lip to keep from telling this pompous asshat on how to do his job. She relayed the plan to Deb instead.
***
Once the SWAT team commander gave the signal, Nikki and Deb flew into action and eased into the clearing next to the lake’s bank. To the right, Nikki saw the scopes of three snipers glinting in the sunlight. All of the snipers and SWAT team members aimed their high-powered rifles at the man lying prone on the grass. Nikki could only see a bald head and no facial features to identify the man. Drawing her Glock from its holster at her side, Nikki walked farther out onto the rocky shore.
“Follow my lead. I’m going to try and get Washburg talking. I need him to tell us where Mack is before we try to take him in. Don’t engage with him unless I ask you to; do you understand?”
Deb nodded. “I’ll keep a gun on him and stay quiet unless you ask me to speak to him.”
Closing her eyes briefly, Nikki smiled. “Okay, let’s do this.” Nikki never got to speak another word before a familiar and maniacal laugh erupted from the area where the man lay.
Birds squawked. Several ducks flew into the air nearby, obviously startled by the abrupt audible changes.
“Why Special Agent Nicole Hyland, what took you so long?”
The sickening feeling that laugh evoked superseded any relief Nikki may have had, knowing the man was Paul Washburg. Nikki heard that laugh one other time when she and Mack thought they were talking to Robert Smith. That day, like today, Paul Washburg knew he had the upper hand. Nikki furrowed her brows. How did the sick bastard realize she was there? The man hadn’t moved to look around.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? I knew as soon as I heard the vehicles and the helicopter you were here to get me. You haven’t told me what took you so long. What could be taking up all your energies these days? Could it be the demise of SSA MacGregor?”
Nikki saw red. Knowing she had to play this out so that Washburg could tell her where he stashed Mack, she slowed her breathing and closed her eyes. Counting to ten, she calmed her rage so she could talk in an even and controlled manner. Wanting to yell, scream, and punch the man in the face, Nikki had to remember the protocol to engaging a suspect who may not have any reason to cooperate. Usually, she would attempt to use the connection to a person in that suspect's life, but in this case, Paul Washburg was alone in this world. Maybe I can lie. “I’m sorry how things went down after we caught you. I wanted you to be able to see your mother. If you cooperate with us, I can make that happen.”
“Oh, I’m going to see her again. I have already made certain of that; what I don’t understand is how do you think I will cooperate to do so?”
“The report of your mother dying is a fabrication to draw you out. Your mother is alive and well. If you tell me everything I want to know and come in quietly without incident, I will take you to where she is staying.”
Paul Washburg turned around and looked into Nikki’s eyes. “You’re trying to tell me you lied to draw me out; my mother isn’t dead but somewhere with the FBI.”
Nikki nodded. “All you have to tell me is what you did with SSA MacGregor. Where is she?”
Throwing back his head, Washburg laughed. “That bitch thought she was so smart. I still cannot figure out how she found me. When I listened in on your conversations, you talked about her gift. You did some witchy ceremony in your offices. To answer your question, SSA MacGregor is where she is supposed to be.”
Angered by Washburg’s cryptic words, Nikki closed her eyes before continuing. “What does that mean? What have you done with her? If you cooperate, I can take you to see your mother.”
“Me? I haven’t done anything with SSA MacGregor. I merely facilitated to make sure she got what she deserved. I went to visit her this morning before I came here. I said goodbye to her. It’s a peaceful place where she died.”
“Where? Where is she? Where did you take her?”
“I didn’t take her anywhere. They got rid of her for good. She will no longer be able to stop me anymore. Now that my mother is gone, I have no reason to live.” Washburg drew a small-caliber pistol to his right temple.
Nikki saw the dissolution of a meaning to live in the cold eyes of Paul Washburg. “No, you don’t want to do that. You don’t want to die and not get to say goodbye to your mother.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I said my goodbyes to my mother this morning before I said goodbye to SSA MacGregor. The man at the morgue didn’t ask for identification when I told him I was Nancy Washburg’s nephew. Good try, but your lie to get me to tell you what you wanted to hear didn’t work.”
Nikki hadn’t thought Washburg would go as far as ask to view his mother’s body. Mentally she debased the morgue staff for not asking for ID, Nikki scrambled to think of a way to keep Washburg engaged in a conversation longer so she could think of a way to disarm him. “You said. They got rid of SSA MacGregor for good; what did you mean by that? Who are they?”
“I don’t know. The person who called me gave me money to see my mother. They told me I had a ride to the hospital in Buffalo. Then they said they would take care of everything.”
Frustrated that her inquiries were only creating more questions, Nikki asked, “how did they contact you?”
Paul Washburg took his phone out of his pocket. “They texted me.”
Witnessing the blank look come across Paul Washburg’s face again, Nikki decided to take the gun, Washburg held, out of the equation. Aiming at the hand carrying the weapon, Nikki steadied her breath and squeezed the trigger.
Two shots rang out into the air.
Nikki saw the impact pf her shot seconds after she witnessed the top of Washburg’s head blow out. “No!” Nikki rushed to the body and turn it over to start chest compressions. “Call for an ambulance!” Nikki shouted to everyone who stood watching her. “You cannot die, you bastard. I need you to tell me what you did with Mack.”
Deb’s hands settled on Nikki’s shoulders. “You cannot save him; he’s dead.”
Nikki shrugged off the hands. “If you’re not going to help me, go help the paramedics find us.” Her hands kept pushing on the chest of the prone man. “Tell me what you did with her! You, sick bastard; you cannot die before you tell me what you did with her!” The smell of blood mixed with the acrid smell of gun powder and the crushed dried vegetation under the body.
Deb pleaded, “please, Nikki, you’re scaring me.”
“Why are you not helping me? He didn’t tell me what I wanted to know. He was the last person who could tell me what happened to Mack.” Feeling the void opening up
around her, Nikki felt herself falling into the black abyss.
***
Deb watched as Nikki went back to pounding on the dead man’s chest and calling for someone to help her. The concerned eyes of the SWAT team searched hers, and Deb didn’t know what to do. The only person who Nikki would defer to wasn’t here, and Deb didn’t think her kisses would prevent an emotional meltdown, this time.
Chapter Three
Behavioral Cold Case Office, Pittsburgh, later that day, April 2, 2012
Deb and Torres tried to help Nikki, but nothing worked to get the red-head to refocus her attention. After they took Paul Washburg’s body to the county morgue, Nikki took his phone and belongings to search for clues to where he may have been. Deb knew how frustrated and devastated Nikki felt, but nothing she said or did was able to draw the woman out of her doldrums. Nikki believed if she had got to Paul Washburg sooner, she would have discovered where he had taken Mack, and then she would have been able to bring her home. Today Deb watched Nikki do yet another scan of the phone and, with each keystroke, witnessed the tension grow within the petite woman sitting in front of her computer monitors in her office.
“Nikki, why don’t you come outside with me to get some fresh air and a bite to eat?”
There wasn’t a response.
Torres threw Deb a questioning look.
Deb nodded.
“Hey Red, I’m heading out to talk to that guy who said he saw Mack’s SUV traveling down Green Garden Road. Come with me.”
Deb watched Torres walk up behind Nikki and touch her on the back.
“What? Sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.” Nikki shrugged without looking away from the monitor.
“Come on, Red, I need some company to go talk to Martin Phillips about what he saw the day Mack drove down that road.”
“You don’t need me; besides, I have to keep looking for a way to track Paul Washburg’s movements.”
Deb felt the same frustration Torres displayed upon her face. Today, like previous days, Nikki only had one thing on her mind. Nikki was confident that Paul Washburg was responsible for Mack’s disappearance. Deb still wasn’t convinced that SSA Kelsey MacGregor was alive, and Paul Washburg had orchestrated the entire accident and supposed death of the FBI agent. Torres also remained skeptical that Mack could be alive.
“Red, I don’t need to remind you that you began this investigation without even considering another alternative to your theories. Have you forgotten everything they taught at the Academy?”
Nikki remained unaffected.
Torres took Nikki by the shoulders and spun her around in her computer chair.
Nikki’s look of surprise looked genuine; she hadn’t been ignoring Torres, but still caught up in her world.
“Red, I’m not letting you continue down this rabbit-hole. It’s a path to destruction, and I’m not allowing you to do that to yourself.”
Nikki hung her head. “I need to do this, Torres; please understand why I must.”
“I understand why you need to find out what happened to Mack, but you’re not letting anyone help you, and I’m afraid you’re also not looking at all the facts.”
Nikki shook her head.
Deb saw the desperation on Nikki’s face.
“The most important fact is Paul Washburg escaped, and then Mack disappeared, what more do I need to look into?” Nikki attempted to push Torres away.
Torres wouldn’t relent. “What have you found so far? Is there any concrete evidence that Washburg led Mack to that location? Have you found records that he contacted her at all?”
Nikki nodded. “Yes, he texted Mack’s phone the coordinates to a remote area off of Green Garden Road. He also texted her that if she wanted to find the answers, she was to follow his instructions explicitly. I also have the phone records of a call made from his phone to a burner phone telling someone that it was all set and to make it look like an accident.”
Deb listened to this revelation. Nikki had worked for two days and didn’t tell anyone about what she had discovered during her investigation. From the moment they drove back from the Raccoon Creek State Park, Nikki worked day and night here in her office at the Cold Case Behavioral Unit in Pittsburgh. Deb and Torres hadn’t witnessed Nikki sleeping or eating, and Deb tried to stay close in case Nikki appeared to have another emotional breakdown like she had at the scene of Paul Washburg’s suicide. From what Nikki said, Nikki had proof that Washburg may have orchestrated the accident that resulted in Mack’s SUV going over an embankment and bursting into flames. Deb decided to try and poke holes in this theory based on what she remembered from what Paul Washburg said before he blew his head off.
“Nikki, if Washburg is responsible for Mack going to that location and her accident. Then why did he say, “they” when he talked about someone giving him money and means to go see his mother?”
Torres’s look of surprise made Deb’s guilt build. Nikki wasn’t the only one keeping things to herself. Deb shrugged. “You didn’t ask,” she whispered.
“Christ, what else have you two been keeping from me?”
Nikki stood abruptly, and Deb could see that the sudden change in position made Nikki’s equilibrium teeter precariously.
***
The room spun, and Nikki gripped the back of her chair to catch herself from falling. The problem with that solution was that the chair wasn’t a fixed object offering a reliable alternative to toppling over. The chair’s wheels turned, and the grip Nikki had on it caused her to pitch forward. Catching herself before she fell, Nikki closed her eyes to wait out vertigo and for the blackness to dissipate.
“Sit down before you fall. When was the last time you ate or drank anything?” Torres asked.
“She may have eaten a stale donut this morning, or the mouse got it; I’m not sure,” Deb said. “I’m going to the diner down the street to get us something more filling than donuts and coffee; do you have any requests?”
Nikki heard Deb and Torres discuss their plans for a meal, and then she heard Deb leave. Several minutes passed, and Torres never spoke. Glancing up cautiously, Nikki saw Torres staring at her with concern evident in her eyes. Closing her eyes again helped to staff off some of the guilt and the spinning of the room.
“You cannot play possum much longer; I’m going to want answers to my questions.” Torres’s voice sounded determined.
Keeping her eyes closed because they were hurt almost as much as her head, Nikki said, “I’m sorry.”
Torres’s voice softened. “Are you sorry you’ve been keeping things from me, or are you sorry that we caught you keeping us in the dark?”
Nikki hung her head, and another wave of vertigo swam through her head. “I’m sorry I’ve been acting as I have been. It’s hard to be without Mack, and then there is the pressure to find her; I’m overwhelmed.”
“You wouldn’t be overwhelmed if you allowed Deb and I to help you. Since the day of the accident, you haven’t spoken more than a few words to me. I know you don’t believe Mack is dead, but you still haven’t told me the basis behind that belief.”
“Miranda and Nanna don’t believe she is gone, and I know I would know if she were dead. I cannot explain it, but she can’t have died in that manner, not Mack.”
“Denial isn’t the basis for believing she isn’t dead,” Torres argued.
“You won’t understand, but I’m certain Mack came to me while I dozed off after they found that body in her SUV. I cannot explain it except that I felt her presence with me. Nanna and Miranda also said they knew she wasn’t dead. It’s not denial, but faith that has me believing Mack is still alive.”
“Okay, then what was Deb talking about Washburg saying someone helped him see his mother?”
Nikki felt the same frustration build up inside. Paul Washburg couldn’t tell her anything now. She wanted to know who the person was Washburg talked about helping him, but he took away all of that when he killed himself. “I’ve been searching for any evidence that someone cal
led Washburg, but he received only one call; it was a few seconds, but the caller didn’t say anything.”
“Deb said he said they gave him money; did you find any evidence of money he received?”
“Not in his bank account. The FBI seized his bank and most of his assets once he went into custody. If someone gave him money, they gave him cash. But like I said, I haven’t found any evidence anyone was in contact with him. He may have been ranting at the end. People planning on killing themselves don’t always talk rationally or literally.”
“Red, have you thought about someone else wanting to harm Mack? Could you be following this Paul Washburg lead because of all the unfinished business in his case?”
Nikki had thought of no other person who could be responsible for leading Mack away two days ago. “Then why would Paul Washburg have sent the text to Mack’s phone telling her she’d find all the answers to what she was looking for?”
“You tell me. Why would Paul Washburg send her such a text? What information did he have that Mack wanted?”
Nikki hadn’t thought of what information Washburg could have that Mack wanted. Her only motivation to look into Washburg’s involvement in Mack’s disappearance was that Paul Washburg had escaped, and he had unfinished business with the FBI agent who hunted him down. He threatened to pay Mack back for capturing him. “I found the text sent from Washburg’s phone to Mack’s.”
“But you’re not following facts or evidence or MO’s; you stumbled onto that piece of information when you found Washburg. You went after Washburg because of this vendetta he has for Mack and didn’t follow proper FBI investigation protocols. What is the reason Washburg went after Mack, why would he want to make people think she was dead when she wasn’t?”