Outside the Law

by Carsen Taite

  Sydney had a bunch of other questions about whether it was hard for Bianca to raise a child alone when she worked a job that commanded so much of her attention. Syd had taken for granted the idea of having children, but she’d never met anyone after Tanner that she’d wanted to raise children with, and the prospect of motherhood on her own had always seemed too daunting. Or maybe she just hadn’t wanted to live a dream that hadn’t turned out the way she’d planned. Her need to plan had definitely robbed her of opportunities, but it had kept her safe as well, so there was that.

  Jade met them at the door and she was everything Bianca had said. Tall, dark, breathtakingly beautiful. Even sans horse, she was the type of woman who could have anyone and anything she wanted.

  Bianca made the introductions. “Jade, this is Sydney. She’s here from DC to help us on the case. She and Peyton worked together when Peyton was living back East.”

  Syd reached out a hand before settling onto the couch. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “And you. Bianca says you want to talk about my uncles.”

  “I do, but it would be helpful first if I knew a little more about you for context.” Syd hesitated a moment and then ripped off the Band-Aid. “You’re Lily Gantry’s sister, right? So when she and Peyton get married, you’ll be Peyton’s sister-in-law?”

  Jade cast a cautious glance at Bianca. “That’s true, but I’m not sure why any of that matters.”

  “I’m sure you do, actually. If any of the pending cases go to trial, opposing counsel is going to have a heyday with the entanglement of relationships in this case and the possible conflicts they imply. I may be able to work around them, but I have to know what I’m dealing with before I can make that assessment.”

  She looked over at Bianca, who nodded and placed a hand on her lover’s knee. “Honey, she’s just doing her job.”

  “I know. I just hate the loss of privacy my uncles have cost me. Us.”

  Jade twisted her fingers through Bianca’s, and Syd felt like a heel for challenging them when it was clear they were in love. Who was she to judge two people’s decision to let their passion trump practicality? She softened her voice. “I am just doing my job, and I promise I’m not judging you. I can deal with complicated as long as I have all the facts. Why don’t you tell me everything you can about your uncles, and I promise you won’t hear another word from me about bad romantic timing?”

  Jade looked first at Bianca who nodded as if to say Syd could be trusted. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Bianca has heard everything already. Does she need to stay for this?”

  “I want to,” Bianca said.

  Jade looked like she wanted to protest, but Bianca inclined her head, her jaw set, and Syd watched the power balance shift. “Okay,” Jade said. “Where would you like to start?”

  Syd started with some softball background questions to get some idea of the progression of Jade’s relationship with her uncles. Jade’s answers were detailed and thoughtful, and Syd had no reason to believe she was holding anything back. During Jade’s youth, Arturo and Sergio Vargas were kind and generous uncles who everyone in the family respected and revered, but Jade had overheard snippets of conversations, and her increasingly curious mind led her to look into why her uncles, who were so vague about what they did for a living, always seemed to have tons of money and were consistently feared by those outside the family.

  “When did you first know for sure they were drug dealers?”

  “I was in college when my mother told me the truth. She and I had an argument—common for us—about what I would do with my life when I graduated. She wanted me to work with her on the ranch, and like all young people who rebel against their parents, I thought that was the worst idea in the world. I told her I wanted to be like Arturo and Sergio.” Jade closed her eyes for a second. “She spat the words out in a fit of anger. Did I really want to waste my Wharton degree running a business that could put me in a prison cell for the rest of my life? I didn’t believe her at first, but the more I thought about it, I knew she was right. It was more than the money they had; it was the fear they engendered from everyone they met. What I’d naively thought was adoration was more like terror. Everyone was afraid they might someday cross my uncles and wind up the victim of a gruesome murder meant to send a message.”

  “It’s kind of a miracle that Lindsey Ryan wasn’t harmed,” Bianca chimed in.

  “But wasn’t the whole point of kidnapping her so Gellar would release Arturo from prison? They wouldn’t have harmed Lindsey as long as she was valuable to them, right?” Syd asked.

  “About that,” Jade said. “I know you already have reason to doubt that my uncles were involved in kidnapping Lindsey.” She cast a guilty look in Bianca’s direction as if to apologize for sharing what Bianca must have told her about the ongoing investigation. “I think those doubts are well founded. Sergio and Arturo don’t ask nicely for what they want. They take it. If they want to bust Arturo from prison, they will make it happen, but it won’t be by threatening someone’s life. They would be more likely to just slit the throats of every prison guard at Seagoville. Asking is a weakness they would never indulge, even when it comes to family.”

  Syd paused to digest the horror of finding out someone you loved was a monster. “It must have been really hard on you to find out what they really were.”

  “It was. When they threatened me if I didn’t work with them, I thought things had hit the bottom, but I was wrong. The worst thing they could do was threaten someone I loved.” Jade reached over and took one of Bianca’s hands in her own. “I will never let anyone hurt the people I love.”

  Syd watched Jade and Bianca share an intimate moment, knowing she should look away to give them privacy, but she was unable to tear her gaze from their exchange. The fierceness of Jade’s declaration was admirable, but more than that, it was concrete, measurable evidence of her love. Syd had no doubt Jade would do anything for Bianca, no matter what tried to separate them. Had she ever felt that way about Tanner? If so, what had happened to diminish her resolve in their relationship? Clearly, something had happened, because when it was time for her to choose Tanner over anything else, she’d let Tanner walk away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Tanner led Dale and Mary back to one of the conference rooms at the FBI field office and shut the door behind them. “Thanks for coming out here to do this.”

  Mary slid into a seat. “Happy to accommodate, but would you care to let us in on the secret? What is the this that we’re here to do?”

  Tanner motioned for Dale to join them at the table. “You remember what I said last week about the 302s that Bianca found in Gellar’s office? I’ve been doing some digging to find out the name of the agent who wrote them up.”

  “Isn’t the name of the agent supposed to be typed on the form?”

  “It should be, but whoever filled these out signed them instead.” She fished some papers out of a folder she’d carried into the room and set them on the table between Dale and Mary. “See here.” She pointed. “Can you make that out?”

  “Looks like my doctor signed it,” Dale said. “How are you supposed to figure out who it is? And what happened to your theory that Gellar wrote the forms himself?”

  “I’ve abandoned that idea for now. He’s got to have someone lined up to testify if the case goes to court, and I’m going to find that person using good old-fashioned detective work. I started scouring case records to see if there were any other 302s in the office with handwritten signatures instead of typed ones.”

  “And?” Mary asked.

  “No luck. Then I looked for handwritten case notes, but no luck. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything since we’re supposed to memorialize everything with a typed 302 to stay consistent, but I thought maybe whoever did this had a penchant for his or her own handwriting.”

  “The suspense is killing me,” Dale said dryly. “Get to the point, Cohen.”

  “I didn’t find any case notes, bu
t I did some snooping and came across three agents whose handwriting might be close to the one on the form. They’re coming in, one by one, to talk to us today. We’ll find a way to figure out which one of them wrote up the 302.”

  “And then what?” Dale asked. “We accuse them of working with the US attorney to prosecute a case? Newsflash—that’s the way the job works.”

  “Ease off. Give her a chance to tell us what she’s got planned,” Mary said. “You do have a plan, don’t you Tanner?”

  “Sure,” Tanner lied. “Mostly. I plan to ask each one point-blank if they authored the report, and when we find the one that did, tell him/her that we’re following up on some leads generated by their investigation and we wanted to know if there were any impressions not included in the report that they could share with us. Also, I plan to gently remind them to type their name legibly on the report for official reference.”

  “If the report is fabricated, you really think the agent who wrote it is going to admit they wrote it?”

  “No, but I do think three well-trained federal agents should be able to tell when someone is lying and convince them it’s in their best interest to tell the truth.”

  “It’s not a great plan, but we’re here, so let’s do this,” Dale said. “Bring in the first victim.”

  Tanner shot a look at the door to make sure she’d remembered to shut it. “Before we get to that, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you both.”

  “Let me guess,” Mary said, narrowing her eyes. “You’re working as a double agent, spying on Gellar’s behalf, and you’re ready to come clean.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Tanner said.

  Mary laughed. “Of course I’m kidding. I’m not crazy.”

  “I don’t know,” Dale said. “She has been acting kind of twitchy since Sydney Braswell showed up. Scared she’s going to root you out?”

  Tanner felt her face redden at the mention of Syd. Now was as good a time as any to say what she’d planned. “Actually, it’s about her, Syd. I’ve been meaning to mention that we know each other. We went to law school together, back in the day.”

  “Okay,” Dale said, drawing out the word. “What? Did you feel like you were holding out on some big secret by not telling us that?”

  “It’s more than that, isn’t it?” Mary asked. “How well did you know her? Can she be trusted?”

  Tanner shook her head at the complex set of questions. Whether Syd could be trusted professionally was a whole different issue than whether she could ever trust her on a personal level, but she knew what Mary was asking. “I don’t think we have any reason to think she’s here for any purpose other than what she’s said. Now, as for how well I know her, let’s just say that once upon a time we thought we knew each other well enough to have a white picket fence, raise a family, and grow old together.”

  Dale let out a low whistle. “Wow.”

  “I know.” Tanner took a deep breath. “But that’s all in the past. Until last week, I hadn’t seen her since about a month after law school graduation when we went our separate ways. It’s felt weird pretending to you guys that we didn’t know each other, and we don’t need weird getting in the way of this investigation.”

  “Like we don’t have enough weird already,” Mary said. “We’re about to interrogate a few FBI agents in hopes of figuring out which one might be working with the US attorney on some kind of twilight zone parallel universe to our investigation. Your twenty-something love life doesn’t even begin to compete.”

  Tanner wished she felt the same. “So, we’re good?” she asked.

  “All good,” Dale said. She pointed to the door. “Let’s do this.”

  Tanner held up a hand. “One more thing. It’s about Syd. As we were leaving the party at his house, Gellar pulled me aside. It was strange.” At Mary’s eye roll, she added, “Stranger than usual. He made a point of letting me know that he knew Syd and I had some kind of past and he acted a little suspicious about her, like he wasn’t entirely sure her reason for being here was to help him bust the task force into shape.”

  “Do you think he’s on to us?”

  “Not sure, but it felt more like he was trying to dig for information. I get the impression he trusts me, although I don’t have a clue why, but maybe he was hoping I’d let him know if I had any suspicions.” She shrugged. “Just thought you should know.”

  “Why didn’t we pick this up on the mic?”

  “Uh, I might have turned it off earlier, and then didn’t have a chance to turn it back on when Gellar pulled me aside.”

  “Dumb move. Any chance you want to tell us why?” Dale asked.

  “Not right now,” Tanner said. There was no chance someone could overhear their conversation, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to admit she’d picked the locks at Gellar’s place while sitting in the conference room at FBI headquarters. “Let’s just say I may as well have left the damn thing on.”

  Mary gave her a look like she knew better, but seemed to let it go. “Have you told Sydney about your conversation with Gellar?”

  “No.” Tanner thought back to the evening she’d spent with Syd at her apartment. She’d meant to tell her, but part of her thought it would be better if Sydney didn’t know about Gellar’s suspicions since it might affect how she acted around him.

  “You should,” Dale said. “She has a right to know if Gellar suspects something’s up.”

  Tanner knew Dale was right, but she’d kinda missed the window. “I’ll tell her. I promise.” Eager to turn the conversation away from Sydney, Tanner said, “Let’s get started on these interviews.”

  The first guy was a tall, skinny agent who’d been with the bureau for five years and worked in securities fraud. Tanner didn’t offer any explanation to lead off; instead she thrust one of the 302s at him and asked if he had prepared it.

  “We don’t get a lot of dead bodies in securities,” he said, his face deadpan. Tanner couldn’t tell if he was joking or if he was always that serious, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t lying. One look at Dale and Mary told her they thought the same.

  The next agent was a woman. Woman was a generous term since she barely looked old enough to be a college graduate. Tanner motioned for her to take a seat. “Agent Rachel Kelly, thanks for coming in to talk to us.” She introduced Dale and Mary. “You’re currently assigned to the cyber crimes division, correct?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Tanner tried not to wince at the ma’am, and slid one of the 302 forms across the table. “Is this your report?”

  Kelly barely glanced at the paper. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Tanner resisted the urge to pump her fist in the air. “We’re following up on some leads generated in a parallel piece of this investigation. Do you have any observations or impressions not included on these 302s that you’d like to share with us?” She finished her statement with a hard stare designed to bend the young agent to her will. Agent Kelly shifted in her chair, picked up the paper, and set it back down again, looking everywhere but back at Tanner.

  “Agent?”

  Finally, Kelly focused on her. “I’m not entirely sure I’m at liberty to talk to you about this.”

  Tanner walked over so she was standing right next to Kelly’s chair. Without her saying a word, Dale and Mary scooted their chairs closer so they effectively formed a huddle. Tanner bent slightly at the waist, but her towering height was still enough to intimidate. “How long have you been working for the bureau?”

  “This is my first year.”

  “I remember what it was like when I was first starting out too. Someone higher up gives you a big assignment right out of the gate and you think you owe them your career. I get it. I really do. But if you aren’t careful, the someone you tied your hopes and dreams to might wind up being the one that sinks your career.” She sat back down in the chair next to Kelly and assumed a less imposing stance. “Now, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I believe you were only doin
g what you were told, but we need to know everything,” she stabbed at the stack of 302s on the table, “not just what you wrote down. Who were your sources? What were your impressions? Every single detail about your investigation.”

  Kelly turned pale, but she didn’t speak. Tanner wasn’t sure if she’d poured it on too thick or if Kelly needed a little bit more of a push. Deciding on the latter, Tanner pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed. When Syd answered, she didn’t give her a chance to say anything, and she prayed Syd would play along. “Thanks for taking my call. I’ve got Agent Rachel Kelly here. She’s the agent who turned in those 302s you were asking about, but she doesn’t appear interested in providing us with any background information about her investigation.” She didn’t wait for Syd to respond before chugging on. “I know, I know. I just thought maybe if she spoke to someone from Main Justice, she might understand how important it is that she cooperate if she wants to save her career. Do you mind talking to her?”

  Tanner made a show of holding out the phone toward Kelly, who looked at it like it was a coiled snake. “You can talk to a DOJ attorney or you can talk to us. Your choice.”

  Kelly waved the phone away. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

  Tanner pulled the phone back to her ear and said, “We got this.” She clicked off the line as Syd was asking her what the hell she was doing and wished she had a moment alone with Syd to explain. She turned her attention back to Kelly. “Let’s hear it. Start by telling us who assigned you to this case.”

  Kelly looked sick again, but she managed to blurt out a name. “Herschel Gellar.”

  “US Attorney Gellar came to you personally and asked you to work a case?” Tanner asked, injecting incredulity into her voice.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. He was here in the building for a meeting, and he apparently asked the special agent in charge for a highly motivated young agent to work on a project.” Kelly blushed, probably from embarrassment at the way the assessment sounded once she’d said it out loud. “Like I was going to turn down an opportunity to work directly with the US attorney.”