by Gini Koch
“What was that about?” Jeff asked quietly.
“I thought I saw—” Who knew what I’d really seen, four stories up and in the rain? Bruno hadn’t freaked out, so I was probably mistaken.
“You thought you saw what?” Vance asked.
“Donuts.” As replies went, this had to be in the running for Most Lame Reply Ever, but it was all that came to me.
“Okay,” Reader said slowly. “We’ll get you a snack once we’ve gotten checked through, okay, Kitty?”
The others seemed to accept this, but Oliver gave me a look that said he didn’t buy it. However, we shortly had other issues to worry about.
Apparently, even though Jeff was going to be sworn in today and had been pointedly told he was inheriting Reyes’ office, no one had told anyone here so no one was prepared for us to arrive. It got better. The police had cordoned off Reyes’ office, so we weren’t going to be allowed in it anyway.
When asked why the police had closed off an office where no crime had happened, the only answer was that the Rayburn House prided itself on always working with the fine policemen and – women of Washington, D.C. That was the party line, verbatim, because we heard it from at least six different people.
No one seemed moved at all by the fact that Reyes’ dying wish had been for me to clean out his desk. Apparently precedent said that if a representative died, then whoever wanted a look at his stuff could wait until someone “in authority” gave the go-ahead. The boys rejoined us long before that happened.
Irene, the woman who helped us the most, as in the one who stayed with us throughout the ordeal, insinuated that Jeff had been assigned a much better office than Reyes had been given, and as soon as clearances were authorized, we’d be allowed to see it.
Time was wasting, we had no idea what Vance’s theory had turned up, and no way to get into Reyes’ office to do anything, let alone hunt for clues. It didn’t help that Jeff’s office was going to be on the fourth floor, and Reyes’ had been on the third, either.
“We just have so many offices being cleared out these past few days,” Irene said mournfully, as we once again waited for another someone to tell us that, no, sorry, not authorized yet.
“Ah, yes,” Oliver said. “The three other representatives who passed away earlier this week. It must be putting quite a somber tone on the holiday season.”
Irene nodded. “Two were so young. And Representative Holmes was always so full of life, even at his advanced age.” Her lower lip quivered. “I can’t believe I’m never going to see any of them again.”
“Are their offices all near each other?” I asked.
“Yes, most of the committee members liked to stay nearby.”
“Which committee?” Jeff asked.
“The House Committee on Foreign Affairs,” Irene replied. She shook her head. “It’s such a shame, we’ve lost so many good people this past year.”
“All from that one committee?” Because if so, then I had to question why Chuckie or Oliver or others who lived for conspiracy theories hadn’t noticed.
“Oh, no. It’s been a very bad year for us overall. But the Foreign Affairs committee has lost four people.”
Vance caught my eye and nodded. Took this to mean that his research had shown that this committee had popped.
“Santiago wasn’t on that committee, was he?” I asked.
“I don’t think he’d found his place yet,” Irene said sadly. “But Representative Bowers had been on the committee for years before he passed.” She smiled at Jeff. “So perhaps you’ll be able to follow in his footsteps.”
“I hope not,” I said under my breath.
“Excuse me?” Irene said.
“Just wishing we had some donuts.”
“Oh, I’m sure we could get you a snack if you’re hungry.”
“Thanks, I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Chose not to mention that “donut” and “snack” weren’t necessarily the same thing. Clearly to Irene and Reader, they were. Or else I was the only donut-lover in attendance.
Would have liked to have had something to do other than fret, though. We now needed to get in and search not only Reyes’ office but the other offices belonging to reps who’d died. We needed help. Not to search but to just get past the lobby because we hadn’t made it out of this area. Oh, we’d tried, and had made it up to the second floor once, before we were told we weren’t authorized to go anywhere yet.
Had a variety of people I could call, but, based on Jeff’s opinion, decided to go for the Inside Man. Dug my phone out from under the Poofs and called Nathalie back.
“You’re ready for lunch already?” Nathalie asked with a laugh.
“No. We need help.” Explained the situation. “We foolishly thought this was all handled somehow, based on how fast everything else has happened. Any suggestions for what we can do?”
“Hang on. Edmund and I will be there shortly. He’ll handle it.”
Had no idea if Brewer could really help in this situation or not, but it was probably better to have another rep come by as opposed to asking Mom or Chuckie to assist. I wasn’t clear on how well-liked the C.I.A. or P.T.C.U. were on Capitol Hill, but figured betting on “not well” was closer to right.
I was bored, so I went and looked out the doors to watch for the Brewers. A cab pulled up and a man who was clearly an elected official of some kind got out. This was something to occupy my mind, so I watched him. He paid the taxi driver, turned toward the steps, briefcase in hand, and jerked his head as he put his free hand up to his neck.
As the taxi pulled away out of the loading area and onto the street, the briefcase dropped out of the man’s hand. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest. Then he fell flat on his face.
It happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to scream. But that was okay. Irene had come over to join me, perhaps to share news of donuts or snacks, and had seen some of this, and she was covering the screaming part.
Jeff and Reader didn’t hesitate. They ran outside. The boys ran after them.
I ran after all of them. “Check his neck,” I said as they picked the man up and got him out of the rain and into the building. I looked up and around. I was certain someone was on the roof. But they hadn’t been shooting at me or Jeff. So, was it the Dingo and Surly Vic, Raul, or someone else?
Decided there was only one way to find out and it was stupid to stay standing out in the rain, so I went inside.
The man was on his back and Reader was doing CPR. It didn’t seem to be helping. Irene was on the phone, crying, getting help of some kind, and Vance was doing his best to comfort her. Len and Kyle were watching for other attacks. Oliver was on his phone.
Jeff pulled me aside. “There was a small mark on his neck, like a bug bite.”
“I think the shooter was on the roof.”
“You think he was shot?”
“Yeah, I do, though obviously not with a bullet. You know, Jeff, we’re here with another dead guy. That can’t be good for the press. They’re already calling us the Embassy of Death.”
“It’s just a coincidence.”
Thought about this. “Is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re rushed into accepting a position, and told that you have to be sworn in the next day, when, frankly, January third isn’t all that far away. And yet, here we are, all ready to get going, and we’ve been kept in the lobby the entire time. Convenient we were here, or Irene would have had to drag that man inside all by herself.”
“I don’t get anything dangerous from her, but right now, that means nothing.”
“Yeah. I don’t know that I’m accusing Irene. She’s not the one who hasn’t authorized us to go in. And she’s also not the one who asked the police to cordon off the dead representatives’ offices.”
“You said the shooter’s on the roof. Should we check it out?”
“No. I don’t want them shooting you.”
“I’m not a target.”
“Yeah? I�
��m firmly one with Vance’s theory right now.”
“There’s a reason. If people are really being murdered on this scale, there’s a reason for it.”
“Either there’s a reason or there’s a serial killer. Either way, Vance is right—you’re a target.”
“I was out there twice and no one shot me.”
“True.” I hugged him. “Superbeings were so much easier.”
Len came to us. “Representative Brewer and his wife just arrived in a taxi. Kyle and I are going to escort them in.” With that the boys ran outside. As they got out of the taxi, Len grabbed Nathalie, Kyle grabbed Brewer, and they moved them in like they were Secret Service and the Brewers were the President and First Lady.
Didn’t take a lot to bring the Brewers up to speed. We also now had enough people to play a decent game of volleyball. It was going to be harder than hell to search anywhere. But we needed to.
Trotted over to Irene, who was off the phone but still crying. “I need to find a restroom, but I don’t want to go without my husband.”
She nodded. “I understand.” She handed me a piece of paper and a key. “That’s the information for your husband’s office. I can’t imagine that it’s going to matter that you went up a little early, not with this.” She pointed to the man on the floor.
“Who is that?”
“Representative Juvonic.”
“What committee was he on?”
“Homeland security. Does it matter?”
“I hope not.” I squeezed her hand. “Thanks, we’ll be back as soon as possible.” Gave Vance a look that I hoped he understood meant “stay here and keep Irene distracted.” He seemed to get it because he started talking to her about Juvonic.
Rejoined the others. Brewer was on his phone, making angry calls. “I need to throw up. Seriously. Nathalie, can you manage things here? Because I need Jeff with me.”
“Of course, Kitty. I’ll call you if you’re needed before you’re back.”
“Thanks.” Grabbed Jeff and headed for the stairs.
“Are you actually sick?” he asked, sounding worried.
“No. But girls visit the bathroom together if all we’re doing is peeing, and experience says Nathalie is totally a group-goer. However, no one wants to help you vomit. And no one wants to barge in on that, either.”
“So, where to first?”
“We find your official office, so if someone needs to find me puking we can get back there. And then we find the office with police tape and search it. We’ll worry about the others once we get that done.”
“I married the smartest, and sneakiest, girl in the galaxy.”
“Let’s hope.”
CHAPTER 52
AS SOON AS WE were out of sight, Jeff took us to the fast hyperspeed. Even though there were people on the stairs, they didn’t see us, and Jeff ensured we never touched them.
It was a little confusing to find Jeff’s office, but hyperspeed made things go faster. Irene was right—he had a window and a nice view and newer furniture.
“It’s going to take us a while to find Santiago’s office,” Jeff said. “This place is huge.”
“Nope.” I pulled out my phone and dialed.
“Hello?” Stryker sounded tired, but conscious. Good.
“Eddy! Nice to see you’re up and about.”
“Like we had a choice? What’s going on, Kitty?”
“Need you to give me the names and, more importantly, office numbers for every dead representative that Vance had you identify last night. And, unfortunately, you need to add in Representative Juvonic.”
“Someone else died?”
“Just died. Show some respect for the dead and get me his office number so we can go through it for clues.”
“Okay. Most of them are in one building, but not all.”
“I hope it’s Rayburn House because that’s where we are.”
“Yeah, it is. It won’t take long; Raj already had us compiling this list. Just need to determine office numbers.”
“I need Santiago’s office number first.”
“Thirty-ten.”
“You rock, Eddy. Text the rest to me and Jeff, okay? Oh and make sure, once you do that, that we get a full listing of what committees each dead rep was on. And make that snappy, I think it’s relevant.”
“Oh, yes, ma’am.” Stryker’s sarcasm knob was definitely hitting nine.
“That’s the spirit!”
“You want the update from Gaultier?”
“Sure. Have they found anything yet?”
“Yes, they’ve found Eugene Montgomery’s workspace. Not a lot there, but Henry downloaded everything on Montgomery’s laptop over to us. The laptop’s Gaultier property so we can’t remove it without making a scene.”
“Okay, did they find papers?”
“Yeah, about a briefcase’s worth. Raj has them. Henry’s using the laptop to hack into the rest of the Gaultier system, but he’s hitting blocks that the laptop can’t get around. They need to get to the main servers, and that’ll take a little time.”
“Well, at least they’re moving forward. Keep me updated.”
“Absolutely, madam.” Stryker had turned the sarcasm up to eleven. “Is there anything else I, your humble servant, can do for you?”
“Dude, I’m going to remember to hurt you when I get back.”
“I’ll risk it.”
“Alfred never talks this way to Batman.”
“I’m not Alfred and you’re not Batman. I can talk however I want to Wolverine with Boobs.”
“Oh, you did not go there, bub. Never forget, I’m the best there is at what I do.”
“Now that’s true. Just don’t ask me what I think you do best.”
“Remember that what I do isn’t nice.”
“Despite wanting to make a joke that would make you blush and me snicker, I’m going to stop now, because I think Chuck has my cell phone tapped and if I say anything else he’ll make my head explode.”
“Or Jeff’ll crush your skull with his bare hands.”
“Same difference.”
Comics jokes only Hacker International, Chuckie, Reader, or a few others would get done with, we hung up. Texts from Stryker started coming in almost immediately.
“Should we get moving?” Jeff asked. “Or should I go home and crush the squatter’s head with my bare hands?”
“No, we still need him. We should get going . . . wait. Hey, one of reps who was killed had this office before. Stryker sent the info over based on timeline of death, most recent first. The rep who was in here died a few months ago.”
“Why haven’t they put anyone else in here?”
“No idea, maybe their replacement hasn’t been elected yet. But let’s see if there’s anything worth spotting.”
An A-C using hyperspeed can search an entire house in less than five minutes. So searching one smallish set of rooms didn’t take Jeff long. He even lifted any furniture that wasn’t bolted down.
While he was busy, sent a text to Stryker, asking him to verify which reps had been replaced and which hadn’t, and also to see if replacement reps were given the same offices as their dead predecessor or not.
Jeff put a small pile of papers on the desk. “This is it.”
“Not a lot to go on.” We dug through it. Most of it was trash. Anything with writing or print on it we saved. “Can’t tell if any of this means anything yet.” Jeff put the few pieces of paper we were saving into his coat pocket. “Wait, let’s see if there’s an envelope or something we can put all that in.”
“There is.” He went to the filing cabinet and pulled out a box of legal envelopes while I checked the desk for a pen. “Should we take these along?” he asked as he transferred the papers in his pocket into an envelope.
Took the envelope from him and marked it with the office number. “Yeah, grab a dozen, that should be plenty.”
“I have them, so let’s see what we can find elsewhere.”
“This floor or Sant
iago’s office?”
“How long do we have before we have to go back downstairs?”
“You’re asking me? I’m not the super-empath. But I can pretend to be sick for hours if necessary. All I have to do is think about when I was pregnant with Jamie. I can pull those memories back easily.”
“Don’t remind me. And, I’ve checked, everyone’s still dealing with the drama, so I don’t think we’re missed yet. In which case, let’s do this floor and work down.”
Counting Jeff’s office and with the unfortunate addition of Juvonic, we had twelve offices to check out here in Rayburn House. Per Stryker’s texts, there were four to check in the Cannon House, and five in the Longworth House.
There was no way Jeff and I were going to get to check out the other locations today. And I knew time was of the essence. So, while Jeff searched the other two offices on the fourth floor, I contacted Tim.
He agreed that it sounded like a job for A-Cs, but we needed a human along to ensure that everything would be checked. I’d dealt with A-C versus human searching during Operation Confusion, and, as I reminded Tim, if we’d relied on the A-Cs to find and especially to interpret the clues he’d left me, Tim and a lot of others would be dead.
Duly convinced, Tim compromised and assigned Lorraine and Joe to Cannon and Claudia and Randy to Longworth. They each had two Field teams with them as well, and were advised to be on the lookout for people on roofs holding guns.
Scraps of papers that seemed to mean nothing put into envelopes worked great, but I found myself wishing we’d brought along a briefcase or bag, because there were more than scraps in some of the offices. I was carrying because Jeff was searching, and my arms were getting full.
We’d saved Reyes’ office for our last stop on the third floor. Not out of any meaningful reason, it was just the farthest from where we’d entered that floor from the fourth and we had five offices to check on this level. It was easy to spot, though—yellow police tape crisscrossed on the door stood out.
Once inside, I wondered if we’d been intelligent about not starting here first. Reyes had truly been living here, and that meant that there was stuff everywhere. On the plus side, there was also a briefcase, and it wasn’t locked.