Ellen agreed it was very important and told them to keep listening. Ellen started laughing, “You gals should see your hair!” Then she was gone.
Agent Todd Nelson had been the arresting officer of William Patterson last year. SSA Dan Thor had called the district office to get him re-assigned to the case again. Thor had been impressed with the young agent’s attitude and energy. Thor found out Nelson was actually in Indianapolis already on other business. Nelson finally arrived at the Indy office of the FBI. SSA Paul Casey had invited Nelson to assist in reviewing the prison tapes from Devon’s escape. Thor headed for Paul’s office to welcome Nelson back on the team.
Thor found Frost, Nelson, and Paul reviewing the tapes from the prison. Paul said, “Look at where Devon places books when he’s finished with them. Now watch. Here a week later, he has added a full foot to the height of an entire wall with that extra row.”
Nelson was nodding, “Flash forward to February 15th. You’re right, look! He is entirely hidden now when he goes behind that row of books, and the guard isn’t even watching him.”
They forwarded the video until they saw Devon stand up from the table and shake his attorney’s hand. They appeared to speak for a couple of minutes then both went behind the row of books. Four minutes later a man in Devon’s orange prison uniform came from around the corner and sat at the table. Two more minutes and the attorney came from around the corner and sat across from him. Evidently Warren had forgotten to give Devon his watch behind the books. They watched as the man in the orange prison garb removed a wrist watch and passed it across the table. The man in the suit put it on. They zoomed in. Devon was in the suit!
“Right there! Right there is where they switched! That was smooth. That had been rehearsed.” SSA Frost was standing now, pacing in the small office. Then he said, “By them asserting their right to represent themselves at trial, they have free reign of the library. They are allowed to meet with second position council, in the library.”
Todd looked at Paul, “We are actually lucky this has not happened before!” Paul switched video tapes and found the frames where Devon signed out from the building. The guard in charge barely gave him a nod. Thor moaned, he knew what was coming next. He left for his office.
Paul turned his chair around to face Todd Nelson. “Well, now we know how they did it. I bet when you get Patterson’s tapes it will be the same. Agent Dance has arranged for you to take lead on the Patterson side of this. Agent Thor is your supervisor. However, I am thinking that it may serve us best to work this as a combined case. These guys may still be in contact now, wherever they are.”
Ellen found Roger in Thor’s office and decided to wait outside in the hall. Agent Todd Nelson walked up to the open door, knocked, and said, “Do you have your cat here Agent Dance? There is a black cat in the hall. You know ever since we worked together in South Bend I think of you whenever I see a black cat!”
Roger smiled and answered, “Yeah, that is my black cat friend, and you can call me Roger. I assume you need to meet with Agent Thor and get briefed.” Roger stood and gestured for Agent Nelson to take the seat he had just vacated, “I think I’ll see if Paul wants to get a bite of lunch somewhere.” Roger looked at Thor, “Any recommendations?”
Agent Thor scratched out a simple map to a bar just a few blocks around the corner, and said, “Good burgers.”
Roger followed Ellen down the hall and into the office he was using. Paul was in the office next door. Roger poked his head in, “You feel like lunch?”
Paul said, “Yeah, just give me a couple of minutes.”
Roger sat at his desk, and Ellen jumped onto his lap and touched the computer screen. Roger saw an e-mail from Kim. He opened it and saw where Mathew Core and Jason Sims were expecting a five million dollar payment today from somewhere, probably for killing Guy Johnson and Daniel Warren. Roger called Agent Ray Davis who was pretending to be Jason and passed on the tip.
Paul appeared at the door, looked at Ellen, and asked, “Do we dare leave?” Ellen winked and disappeared.
Paul filled in Roger about the video tapes from the prison as they walked to the bar. Roger was impressed at how simple the plan had been. It was beautiful. Prisons were designed to keep people from leaving, not from voluntarily coming in to be incarcerated. Warren only had to sign in and flash an attorney’s license to have access to Devon in a lightly monitored environment.
“Beautiful!” Roger said out loud.
They found the bar easily enough and sat in stools at the far end, so they could watch the door. An old habit. After ordering, Roger filled Paul in on what Daniel Warren had said about Mathew Core’s recruitment method for the scam. The killings, his training, and the money he had been paid and promised.
Paul looked excited, “You know this five mil payment if it does come in today, may tell us where Devon and Patterson are hiding now. Depending on what Ray can chase down, we may even get the aliases.”
Roger was nodding, “I guess it is like Christmas at Core’s lab. According to the Director they have already connected the dots on several open cases. Seems for such a sophisticated operation, a whole bunch of their security software has malfunctioned.”
Paul choked while taking a gulp of his soda and said, “What a coincidence. Just when Ellen got involved,” and smiled. “You know, we are going to forget how to do this the hard way.”
Roger laughed, “I have had that thought.” Roger’s facial expression got serious, “Tell me about the agents who were with you at the prison, our new guys. I know they have been in briefing since you got here. What’s your feel for them?”
Paul pushed his chin forward, his thoughtful tick, and said, “SSA Simon Frost. Been with the Agency fifteen years, was in Fraud Division for ten of those. Comes from big money, has big money. Very smart, doesn’t talk a lot. Jacket says he is exceptional weapons expert. Ivy League educated, qualified for forensic accounting years ago. Divorced, still friendly with ex, has a daughter in law school. He spent two years breaking the art fraud case in New York last spring.”
Roger nodded, “That was him? He is very good.”
Paul said, “Yeah, that’s where he met Agent Pablo Manigat. They worked well together, and Frost asked for Manigat to be assigned here for this. I get the feeling he is trying to mentor Manigat up the ladder.”
Roger asked, “Manigat. What is that?”
Paul answered, “Haitian. Family came to the States in the early 1800’s and settled in Louisiana. Parents were in the music industry in New Orleans. Mother was a fairly well known blues singer, made a couple of records, got hooked on heroin. Died last year. Father left when kids were young. His file says he is Catholic, but a practicing Voodoo.”
“What?”
Paul laughed at Roger’s expression, “I swear, I couldn’t make this up! When we were waiting to interview the guards, I asked him about it. He gave me a little history lesson. Said his family was all devout Catholics and like so many of the true Voodoo believers worshiped many of the same Saints. He said a large percentage of true Voodoo believers are descendants of Haitian refugees and slaves. They went underground in the early 1900’s and were replaced by a commercialized sect, once Hollywood began to exploit the religion for tourists and profit. Pablo said about fifteen percent of the population in New Orleans are practicing Voodoo, and the grave of one Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, gets more visitors yearly than the grave of Elvis Presley.”
Paul and Roger looked at each other. Roger asked, “I wonder how the gals deal with Voodoo?”
Devon logged into his laptop and saw the confirmation notice that Patterson’s money had been received by his bank. He was tempted to only send half of the money on to the fixer. He only had confirmation that half the job was done. But he didn’t want to piss that guy off! It wasn’t his money anyway. He hit a few keystrokes and sent five million dollars to the wire instructions he had been given and looked at the remaining one million in his account. He had told Patterson he was keeping half a mil
for the hassle of getting Patterson’s private life cleaned up, again. He decided to move two hundred thousand to his stash account and leave the rest in the office account. He was going to meet with the family today. Maybe he could get them to settle for even less.
He looked out the large picture window in the drawing room past the huge wrap around porch guarded by ornate iron fencing. From the street the house had a very attractive look, two story, very French. The main level of the house was actually elevated and through the back alley you could drive into an underground garage that opened into his private room. It was in this room that he entertained his girls. He had Patterson pick them up when he was through. He used to strangle them, but frankly they were just too heavy to transport that way. Patterson had devised a way to make a little money off his live scraps and take care of the bodies for him. A perfect arrangement.
He used to pump Patterson for the details of their demise but soon grew tired of the unimaginative stories. They were gone, that was all that mattered. After his appointment today, he wanted to go shopping for a new guest. It had been a whole month, and he was feeling frisky. He might kill this one himself. He kind of missed the thrill.
Agent Pablo Manigat took a deep breath, and knocked on the open door to SSA Roger Dance’s office. Roger invited him in, noticed the troubled look on Pablo’s face, and asked, “Is there something wrong?” Pablo asked if he could speak to him for a couple of minutes. Roger said, “Of course,” closed the door and directed him to a seat.
Pablo took a moment and then said, “I just received a call from my sister in New Orleans. She moved there a year ago to take care of our mother who has since passed away.” Roger was twirling his pen and listening closely. Roger was an FBI Behavioral Specialist and as such was one of their top profilers. Pablo’s eyes were red rimmed, dilated, and filled with a fierce anger. Roger knew he was looking at raw rage. Pablo continued, “Jeanne was abducted about six weeks ago, held captive, raped, then sent into a swamp to perish.” Pablo straightened in his chair, looked at the ceiling, and crossed himself. He looked back at Roger and exhaled heavily. He was practicing deep breathing to control his anger and rubbing an amulet he had retrieved from within his shirt. Roger was stunned at what he was hearing but remained silent.
Pablo continued, “Jeanne was saved by an old swamp man who took her to a Mambo who lives at Honey Island. A Mambo is a Voodoo Queen. She stayed with Mambo until this morning when the swamp man brought her back to the mainland. He had found another woman in the swamp who he also delivered to Mambo.”
Roger asked, “Is your sister safe now?”
Pablo answered, “She told me the man who made her walk into the swamp told her if she survived the alligators and snakes, to keep going and never come back. Or he would find her, kill her, and kill all of her family.” Roger noted that Pablo had not answered his question.
Pablo looked intently at Roger, “My sister took a family medical leave to help our mother. Jeanne is also an agent with the FBI, Computer Division. She is sure the man who abducted her is James Devon and the man who took her to the swamp is William Patterson. She thought it all along but had convinced herself she was hallucinating or something. She says that Devon kept her heavily drugged. She knew we had them in prison. Then this morning she saw on the news that they had escaped. She knew it was them! Agent Dance, Jeanne says she followed that case closely. She is sure. Devon and Patterson are in New Orleans.”
Roger was startled at what Pablo had just said, but it fit with the information they had obtained from Core’s thoughts. “Tell me what you want Pablo.”
Pablo took a deep breath and said, “I know that protocol does not condone this request, but my sister wants to work this case with us. I want to stay in it, and I want our team to go to New Orleans.” Pablo had articulated what he wanted with precision.
Roger knew this was going to be an important decision. The standard agency answer would be no. Jeanne would need extensive debriefing and treatment for her experience. Pablo would be emotionally involved with the case, which was a risk to everyone. Roger felt the intensity of Pablo’s stare. He sensed that Pablo would quit the agency and work the case anyway.
Roger asked, “Would you agree to me meeting with your sister before I give you a final decision?”
“You are willing to give us consideration?”
Roger answered, “I am.” When Pablo had left, Roger pulled up the agency information on both Pablo and Jeanne. He was impressed with both of their records and noticed Jeanne had joined the agency two years before Pablo. She was an overachiever. Every Supervisor had used the word driven in her evaluation reviews. Pablo had been New York City Homicide and left to join the FBI. His supervisors had commented that while he was proving to be an exceptional agent, highly skilled, there were concerns about his temperament.
Roger had told Pablo to get travel information for the team from the FBI pilot in Indy, speak to his sister, and then get back to him. There was little debate that the team was heading to New Orleans. It seemed likely that Mathew Core, James Devon, and William Patterson were all there.
Paul was bringing Thor up to date on the case, and Roger’s decision to work the Devon and Patterson cases together. Thor said, “I’d like to know where Dance gets all his information.” Thor waited for Paul to make a comment. When he didn’t, Thor just shrugged, “This is his call. If he thinks this will go better combining the cases, I don’t care.” Paul made the offhanded comment that Roger always had good instincts. He hoped that would satisfy Thor’s curiosity.
Paul came into Roger’s office and said, “Thor is curious about where you keep getting such good information.” He saw the look on Roger’s face and asked, “Now what?”
Roger told him about his conversation with Agent Manigat. Paul was rubbing his chin and shaking his head, “This could go sideways. We have Mathew Core in New Orleans too. Devon knows what you and I look like. He knows what Jeanne looks like. Patterson knows what Agent Nelson looks like, he arrested him last year. The only one of us who knows what they look like now is Jeanne, assuming they altered their appearances.” Paul was up pacing, “You and I can’t be hands off on this. We only have Pablo and Frost that are up to speed on the case that Devon and Patterson could get close to. I don’t like this.”
Roger took a deep breath, “We need more information on Mathew Core and Jason Sims.”
Just then Thor knocked on Roger’s office door and walked in, “Got a minute?”
Roger smiled, “What do you need Dan?”
Thor looked at Paul and then Roger, “I think I want to be more involved in this case. I appreciate you took what I said before to heart, but I think I had a change of heart. These young guys have no clue how bad this could blow up, or what Devon and Patterson are capable of. I guess I’m worried. I’ve been there, so to speak.”
Roger smiled and said, “Well, you couldn’t have had a change of heart at a better time. How well do you like Cajun food?” Thor raised an eyebrow, and Roger proceeded to tell him about his conversation with Pablo.
Thor was standing; his neck was beet red, “What a friggin’ case! I hate this case! What kind of hell are we in?” He was yelling at the ceiling at no one in particular.
Roger chuckled. He was starting to recognize Thor had a very dry sense of humor, “You know Dan, we have to deal with what we are dealt. I’m still thinking this out myself.”
Thor looked at Paul, “How can you spend so much time with this guy?” Thor started pacing as he yelled. “He’s killing me here! And it’s still his first –day- in- Indy.” Thor was holding up fingers as he continued his soliloquy. “I have a dead imposter, a live imposter in holding, a sniper in holding, and now an abducted woman witness. A seizure in Virginia of an entire computer lab, a computer geek arrested, some piece of shit named Mathew Core that escaped us in New Orleans, and we already know where Devon and Patterson probably are? Are you on drugs or something? How do you keep this straight?” He looked so stressed out they al
l just started laughing, even Thor.
Roger just shrugged and said, “And it’s only three o’clock in the afternoon. Well, are you going to New Orleans or not?”
Thor stopped laughing, “Yeah, I’m goin’.” He shook his head and walked out of the office.
Ellen appeared on Roger’s desk. Paul reached over and shoved the office door closed. Roger looked at Ellen, “Did you hear all of this?” Ellen winked. Roger said, “I think we are heading to the Big Easy, you in?” Ellen winked and vanished.
Paul stood, stretched his back, looked at Roger, and said, “I’m having one of those feelings. This could get ugly.”
“It is already ugly. What do you know about law enforcement in New Orleans?”
Paul answered, “I know there is a lot of doubt surrounding the local PD. Their crime numbers are the worst in the country. They are actually under a joint federal mandate with the State Attorney General’s office to restructure the entire department because of corruption convictions. NOPD pays less than shit, and there is virtually no training in place.”
“I want a secure place to work from.” Roger paused, “The only secure place I’ve heard of in New Orleans is the building Mathew Core was in. Our guys said the whole place was top notch professional security. It’s in the Quarter, so we shouldn’t be bothered with day to day crime. Call our agents there, and start setting up for our people. Have someone contact Ray, and set up whatever computer needs they will have. I think we’ve just seized Mathew Core’s home base for us.”
Extreme Heat Warning: A Shallow End Gals Trilogy, Book Two Page 5