The Collectors cc-2

by David Baldacci

  Jerry Bagger had personally put a bullet into her brain when she wouldn’t rat out her husband. Paddy certainly hadn’t returned his wife’s loyalty. He’d fled when Bagger started to close in. Annabelle couldn’t even attend her mother’s funeral because Bagger and his men were at the cemetery waiting for someone to show up. That was years ago, and Bagger was probably still looking for her father. Over ten lousy grand, when the man spent more on his suits than that. Yet Annabelle knew it ultimately wasn’t about the money. It was about respect. And the only way you kept respect in Bagger’s world was by doling out five licks for every one you took. And whether somebody stole ten grand or 10 million of his money, Bagger would hurt that person if he could get his hands on him. That’s why when Annabelle ratted out the cons at the Pompeii, she had also called the police. With cops on the premises Bagger couldn’t break any knees. If the cons were smart, they’d clear out fast after they’d done their time or paid their fines.

  Bagger might have been a walking caricature of a casino chieftain in a bad mob film, but one thing that wasn’t phony or funny about the guy was the easy manner in which he employed violence. If you conned other casinos, you went to jail. That was not how Bagger operated. He was a throwback to the days in Vegas when the way to deal with a pesky con was to first break the knees and then the head. His utter failure to bring his methods into modern times had led to his banishment from Sin City. While he hadn’t completely cleaned up his act in Atlantic City, he had gotten far more discreet about it.

  With all that, in Tammy Conroy’s case, a ten-grand con wouldn’t have ordinarily led to death. But it wasn’t a simple case, because her father and Bagger had a long running war. Personally, Paddy kept out of Bagger’s casinos, but he sent waves of teams in to do the con work for him, including, finally, his then teenage daughter and a much younger Leo. That almost led them to being fish food in the ocean the last time they visited Atlantic City. Yet over the years Bagger finally made the connection with Paddy and his casino’s troubles. He eventually showed up on Paddy’s doorstep one night far away from Jersey. But Paddy wasn’t there. Some said he had a warning and cleared out. If so, he forgot to let his wife in on it.

  There was no evidence linking Bagger to the murder, of course, and he’d had a million alibis, so no charges were ever filed in the case. However, some veteran cons with inside knowledge that Annabelle had talked to were absolutely certain as to what had happened. Yet even if they’d seen the deed themselves, they would never have testified against Bagger.

  Having him so close to her over the last week, Annabelle found herself thinking about putting a gun against his forehead and firing. That would have evened one old score, but the forfeit of her life would’ve been the price. No, this way was much better. Her father had never liked the long cons, arguing that it took too much time and had too many potential pitfalls. Yet Tammy Conroy would have truly appreciated the artistry and the execution of this one. And if somehow her mother had made it to heaven, she hoped the woman would take a peek from up high when Jerry Bagger discovered he’d been duped into a wild, crafty ride with an admission price of 40 million bucks.

  She picked up the TV remote and channel-surfed as she ate her pretzel. The news was the same as always, all bad. More soldiers killed, more people starving to death, more people blowing themselves and others up in the name of God. Done with TV, she picked up the newspaper. Old habits died hard, and more than once she found herself looking at stories and wondering how to spin the details into a successful, creative con. That was over now, she told herself. Nailing Bagger was the pinnacle of her career; there was nowhere to go except down.

  The last article she read caused her to sit up so fast she spilled her pretzel and mustard on the bed. She stared wide-eyed at the small, grainy photo that accompanied the back-page story. It was a short tribute to a distinguished scholar and man of letters. There was no cause given for the death of Jonathan DeHaven, only that he had died suddenly while at work at the Library of Congress. Though he’d died some time ago, funeral arrangements were just now complete and burial was set for the next day in D.C. Annabelle had no way of knowing that the delay had been caused by the medical examiner’s inability to find a cause of death. However, with no suspicious circumstances uncovered, the case had been set down to natural causes and the body released to the funeral home.

  Annabelle grabbed her bag and started stuffing clothes in it. Her travel plans had just been changed. She was flying to Washington. To say good-bye to her ex-husband, Jonathan DeHaven, the only man who’d ever truly captured her heart.

  CHAPTER 28

  “OLIVER! OLIVER.”

  Stone slowly came to and sat up with difficulty. He was lying fully dressed on the floor of his cottage, his hair still damp.

  “Oliver!” Someone was banging on his front door.

  Stone rose, stumbled toward the door and opened it.

  Reuben stared back at him with an amused expression. “What the hell’s going on? You getting into the tequila again?” However, when he noted Stone’s obvious distress, he quickly turned serious. “Oliver, are you okay?”

  “I’m not dead. I take that as a positive.”

  He motioned for Reuben to come in, and Stone spent the next ten minutes filling him in on what had happened.

  “Damn! You have no idea who they are?”

  “Whoever it is, they’re well up on their torture techniques,” Stone said dryly, rubbing at the knot on his head. “I don’t think I can even drink water again.”

  “So they know about the Behan connection?”

  Stone nodded. “I’m not sure it was a total surprise to them, actually. But I think what I told them about Bradley and DeHaven was definitely new intelligence.”

  “Speaking of DeHaven, his funeral is today. That’s what we were calling you about. Caleb is going, along with most of the Library of Congress. Milton’s coming too, and I switched my shift at the dock so I could go. We thought it might be important.”

  Stone rose but immediately wobbled.

  Reuben grabbed his arm. “Oliver, maybe you should just sit tight.”

  “One more torture session like that, you’ll be attending my funeral. But the service today may be important. If only for those it happens to bring out into the open.”

  The service at St. John’s Church next to Lafayette Park was very well attended by many library and government types. Also in attendance was Cornelius Behan with his wife, a tall, slender and very attractive woman in her early fifties with expertly colored blond hair. Her haughty air was intriguingly coupled with a wary, fragile bearing. Cornelius Behan was well known in Washington, and people continually went over to him, pressing the flesh and paying homage. He accepted it all with good graces, but Stone noted that he kept one hand on his wife’s arm at all times, as though she might fall without such support.

  At Stone’s insistence the Camel Club members had scattered in the church so they could survey different sections of people. Though it was clear that whoever had kidnapped him knew of his involvement with the others, Stone didn’t want to give those people, in case they were here, a reminder that he had three friends who would make nice targets.

  Stone sat in the very back, and his gaze swept the area with a practiced motion, until it stopped on one woman who sat off to the side. As she turned and flicked her hair out of her face, Stone’s gaze intensified. His previous training had made him highly skilled at remembering people’s features, and he had seen that profile before, although the woman he was looking at now was older.

  After the service was over, the Camel Club members left the church together, stepping in behind Behan and his wife. Behan whispered something to his wife before turning and speaking to Caleb.

  “Sad day,” he said.

  “Yes, it is,” Caleb said stiffly. He looked at Mrs. Behan.

  “Oh,” Behan said. “My wife, Marilyn. This is, uh . . .”

  “Caleb Shaw. I worked at the library with Jonathan.”


  He introduced the other Camel Club members to her.

  Behan glanced at the church where the pallbearers were bringing the casket out. “Who’d have thought? He looked so healthy.”

  “Many people do, right before they die,” Stone said absently. His gaze was on the woman he had spotted earlier. She had put on a black hat and sunglasses and was dressed in a long black skirt and boots. Tall and lean, she cut quite a figure amid all the grief.

  Behan looked searchingly at Stone and tried to follow his gaze, but Stone broke it off before the man could do so. “I suppose they’re sure about his cause of death,” Behan said. He added quickly, “I mean, they tend to get these things wrong sometimes.”

  Stone spoke up. “I suppose if they have, we’ll know about it at some point. The media usually ferrets those things out.”

  “Yes, the journalists are rather good about that,” Behan said with mild distaste.

  “My husband knows a lot about instant death,” Marilyn Behan blurted out. When they all stared at her, she hastily added, “I mean, because of what his company does.”

  Behan smiled at Caleb and the others and said, “Excuse us.” He took his wife’s arm firmly and led her away. Had Stone detected a hint of amusement in the lady’s eyes?

  Reuben’s gaze trailed after them. “I can only visualize that guy now with a pair of panties flying at half-staff on his dinky. I had to cram my fist in my mouth to stop from ripping a laugh during the service.”

  “Nice of him to come today,” Stone said. “I mean, for being such a casual acquaintance.”

  “The missus seems a complicated piece of work,” Caleb commented.

  “Well, she strikes me as sharp enough to know about her husband’s indiscretions,” Stone said. “I can’t believe there’s much love lost between them.”

  “And yet they stay together,” Milton added.

  “For love of money, power, social status,” Caleb said in a disgusted tone.

  “Hey, I wouldn’t have minded some of that in my marriages,” Reuben shot back. “I had the love, at least for a little while, but none of the other stuff.”

  Stone was now eyeing the lady in black. “That woman over there, does she look familiar to you?”

  “How can one tell?” Caleb said. “She’s wearing a hat and glasses.”

  Stone pulled out the photo. “I think she’s this woman.”

  They all crowded around the picture, and then Caleb and Milton stared directly at the woman and took turns pointing.

  Stone hissed, “Do you two think you could be a little more obvious?”

  The funeral party headed to the cemetery. After the gravesite service was finished, people started heading back to their cars. The lady in black lingered by the raised coffin as two workmen in jeans and blue shirts waited nearby. Stone glanced around and noted that Behan and his wife had already returned to their limo. He scanned the surrounding area looking for folks to whom the administration of water torture might be a daily part of life. And you could spot such people, if you knew how to look for them, which Stone did. However, his surveillance turned up nothing.

  He motioned for the others to follow as he walked over to the lady in black. She had placed a hand on the rosewood coffin and seemed to be mumbling something, perhaps a prayer.

  They waited until she was done. When she turned toward them, Stone said, “Jonathan was in the prime of life. It’s so sad.”

  From behind her glasses she said, “How did you know him?”

  Caleb said, “I worked with him at the library. He was my boss. He’ll be very missed.”

  The woman nodded. “Yes, he will.”

  “And how did you know him?” Stone asked casually.

  “It was a long time ago,” she said vaguely.

  “Long friendships are becoming rarer these days.”

  “Yes, they are. Excuse me.” She stepped past them and started to walk off.

  “It’s so curious, the medical examiner couldn’t find a cause of death,” Stone said loud enough for her to hear. The comment had the desired effect. She stopped and turned.

  “The newspaper said he died of a heart attack,” the woman said.

  Caleb shook his head. “He died because his heart stopped, but he didn’t have a heart attack. The papers just assumed, I guess.”

  She took a few steps toward them. “I didn’t get your names.”

  “Caleb Shaw. I work in the Rare Books reading room at the Library of Congress. This is my friend—”

  Stone put out his hand. “Sam Billings, nice to meet you.” He motioned to the other two Camel Club members. “The big fellow is Reuben and that’s Milton. And you are?”

  She ignored Stone and focused on Caleb. “If you work at the library, you must love books as much as Jonathan did.”

  Caleb brightened as the subject changed to his specialty. “Oh, absolutely. In fact, in his will Jonathan named me his literary executor. I’m in the process right now of inventorying his collection, having it appraised and then sold, with the proceeds going to charity.”

  He stopped talking when he saw Stone motioning him to shut up.

  She said, “That certainly sounds like Jonathan. I’m assuming his father and mother are dead?”

  “Oh, yes, his father’s been dead for years. His mother passed two years ago. Jonathan inherited their home.”

  It seemed to Stone that the woman was working hard not to smile at this last piece of information. What had the lawyer told Caleb? That the marriage had been annulled? Perhaps not by the wife, but by the groom at the insistence of his parents?

  She said to Caleb, “It would be nice to see the house. And his collection. I’m sure it’s very extensive by now.”

  “You knew about his collection?” Caleb asked.

  “Jonathan and I shared a lot of things. I’m not going to be in town very long, so would tonight be okay?”

  “As it happens, we were going over there this evening,” Stone answered. “If you’re staying at a hotel, we can pick you up.”

  The woman shook her head. “I’ll meet you on Good Fellow Street.” She quickly walked to a waiting cab.

  “Do you think it wise to ask this woman to Jonathan’s house?” Milton asked. “We really don’t even know her.”

  Stone pulled the photo out of his pocket and held it up. “I think maybe we do. Or at least we will soon enough. On Good Fellow Street,” he added thoughtfully.

  CHAPTER 29

  AFTER CLOSED-DOOR TESTImony was completed before the House Intelligence Committee, Seagraves and Trent had a cup of coffee in the cafeteria and later headed outside to stroll around the Capitol grounds. Since their official duties dictated that they spend a great deal of time together, this would raise no suspicions.

  Seagraves paused to unwrap a stick of gum while Trent bent down to tie his shoe.

  “So you really think this guy is ex-Agency?” Trent asked.

  Seagraves nodded. “Triple Six, you know about that bunch, Albert?”

  “Only vaguely. My clearance didn’t go that high. The Agency recruited me for my analytical skills, not my ability in the field. And after ten years of their bullshit I’d had enough.”

  Seagraves smiled. “Jumping to the politico side really that much better?”

  “It has been for us.”

  Seagraves watched as his colleague carefully combed his dozen strands back into place, somehow aligning each one perfectly against its neighbor without benefit of a mirror. “Why don’t you just get a buzz cut?” Seagraves said. “A lot of ladies are into that macho look. And while you’re at it get yourself in decent shape.”

  “After we finish our careers I’ll have so much money that whatever foreign country I end up in the ladies there will take me any way I want.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  “This Triple Six guy might be a complication. We might be talking thunderstorm status.”

  Seagraves shook his head. “We do that, things will really heat up. For all I know he’s still got
connections. And if I did him, I’d have to do his friends. That’s a lot of room to make a mistake and get the wrong people suspicious. For now he thinks Behan’s the guy. If that changes, then the weather forecast might read differently.”

  “Are you really sure that’s a good strategy?”

  Seagraves’ features turned a notch darker. “Let’s do a reality check, Trent. While you sat safely behind your little wonk desk in nice, comfortable Washington, I was putting my ass on the line in places you’re too scared to even watch on TV. You keep doing what you do, and let me worry about the strategic planning. Unless you think you can do it better than I can.”

  Trent tried to smile, but his fear didn’t allow for it. “I wasn’t questioning you.”

  “It sure as hell sounded like it.” He suddenly grinned and clamped an arm around Trent’s narrow shoulders. “No time to fight now, Albert. It’s going way too well. Right?” He squeezed tightly and only released his grip when he felt the pain in the other man’s body. It felt good, to feel another man’s suffering up close like that. “I said, right?”

  “Absolutely.” Trent rubbed his shoulders and actually looked like he might start crying.

  You must’ve had the crap kicked out of you on the playground every day.

  Seagraves changed the subject. “Four State Department liaisons dead. That was some original spin.” He’d actually known one of the murdered men; in fact, he’d served with him. A good agent, but millions of dollars easily trumped any friendship he’d ever had.

  Trent said, “You expect the government to be creative? So what’s next on the list?”

  Seagraves tossed his cigarette down and glanced at his companion. “You’ll see it when you see it, Albert.” He was actually getting a little tired of his junior partner. That was partially what this little jam session was about, making it clear to Trent that he was and would always be a subordinate. And if things got dicey and it looked like the house of cards might tumble down, Trent would be the first person he’d kill for one simple reason: Mice always break under pressure.