Sailing into Death (CJ Washburn, PI Book 2)

by James Paddock

  "That's not mushy," Stella said. "It was sweet. I don't know why it never went past the two or three times a year rendezvous, though."

  "They didn't start that for what, five years?" Parker said. "It took them that long just to get back to an occasional roll in the hay."

  Stella slapped Parker on the shoulder. "It was more than that to her, I'll bet. She was being patient. One step at a time."

  "We still know nothing more about where he went," CJ said. "Not even a mention of a relative or friend outside of the island who he might have gone to. I think we're dead in the water."

  "What I didn't do was Google his name," Stella said. She started to type and then said, "How was his last name spelled?"

  CJ opened the diary, paged until he found the name. "O apostrophe r-a-g-h."

  Stella looked over at him. When he didn't continue, she said, "What?"

  He turned the diary toward her and pointed. "You didn't mention that."

  "What? What are you pointing at?"

  CJ tapped it. "His full name. You never mentioned the middle name."

  Her eyes got wide. "That's a different entry. I never saw that. Must have skipped over it. Do you think...?"

  "What are you two talking about?" Parker said.

  CJ rotated the diary so that Parker could see the name where it was underlined three times, surrounded with dozens of little red hearts.

  Mrs. Michael Edmond O'Raghallaigh

  "O... kay," Parker said. "Edmond. It is a little suspicious, isn't it. Still could be a coincidence."

  "Maybe, but when you look at the last name, O'Raghallaigh, remove the first four and the last four letters, what do you get?"

  "Hall," Stella said. "Edmond Hall."

  "I'll be damned," Parker said.

  CJ put down the diary. "Hellooooo Eddie." He pulled out his phone. "Time to call my favorite FBI agent again."

  Chapter 46

  "Yeah, Dad?" Josh said just when CJ thought he'd be leaving a voice mail.

  "I'm not in trouble again, Josh."

  "Good to hear."

  "Have you found the paintball shooters yet?"

  "People are working on it. Why do you ask?"

  "Just curious. I might have something else for you."

  "What do you mean by something else?"

  "My hunch is that you've been looking for someone, an individual who might have had something to do with the death of a few British soldiers about 31 years ago. That would be in 1981 if you don't have your calculator handy."

  "Where do you come up with this stuff, Dad?"

  "I guess you don't care to hear what I've got to say."

  "Fine. What have you got?"

  "Do you know the name, Michael O'Raghallaigh?" CJ spelled it for him.

  "I do. What about him?"

  "You've been looking at Eddie Hall."

  "We have. So?"

  "They're one in the same."

  "And you know this because?"

  "Let's just say, I know."

  "What else do you have?"

  "What do you mean what else do I have?"

  "You just told me something we already know. Now can you tell me where Eddie Hall is at the moment?"

  "You mean you lost him?"

  "We never really had him. At the time that we were at his home..."

  "You mean when I showed up to help you interview him?"

  "Yeah, that time. We didn't have anything on him at that time. He was simply a person of interest in the Danohough killing, was soon dismissed."

  "But that was before he was linked up with Michael O'Raghallaigh."

  "Correct. I just figured that out a short time ago. So when did you figure it out?"

  "Just a few minutes ago."

  "Really."

  "Really." When there came a long silence, CJ said, "I was kind of hoping you guys had him in custody. I'd sure like to talk to him again."

  "Sorry to disappoint you, Dad. I'm sure we'll find him. When are you going home?"

  "In a day or two. What about you?"

  "Whenever Taffer is done with me. I go where I'm told. How did you figure it out?"

  "It was just a matter of putting the clues together."

  "Where did you get your clues? I had to do some deep digging."

  "It appears that Eveleen Danohough was actually Éibhleann Róis O'Donoghue, and she kept a diary when she became pregnant with and gave birth to Douglas back in 1969."

  "Her diary?"

  "You should have thought of that, my fine FBI son. Douglas' father was Michael Edmond O'Raghallaigh. A cub scout could easily see Eddie Hall in that. Oh, and there are also some twelve years of letters that he wrote to her, which she kept, before a roadside bomb killed five British soldiers in 1981. That's when he disappeared, to the United States I'm assuming, and changed his name."

  "You got lucky."

  "Isn't that what half of this is, luck?"

  Silence.

  "Have you figured out yet how Eddie Hall figures into the paintball attack?"

  "Haven't found a connection other than being the boyfriend of Danohough who was the biological mother of Douglas Rothbower who was our mole inside the UIRA."

  "Compromised mole," CJ added.

  "That's only a maybe. It hasn't been ruled out, though."

  "What is it with you guys? You aren't willing to admit that you screwed up? They knew about him plain and simple and was using him to feed you false information. They practically came right out and admitted it to me. While you were running down false leads, they were planning their paintball attack.

  "Also, Eddie Hall was Douglas Rothbower's biological father."

  "You're certain of that?"

  "I just told you, it's in Eveleen's diary. If you want to run their DNA to make it one-hundred percent certain, then go for it."

  "We don't really care, Dad. It wouldn't make any difference in our investigation. No point in spending tax dollars on it."

  "I see your point, Josh."

  "I'm glad you do. I've got to go."

  "What aren't you telling me?"

  "What do you mean, what aren't I telling you?"

  "You're an FBI agent. You're trained to withhold information, even if for no reason other than that you can. Don't tell anyone anything."

  "No, Dad. That's not how it goes. It's don't reveal anything to the general public which may jeopardize, compromise or impede the investigation."

  "Am I the general public, Josh?"

  "As a matter-of-fact, Dad, yes you are."

  "Even though without me you'd probably be nowhere on this thing."

  "I wouldn't go so far as to say that."

  "You've an entire slew of FBI special agents between here and the beltway working this thing twenty-four seven. I show up to find the father of a dead Arizona girl and stumble onto what you guys haven't been able to find with all your expertise and electronic gadgetry."

  "Stumble is the correct word, Dad."

  CJ ground his teeth for a few seconds. "I'm just trying to help, Josh. Why is it every time I attempt to feed you information, you give me crap?"

  "Who's giving who crap here, Dad? You call up to give me information that we already have and then bad mouth us."

  "We're on the same side here."

  "Doesn't sound like it. I've got to go. Thanks for the info, Dad. I think we can manage the rest without you. Go sailing with Stella and then go home."

  CJ opened his mouth to respond only to realize the connection was dead. He looked up at Stella and Parker.

  "That didn't sound like it went very well," Parker said. "What do you think he's not telling you?"

  "That was just my way of seeing if he'd spill something to me. Don't you use that technique in interrogations?"

  "Suspects, but not an FBI agent."

  "You were a little harsh with him," Stella said.

  "Who's side are you on?" When CJ saw the set of Stella's jaw he added, "I'm sorry. It's just that..." Just what? he thought, looking at Stella. She ju
st stared at him, waiting. "I don't know. I want us to be like father and son, not like FBI agent versus some stranger on the street who only gets in the way."

  "Have you ever thought that maybe that's what he wants, too?"

  "He sure doesn't show it."

  "Do you show it to him or do you push yourself into his work life? What do you know about his personal life, Clint? Have you asked him about girlfriends, where he lives in Denver, what he does with his spare time, hobbies, anything that is not job related or Fed related? Serial killer or IRA related? Have you ever thought that maybe what he wants is not another cop sidekick, but a father?"

  "He's the one who ran away; not so much as a postcard to tell us he was okay. Nearly seven years without a word and then he shows up out of the blue as an FBI agent. Does he expect that I'll just jump back into the father-son role?"

  Stella reached over and placed her hand on CJ's. "Chances are he is just as confused by it all as you, Clint. I think you need to ease back a little. Give it time. Let your father, adult son relationship heal naturally."

  "I think he's dammed scared," Parker said.

  "Scared of what?"

  "Of losing you. You've cheated death how many times since he showed back up in your life? four? five?"

  "I've lost count."

  "Parker is right," Stella said. "He wants you to go home because he's scared that he is going to lose the father he's just gotten back."

  CJ sat back and seriously considered their words. But what about him? Could it be that he's scared of losing his son again?

  Chapter 47

  When CJ pulled up in front of the DuPont house, he and Stella declined Parker's invitation for dinner, saying that they'd had a late lunch, that they had other plans. They did promise to join the DuPont family for dinner the next evening as they weren't planning on flying out until Thursday.

  The three of them remained seated in CJ's rental in front of Parker's house discussing Eddie Hall.

  "So you're done with this case?" Parker asked. "You're thinking that any further effort to talk to Hall is useless?"

  "If he was involved in the summit attack," CJ said, "he is certainly in the wind. Their plan was very well executed, despite the screw-ups involving me."

  "What bothers me," Parker said, "is if he was an officer in the UIRA he'd have to have been involved in the decision to kill Danohough and Douglas. That doesn't jive with what we've discovered about his and Danohough's relationship. She was obviously still in love with him, asked him to marry her."

  "Maybe he wasn't in love with her," CJ said. "Maybe he was just using her."

  "For what?"

  "Good question. It does seem that he really didn't know about Douglas until recently."

  "Do you think maybe that it pissed him off that she gave Douglas away and then never told him about his son actually being alive. Remember that we did learn that she told him that the baby died at birth."

  "Did we learn that or did we form a conclusion based on a few inconclusive entries in her diary?" Stella said.

  "Good point," CJ said. "In any case, would he have been pissed off enough to have her killed?" CJ really couldn't imagine that.

  "Maybe others wanted her out of the way when they discovered that her son was an informant," Parker said. "and he was pissed off enough that he didn't vote against it. You know, like a board of directors for UIRA voting to off Eveleen Danohough. All in favor indicate so by raising your right hand. Whatever the procedure, he may have abstained."

  "You two watch too many cop movies," Stella said.

  "This is real life, Sweetheart," Parker said in a hardboiled detective voice. "We whack 'em like we see 'em."

  After Parker got out of the car, Stella said to CJ, "What other plans do we have?"

  "I sort of just want to be alone with you."

  "I like that." She appeared to consider his statement for a few seconds and then added, "What do you mean by sort of?"

  "I'm thinking I want to go by Paddy's McGee's Irish Pub one more time."

  "Why?"

  "Don't know. Maybe just to bring Paddy and Rebecca up to date."

  "Do you think they'll know more about Eddie Hall now that we have his real name, or do you think they've been withholding for some reason?"

  "If they're not telling us something, it may not be because that's their intention," CJ said. "I think they've told us everything about him they think they know. If we throw out his real name, maybe we'll trigger memories about things they don't know they know."

  "Kind of what I was thinking."

  Twenty minutes later they stood just inside the pub entryway looking at the crowd of people waiting to be seated; not a surprise after seeing the parking lot.

  "I don't think this is going to be easy," CJ said as Hannah rushed by, taking no more notice than a quick glance and a brief smile. "It looks like the entire crew is on duty and they're buzzin'."

  "Something about Tuesday nights?"

  A young lady who CJ hadn't seen before came up to a nearby podium, looked at a list and called, "Boyd, party of four?"

  About a third of the waiting crowd followed after her.

  "So, I guess we wait."

  They stood to the side for about a minute, then the young lady returned and took their name, writing Washburn on her list. CJ saw that there were three names before his.

  Again, CJ and Stella stepped aside, out of the way. From their vantage point CJ could see Maire and a middle-aged man working the bar. Hannah, Rebecca, and another woman were working tables. Both Paddy and the older cook were on the grill. There were two other young men beyond the grill working dishes. One of them came out and started bussing tables. From what he could tell, Paddy's McGee's Irish Pub could use a few more staff.

  Then he noticed a crowd of people at the bar, centered around the best viewpoint of the widescreen TV. They weren't watching a football game or sports highlights. They were watching CNN and what looked to be the latest report from the Orlando World Center. He touched Stella's arm and pointed. "That's why this place is so busy."

  "Maybe we ought to come back later," Stella said. She watched the changing images for a few seconds and then said, "Oh!"

  "Oh what?" CJ's gaze had shifted to watching Rebecca, hoping to catch her eye.

  "Do you know what today is?"

  CJ thought for a minute and then said, "September 11th." When the significance of the date occurred to him, he looked back up at the monitor.

  "Do you think there's a connection?" Stella asked.

  "I certainly hope not. Would be very insensitive."

  "Just a coincidence that the G8 mini-summit was held in the World Center on 9/11?"

  "I would want to think so."

  Stella turned away from the view of the monitor and the image of the first World Trade Center building collapsing. "I'm really not ready for dinner anyway, and there's no way anyone is going to be able to break away to talk to us. I'm also afraid someone's going to recognize us."

  "No news cameras ever got us and hopefully, our names didn't get released. I'm sure Paddy doesn't even know we were involved."

  "Yeah, still, why don't we come back in a couple of hours? This is just too much."

  With that, CJ stepped up to where the list lay and crossed off his name. As he started to turn away, he spotted Rebecca looking at him from across a half dozen tables. He pointed to his watch and then held up his hands, displaying all ten fingers. She nodded her understanding and went on with her duties.

  "We'll come back at 10:00," he said as he guided Stella back out the door. "Rebecca got the message. What should we do now?"

  "I don't really want to go back to the hotel and just sit and do nothing. I feel antsy, like I want to keep moving."

  "Let's go down to The Pier, then. It's a pleasant evening to walk the waterfront. How's your arm doing?"

  "It's sore. Your ribs?"

  "Could probably due with a whole new set. These feel worn out."

  "I'm starting to wonder a
bout this PI stuff." She stopped at the car and leaned against it. "I've got this gun that I carry and I'm afraid that if I should need it I'll be too scared to use it. And then I'm scared of what will happen if I do use it. I'm also scared that I'll pull it out and use it when I don't need to."

  "The SIG Sauer scares you?" CJ said.

  "No. That isn't what I mean. Guns have never scared me. My father taught Sara and me both how to shoot and instilled a respect. It just never occurred to me what it would be like to actually be in a position to have to pull it out to use it on a person that wasn't printed on a paper target."

  "Most police officers go their entire careers without using their guns on anyone."

  "Yeah, but when they do doesn't it screw with their heads a bit?"

  CJ thought about the bullet he put through Tommy Clark's eye. As much as he tried to deny it, he was having to admit that it took something away from him. "Yes, it does."

  "I don't want my head screwed up anymore than it already is."

  "Your head isn't screwed up."

  "I just wore a suicide vest that I thought was the real thing. If that doesn't screw with someone's head then they aren't human. I don't know if I'll ever get over that."

  CJ leaned against the car next to Stella and put his arm around her. "We're soul mates, you and I, equally screwed up."

  While they'd leaned against the car, CJ had noted a late model dark sedan parked on the street. Under the street lights it'd appeared that there were two people sitting in it. He didn't recall if it was there when he'd parked. When he pulled the rental out of the parking lot he'd kept an eye on the sedan for a while, but with traffic he couldn't be certain that it'd pulled out as well before he had to take a turn and lose sight. He'd thought its lights had come on, but he wasn't sure.

  Why would someone be following him now?

  By the time he'd turned onto 2nd Avenue to take them toward The Pier, he'd dismissed it or simply forgotten about it, more in tune with Stella sitting next to him, looking forward to a nice walk with her in the warm night air.