by M. L. WILSON
“I watch television.”
“Yeah, right. Meet me at the federal building. We need to find out who this kid was, and why our government is so interested in him.”
CHAPTER 30
BISHOP AND JUSTICE arrive at the downtown office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation hoping Captain Danvers’ point of contact will be able to shed some light on things. Bishop called Breer in advance, so he is expecting them.
It’s doubtful Agent Breer will have any information on this case considering the clandestine tactics that were used to retrieve Phipps’ body. Something like this is probably top secret, a high-level government operation unknown to most law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
Bishop and Justice get off the elevator at the sixth floor. They admire the federal building, nice furniture, large windows with a beautiful view of the downtown area. At a time, Bishop wanted to be an FBI agent, but things didn’t work out for him. Maybe it was for the best. He believes FBI agents are too stiff and not very personable. Bishop is too much of a risk-taker. He never would have fit in; probably would have never made it off probation.
He thinks Justice would have fit in perfectly, though. He has the typical bureau look: clean-cut and clean-shaven. Bishop gave up the clean-cut look a long time ago.
They make their way down the hallway and through the double doors at the end of the hall. Just like his own police station, the FBI office is bustling with activity. Agents carrying paperwork and talking on the phone. Only the young, petite receptionist even notices they are there.
“May I help you gentlemen?” she asks.
“Yes, you may,” Bishop answers. “We’re here to see Agent Breer. He’s expecting us.”
“His office is right down the hall.” As she points in the direction of Agent Breer’s office, she notices Breer is coming out of his office. “Oh, there he is now.”
“Detective Bishop, I presume?” Agent Breer says with a smile as he extends his hand to greet his visitors.
“Agent Breer. This is my partner, Detective Alan Justice.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Let’s go back to my office so we can talk.”
CHAPTER 31
BISHOP IS ALREADY taken aback by the splendor of Agent Breer’s office. This is the life of an FBI agent. First class all the way.
Breer’s office is decorated with the finest cherry oak furniture, an expensive leather high-back chair and matching leather guest chairs. His wall is decorated with his PhD in psychology and master’s degree in criminal justice, awards and glowing letters of accommodation. No family pictures, though. Bishop thought that was strange.
Agent Breer looks to be in his early fifties, some graying in his hair, clean-cut, and clean-shaven. Just the look J. Edgar always wanted for FBI agents.
An agent’s accommodations are far better that a NYPD detective’s. Bishop considers that maybe he didn’t make the right decision, after all. Federal seems to be the way to go. He is surprised that Justice isn’t saying much about their agent’s decor.
“So what do you think, Justice?” Bishop asks. “Join the FBI and get all this. Maybe they’re hiring.”
“Yeah, right. No thanks. I’m happy where I’m at,” Justice says.
“No, seriously. Maybe Agent Breer can put in a good word for you.”
“I’d love to, Detective,” Agent Breer says as he hands Justice his business card. “Anything I can do to help.”
Breer takes a seat behind his desk. “So, what can I do for two of New York’s finest?”
“We’re working a homicide. We took a dead body back to our M.E.’s office, and some of your fellow federal agents showed up and took the body from us at gun point.”
Breer seems genuinely surprised as Bishop tells him what happened.
“Took the body, Detective?” Breer says as he leans forward in his chair. “Why would anyone want to take a dead body?”
“We were hoping you could tell us,” says Bishop. “One minute he’s on the slab, and the next, men in black are rolling him away. They loaded him in the back of a black van and drove away. Big Brother got any secrets they wanna share, Agent Breer?”
“The FBI doesn’t operate that way, detectives. We know nothing about any agents taking a dead body,” Breer replies, somewhat offended at the accusation.
“Of course not,” Bishop says sarcastically. “We’re sorry if we offended you, Agent Breer,” Bishop says as he stands as extends his hand across the desk. Agent Breer stands and shakes hands with Bishop and Justice, surprised that they didn’t have any more questions.
“It was my pleasure, detectives. Sorry I couldn’t help. Give Danvers my best.”
Bishop and Justice leave Breer’s office. Bishop chose not to ask any more questions, but his instincts tell him that Breer does know something. Rarely are his instincts wrong.
“Hmmm,” Bishop says as he scratches his head.
“What?” Justice asks. “He seemed sincere to me. You think he knew something?”
“Not sure. Even if he does know about it, he never would have told us.”
“Okay, so what now?” Justice asks.
“The way you solve a crime, Detective Justice, is by starting with the victim. Who the hell is Kevin Phipps? Meet me at his apartment in two hours. I have to...see someone.”
CHAPTER 32
AS SOON AS Bishop and Justice walk out of his office, Agent Breer picks up the phone and makes a call.
The FBI has a hierarchy that Breer is a part of, but unlike other agents in the bureau, Breer has another hierarchy. A different group of superiors he reports to. A more secretive hierarchy, completely unknown at the highest levels of government.
Breer puts the phone to his ear, dials the number, and waits patiently for an answer. After two rings, his wait is over.
“Yes,” says the voice over the phone.
“It’s Breer. You were right; Bishop and his partner were just here asking about Phipps.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Exactly what you told me to.”
“Very good, Mr. Breer. You have done well. There will be a place for you in the new world order.”
Breer smiles as he hangs up the phone and says, “A place for me in the new world order. I like the sound of that.”
CHAPTER 33
BISHOP ARRIVES AT the Westgate Cemetery. His least desired place to visit. It always seems to him like it’s cold and windy here, even in the summertime. Probably all just in his head.
He comes here three times a week to visit Caroline and Briana, to let them know how he’s doing, to let them know how much he misses them.
Bishop grabs the bundle of red roses and sunflowers off the passenger seat and starts to walk to their grave sites. Caroline loved roses, and Briana loved big sunflowers. Whenever she saw a sunflower, her face would light up.
Every time he comes here, he notices that some thief takes the flowers off of their graves. What kind of person robs a grave site?
The walk seems to get longer each time he visits. After two years, it all still seems surreal to him. He still can’t believe they’re gone. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. He always thought they had more time. They were meant to be together forever. After all, a family is a gift from God, right?
Bishop weaves through the graveyard, being careful not to step on any grave sites. He remembers as a kid he was told it was considered bad luck to walk on a grave site. He doesn’t believe that superstitious stuff anymore.
He makes it to Caroline and Briana’s grave sites, side-by-side. They’re still together, the way they were meant to be. Only thing missing from this picture is him. He wants to be with them more than anything in the world.
Bishop kneels down and brushes the leaves and dirt from their headstones and reads them, like he does each time he comes here. The thing that jumps out at him every time is their dates of birth and death.
Gone too soon. Both of them.
“Hello, my angels,” Bishop s
ays as he kneels in front of their grave sites. He starts cleaning away dead leaves and twigs from their graves that have fallen from the tree above.
“Got you these,” he says as he lays the flowers on each of their graves. “Your favorites.”
Clearing a space on the ground to sit, Bishop says, “Well, looks like it’s going to be one of those days. Got this case that’s turning out to be a nightmare. Anytime the federal government is involved, you can expect to get the runaround.”
“Oh, by the way, I have a new partner. His name is Alan Justice. He’s just a kid, but he seems okay. You both would like him,” Bishop says with a smile. He does like Justice. He regrets embarrassing and insulting him.
After a few more updates on what’s going on in his life, Bishop gets up and brushes the dirt off the back of his pants. “Well, I have to get to work. The case won’t solve itself.
“I’m sorry I’m not with you. I’m sorry I let you down. I love you, my angels.”
Bishop closes his eyes for a moment and says a small prayer. Tears begin to run down his cheek.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” he says as he turns and walks away.
PART III
CLUES
CHAPTER 34
BISHOP AND JUSTICE make their way down the hallway leading to Kevin Phipps’ apartment. Phipps affectionately referred to it as his home away from home. More like home far away from home.
Not a word is spoken between Bishop and Justice. Both of them are lost in thought.
Who was Kevin Phipps?
Who took his body?
Why would they take his body?
All of these questions and more continue to swirl in Bishop’s head. No answers to these questions yet, but the day isn’t over.
They finally arrive at apartment 522, Phipps’ one-bedroom apartment. Bishop shows his credentials to the officer standing guard outside the apartment and enters.
“I’ll take the bedroom, you take the living room,” says Bishop.
“What are we looking for?”
“Anything out of the ordinary,” Bishop replies. “I need to know all there is to know about Kevin Phipps.”
Bishop looks around the bedroom, but doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary—a bed, a dresser, some pictures on the wall. Nothing unusual.
Except.
The room itself. It’s spotless. In fact, the entire apartment is neat, clean, and orderly. That’s out of the ordinary for a young, single man. Bishop notices a small bookshelf in the corner.
“Let’s see what your reading interests are, Mr. Phipps,” Bishop says.
Bishop notices something else a little unusual about Phipps. For a single man in his thirties, his only interests seem to be on quantum physics and propulsion. The books are not textbooks. They look like they were bought off Amazon or in a used bookstore somewhere.
A little light reading?
Bishop opens up a physics book and thumbs through it. It may as well be a foreign language to him. In fact, that’s exactly what it is. Bishop’s not really interested in the contents of the book. What hard-nosed New York cop would be? His interest is why a young man like Phipps is so interested in physics.
“He’s got some interesting reading habits,” Bishop yells to Justice in the other room. “Physics, propulsion, engineering.” Bishop looks around the room for any family photos. “No pictures of any kind. No girlfriend. No family. This just keeps getting better and better. What do you got, partner?”
“Nothing in here except a whole bunch of clean.”
“Yeah. Same in here,” Bishop says. “I haven’t seen a house this clean since...” Bishop stops short of what he is thinking.
Since Caroline was alive.
“The men in black took the body but it doesn’t look like they were ever here,” Bishop says to himself as he tries to put the pieces together.
“Maybe he wasn’t hiding anything. Maybe they just wanted him dead or alive,” Justice says.
“But why take a dead body?” Bishop says as he opens the closet door. Nothing out of the ordinary here, either. Everything is neat and straight, matching hangers, shoes perfectly aligned.
“This guy had a serious compulsion,” Bishop says. “Everything in his world is neat and orderly.”
Bishop is convinced they likely won’t find anything they can use. The government goons would have at least made an attempt to take anything valuable.
Bishop keeps looking, pushing clothes on hangers aside, hoping to find a secret passage or hidden compartment or something. Anything that can tell him what he needs to know.
A hidden compartment. That only happens in the movies, right? Bishop decides to feel the wall of the closet anyway. You never—
“I’ll be damned,” Bishop says. Much to his surprise, a small compartment opens.
“Find something?” says Justice from the other room.
Apparently Bishop’s voice carried a little more than he thought. “Yeah. Maybe.”
Bishop takes out his pocket flashlight and shines it into the compartment. Look before you leap. The light shines on the only contents in the compartment: a round, shiny sphere about the size of a golf ball.
“What the…”
“Find something?” Justice says as he enters the bedroom.
“Yeah.” Bishop picks up the sphere and is surprised to find that it has hardly any weight to it.
“What the hell is that?” Justice asks.
“I don’t know but it’s…it hardly has any weight to it,” Bishop says as he slightly bounces the sphere in his hand. “Why hide something like this?”
“The G-men weren’t here, so they likely weren’t looking for this.”
“Maybe it’s nothing,” says Justice. “A little shiny ball. Nothing exciting about that.”
“Maybe,” Bishop says. He puts the sphere in his coat pocket. He’s not done with it. No way he’s leaving a mystery unsolved. Not after all that’s happened today.
“What did you find in the living room?”
“Nothing. If nothing else, this guy was clean.”
“You mean your apartment isn’t this clean, Justice?”
“I wouldn’t know. I’m never there.” Bishop smiles at his new partner’s humor.
“Come on. I don’t think we’re going to find anything here.”
“Look, I’m gonna head home for a while. Check on a few things. Maybe even get a bite to eat,” Justice says with a smile, hinting to Bishop that he may want to do the same. Bishop catches the hint.
“Guess you’re right. I’m gonna find out what this ball is first. Stay in touch.”
CHAPTER 35
PATRICIA ANTHONY HAS been a forensic scientist for the New York City Police Department for nearly twenty years. She is very passionate about her job because she loves solving puzzles. Forensic evidence is always a puzzle.
At age forty-eight, she was recently promoted to assistant director of the forensics department. She’s young and ambitious, and knows that the current director is leaning toward retirement. That’s the rumor, anyway.
Another opportunity she’s ready and willing to compete for. Married with three children, she can use the money. Who couldn’t?
“Hey, Pat,” Bishop says with a smile as he bursts through the double-door entrance to the lab. He has known her for years and has always admired her tenaciousness. They’ve developed a friendship, so he feels comfortable going to her instead of filing the necessary paperwork to get evidence analyzed.
“Kenneth Bishop,” she says with a smile and a little sarcasm. “Haven’t seen you in a while. You look like hell.”
“Didn’t have time to shave,” Bishop says.
“Or iron, for that matter. So let me guess, Ken. This isn’t a social call, is it?”
“I wish it were. I found something interesting.” Bishop pulls the shiny ball from his coat pocket and hands it to Dr. Anthony.
“You’re always finding interesting stuff, Detective. Let’s see what you...”
&nb
sp; Before Dr. Anthony can finish her sentence, she notices that the ball is nearly weightless.
“What the hell is this?” she asks rhetorically as she bounces the sphere in her hand and looks it over. “Where did you find this?”
“It was in the apartment of a homicide victim.”
“Is this from the Phipps case?”
“How’d you know that?”
“Come on, Ken. There are no secrets in the NYPD. You know that. Men in black came and took the body? You thought that would stay a secret? It’s all over the department. I can run some tests to see what this is, but it’s gonna take a while. You wanna leave it with me?”
“Yeah. Give me a call when you’ve got something.”
“Okay. So, this Phipps guy. What’s the story?”
“Not sure right now.”
“Strange how the feds came and took the body. Who does that anyway? Sounds like some CIA stuff to me.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“You might want to leave this one alone, Ken. Could be over your head.” Dr. Anthony knows it’s a futile suggestion, but she had to offer it anyway.
“Thanks for the advice, Doctor. Let me know what you find.”
“I will. Be careful, Ken.”
CHAPTER 36
SAUNDER’S DESIRE TO satisfy her curiosity leads her back to the crime scene where Kevin Phipps was murdered. It’s just after eight p.m. and she knows being in a dark alley at this time of night can be dangerous.
She wonders sometimes whether her insatiable curiosity will get her killed one day. With flashlight in hand, Laura reaches into her purse and pulls out her mace, just in case.
Cautiously, she proceeds down the alley, constantly looking behind her and reacting to every sound she hears.
Saunders has been working with law enforcement long enough to be cautious in situations like this. She notices a dumpster up against the wall ahead of her. She wisely moves to the other side of the alley in case someone decides to attack her from behind the dumpster, she would have more reaction time.