by Robin Mahle
“Scarborough, you have a minute?” Quinn stood at the door.
“Yes. Come in. I didn’t realize you were back.”
“Just arrived. Not much more I can do for the WFO. It’s out of my hands. I do, however, believe Agent Reid will find the answers she needs to bring the case to an end. She and her team are very capable.”
“No question.”
“It’s clear your guidance and training paid off.”
“Thank you, but I certainly can’t take all the credit. Jameson, Reid, and Vasquez are bright, resourceful people. They’ll be able to see this one through.” He leaned back in his chair. “So, what can I do for you?”
“I’d like to talk to you about Agent Reid. I’ve seen her in action. I’ve seen the way she thinks and I am nothing if not impressed.”
Nick displayed a proud smile.
“That being said, I have to say that she seems incredibly suited to the work she’s currently doing. I’m not saying she wouldn’t be an asset to me here, but I feel as though I’d be doing her a disservice, taking her away from what is clearly her calling. She’s a little hot-headed, but that’s probably a defense mechanism given the uphill battle she has faced throughout the course of her career.”
The smile on Nick’s face quickly faded. “Are you saying you intend to pass on her application?”
“You know her better than I, obviously, but I don’t think I’m off-base here, do you?”
“Agent Reid can do whatever she puts her mind to. I’ve seen it first-hand on more than one occasion. Her determination alone is awe-inspiring. Having said that, I think the disservice would be in not asking what it is she wants to do, although I thought she’d made that clear when she requested the position in the first place.”
“Are you saying this because it’s what you want, or what she wants?”
“I guess I thought they were one in the same. Look, I know she’s buried with this investigation and I also know she won’t stop until she gets to the bottom of it. And I have every confidence she will. So, maybe the best thing to do in the interim is to put your decision on hold until you see what she accomplishes at the end of this investigation. I think that will be enough for you to make the case that she has the drive, the intelligence, and the desire to work as a profiler. I’ve seen her. I’ve seen her face when she realizes she got it right.”
Quinn regarded his boss. “It seems like you’re her biggest advocate. I hope your enthusiasm isn’t misplaced.” He inhaled a deep breath. “I need to think about this one. And you’re right. She’s got her hands full and that’s going to take up a good portion of her time for the next several days, at least. I’ll consider what you’ve said. And of course, when she’s ready, she can come in and discuss what it is she wants to do.” He began to leave.
“What about the others in contention?”
Quinn stopped and turned back. “They’re all extremely well-qualified candidates. No question. And they’ve all got many years of service under their belts.”
“But that doesn’t make them more suited for the job.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
There wasn’t much for Kate and Vasquez to do upon return to the WFO. After meeting with ASAC Campbell and Dwight, they were given a slight reprieve. But if something didn’t turn up soon, they would have little in the way of protection and would have to face the music that they’d tried to implicate the wife of a congressman of colluding with a murderer. But Kate refused to believe anything to the contrary. She was right and now it was in Agent Caison’s hands. A man she respected and trusted, even after their brief affair whose time and place was completely amiss. And now she was with Nick.
“Any word from your friend?” Vasquez appeared next to Kate with two mugs of coffee. “Here, you look like you could use a pick-me-up.”
“Nothing yet. It’s only been an hour.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like we’ve got a lot of time to spare. The Copelands will be returning home soon and unless we come up with something, they’ll get their belongings back. Then we’re hosed.”
Kate spun around in her desk chair to face her. “You didn’t find anything that had been erased? Nothing deleted on Sue’s laptop? What about the email Copeland sent to Karen Hildebrand?”
“That just shows us he was concerned for her and tried to warn her. Not that he knew his chief of staff was the killer. Although it sure seems the reason Vega went to the Copeland house that day was to find more victims. More women who’d slept with Grant. And Sue Copeland was extremely careful in her use of language toward Phillip Vega. Now, if they ever met in person and discussed anything, and by some miracle, we had evidence of collaboration from that, we’d be golden. If that exists, I don’t know where the hell it would be or how we would track it down.”
“And the bed sheets, we know, Vega took from the hotel.”
“I can see your wheels spinning. What are you thinking?”
“Meredith Bowen didn’t have anything to do with Grant Copeland apart from putting up with harassment.”
“So why go after her in the first place? She didn’t sleep with him, by all accounts. Why make her pay a price she didn’t owe?” Vasquez asked.
“She had something on Vega, is the only thing I can gather. She could’ve gone to the press and spilled the beans about Copeland’s unwanted advances.”
“Yeah. But something’s not right about that. The others, okay, I get it. They screwed around with her husband and according to her and Vega’s twisted minds, they should be the ones to suffer. Never mind her husband, apparently. But the death of Meredith Bowen.” Vasquez shook her head. “She doesn’t fit the profile.”
“Maybe we should go there—to her place—and check it out. Beats the hell out of sitting here and waiting for Caison to come through with something.” Kate peered over her shoulder toward the corridor. “Let’s talk Jameson into making a little trip with us. Maybe we’ll find something. Maybe we won’t. But at least we’ll be doing something.”
Dwight held the key in his hand. “Phelps pushed back on this until I told him it would be for his own protection, if we conducted our own search of the apartment. Right now, he’s on edge and it’s easy to figure out why.” He pushed the key into the lock and opened the door, breaking the police tape seal.
The apartment had little trace anyone had actually lived in it. The furniture was still there, but it was spotless. No dishes, no personal effects, no trash.
“Looks like Metro PD cleaned the place out.” Vasquez continued inside and switched on a light. “Power’s still on.”
“It’s only been a few days. Bill was probably paid up through the month.” Kate moved around the apartment and upon reaching the sofa, she began to upturn the cushions.
“Looking for loose change?” Dwight approached her.
“Might need it after this gig.” She surveyed the immediate area until spotting something peeking out on the floor between the sofa and the side table. “Anyone got a glove?”
Vasquez approached. “Here. What’d you find?”
Kate slipped on the latex glove and reached for the device. Returning upright, they both began to examine it. “Looks like an audio recorder.”
“Who still uses those?”
“Transcribing notes maybe?” Kate turned to her. “She attended policy meetings. It’s possible she kept a record.”
“What are the odds she was using this the night she was murdered?” Dwight asked.
“About as good as us finding something on Sue Copeland.” Kate turned on the digital recorder. “There’s something on here. It shows eleven minutes on the screen.” Kate played the file that was cued up on the device.
What sounded like Meredith Bowen’s voice broadcasted through the small speaker. Her tone was calm as she began reciting an agenda of some sort of meeting.
“Transcription,” Kate said.
But as the recording continued, she was interrupted. A knock sounded on her door and crackling filtered through
the speaker as it seemed she’d set it down on the table. Her feet padded softly, almost indiscernibly on the audio. Then the shift of a deadbolt and the turn of a handle broadcasted lightly.
“What are you doing here? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“We need to talk.”
A man’s voice, deep, filled with gravitas, sounded. Kate shot a look to her team and returned her attention to the recording.
“I know he’s been in contact with you again.”
“Hey, you need to take a step back. We talked about this at the office and I have nothing more to say about it.” Meredith’s tone shifted to near-panic.
“You’ve been warned to stay away from him. You should’ve listened.”
“Are you crazy? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I haven’t done anything and you know it. Grant’s insane if he thinks I’ll fall into line like his other women. I’m not one of them. I never wanted anything to do with him. You’d better tell him to back the fuck off.”
As they listened, the growing sense of what was to come fell upon their shoulders.
“And you tell his goddam wife to stop calling me. I know she’s the one who’s been calling and hanging up, or uttering the occasional threat. I don’t think you want me going to the police with this.”
A scuffle began as Meredith was heard grunting, and a crash of perhaps a vase or something glass emerged as it hit the floor.
“Oh no.” Kate knew, they all knew, what was about to happen and the idea that it had been caught on tape and they were about to listen to this woman be murdered sent chills down her spine.
More scuffling noises and then it sounded as though the device had been knocked from the table and had fallen to the floor. The gunshot rang out.
Kate gasped. “Oh God. It’s the first shot, the graze on her head.” Her heart pounded and she wanted to drop the device. And then the other shot reverberated.
“Give me the recorder.” Dwight extended his hand. “Kate, give it to me.”
With trembling hands, she handed it to him. “It’s all right here.”
Vasquez placed her hand on Kate’s shoulder. “We got her, Kate. We got Sue Copeland on conspiracy.”
26
The silence in the room conveyed the deafening proof that they all needed. Kate looked to her colleagues before returning her attention to ASAC Campbell. “There it is. She mentions Sue Copeland. This is what we need to bring her in. But I need to know if you’re on board with this.”
“What do you think, Jameson? This is your team, your party.”
“I think if we get more regarding the phone numbers found on the victims’ cell phones, tying Sue Copeland to each of them, that, along with this audio, and the emails, then we have a case against her.”
“Are you serious? I don’t know how long that’s going to take. We need to do this now.” Kate looked at Vasquez. “Am I right? I don’t see how we can wait.”
“Calm down, Reid,” Campbell replied. “Jameson’s right. What you’ve got is damning, but not damning enough. The victim proclaimed Sue Copeland made harassing calls to her, with as of yet, no proof. That’s not enough to assume she directed Bowen’s death. We need more. We need the trace on the phone numbers. Then we’ll have something we can work with. Until then, keep looking. The Copelands aren’t going anywhere. If they did, it would defeat the purpose of their claims that they’d been treated as criminals.”
“Campbell’s got a point,” Dwight began. “The best we can do is make another attempt at reaching Agent Caison to find out how much longer he thinks this will take. Then we can develop a plan of action.”
Kate shook her head. “It’s never enough, is it?” She turned on her heel and left the room.
As she marched through the halls, Vasquez caught up to her. “I know you’re pissed, but if we don’t get this right—the first time—we won’t get another chance. Phelps has worked hard to derail us and now we’re on the verge of a huge find. You got to stay level-headed. I get it. It was hard as shit listening to that woman…”
“You can’t even finish your sentence. And that’s what I’m talking about. It was horrific and yet we wait.”
“Yes. We wait.”
They reached the bullpen and Vasquez stopped her again. “Call Caison. This could all be for naught.”
“I guess we have nothing to lose. He did say he’d call when he had something.”
“Press him anyway. He knows you. I’m sure he’s used to it.”
A half-cocked smile emerged. “I’ll call him now.” But before she’d had the chance to dial his number, she heard her name and upon turning to see who had called out to her, she spotted him. “Fraser? What’s going on?” She set her phone down and rose to meet him.
“I found something I think you’ll be interested in.” He handed her a flash drive. “I didn’t want to email it. Call me overly cautious. After what I’ve seen in the recent past, it’s hard to trust again.”
“You got that right.” Kate placed the drive into her computer and waited for the files to load.
“Open that one there.” He pointed to the screen.
She clicked on the icon, and within seconds, the information flashed before her.
Vasquez peered over her shoulder. “Oh my God. Where did you find this?”
“You asked me to do some digging on Phelps and I did. Frankly, it wasn’t that hard to find. The guy didn’t protect himself very well.”
“Neither did Grant Copeland, by the look of it.” Kate revealed her satisfaction. “I knew he was on the take.”
“You’ve got good instincts. And Copeland wasn’t his only benefactor. For the past few years, he’s taking a fair sum of money from several politicians and even a few political consultants.”
“You have to tell me, how on earth did you get access to this?” Kate continued, in awe of Fraser’s work.
“I did some background on Phelps, and through a series of credit checks, I was able to ascertain which bank he primarily used. I then reached out to a contact at FinCEN and asked about any SARs that had been filed.”
“Okay, you’re going to have to stop right there,” Vasquez began. “We’re BAU. I don’t know about you, Reid, but I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
“Of course, I’m sorry. FinCEN, or Financial Crimes Network is a bureau inside the Treasury Department. Basically, their job is to identify money laundering operations, among other things. And a SAR is a Suspicious Activity Report. The banks start getting suspicious when a person regularly deposits amounts just under the $10,000 marker. Because when that much is deposited, the banks have to file a CTR or Currency Transaction Report. This lets the government track down people who get paid in cash in order to ensure they pay taxes on that money.”
“Of course they do,” Vasquez replied.
“Yeah, but it’s generally for a noble cause. Capturing money-launderers, drug lords, etc. Not really going after Joe Taxpayer. But anyway, several SARs had been filed for Phelps’ account over the past two years. And, not only does it tell us who received the money, but who sent the money, for example, a wire transfer. And in the most recent cases, SARs were filed for two deposits under ten grand, which were cash, meaning we don’t know who gave him that money.”
“Or if he took it from say, I don’t know, the evidence room?” Kate said.
“Possibly. However, the final deposit did arrive in the form of a wire transfer. It was for $9,950 and it came from an LLC that traces back to Grant Copeland.”
“The same one that also owns his apartment in D.C?” Vasquez continued.
“Yes.”
Kate nodded as her smile continued to widen at this most welcome news. “So now, we’re on the verge of solidifying a case against Sue Copeland and her conspiracy to commit murder and now Grant Copeland for bribery. This is not going to be a good day for the Copeland family. And if it happens to backfire on Phelps too, well then…”
“What about the call to Caison?”
Vasquez asked.
“Caison’s involved? Since when?”
“Since this morning,” Kate began. “We needed his NSA contacts, figuring because he works in CTD.”
“Right. That makes sense. But what has NSA got to do with any of this?”
“We asked him to trace the registration of what we believe are burners. See if they trace back to Sue Copeland. We have several numbers that showed up on some of the victims’ cell phones. We think they’re tied to her. And, we just got audio indicating her direct involvement. We’re getting close and this here? This will help seal the deal and bring down the others.”
Grant Copeland found himself back in familiar surroundings and again peered through his bedroom curtains, just enough to see the hordes of media that again occupied his driveway and spilled over into the lawn. Life as he knew it was decidedly over. And what would become of him? It mattered little that he didn’t kill those women. They would only focus on the affairs, once they were discovered, and they would be soon. He knew they’d traced the notes left behind by Phil. Where they’d come from and probably had security footage to boot. There was blood in the water and the sharks were circling. Out the window flew his political career and what could have been a lucrative speaking career that followed. He was saddened by the deaths of the women with whom he’d shared intimacy, though Meredith’s death seemed out of place in this horrid situation. But after all that has happened, he realized now he never loved any of them, not even Janine, which forced him to bear even more guilt for their deaths. The idea that his close friend could have done such a thing haunted him and watching him die would be forever burned in his memory. Sue had saved him. After he’d wronged her, she defended him.