The Bricklayer, стр. 60
Vail checked the handcuffs. “Do you know where the key is?”
“I never saw one. But after he taped my mouth and eyes, he jingled a key ring in front of my face, and asked, ‘Do you know what that sound is? It’s the sound of freedom.’ It’s got to be on him.”
“I’ll be right back. You’ll be all right—he’s dead.” She nodded, trying not to cry. He tucked the sheet around her a little more tightly to make sure it wouldn’t come off. “I’ll just be a second.” In the other room, he rolled the body over and searched the pockets. Aside from a wad of hundred-dollar bills, the only thing Vail found was the key ring. It had six keys on it, none of which were for handcuffs.
Two LAPD officers burst into the room and pointed their guns at Vail. He told them he was FBI and was allowed to ease his credentials out slowly. Taking one of their handcuff keys, Vail went back in the bedroom and freed her, and then he helped her onto the bed. He collected her clothes from around the room. When he saw she was shaking, he sat down next to her, and she collapsed into his arms. She cried for a few minutes and then straightened up.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” she said.
“You know it’s all right if you’re not.”
“It’s just the relief that’s it over, that’s all. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, but we’re still going to the hospital to be sure.”
She hesitated a moment. “We have to go—for legal reasons.”
“Legal?”
“In case there’s any question, either with L.A. or the FBI, about your having to shoot that animal.”
“I don’t understand,” Vail said.
Slowly, as if each word brought new pain, she said, “We have to go to the hospital”—she looked down at her hands—“so they can do a rape kit.”
Vail tightened his arms around her, and she began to sob uncontrollably.
THIRTY-THREE
FROM WHERE HE SAT IN THE EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM, VAIL watched Kate follow Kaulcrick through the door. The assistant director maintained his usual controlled facade, but not Kate. Her lips were drawn back into a flat line and her fists were clenched in anger. Vail stood up to meet them.
“How’s Tye?” she asked.
“They’re still examining her.” He hesitated before adding, “They’re going to have to do a rape kit.”
Kate sank into the nearest chair, forgetting her anger. “How awful,” she said. “How awful.”
“Physically, she’s a little banged up, but she’s all right.”
“Did she say how he got her?”
“I didn’t ask her any questions. I have no idea how to help with this, so I didn’t want her reliving anything she shouldn’t be.”
All Kate seemed to be able to say was “That’s awful.”
Kaulcrick could wait no longer. “And the three million dollars?”
In a tone that was neither defensive nor apologetic, Vail told them everything from the phone call warning of insider information, to delivering the money and surviving another of Radek’s traps, to Tye’s PDA video and the final shoot-out.
“Does she have any idea what he did with the money?” Kaulcrick asked.
“He tied her up and left her chained to the radiator in that hotel room and disappeared with it. She said he was gone for a couple of hours. She didn’t see any sign of it after he got back.”
“So you have no idea where it is.”
“Maybe there’s something back at the hotel room. I didn’t get a chance to look around.”
This time the assistant director didn’t try to hide his disdain for Vail. “Now we’ve got to try to find that three million dollars again.”
“Technically, you didn’t find it the first time.”
“Technically, you gave it away twice. Give me your credentials. You no longer represent this organization.”
Kate said, “Don, don’t you think we might need Steve’s help looking for the money?”
Kaulcrick spun around, his anger rising. “Let me explain something to you and your—whatever he is—here. I’ve been letting this farce go on because at times it seemed to be moving the investigation forward, but without FBI credentials, without FBI equipment, without the systems we have in place and the official channels that we draw information through, your superagent wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything. It’s this organization and its people that allowed him to achieve whatever success he’s had. So, no, Kate, we don’t need his help. We just need to work a little harder and we’ll find the money on our own. Everyone is one hundred percent dead now, so nobody will be moving it around. It’ll be much easier to come up with.”
Vail handed him his credentials. “I hope you’re right,” he said. Kate looked at Vail, somewhat amazed. He was sincere. She couldn’t believe that he wasn’t insulted by what the assistant director had said.
But Kaulcrick assumed Vail’s only response could be rancor. “I suppose that means you think you can find it without the FBI?” His face grew flush with lost control. “I’ll tell you what”—his tone now lowered itself to a seething ridicule—“if you can find it, you can keep it. How’s that, hotshot? Let’s go, Kate.”
“Give me a minute, will you, Don?”
“I guess this man hasn’t done enough damage to your career. I’m waiting two minutes and then you can find your own way back. And I’m not talking about back to the office.” He turned and stormed out of the room.
She stood up, her voice formal again. “Please tell Tye if she needs anything at all to call me. I assume you’re all right.” It sounded almost like an accusation.
“Kate, don’t confuse what might have happened between us a couple of nights ago—or how I feel about you now—with the way I do things.” He lowered his voice. “I wasn’t going to call you on this because I knew, given any opportunity, I would probably kill him. I wouldn’t expose anyone to that kind of trouble, least of all you.”
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you to stop protecting me.” Her voice calmed. “Maybe I should have simply told you to quit using it as an excuse. Now I understand why there are no faces in your apartment, or anywhere else in your life—you are incapable of trusting anyone. Not even me, who has stood by you to the point of getting shot and having my career left hanging by a thread. Only the bad guys deserved to be thrown through plate-glass windows. But that’s all right. It’s who you are. The good part is that you solve impossible problems. I appreciate everything you’ve done. Without you, we’d still be leaning back congratulating ourselves for hanging this on Stan Bertok. But unfortunately, the bad part makes it impossible for anyone to form an alliance with you on any level. So thanks for your help and, since I doubt I’ll see you again, good-bye.”
Vail watched her walk away. For the first time in a long time, he wanted to defend himself, to bring her back, but he knew most of what she was feeling was more right than wrong.
A half hour later, two men who had that detective’s exhaustion about them walked in. “You Steve Vail?”
“I’m guessing you’re homicide.”
“We’d like to get a statement from you.”
Vail knew that no matter how impure his intentions had been, the shooting was justifiable. “I can’t leave, but if you don’t mind doing it here, fire away.”
WHEN THE DETECTIVES had finished they stood up, and each shook Vail’s hand. It was a positive sign he could feel in their grip. They were sending the message that it had been a good shoot. One of them handed Vail his card. “We’re going to need to take a statement from Miss Delson. Do you think she’d be up to it?”
“I understand that you have to interview her, and I understand that you have to ask her about the rape. But—”
“Don’t worry, this isn’t our first time.”
Vail flashed an embarrassed smile. “Sorry.”
The detectives made an inquiry at the nurses’ station and were ushered through a door behind it.
Almost two hours later, a nurse came out and told Vail that Tye was ready to be discharged. When she walked out, Vail was surprised at her demeanor. She seemed relaxed and somewhat energized. He watched her closely, trying to see if it was an act, something he suspected tough women, having gone through what she had, tried to talk themselves into. She wasn’t giving out any clues with her body language, but Vail knew that verbal clues could be more telling. “Feel like some breakfast?”