CHAPTER
25
EVERYTHING WAS WAITING for Robie when he got back to his apartment. That was not entirely comforting.
None of my traps were tripped.
He looked over the file, the creds, and his background information.
He had to come up to speed on this case as fast as possible. But fast-tracking something like this meant that mistakes could be made.
And probably will be.
Then it became a case of how fast his support from Blue Man would fade away.
Faster than the party and financial support of a candidate with plummeting poll numbers.
It was just how the town worked.
The name Will Robie stared back at him from the creds. Ironically, his real name was the safest one to use for this sort of assignment.
Robie picked up the badge and ID card pack and put it in his jacket. Also waiting for him was a fresh Glock G20 and a shoulder holster. He was glad to rid himself of the .38 throwaway. He strapped it on and buttoned his jacket.
As he headed out, Robie looked down the hall and watched as she unlocked her door. Annie Lambert turned to him. She was in a black business suit and sneakers with white ankle socks.
“Hello, Will,” she said.
“Don’t usually see you here in the middle of the day,” he said.
“I forgot something. Lunchtime was the first chance I’ve had to come and get it. What are you all dressed up for?”
“Just a meeting. How did your chill session go?”
“What? Oh, it went fine.”
The inquiries into Lambert triggered by her contact with Robie had turned up nothing. Not surprising. To work at the White House one had to be squeaky clean.
He said, “Sorry I left so abruptly. I was just tired.”
“No problem. I was too, actually.” She hesitated and said in a subdued voice, “But maybe we can have that drink sometime.”
“Yeah, maybe we can,” said Robie, who was thinking of all that lay ahead of him.
“Okay,” she said uncertainly.
He started to walk off and then stopped, realizing that he’d once more been abrupt with her. He turned to her. “I appreciate the offer, Annie. I really do. And I want to have a drink with you.”
She brightened. “That’d be great.”
“And let’s do it soon,” he said. “Real soon.”
“Why? Are you going somewhere?” she asked.
“No. But I’ve wanted to start getting out more. And I’d like to do that with you.”
Her smile widened. “Okay, Will. You know where I live.”
He walked off and wondered why he was suddenly so taken with the young woman. She was lovely and obviously smart and maybe she was smitten with him. But in the past that had not mattered to Robie. He turned and looked back at her apartment. She had gone inside, but he had the image of her standing there in the tennis shoes and the business suit. He smiled.
Robie drove his Audi to the crime scene. With his creds he was able to park within the security perimeter. On the way he had looked at his tracking device as he passed the hotel where Julie was staying. She was still there.
He walked to the apartment building’s entrance feeling enormously uncomfortable. He was going to help investigate a murder at which he was an eyewitness.
There was a pack of cops and suits huddled in the lobby of the building. Robie made his way to them, thinking he would check in and introduce himself to the people running the case. The huddle started breaking up as he approached. Out from its middle stepped the same female FBI special agent he had seen at the bus bombing.
She came forward, looking at him inquisitively.
“Might be a good reason to merge the investigations.”
“Why is that?”
“We found a gun at the scene of the bus explosion.”
Robie kept his gaze straight ahead even as his heartbeat quickened.
“Gun?” he said.