All The Devil's Creatures: A Jack McDermott Serial Killer Thriller, page 14
“I write about serial killers for a living,” Jack said coldly, “and I had one for a brother. Trust me, once you’re done being useful to him, he’ll gut you like a fish.”
Jack used the line to rattle the attorney’s composure and soften him up.
It worked. Dunlap’s face turned slightly pale.
“No matter what,” Jack said, “it would be in Elias’s best interest if you told us who hired you.”
“I don’t even know their name,” Dunlap said, suddenly more amenable to giving out information. “All I know is our firm was contacted a week ago by an anonymous party – ”
“A week ago?!” Andrea cried out.
“Yes, last Monday,” Dunlap clarified.
Andrea stared at Jack. “That means that the killer hired them either shortly before or shortly after he killed Meredith Housel.”
Jack’s head was swimming.
The killer had planned everything out… every single piece…
Dunlap continued. “The person said they wanted to retain us to represent a client named Elias Johansson. They said that we would receive a call within the next week or so and to expect it night or day.”
“Do you have a contact number for the client?” Li asked.
“Yes, but that’s covered by lawyer-client – ”
Li looked like he was about to punch the attorney. “If you say that one more time – ”
Jack shook his head. “It doesn’t matter – it’s a burner phone at best. He wouldn’t be that careless.” Jack turned to Dunlap. “But what about the money? Do you have his bank information? Was it a wire transfer, or – ”
“No, the retainer arrived in cash via private courier.”
Jack turned to Li. “Remember what I said about him being wealthy?”
Li’s eyes widened. “He posed as a delivery man before when he killed Meredith Housel – maybe the killer was the delivery guy! If we can get footage from security cameras – ”
Dunlap shot that theory down immediately. “It was a company we’ve used multiple times before. I don’t remember their name offhand, but they’re legitimate.”
Li turned irritable. “We’re gonna need that company’s name, and so help me God, do NOT mention lawyer-client confidentiality again.”
“You also got the call to come here,” Jack said to Dunlap. “Was it the same number that contacted you last week?”
“I don’t think so because there was no Caller ID. I took the call on my office landline and I remember there wasn’t a number on the screen.”
“The GSM gateway thing?” Jack asked Andrea.
“Maybe,” she said. “Or maybe he called the operator and came in through Information, which wouldn’t show a caller ID.”
Li looked at Dunlap. “We’re going to need the courier company, we need the number from last week, we need any video surveillance footage you might have of the courier, just in case – ”
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,” Dunlap said loudly, “I’ve given you quite enough assistance for the time being. I can help you more after I speak with my client. What’s he being charged with?”
“Assault on Mr. McDermott,” Li said.
“That happened at the scene. What did you go there specifically to investigate?”
“The murders of Meredith Housel and Donald King.”
“And are you charging him with those murders?”
“…not yet,” Li grumbled.
“Mm-hm,” the lawyer said disapprovingly. “I want to see my client immediately.”
Li looked resentful but pushed open the door to the back area of the station. “Right this way.”
Dunlap followed Li, leaving Jack and Andrea alone with the receptionist.
“Remember when I said earlier that nothing would surprise me?” Jack said. “I was wrong.”
Suddenly Andrea’s eyes went wide and her face drained of color.
“What?” Jack asked in alarm.
“We have a new problem…”
Jack turned and followed her gaze out the window to the street.
Two White men in suits were exiting a black car parked in front of the police station. One was stocky with short-cropped hair. The other was tall and lanky with an iron-grey mustache.
“…who…?” Jack asked.
“The FBI,” Andrea said, her voice nearly a whisper. “The tall one’s my boss.”
“What’s wrong? That’s a good thing, right? Maybe they’re finally getting involved.”
“No. They’re not here for the case… they’re here for me.”
30
The receptionist overheard everything. “That’s the FBI?”
“Yes,” Andrea answered.
“Oh Lord,” the receptionist groaned, then opened the dividing door between the lobby and the back area. “Chief?”
“Yes?” Cargill answered from somewhere in the back.
“Now we’ve got the FBI here.”
“What?!”
“I just report the news. I don’t make it.”
Cargill and Li entered the lobby just as the two agents walked in the front door.
The taller man’s eyes lasered in on Andrea.
“Special Agent Valenti,” he said in a menacing voice.
“ASAC Harper,” Andrea replied without any emotion.
The tall man also gave Jack a disapproving look before Cargill drew his attention.
“Can I help you?” the police chief asked.
“Assistant Special Agent in Charge Robert Harper of the Atlanta Field Office,” the man said, then gestured to the stocky man beside him. “This is Special Agent Jeffers.”
“Police Chief Craig Cargill.”
“And I’m Detective Ning Li, Homicide, Atlanta PD.” Li looked over at Andrea. “Did you call them?”
“No,” Harper interrupted, letting his gaze settle on Andrea again. “She most certainly did not.”
“Then why are you here?” Cargill asked Harper.
Harper didn’t take his eyes off Andrea. “I’m not here for the case, Chief. I’m here for Agent Valenti.”
“Is there some sort of emergency?”
“It would appear so.”
Li attempted a bit of humor. “Couldn’t you have just called?”
“I tried. Over a dozen times, but she won’t pick up her phone.”
Andrea flushed red with embarrassment.
Jack looked at her in surprise. He knew she’d been getting calls and not answering them, but he would never have thought it was her boss she was avoiding.
Li frowned. “I don’t understand – what’s going on?”
“What’s going on, Detective, is that Agent Valenti is acting in an unofficial capacity on this case. She’s not supposed to be here. Are you, Agent.”
“I took personal days after the incident last night, sir. You know that.”
“Which does not give you leave to act on behalf of the Bureau in an investigation,” Harper snarled.
“Wait – hold on a second,” Li interjected. “She’s been serving as the Bureau’s liaison ever since last night.”
“Did she tell you she’d been assigned to that role?” Harper asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you call the Atlanta field office to verify it?”
Li looked uneasy. “…no…”
“You just trusted her because of the badge. Didn’t you.”
Now Li looked upset and betrayed. “…yes.”
“Well, I can assure you, Agent Valenti was acting on her own accord and not under official orders from the FBI.”
Jack felt like his head was spinning.
Andrea wasn’t supposed to be on the case. Everything she’d said since last night about getting her boss’s approval had been a lie –
And apparently Harper had found out.
…but how?
And how had he known to show up here at the Adairsville police station?
The question immediately called to mind the other surprise visitor they’d had in the last half-hour and how the lawyer had known to come.
“Did you receive a phone call in the last couple of hours?” Jack asked.
Harper looked over at him with thinly veiled disgust. “Mr. McDermott. I was told you’d be here.”
“Did you receive a phone call in the last couple of hours?” Jack repeated.
Harper looked over at Andrea again and said accusingly, “You involved him? Knowing full well his past with the Bureau?”
Jack had had just about enough.
“DID YOU RECEIVE A PHONE CALL IN THE LAST COUPLE OF HOURS?” he shouted.
Harper glared at him. “Yes. We did.”
“From whom?”
Harper looked over at Cargill. “From someone in your department. They called to verify that Agent Valenti was assigned to this case.” He turned to Li and twisted the knife. “Unlike the Atlanta Police Department.”
Li’s face reddened.
“Who called you?” Cargill asked Harper.
“They wouldn’t say. They were afraid of reprisals.”
Jack scoffed. “Whoever called you wasn’t a police officer – it was the killer.”
Harper’s expression went from shocked to alarmed, then he settled back into his disdain for Jack. “No, the number was from the Adairsville Police Department, I’m sure of it. So unless you’re saying the killer snuck in here to place a phone call – ”
“He’s been using a GSM gateway,” Jack said. “Are you saying he couldn’t have used that to make it look like he was calling from the police department?”
Harper looked slightly queasy at the new information but tried to cover it up with bluster. “It’s a cute theory, but I think it’s far more likely that someone here placed a legitimate call.”
“It’s not a theory. An Atlanta defense attorney just showed up after the killer hired him a week ago. He got a call about the same time you did. You got played, Agent Harper.”
Harper’s face turned a mottled red – from embarrassment or rage, Jack couldn’t say, although it was probably both.
“Regardless, that has nothing to do with Agent Valenti’s presence on this case.” Harper turned to Andrea. “Your lack of candor on this matter calls into serious question your future with the Bureau. I am hereby placing you on administrative leave pending an investigation. Surrender your gun and your identification.”
Jack was getting angrier by the second. This wasn’t an impersonal bit of administrative paper shuffling – Harper’s attitude was pure venom. He wanted to humiliate Andrea.
“She was only trying to stop a killer,” Jack snarled.
“Agent Valenti violated the oath she took to faithfully discharge her duties,” Harper replied in a bored, dismissive voice. Then he added a dash of contempt. “Not that you’d know anything about that.”
“I know you’re a bureaucrat who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about doing the right thing.”
Harper smirked. “That’s funny, coming from a man who got rich off of shooting and killing his twin brother.”
31
Harper’s words were like a slap in the face.
Jack fixed the FBI agent with a stare so hateful it could have bored a hole in the man, given enough time.
Andrea glanced at Jack, her face full of pain on his behalf.
Li and Cargill both looked down at the floor, embarrassed to hear the truth spoken so baldly.
The blood was pounding in Jack’s ears – but even then, he could hear Ray’s voice as clearly as though his dead brother was standing right next to him:
Probably a good thing you didn’t tell ‘em about talking to me, huh.
Jack finally replied after the urge to kill Harper had subsided. “You know, after what happened in my previous encounters with the FBI, I’d written all of you off as assholes who only care about your careers. And then I met Andrea, and she totally changed my opinion about the Bureau and the people in it. But you? You’re an arrogant piece of shit, just like all the others.”
“And I couldn’t give a damn about your opinion,” Harper said, then looked back at Andrea. “Gun and ID, Valenti. Now.”
Andrea swallowed hard. She pulled the leather case for her badge and ID from an inside jacket pocket and placed it on the receptionist’s desk. Then she unholstered her gun, pulled out the magazine, and jacked the slide to eject the bullet inside. She caught it and handed everything over to Jeffers.
“Your encrypted cell phone,” Harper continued. “Hand it over.”
Andrea complied.
“You have a shotgun and a sidearm, yes?” Harper asked.
“In my car, locked in the trunk.”
“You’ll surrender those immediately as well.”
“The killer is stalking us, asshole,” Jack nearly shouted. “You want to take away every bit of protection she has?”
Harper ignored him. “Agent Jeffers will accompany you to your car – ”
Jack pulled out his phone angrily.
“Screw this – I’m calling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I’m sure my contact would love to hear about a brave FBI agent trying to catch a serial killer – and then her asshole boss not only pulls her off the case but abandons her to be stalked by the psychopath without anything to protect herself.” Jack smiled nastily at Harper as he stabbed at his cell phone screen. “And since I’m going to give an exclusive interview, which I haven’t done in years, I can pretty much guarantee it’ll make the front page. Be sure to look for it tomorrow morning – although I’ll bet you they put it online tonight.”
Harper froze. He wanted Jack’s threat to be a bluff – but he wasn’t sure.
Then someone answered on the other end of the line.
“Hey Anne, it’s Jack McDermott. I’m good, how are you? Yeah, I know we haven’t talked in a while, but have I got a story for you – ”
“Alright,” Harper hissed, and made a cutting motion across his throat.
Jack narrowed his eyes as he stared at Harper. “Hold on, Anne – let me get back to you in a few minutes. New developments just came up.”
As soon as Jack ended the call, Harper spoke. “I have your word you won’t speak to the press? Now or at any time until the case is concluded?”
“Yes,” Jack agreed. “As long as you treat Andrea fairly.”
Harper looked at Jeffers.
“Give her back her service piece and phone. But not the badge and ID.” Then he addressed Valenti. “Given the circumstances, I think it’s best if you maintain personal protection and keep your cell. But you’re still suspended pending an investigation and hearing.”
“Thank you, sir,” Andrea said as she took back her belongings from the other male agent. As she turned away from Jeffers and Harper, she looked Jack in the eyes and silently mouthed, Thank you.
He nodded almost imperceptibly.
Li and Cargill seemed both happy and impressed with the turn of events, as well.
Harper looked over at the police chief. “Given that the killer might have used technology to impersonate your department, and given the fact that we’re already here – ”
“No,” Cargill said flatly.
“I’m not taking over your case – I’m offering the Bureau’s assistance.” Harper shot a sideways look at Andrea. “Real assistance. If you want to catch the killer, you should avail yourself of that opportunity.”
Cargill was about to say something when Li turned to the police chief. “Look, I get it – I do – but he’s right. The FBI’s got resources we can only dream about, and I want to catch this guy no matter who’s helping. Plus this is an Atlanta case. It’s officially my call… and I’m saying ‘yes.’”
Cargill gave Li a sour look like the detective had betrayed him, then turned away. “Fine.”
“One caveat,” Harper said, and pointed at Jack with undisguised contempt. “Going forward, I don’t want him involved in anything having to do with the case.”
Li looked like he’d been sucker-punched. “Sir, he’s the one who identified Johansson as a suspect – and then he apprehended him when we were in pursuit.”
“Is Johansson the killer?” Harper asked coolly.
“…no…” Li admitted.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because the killer actually called us during Johansson’s interrogation.”
Harper’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re sure it was the killer?”
“99% certain, yes.”
“You have the phone number?”
“Jack has it on his cell.”
“I’ll give it to you – ” Jack started.
“And that’s the last thing we’ll need from you,” Harper snapped.
“ – but it’s not going to work if he’s using a GSM gateway,” Jack finished angrily.
“And how do you know he was using a GSM gateway, exactly?”
“He told us.”
Harper snorted derisively. “And you believed him?”
“Everything else he’s said so far has been the truth.”
Harper looked at Cargill and Li but pointed at Jack. “This is why I don’t want him on the case. I’m not going to let a serial killer dictate my investigation.”
“Your investigation?” Jack said sarcastically. “Just a second ago, you were only offering your assistance.”
Harper glared at him. “If your assault on Johansson makes anything we find on him inadmissible in court, I’m going to drag you through the meat grinder, so help me God.”
Jack cocked his head to one side. “Where’d you hear I assaulted him?”
Harper immediately realized his mistake but tried to cover it up. “Detective Li just said that you – ”
“I said he apprehended him,” Li interrupted.
“Did your ‘informant’ tell you about the assault, too?” Jack sneered. “And here I thought you weren’t going to let a serial killer dictate your investigation.”
Harper flushed a deep red again, then turned to the two lawmen. “Chief Cargill, Detective Li – I’d like to talk somewhere else, far away from Mr. McDermott.”
“Don’t bother,” Jack snapped. “I’m leaving.”
Li gave him a guilty look. “Jack – ”
“It’s alright,” Jack said, letting him off the hook. Then he nodded at Cargill. “Chief.”
“Mr. McDermott,” Cargill said gruffly. “Thank you for all your help.”
Jack used the line to rattle the attorney’s composure and soften him up.
It worked. Dunlap’s face turned slightly pale.
“No matter what,” Jack said, “it would be in Elias’s best interest if you told us who hired you.”
“I don’t even know their name,” Dunlap said, suddenly more amenable to giving out information. “All I know is our firm was contacted a week ago by an anonymous party – ”
“A week ago?!” Andrea cried out.
“Yes, last Monday,” Dunlap clarified.
Andrea stared at Jack. “That means that the killer hired them either shortly before or shortly after he killed Meredith Housel.”
Jack’s head was swimming.
The killer had planned everything out… every single piece…
Dunlap continued. “The person said they wanted to retain us to represent a client named Elias Johansson. They said that we would receive a call within the next week or so and to expect it night or day.”
“Do you have a contact number for the client?” Li asked.
“Yes, but that’s covered by lawyer-client – ”
Li looked like he was about to punch the attorney. “If you say that one more time – ”
Jack shook his head. “It doesn’t matter – it’s a burner phone at best. He wouldn’t be that careless.” Jack turned to Dunlap. “But what about the money? Do you have his bank information? Was it a wire transfer, or – ”
“No, the retainer arrived in cash via private courier.”
Jack turned to Li. “Remember what I said about him being wealthy?”
Li’s eyes widened. “He posed as a delivery man before when he killed Meredith Housel – maybe the killer was the delivery guy! If we can get footage from security cameras – ”
Dunlap shot that theory down immediately. “It was a company we’ve used multiple times before. I don’t remember their name offhand, but they’re legitimate.”
Li turned irritable. “We’re gonna need that company’s name, and so help me God, do NOT mention lawyer-client confidentiality again.”
“You also got the call to come here,” Jack said to Dunlap. “Was it the same number that contacted you last week?”
“I don’t think so because there was no Caller ID. I took the call on my office landline and I remember there wasn’t a number on the screen.”
“The GSM gateway thing?” Jack asked Andrea.
“Maybe,” she said. “Or maybe he called the operator and came in through Information, which wouldn’t show a caller ID.”
Li looked at Dunlap. “We’re going to need the courier company, we need the number from last week, we need any video surveillance footage you might have of the courier, just in case – ”
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,” Dunlap said loudly, “I’ve given you quite enough assistance for the time being. I can help you more after I speak with my client. What’s he being charged with?”
“Assault on Mr. McDermott,” Li said.
“That happened at the scene. What did you go there specifically to investigate?”
“The murders of Meredith Housel and Donald King.”
“And are you charging him with those murders?”
“…not yet,” Li grumbled.
“Mm-hm,” the lawyer said disapprovingly. “I want to see my client immediately.”
Li looked resentful but pushed open the door to the back area of the station. “Right this way.”
Dunlap followed Li, leaving Jack and Andrea alone with the receptionist.
“Remember when I said earlier that nothing would surprise me?” Jack said. “I was wrong.”
Suddenly Andrea’s eyes went wide and her face drained of color.
“What?” Jack asked in alarm.
“We have a new problem…”
Jack turned and followed her gaze out the window to the street.
Two White men in suits were exiting a black car parked in front of the police station. One was stocky with short-cropped hair. The other was tall and lanky with an iron-grey mustache.
“…who…?” Jack asked.
“The FBI,” Andrea said, her voice nearly a whisper. “The tall one’s my boss.”
“What’s wrong? That’s a good thing, right? Maybe they’re finally getting involved.”
“No. They’re not here for the case… they’re here for me.”
30
The receptionist overheard everything. “That’s the FBI?”
“Yes,” Andrea answered.
“Oh Lord,” the receptionist groaned, then opened the dividing door between the lobby and the back area. “Chief?”
“Yes?” Cargill answered from somewhere in the back.
“Now we’ve got the FBI here.”
“What?!”
“I just report the news. I don’t make it.”
Cargill and Li entered the lobby just as the two agents walked in the front door.
The taller man’s eyes lasered in on Andrea.
“Special Agent Valenti,” he said in a menacing voice.
“ASAC Harper,” Andrea replied without any emotion.
The tall man also gave Jack a disapproving look before Cargill drew his attention.
“Can I help you?” the police chief asked.
“Assistant Special Agent in Charge Robert Harper of the Atlanta Field Office,” the man said, then gestured to the stocky man beside him. “This is Special Agent Jeffers.”
“Police Chief Craig Cargill.”
“And I’m Detective Ning Li, Homicide, Atlanta PD.” Li looked over at Andrea. “Did you call them?”
“No,” Harper interrupted, letting his gaze settle on Andrea again. “She most certainly did not.”
“Then why are you here?” Cargill asked Harper.
Harper didn’t take his eyes off Andrea. “I’m not here for the case, Chief. I’m here for Agent Valenti.”
“Is there some sort of emergency?”
“It would appear so.”
Li attempted a bit of humor. “Couldn’t you have just called?”
“I tried. Over a dozen times, but she won’t pick up her phone.”
Andrea flushed red with embarrassment.
Jack looked at her in surprise. He knew she’d been getting calls and not answering them, but he would never have thought it was her boss she was avoiding.
Li frowned. “I don’t understand – what’s going on?”
“What’s going on, Detective, is that Agent Valenti is acting in an unofficial capacity on this case. She’s not supposed to be here. Are you, Agent.”
“I took personal days after the incident last night, sir. You know that.”
“Which does not give you leave to act on behalf of the Bureau in an investigation,” Harper snarled.
“Wait – hold on a second,” Li interjected. “She’s been serving as the Bureau’s liaison ever since last night.”
“Did she tell you she’d been assigned to that role?” Harper asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you call the Atlanta field office to verify it?”
Li looked uneasy. “…no…”
“You just trusted her because of the badge. Didn’t you.”
Now Li looked upset and betrayed. “…yes.”
“Well, I can assure you, Agent Valenti was acting on her own accord and not under official orders from the FBI.”
Jack felt like his head was spinning.
Andrea wasn’t supposed to be on the case. Everything she’d said since last night about getting her boss’s approval had been a lie –
And apparently Harper had found out.
…but how?
And how had he known to show up here at the Adairsville police station?
The question immediately called to mind the other surprise visitor they’d had in the last half-hour and how the lawyer had known to come.
“Did you receive a phone call in the last couple of hours?” Jack asked.
Harper looked over at him with thinly veiled disgust. “Mr. McDermott. I was told you’d be here.”
“Did you receive a phone call in the last couple of hours?” Jack repeated.
Harper looked over at Andrea again and said accusingly, “You involved him? Knowing full well his past with the Bureau?”
Jack had had just about enough.
“DID YOU RECEIVE A PHONE CALL IN THE LAST COUPLE OF HOURS?” he shouted.
Harper glared at him. “Yes. We did.”
“From whom?”
Harper looked over at Cargill. “From someone in your department. They called to verify that Agent Valenti was assigned to this case.” He turned to Li and twisted the knife. “Unlike the Atlanta Police Department.”
Li’s face reddened.
“Who called you?” Cargill asked Harper.
“They wouldn’t say. They were afraid of reprisals.”
Jack scoffed. “Whoever called you wasn’t a police officer – it was the killer.”
Harper’s expression went from shocked to alarmed, then he settled back into his disdain for Jack. “No, the number was from the Adairsville Police Department, I’m sure of it. So unless you’re saying the killer snuck in here to place a phone call – ”
“He’s been using a GSM gateway,” Jack said. “Are you saying he couldn’t have used that to make it look like he was calling from the police department?”
Harper looked slightly queasy at the new information but tried to cover it up with bluster. “It’s a cute theory, but I think it’s far more likely that someone here placed a legitimate call.”
“It’s not a theory. An Atlanta defense attorney just showed up after the killer hired him a week ago. He got a call about the same time you did. You got played, Agent Harper.”
Harper’s face turned a mottled red – from embarrassment or rage, Jack couldn’t say, although it was probably both.
“Regardless, that has nothing to do with Agent Valenti’s presence on this case.” Harper turned to Andrea. “Your lack of candor on this matter calls into serious question your future with the Bureau. I am hereby placing you on administrative leave pending an investigation. Surrender your gun and your identification.”
Jack was getting angrier by the second. This wasn’t an impersonal bit of administrative paper shuffling – Harper’s attitude was pure venom. He wanted to humiliate Andrea.
“She was only trying to stop a killer,” Jack snarled.
“Agent Valenti violated the oath she took to faithfully discharge her duties,” Harper replied in a bored, dismissive voice. Then he added a dash of contempt. “Not that you’d know anything about that.”
“I know you’re a bureaucrat who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about doing the right thing.”
Harper smirked. “That’s funny, coming from a man who got rich off of shooting and killing his twin brother.”
31
Harper’s words were like a slap in the face.
Jack fixed the FBI agent with a stare so hateful it could have bored a hole in the man, given enough time.
Andrea glanced at Jack, her face full of pain on his behalf.
Li and Cargill both looked down at the floor, embarrassed to hear the truth spoken so baldly.
The blood was pounding in Jack’s ears – but even then, he could hear Ray’s voice as clearly as though his dead brother was standing right next to him:
Probably a good thing you didn’t tell ‘em about talking to me, huh.
Jack finally replied after the urge to kill Harper had subsided. “You know, after what happened in my previous encounters with the FBI, I’d written all of you off as assholes who only care about your careers. And then I met Andrea, and she totally changed my opinion about the Bureau and the people in it. But you? You’re an arrogant piece of shit, just like all the others.”
“And I couldn’t give a damn about your opinion,” Harper said, then looked back at Andrea. “Gun and ID, Valenti. Now.”
Andrea swallowed hard. She pulled the leather case for her badge and ID from an inside jacket pocket and placed it on the receptionist’s desk. Then she unholstered her gun, pulled out the magazine, and jacked the slide to eject the bullet inside. She caught it and handed everything over to Jeffers.
“Your encrypted cell phone,” Harper continued. “Hand it over.”
Andrea complied.
“You have a shotgun and a sidearm, yes?” Harper asked.
“In my car, locked in the trunk.”
“You’ll surrender those immediately as well.”
“The killer is stalking us, asshole,” Jack nearly shouted. “You want to take away every bit of protection she has?”
Harper ignored him. “Agent Jeffers will accompany you to your car – ”
Jack pulled out his phone angrily.
“Screw this – I’m calling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I’m sure my contact would love to hear about a brave FBI agent trying to catch a serial killer – and then her asshole boss not only pulls her off the case but abandons her to be stalked by the psychopath without anything to protect herself.” Jack smiled nastily at Harper as he stabbed at his cell phone screen. “And since I’m going to give an exclusive interview, which I haven’t done in years, I can pretty much guarantee it’ll make the front page. Be sure to look for it tomorrow morning – although I’ll bet you they put it online tonight.”
Harper froze. He wanted Jack’s threat to be a bluff – but he wasn’t sure.
Then someone answered on the other end of the line.
“Hey Anne, it’s Jack McDermott. I’m good, how are you? Yeah, I know we haven’t talked in a while, but have I got a story for you – ”
“Alright,” Harper hissed, and made a cutting motion across his throat.
Jack narrowed his eyes as he stared at Harper. “Hold on, Anne – let me get back to you in a few minutes. New developments just came up.”
As soon as Jack ended the call, Harper spoke. “I have your word you won’t speak to the press? Now or at any time until the case is concluded?”
“Yes,” Jack agreed. “As long as you treat Andrea fairly.”
Harper looked at Jeffers.
“Give her back her service piece and phone. But not the badge and ID.” Then he addressed Valenti. “Given the circumstances, I think it’s best if you maintain personal protection and keep your cell. But you’re still suspended pending an investigation and hearing.”
“Thank you, sir,” Andrea said as she took back her belongings from the other male agent. As she turned away from Jeffers and Harper, she looked Jack in the eyes and silently mouthed, Thank you.
He nodded almost imperceptibly.
Li and Cargill seemed both happy and impressed with the turn of events, as well.
Harper looked over at the police chief. “Given that the killer might have used technology to impersonate your department, and given the fact that we’re already here – ”
“No,” Cargill said flatly.
“I’m not taking over your case – I’m offering the Bureau’s assistance.” Harper shot a sideways look at Andrea. “Real assistance. If you want to catch the killer, you should avail yourself of that opportunity.”
Cargill was about to say something when Li turned to the police chief. “Look, I get it – I do – but he’s right. The FBI’s got resources we can only dream about, and I want to catch this guy no matter who’s helping. Plus this is an Atlanta case. It’s officially my call… and I’m saying ‘yes.’”
Cargill gave Li a sour look like the detective had betrayed him, then turned away. “Fine.”
“One caveat,” Harper said, and pointed at Jack with undisguised contempt. “Going forward, I don’t want him involved in anything having to do with the case.”
Li looked like he’d been sucker-punched. “Sir, he’s the one who identified Johansson as a suspect – and then he apprehended him when we were in pursuit.”
“Is Johansson the killer?” Harper asked coolly.
“…no…” Li admitted.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because the killer actually called us during Johansson’s interrogation.”
Harper’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re sure it was the killer?”
“99% certain, yes.”
“You have the phone number?”
“Jack has it on his cell.”
“I’ll give it to you – ” Jack started.
“And that’s the last thing we’ll need from you,” Harper snapped.
“ – but it’s not going to work if he’s using a GSM gateway,” Jack finished angrily.
“And how do you know he was using a GSM gateway, exactly?”
“He told us.”
Harper snorted derisively. “And you believed him?”
“Everything else he’s said so far has been the truth.”
Harper looked at Cargill and Li but pointed at Jack. “This is why I don’t want him on the case. I’m not going to let a serial killer dictate my investigation.”
“Your investigation?” Jack said sarcastically. “Just a second ago, you were only offering your assistance.”
Harper glared at him. “If your assault on Johansson makes anything we find on him inadmissible in court, I’m going to drag you through the meat grinder, so help me God.”
Jack cocked his head to one side. “Where’d you hear I assaulted him?”
Harper immediately realized his mistake but tried to cover it up. “Detective Li just said that you – ”
“I said he apprehended him,” Li interrupted.
“Did your ‘informant’ tell you about the assault, too?” Jack sneered. “And here I thought you weren’t going to let a serial killer dictate your investigation.”
Harper flushed a deep red again, then turned to the two lawmen. “Chief Cargill, Detective Li – I’d like to talk somewhere else, far away from Mr. McDermott.”
“Don’t bother,” Jack snapped. “I’m leaving.”
Li gave him a guilty look. “Jack – ”
“It’s alright,” Jack said, letting him off the hook. Then he nodded at Cargill. “Chief.”
“Mr. McDermott,” Cargill said gruffly. “Thank you for all your help.”
