Deadly Stillwater

“So did the police get there?”

“No, it was the security guards. American Financial has pretty serious security in the building, since they occupy most of the floors. They finally caught up and subdued the guy.”

Just then, Riles, Rock, Lich, and Peters burst in, all of them freshly washed and changed. Lich asked what was so funny. Sally told the Homer Snodgrass story again as Mac turned his attention back to the whiteboard, twisting the black dry erase marker through his fingers like a baton.

“The rental cops from downstairs earned their keep today,” Sally finished.

“Went nuts over his company, huh?” Riles said, grabbing a sandwich off the table.

“Yeah. He’s in a rubber room now, I’d suspect,” Sally said, popping open the top of a Diet Coke and pouring the contents into a red plastic cup filled with ice. “Homer says these people in class-action suits get pretty pissed off at him. This isn’t the first time he’s had death threats, for cripes’ sake.” Mac stared at the notation on the board:

Hisle and Flanagan cases: No connections (at least yet) on criminal cases between Flanagan and Hisle.

He dramatically underlined “criminal” and suddenly the pieces fell together into a new picture. “It’s the civil cases. I bet it’s the damned civil cases,” Mac exclaimed loudly.

“What?” Sally asked.

“You know what, Kennedy? You’re a drop-dead gorgeous woman with a fantastic body, a great mind, and impeccable timing,” Mac said, giving her a big wet kiss on the lips.

Sally looked at him, stunned.

“What the hell’s got into you?” Peters asked as the others started.

“A guy went after a lawyer with an axe because he lost his company in a class-action suit, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“She also said this guy has received death threats – more than once.”

“Again, so?”

“Lyman Hisle is one of the most successful class-action and discrimination lawyers around. We all think of the criminal stuff because that’s where we deal with him. But he’s made millions upon millions on those class-action and discrimination cases and we haven’t been looking at those cases.”

“Why not?” Rock asked.

“Because Burton and the chief thought the criminal cases were the most likely connection when we had just the Hisle kidnapping. Then, when they took Carrie Flanagan, everyone naturally assumed that it had to be the criminal cases again, because it involved a criminal lawyer and a cop. But what if Lyman’s civil world crossed with the chief somehow? Somebody who lost a ton of money to Lyman, and where there’s a connection to the chief.”

“Or with multiple kidnappers? Maybe one hand is washing the other,” Lich added. “Someone pissed at Lyman joins up with someone pissed at the chief, or visa versa.”

“How would that happen?” Peters asked. “Who knows?” Mac said. “But maybe it has. We haven’t found the connection on the criminal cases. So we have to take a look at it from the civil side.”

“How many cases or people we talking here?” Riles asked, aware of the ticking clock.

“Hundreds, maybe thousands, given how prolific Lyman is,” Sally said. “It could be a defendant in a case he won, could be a plaintiff in a case he lost.”

“Probably a defendant,” Mac said. “And it fits with these guys.” He smiled, looking at his three words. “They’ve been prepared. It’s complicated, and this is why. Because it’s a connection between a case the chief worked and some civil matter of Lyman’s.” He paused, and then added with a little admiration in his voice, “Man, that’s a nice little twist on their part when you think about it.”

“Which fits with two of your words up there,” Riles said. “Now all we need is the ‘motivated.’ We need to figure out what’s motivating these guys.”

“I wonder if they tipped their hand on that,” Mac said.

“How so?” Lich asked.

Mac underlined the quote. “It’s what the kidnapper said when he called the chief. He said: ‘Hisle was the appetizer and your daughter was the main course.’”

“And you think?” Peters asked.

“That the guy running the show is after the chief. The man running the show is someone the chief busted, or a family member of someone he busted, something along those lines.”

“And Hisle?” Sally asked.

“The price this guy is paying for the help.”

“But does that really get us any closer?” Lich said.

“Not yet,” Mac conceded. “But if we figure out the who, then we’ll probably be able to determine what is motivating them. So we still have to run the chief’s entire list against Lyman’s civil cases, but it gives us another piece, another way of looking at this. But I’m betting the brains of this little operation are the chief’s side of the ledger. The help is from Lyman. But we’ve gotta dig into all of that and we’ve got to do it now.”

“I’ll call Burton,” Peters said.

“NO!” everyone cried in unison.

“Why the hell not?”

“Someone’s workin’ the inside on this,” Mac answered quietly and without emotion.

Peters stared at him as the rest of the room fell silent, a disbelieving look overtaking his face. “You better tell me what you got,” their captain said quietly.