Simple Genius

“Dunmore hightailed it from Williamsburg where the governor’s mansion was located to Porto Bello, his hunting lodge, when Washington’s army got too close during the Revolutionary War. Then the chickenshit snuck away during the night on a British ship and sailed back to England. There’s a street in Norfolk named after him. Not in his honor, but because it was thought to be the last place he set foot in America, the royal prick. But my point is they got lots of places for people to live, so why the need for a new dorm?”

“You have any contacts at Camp Peary you can work?”

“If I had I would’ve worked them. I just get low-level scuttlebutt from time to time. No one’s gonna be passing me the passenger manifest for those flights if that’s what you mean.” He pointed to some other areas on the map. “They have paramilitary squads training pretty much full-time there. Scary dudes. Practicing snatch-and-grabs, I guess. Or government-ordered assassinations. CIA can kill you better than anybody else. They simulate doing missions all over the world. Hell, they even have big balloons they float up to change the weather. Make it rain or snow, stuff like that. Big wind machines too. Or whopper heat makers. Least that’s what I heard.”

“To simulate desert fighting. Like in Afghanistan,” Michelle commented. They spent a few more minutes with South Freeman, then left after promising that they would keep him in the loop. In return he said he’d let them know if anything interesting came his way. “Who knows,” he said before they left. “Maybe I might get my parents’ house back. Now wouldn’t that be a hoot!”

As they were climbing into Michelle’s truck Sean’s cell phone rang.

“King.”

He sucked in a quick breath as he listened. “Shit!” He clicked off.

“Is somebody else dead?”

“Yes, and two dead men are even deader.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That was Sheriff Hayes. The morgue just blew up.”

CHAPTER 48

“GAS LEAK,” SHERIFF HAYES SAID as they stared at the charred rubble that used to be the makeshift morgue.

“Isn’t that what they always say?” Michelle said.

“And you said the ME died?” Sean asked.

Hayes nodded. “He was in there working on Rivest’s remains. There’s not enough left of him to do an autopsy on.”

“So Rivest’s and Monk’s bodies?”

“Pretty much bone and cinder.”

“That’s way too convenient, don’t you think?” Sean said.

“I thought I told you to keep the hell out of my way,” boomed a voice.

They all three turned to see FBI Special Agent Ventris striding toward them. He came to a stop a few inches from Sean’s face. “Do you have a hearing problem?”

“He’s working with me, Agent Ventris,” Hayes said hastily.

“I don’t give a shit if you’re working with God Almighty Himself, I told you to stay out of my way.”

“I just came down here in response to a call I got from Sheriff Hayes,” Sean said evenly. “And would you care to explain to me how the FBI has jurisdiction over a local death that’s unrelated to any federal matter or person?”

Ventris looked ready to take a swing at Sean. Michelle stepped between them.

“Look, Sean and I used to be part of the federal side too, Agent Ventris. Our main contact was Len Rivest and now he’s dead. Sean discovered the body; it’s only natural that we want to stay informed about the matter. But we will in no way interfere with a federal investigation. All we’re looking for is the truth, same as you.”

Her words seemed to take a bit of the steam out of Ventris.

Hayes quickly said, “Sean, maybe you better fill in Agent Ventris on your theory about Rivest.”

“I don’t want to be seen as interfering,” Sean growled.

“Just lay it out,” Ventris snapped.

Sean grudgingly explained about the absence of towels and the bath mat and the missing plunger and his theory of how Rivest could have been killed. “We’d asked the ME to check the body for a trace of something like that happening.”

Ventris studied the pavement for a few moments. “I actually noticed that there were no towels,” he said. “And the bath mat, but I didn’t know about the plunger.”

Michelle said, “So you were suspecting murder too?”

“I always suspect murder,” Ventris said. “I’m bringing in a team to go over everything here.”

Sean said, “And you’re interested in Rivest’s death because you think it ties into Monk Turing’s, which was on federal property.”

“So maybe we should join forces,” Michelle suggested.

“That’s not possible,” Ventris said. “If you have information you want to share with me, fine, but it’s not a two-way street. We have ways of doing things at the Bureau.”

“I thought your ways of doing things included working with the local police,” Sean said.

“And I fit that bill,” Hayes added.

“But they don’t,” Ventris replied fiercely, glaring at Sean and Michelle.

“Isn’t the point that we catch whoever did all this?” Michelle said.

“No, the point is, I catch them,” Ventris snapped.

“I’ll make it easy for you,” Sean began. “We’ll just make it a competition.

Who gets there first gets the credit. But just so you know we’re going to kick your ass.” He turned and stalked off.