Edwina shook her head, stroked a silver and white cat that jumped up on
her lap.
“Well, thank you for talking to me. Again I’m sorry about your
daughter.”
“Thank you, I am too. Very sorry.”
As she wrenched herself up to see him to the door, the letter fell out
of her pocket. Her weary heart skipped a beat as Frank bent down, picked
it up without glancing at it and handed it to her.
She watched him pull out of the driveway. She slowly eased herself back
down in the chair by the fireplace and unfolded the letter.
It was in a man’s hand she knew well: I didn’t do it. But you wouldn’t
believe me if I told you who did.
For Edwina Broome that was all she needed to know.
Luther Whitney had been a friend for a long time, and had only broken
into that house because of Wanda. If the police caught up to him, it
would not be with her assistance.
And what her friend had asked her to do she would. God help her, it was
the only decent thing she could do.
SEm FRANK AND BiLL BuRTon sHook HANDs AND sAT DowN.
They were in Frank’s office and the sun was barely up.
“I appreciate your seeing me, Seth.”
“It is a little unusual.”
“Damn unusual if you ask me.” Burton grinned. “Mind if I light one up?”
“How about I join you?” Both men pulled out their packs.
Burton bent his match forward as he settled back in his chair.
“I’ve been with the Service a long time and this is a first for me. But
I can understand it. Old man Sullivan is one of the President’s best
friends. Helped get him started in politics. A real mentor. They both go
way back. Just between you and me, I don’t think the President actually
wants us to do much more than give an impression of involvement. We are
in no way looking to step on your toes.”
“Not that you have jurisdiction to do that anyway.”
“Exactly, Seth. Exactly. Hell, I was a state trooper for eight years. I
know how police investigations go. The last thing you need is somebody
else looking over your goddamned shoulder.”
The wariness started to fade from Frank”s eyes. An ex-state trooper
turned Secret Service agent. This guy was really a career law
enforcement person. In Frank’s book you didn’t get much better than
that.
“So what’s your proposal?”
“I see my role as an information pipeline to the President.
Something breaks you give me a call and I’ll fill in the President. Then
when he sees Walter Sullivan he can speak intelligently about the case.
Believe me, it’s not all smoke and mirrors. The President is genuinely
concerned about the case.” Burton smiled inwardly.
“And no interference from the feds. No second-guessing?”Hell, I’m not
the FBI. It’s not a federal case. Look at me as the civilian emissary of
a VIP. Not much more than a professional courtesy really.”
Frank looked around his office as he slowly absorbed the situation.
Burton followed that gaze and tried to size up Frank as precisely as
possible. Burton had known many detectives. Most had average
capabilities, which, coupled with an exponentially increasing caseload,
resulted in a very low arrest and much lower conviction rate. But he had
checked out Seth Frank. The guy was former NYPD with a string of
citations a mile long. Since his coming to Middleton County, there had
not been one unsolved homicide. Not one. It was a rural county to be
sure, but a one hundred percent solve rate was still Pretty impressive.
All those facts made Burton very comfortable. For although the President
had requested that Burton keep in contact with the police in order to
fulfill his pledge to Sullivan, Burton had his own reason for wanting
access to the investigation.
“If something breaks really fast, I might not be able to apprise you
right away.”
“I’m not asking for miracles, Seth, just a little info when you get a
chance. That’s all.” Burton stood up, crushing out his cigarette. “We
got a deal?”
“I’ll do in best, Bill.”