somehow. And the woman is dead. You’ve probably gotten a conviction on
less evidence that that.”
Kate looked at him suspiciously. “How do you know about me?”
“I see a woman sneaking into the house of a man the Police are looking
for I do what any law enforcement officer would do, I ran your license
plate. Your reputation precedes you, Ms. Whitney. The state police think
the world of you.”
She looked around the room. “He’s not here. It doesn’t look like he’s
been here for a while.”
“Yes, ma’am, I know. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is, would you?
He hasn’t tried to contact you or anything?”
Kate thought of Jack and his late-night visitor. “No.” The answer was
quick, a little too quick for Burton’s taste.
“It’ll be better if he turns himself in, Ms. Whitney. You get some
trigger-happy beat cop out there. . .” Burton expressively raised his
eyebrows.
“I don’t know where he is, Mr. Burton. My father and I … we haven’t
been close … for a long time.”
“But you’re here now and you knew where he kept the spare key.”
Her voice rose an octave. “This is the first time I’ve stepped foot in
this house.”
Burton scrutinized her expression and decided she was telling the truth.
Her unfamiliarity with the house had already led him pretty much to that
conclusion, and also that she and her father were estranged.
“Is there any way you can get in touch with him?”
“Why? I really don’t want to get involved in this, Mr. Burton.”
“Well I’m afraid you already are, to a degree. It’d be better if you’d
cooperate.”
Kate slung her purse over her arm and stood up.
“]Listen, Agent Burton, you can’t bluff me, I’ve been in the business
too long. If the police want to waste their time questioning me, I’m in
the phone book. The government phone book under Commonwealth’s Attorney.
See you around.”
She headed for the door.
“W.wbitney?”
She whirled round, ready for some verbal sparring. Secret Service or
not, she wasn’t going to take any crap from this guy.
“If your father committed a crime, then he should be tried by a jury of
his peers and convicted. If he’s innocent, he goes free. That’s how the
system’s supposed to work. You know that better than I do.”
Kate was about to respond when her eye caught the photos. Her first day
in court. It seemed a century ago and was, in a lot more ways than she
could ever admit to herself.
That smile, the pie-in-the-sky dreams everybody starts with, nothing
less than perfection the only goal. She had dropped back to earth a long
time ago.
Whatever barbed remark she was going to come back with had just escaped
her, lost in the smile of a pretty young woman with a lot she wanted to
do with her life.
Bill Burton watched her turn and leave. He looked over at the photos and
then back at the empty doorway.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE FUCKING DONE THAT, BILL. You smd you were not going
to interfere in the investigation. Hell, I ought to throw your keester
right in jail. That’d go over real well with your boss.” Seth Frank
slammed his desk drawer and stood up, eyes blazing at the big man.
Bill Burton stopped pacing and sat down. He had expected to take some
lumps over this one.
“You’re right, Seth. But Jesus I was a cop for a long time.
You were unavailable, I go over there just to reconnoiter the place, I
see some skirt slipping in. What would you have done?”
Frank didn’t answer.
“Look, Seth, you can kick me in the ass, but I’m telling you, friend,
this woman is our ace up the sleeve. With her we can nail this guy.”
Frank’s tensed face relaxed, his anger subsiding.
“What are you talking about?”
“The girl is his daughter. His friggin’ daughter. In fact his only
child. Luther Whitney is a three-time loser, a career crim who’s
apparently gotten better with age. His wife finally divorced him, right?
Couldn’t take it anymore. Then when she starts to get her life in order,