deal info or she goes to prison. The firm is terminating her anyway.
What the hell does she care?”
Sawyer looked confused. “But I thought her husband had delivered that
information to RTG already. The exchange on the videotape.”
“Deals change, Lee. I know for a fact that since Jason Archer’s
disappearance the terms of Triton’s offer for CyberCom have changed.
What Jason gave them was old news. They needed fresh stuff. Ironically,
what the husband couldn’t give them, the wife could.”
“Sounds like they would’ve made a deal, then. So how does the killing
part come in, Frank? Just because it was her gun doesn’t mean she fired
it.” Sawyer was now being argumentative.
Hardy ignored the tone, continuing on with his analysis. “Maybe they
couldn’t agree to terms. Maybe things turned ugly. Maybe they decided
the best way was to get the information they needed and then dispose of
her. Maybe that’s why they ended up in the limo.
Parker was carrying a gun; it was still in his holster, unfired. There
might have been a struggle. She pulls her piece, fires and kills one of
them in self-defense. Horrified, she decides not to leave any
witnesses.”
Sawyer was shaking his head vigorously. “Three able-bodied men against
one woman? Doesn’t make sense that the situation would’ve gotten out of
their control. Assuming she was in the limo, I can’t believe she
would’ve been able to kill all three and just walk away.”
“Maybe she didn’t just walk away, Lee. She might’ve been wounded, for
all we know.”
Sawyer looked at the concrete floor beside the limo. There were several
bloodstains, but none readily visible farther away from the limo.
Inconclusive at best, but Hardy’s scenario was plausible.
“So, she kills all three and then leaves without the tape. Why?”
Hardy shrugged. “Tape was found under Brophy. The guy was big, at
least two hundred pounds of literally dead weight. It took two
heavyweight cops to move the body when they were trying to I.D. him.
That’s when they spotted the tape. The simple answer may be that she
physically couldn’t get to it. Or maybe she didn’t know it was under
there. From the looks of it, it fell out of his pocket when he went
down. Then she panicked and just ran. She tosses the gun in the sewer
and gets the hell out of Dodge. How many times have we both seen that
happen?”
Jackson looked at Sawyer. “Makes sense, Lee.”
Sawyer, however, was doubtful. He walked over to Detective Royce, who
was signing off on some paperwork.
“You mind if I call some of our forensics people in to check out a few
things?”
“Hell, be my guest. I rarely turn down an assist from the FBI. You
guys got all those federal dollars. Us? We’re lucky if we have gas in
the cars.”
“I’d like to run a few tests on the interior of the limo. I’ll have my
team here within twenty minutes. I’d like them to do the exam with the
bodies still in place. Then I’d like to do a more thorough
search–minus the bodies, of course–back at the lab. Tow’s on us.”
Royce considered the request for a moment and then said, “I’ll get the
necessary paperwork in order.” He looked suspiciously at Sawyer.
“Look, I’m always glad of the bureau’s help, but this is our
jurisdiction.
I’d be more than a little ticked to see credit misplaced when this one
gets solved. You hear what I’m saying?”
“Loud and clear, Detective Royce. It’s your case. Whatever we learn is
yours to use in solving the crime. I sincerely hope it earns you a
promotion and a nice raise.”
“You and my wife.”
“Can I ask a favor?”
“You can always ask,” Royce replied.
“You mind having one of your techs get gunshot residue samples from each
of the three corpses? We’re running out of time on that one. I can
have my people analyze the samples.”
“You think one of them might have fired the gun?” Royce looked highly
doubtful.
“Maybe, maybe not. We can pretty much tell one way or another, though.”
Royce shrugged and motioned for one of his techs to come over.