Holman continued. “Shooter picked up the ejected shell casings, but the
slugs appear to still be in all the victims, so we’ll get a definitive
match from ballistics depending on projectile deformity.”
Even before he was handed the pistol, Sawyer had already noted it. So
had Jackson. They looked at each other with a sinking feeling: the
cracked grip.
Hardy noticed the exchange. “You got something?”
Sawyer sighed. “Shit,” was all he could think to say at the moment.
He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, looked over at the limo and
then back at the murder weapon. “I’m ninety-nine percent sure this gun
belongs to Sidney Archer, Frank.”
“What was that name again?” Both homicide detectives piped in almost
simultaneously.
Sawyer filled the detectives in on Sidney’s identity and connection to
the law firm.
“Right, the paper ran a story on her and her husband. I knew the name
was familiar. That explains a hell of a lot,” Royce said.
“How’s that?” Jackson asked.
Royce consulted his notebook. “The front entrance ro the building also
tracks who enters and leaves after hours. One-twenty-one this morning,
guess whose security card was entered?”
“Sidney Archer’s,” Sawyer said with a weary tone.
“Bingo. Damn, husband and wife. Nice couple. We’ll get her, though.
Bodies are fresh, not too much of a head start.” Royce sounded
confident. “We’ve already lifted a slew of partials from the limo.
We’ll run them against the dead men for elimination purposes and then
focus on the remaining ones.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Archer’s prints turned up all over the
place,” Holman said. He cocked his head at the limo. “Particularly
with all the blood in there.”
Sawyer turned to the detective. “Got a motive?”
Royce held up the recorder. “Found this under Brophy. It’s already
been dusted.” The detective hit the play button. They all listened to
the tape until it stopped a few minutes later. Sawyer’s face flushed.
“That’s Jason Archer’s voice,” Hardy said. “Know it well.” He shook his
head. “Now if we just had a body to go along with the voice.”
“And that’s Sidney’s voice,” Jackson added. He looked over at his
partner, who was leaning against a support column, looking miserable.
Sawyer assimilated the new information and plugged it into the mutating
landscape this case had become. Brophy had taped the conversation the
morning they had gone to interview Sidney. That’s why the sonofabitch
had looked so pleased with himself. That also explained his trip to New
Orleans and his little frolic and detour through Sidney’s hotel room.
Sawyer grimaced. He never would have disclosed voluntarily what Sidney
had told him about the phone call. Only now the secret was out. She
had lied to the FBI.
Even if Sawyer testified–which he would do in a minute–that she had
later disclosed to him the details of the phone call, she had still made
plans to aid and abet a fugitive. Now she was looking at
throw-away-the-key prison time. Amy Archer’s tiny face intruded on his
thoughts and his shoulders slumped even farther.
As Royce and Holman drifted away to continue their investigation, Hardy
walked over to Sawyer. “You want my two cents?”
Sawyer nodded. Jackson joined them.
“I probably know a couple things that you don’t. One being that Tyler,
Stone was terminating Sidney Archer,” Hardy said.
“Okay.” Sawyer’s eyes remained fixed on Hardy.
“Ironically, the letter of termination was found on Goldman’s person.
It could’ve gone down like this: Archer comes down to the office on her
own for some reason. Maybe it’s innocent, maybe it’s not.
She meets up with Goldman and Brophy, either by accident or arrangement.
Goldman probably made Sidney Archer very familiar with the contents of
the termination letter, and then they spring the tape on her. That’s
pretty heavy blackmail material.”
“I agree the tape is very damaging, but what would they blackmail her
for?” Sawyer’s eyes were still fixed on his friend.
“Like I told you before, up until the plane crash, Sidney Archer was
lead counsel on the CyberCom deal. She was privy to confidential
information. Information that RTG would be dying to get their hands on.
The price for that information is the tape. She either gives them the
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