It’s a thin line between helping and hindering. Only the most talented can look like they’re doing the former while actually doing the latter.
I was on my way back to the lab to see if they’d found anything new when Daniel interrupted me. He came jogging down the hallway and grabbed me by the arm, dragging me into an empty conference room. Even in the semi-privacy of the conference room, he didn’t say enough to let anyone uniformed know what we were talking about. Walls in this place typically have both eyes and ears.
“That thing you had me do? It was… productive. We need to go now,” he whispered furiously.
I nodded in understanding. “I’ll meet you at the car in five. There’s one thing I need to do first.”
I hurried back to my office and pulled a small device from my desk drawer. It larger than most bugs, but that was because it was self-contained. It didn’t transmit a signal, making it almost impossible to detect. But that also meant that you had to retrieve it, making it much more dangerous to use. But in a place filled with suspicious, techno-savy people, it was the only way I might be able to get the information I need. It was another case where the risk would hopefully be worth it.
A quick stop by the vending machine for a bag of chips and I was on my way bag to Nate’s office, stuffing my face with chips as I went. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was, and couldn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten. When the bag was almost empty, I activated the bug and dropped it into the bag. I knocked and stuck my head around the corner of his office door. He motioned for me to come in. I popped another chip in my mouth, then crumpled the bag.
“Hey boss, just want to let you know Daniel and I are off to go over the crime scenes again, and check up on Robin. I feel awful about her being caught up in all this, and I haven’t even talked to her since.” I dropped the bag into his trash can. He barely noticed, paying more attention to what I was saying and less to what I was doing. A mistake a lot of complacent, office-bound agents make. Always watch for the misdirection.
He hesitated, unable to think of a tactful, reasonable way to tell me not to do something I should be doing. Instead, he nodded. “Good, let me know if you find anything.”
“Will do,” I said, and went off to meet with Daniel. I suspected anything of interest the bug would pick up would be in the next ten minutes, but I’d have to wait until evening to hear it. Patience is a virtue, I told myself. I could wait. It almost worked, but I was still jittery with anticipation.
I joined Daniel out in the parking lot, and we high-tailed it to Robin’s place, making one quick stop through a drive through to pick up a burger. Initially he objected, repeating the need for speed, but the look I gave him must have changed his mind. He settled back and filled me in on what they’d heard.
“She hasn’t done anything remarkable. She went home and has stayed there, not making contact with anyone along the way. The only reason we got the info was because we managed to get a wired mike in through the oven vent, and luckily she hasn’t done any cooking. And I know she’s swept the place for bugs at least twice. Once we saw her do it, and the second time she was on the phone, and she told the person she was talking to that she was actively searching for any. Even so, I’m surprised she said as much as she did. We have her on tape for the murder of Jason and Robert. Obviously, she can’t be the one responsible for Sandra’s murder, because as good as she is, she can’t be in two places at once. But you want to hear the best news?”
“We know who she was talking to?” I asked. That took the wind out of Daniel’s sails for a moment, but he rallied.
“Well, no. She was talking on a throw-away cell, and we don’t know the number so we can’t trace it. And the boys saw her thoroughly destroy it when she was done talking. She smashed it to bits and flushed the pieces, so that’s a dead end. But she did happen to mention that she still had the gun. She hadn’t had a chance to get rid of it. The bad news is that she knows she was followed, so that was a screw-up on our part. That’s why she hasn’t chucked it yet. Even though, if she tossed it off a bridge we’d probably never recover it, the act alone would land her in a lot of hot water. You know the agency doesn’t actually have to prove you guilty of anything to punish you.”
I nodded. “So if we get there fast enough, we might be able to track down the gun, and at least that’s something. I doubt we’ll get anything out of her, though. She’s too tough to crack.”
“I rather doubt questioning will lead to anything, either, but we have to give it a shot. You never know, maybe the lure of a lessened sentence will make her turn on her boss,” Daniel said, but there wasn’t much hope in his voice. We both knew how unlikely that was.
As it turns out, it was even more unlikely than either of us guessed. When we got to her house, there was already an ambulance parked out front. One of the surveillance crew came jogging up to the car.
“We tried to stop her, but we got there too late. We didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. I’m sorry, boss. Really.” He took a deep breath. “And I’m sorry she knew she was being followed. We tried really hard to stay unnoticed, we did, and I honestly don’t know where we screwed up…” he trailed off miserably.
“She was a good agent,” Daniel said. “It wasn’t so much that you were incompetent as it was that she was very, very good. Learn from this. Go over it with your team. I want a full report and alternatives as to what you could have done better. I-”
“What happened?” I interrupted, though I knew the answer.
“She killed herself,” he replied. “She wrote out a note, which is when we should have seen it coming and done something, I know, and then she just shot herself. It happened so fast.”
“There’s nothing you could have done,” I reassured him. “Robin was a professional. She knew what she was doing. She knew she was being watched. Hindsight tells you that you should have known, but at the time, she might well have been writing out a shopping list. Don’t worry about it.”
He nodded glumly and went back to the surveillance van. I knew he would worry, there were no words that could stop that. But it was a learning experience, and he was young. In the long run it might help, though there was a thin line between a healthy amount of second-guessing yourself and thinking so much you lose your chance at action. I tended to lack enough second-guessing, and was admonished often for being too brash. Maybe if I’d screwed up a few times early in my career, instead of being the luckiest bastard in the agency, I wouldn’t have that problem. And maybe I’d have thought enough ahead to have planned for this eventuality.
“Well, shall we go see what Robin thought was important enough to tell us in her last words?” Daniel asked.
We trudged up to the house, where we were handed a blood-splattered paper in a plastic bag by an officer. “I suspect this was meant for you guys, makes no sense to us. Just be sure to hand it back to one of the CSIs when you’re done with it.” We nodded, and he wandered off.
The note was written in Robin’s distinctive swirling hand, and it was short and to the point. There was no greeting, and no signature.
You’ve come to me for information, but you’re too late. I’m too old and tired to hold up to questioning, and, frankly, those I’ve allied myself with would just as soon see me dead. It’s the coward’s way out, but I’d rather leave on my terms than to spend my last days cornered and afraid. The gun I used on myself is the same one that was used on Jason and Robert, and, yes, I admit I was the one who pulled the trigger. I’m not going to pretend I was a saint or try to pin my sins on anyone else. I’m sorry, Jake, that I had to let you down. It wasn’t personal. And I truly am sorry about Sandra. If I knew who killed her, please believe me that I would tell you. I have nothing left to lose, anyway.
And even though I have nothing left to lose, I regret to inform you that I cannot tell you who my boss is. There are other lives at stake, others I love who would be put in danger. And I cannot risk their lives. I do hope you understand this, and do not hate me too much for it. But as you wish, Jake, as you wish.
“Well, that was… weird.” Daniel said. “And fairly unhelpful.”
I nodded, and handed the note to a nearby CSI. “Any chance we can look around?” I asked.
“Just don’t touch anything,” she said curtly, and went back to her work.
“What are we looking for?” Daniel asked.
“Nothing,” I lied. “Just looking around. In case we missed anything, though I doubt we did. I just don’t want to look back later and think that we should have done something, you know?”
He nodded, and we wandered through the house looking at everything and anything. On my second circuit of the living room, I had a brief moment when no one else was there, and with no one watching, I quickly slipped one of the DVD cases off the shelf and into my shirt.
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