“I’m telling you, man, she’s actually with the CIA. Didn’t you see the signs?”
Maddock tried to contain his irritation. Bones was annoying him, but his real beef was with the fact that he was locked in another interrogation room after nearly an hour trapped in the back of a Park Police vehicle. With the sun just coming up after a sleepless night, he was ready to lash out at whatever target presented itself. He wished he could take the sort of calming breaths that Melissa did to combat stress, but that sort of passive approach had never worked for him.
He exhaled anyway. “Bones, just because we drove past Langley doesn’t mean that she’s CIA. I know the Park Police has headquarters in the same area.”
Bones shook his head sadly. “What better way to hide the affiliation than in plain sight?”
The door opened, and Lieutenant Sterling strode in. The door closed behind her of its own volition, as if scared that failure to do so would trigger Sterling’s ire. Maddock actually didn’t detect much anger in her, just intensity.
The room was nicer than the one in the Mount Vernon police station in that it had a window and at least looked like it had been painted during Maddock’s lifetime. His hands were cuffed but not secured to the table, so that was something. But he was still trapped against his will. He heard the snarl in his own voice. “Lawyer. Now.”
Sterling raised one eyebrow. “What makes you think you’re entitled to one? You’re not suspected of any crime.”
“Fine,” Maddock said. “In that case, you can take off these handcuffs and we’ll be on our way.”
She gestured with her index finger and shook her head. “A person of interest, that’s what you are. We can hold you for at least twenty-four hours. I hear you SEALs can practically hold your breath for that long, so it should be a piece of cake to do it in an air-conditioned room like this one.”
Bones said. “How about you just let Maddock go and you can interrogate me? There are all sorts of things I can tell you... and show you.”
Sterling’s smile was genuine, but more predatory than joyous. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head, and Maddock had to conjure an image of Melissa to keep his mind from focusing on how she moved.
Sterling stepped behind Bones and put her hands on his shoulders. Almost instantly, Bones’ face tightened in an obvious attempt not to show any pain. Maddock even noticed traces of red creeping into the skin around his neck. “They call you Bones, right? A little predictable but it could be worse. Bones, I really don’t think you want to be alone in a room with me.”
A second later she released the pressure, and Bones let out a breath. She moved back around them and spoke to Maddock as if the previous seconds had never happened. “On the other hand, if you just answer a few questions, you’ll be free to go in a matter of minutes. Well, unless you’re interested in seeing some security footage of the break-in at Mount Vernon.”
This time, Maddock looked at Bones before answering, but his friend looked equally confused.
“Okay. Lieutenant, you have our attention. Let’s watch the video.”
“Not so fast. A man has to take me to dinner before I invite him back to my place. First you answer some questions. Like what were you doing there last night?”
“Like I told Detective Ramos, we were worried about my girlfriend Melissa and her boss, and we wanted to see if we could find any clues.”
“You thought you could do better than Dwayne Ramos?”
“I think my Mom could do better than that assclown,” Bones interjected.
She considered that for just a second before barking a laugh. “Fair point. Okay, did you find anything?”
The men shook their heads.
“And you’re sure there was no other reason you were there besides trying to protect your girlfriend?”
Maddock nodded. “What other reason would there be?”
Sterling said, “No reason, apparently. I did a little research on your backgrounds. A bunch of it is classified, which seems strange for two guys not long out of SEAL training. But you seem to have been around the edges of a few civilian crimes recently as well. It’s actually quite interesting.”
Bones started nodding. “That’s right, and there’s more where that came from if you’d just—.”
She didn’t allow him to finish. “Bones, cancer cells are interesting too. Don’t let it go to your head. I have another question for you. Have you ever heard of a group called the Sons of the Republic?”
Maddock knew he hadn’t managed to keep the surprise from his face when he heard the words. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, but Bones had no such need.
“Hell yes, we’ve had a few run-ins with those jokers. They’re big on ‘taking the country back to its origins.’ Maddock and I had to step in and bust a few of their heads when they got all upset at us disrupting their plans.”
For the first time, Sterling looked at Bones with something other than ironic scorn. “What else can you tell me about them?”
Maddock was pretty sure Sterling already knew that he and Bones had encountered the Sons of the Republic before. If she had done her homework on them and knew about the Sons herself, she could have figured it out. In fact, her stepping in to rescue them from Detective Ramos made more sense in that context. He gave voice to the next logical thought.
“You think they’re the ones who broke into Mount Vernon?”
“I can’t say anything for certain, Maddock, but doesn’t it seem to you like something they’d do?”
Maddock considered that. It was possible, but still a shot in the dark without evidence linking the group to the break-in. “Sure, but what reason do you have to think it was them?”
Sterling frowned, her aggressive manner all but gone. “Nothing I can put my finger on. But I’ve got a couple of sources who say they’ve been poking around in Virginia in recent months.”
Bones asked, “What sources are those?”
Sterling grinned. “A woman never tells. Neither do the Park Police. At this point, I’m just trying to see the pattern and figure out motive.”
Maddock shook his head. “I wish we could help you and I really do mean that. But unless they’re trying to find some more concrete evidence that Washington...”
She arched an eyebrow. “Washington what?”
Maddock sighed. “You know what, forget I said anything. It’s not going to help you figure out the break-in or find them.”
“Plus if we told you, we’d have to kill you.” Bones grinned.
Sterling looked from Maddock to Bones and back again. “I’ll let that go. For now. In any case, I’ll show you the video now if you’re still interested.”
Maddock nodded. She took out the key to the handcuffs and released both men. “Follow me.”
The room with the stand containing the VCR and television was only a few steps down the hallway. It was really more of a closet than a room, a windowless space with weak lighting and a stack of chairs against one wall. Sterling fired up the A/V once Maddock and Bones had crammed themselves into the tiny chairs.
“It goes without saying that you two need to keep anything you see to yourself.”
Maddock sensed that she expected a response, so he grunted an affirmative sound that seemed to satisfy her. The picture came on, a view of the storage room at Mount Vernon before Maddock had crashed half of the shelves.
On the screen, a man, Caucasian with short hair, moved hastily through the maze of shelves, checking the tag on every box. He was dressed in nondescript clothing—khakis, a polo-style shirt, and a jacket, zipped halfway up. Nothing that would stand out among the tourists at Mount Vernon. He had a drawstring bag slung over his shoulder. Maddock wondered if it held the fake Washington portrait.
“No sound on this?” Bones asked.
“Nope, just basic security footage.”
They all continued to watch as the man searched the shelves. He finally found what he was looking for. He opened the box, rummaged through it, took out a paper inside a protective sleeve, and stuffed it inside his bag. He paused and cocked his head as if listening. He must have heard something because he hastily put the box back on the shelf, the wrong shelf, and hurried out. As he made his way back to the door, the camera caught the front of his face for a fraction of a second. It wasn’t the sharpest image, but it was something.
Maddock asked. “Any luck on matching the face?”
Sterling said, “Not yet. We’re trying to get some time on the FBI computer, but you can imagine how inter-agency cooperation goes sometimes. Do you recognize him?”
Maddock shook his head, not wanting his voice to betray his thoughts. Bones said, “You think that guy is one of the Sons?”
Sterling shrugged. “That’s what I’m trying to find out. I hoped you might have seen him before.”
Maddock detected a trace of deception in her eyes. “I have a question for you. Why are you so interested in this? I couldn’t help notice that during our time here, you haven’t written down a single thing or engaged one of your fellow officers. So please don’t tell me it’s just another case you’ve been assigned. ”
Her blue eyes hardened. “I have my reasons.”
“I’m sure you do. And if you want our help, I’d like to know what they are.”
Sterling’s eyes didn’t change, but her lower lip puffed as she exhaled with force. “You aren’t wrong. My level of interest has little to do with my job. While I did officially take on your case last night, I don’t expect it will remain assigned to me for long. There are some people who would rather this subject remained closed. That said, I don’t intend to give up on unofficial pursuit of the Sons of The Republic. It’s personal, and that’s all I’m going to say right now.”
Maddock looked at Bones, who appeared absorbed by their questioner. “Um, Bones. . .”
His head snapped back to see Maddock’s inquisitive look. “Huh? Oh, yeah, that’s good enough for me. Let me tell you about the last time we ran into the Sons...”
Maddock cut him off. “We can give you one name, Edmonia Jennings Wright. She’s the majority shareholder in a Delaware company called the Vindication Corporation. As near as we can tell, the Sons have only a loose structure, but it’s safe bet that she’ll be involved in a lot of their activity.”
“What was the last you heard of her?”
Bones chuckled. “That would be when she took you down with a flick of the wrist, right Maddock? The chick is like a hundred years old, but she’s some kind of grandma ninja.”
Sterling’s face almost showed amusement, and Maddock had to focus to keep his cheeks from reddening. “Unfortunately, Bones is right, although she’s more like seventy, not a hundred. I’m sure you can find her easily enough. Once it was clear she wasn’t interested in coming after us, we stopped thinking about her.”
Sterling’s voice was flat. “Looks like you need to start again. I realize you don’t know me at all, but trust me on this.”
Maddock wanted to protest, but he thought about Melissa. If there was any chance Sterling was right about the involvement of the Sons, Melissa was probably in danger. Confronting Wright was the best option for solving that problem.
Second-best option, he corrected himself. There was another.