Maria pulled into the parking lot and looked at Patrick Miller’s campaign headquarters. The place was mostly dark, but one light shined in the back. She’d spent most of the afternoon trying to come up with the proper wording, accusations, or evidence to use in order to get Patrick to crack.
But she’d mostly drawn blanks.
In her gut, she didn’t believe Patrick was behind any of the kidnappings, but she couldn’t be sure he wasn’t putting out orders that were being misinterpreted or abused, and she didn’t doubt for a second that he would cover up something horrible if it meant protecting his political career. She’d have to make him believe the only way to keep everything quiet was to hand the guilty party over to her, and the only way she could do that was to offer him what he wanted in exchange for what she wanted.
Maria stepped out of the car and headed towards the front door.
It swung open, Kenneth on the other side, waiting for her.
“You’re putting in a lot of overtime this week,” Maria said.
“No more than normal,” Kenneth said.
Maria walked inside. The place was completely empty. Just her, the politician, and the girlfriend choking driver. Fantastic.
Kenneth led her to the back and opened the office door.
Patrick looked up. He was sitting behind a desk with a tablet in his hand. Reading glasses perched on his nose.
Maria went inside. The door closed behind her.
“I was never a big fan of Bill Clinton. I mean, I was a kid, right? What did I really know? But supposedly he stayed up late every night reading briefing books. I can barely keep my eyes open. I don’t know how he did it,” Patrick said.
Maria sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
“So, did you find out anything today?” Patrick said.
“You have secrets,” Maria said.
“Don’t we all,” Patrick said.
“Not everyone’s secrets involve murder,” Maria said.
“Murder? You mean attempted murder?” Patrick said.
“No, I mean actual murder,” Maria said.
Patrick put the tablet aside. Leaned back in his chair and focused all his attention on Maria. He went from mild surprise to comprehension smoothly, and Maria began to have doubts about her belief that Patrick was innocent as far as the kidnappings were concerned.
Patrick smiled.
“And yours? In my experience, a family doesn’t suffer multiple murders if there aren’t some deep secrets involved,” Patrick said.
“My father’s deep secret was being an honest cop in a dishonest town,” Maria said.
“And your brother’s secret?” Patrick said.
“You’ll have to ask him,” Maria said.
“I asked you to investigate an attempt on my life, not me,” Patrick said.
“I’ve known from the start who made the attempt. I was in the car at the traffic light behind you, already following the men who tried to kill you, though from what I learned later that evening, they weren’t actually supposed to try to kill you. They were just supposed to question you, scare you,” Maria said.
“And the gunshot?” Patrick said.
“I think the gun went off when the car hit the median. I don’t think it was on purpose,” Maria said.
“Then who was it?” Patrick said.
“I’ll tell you who it was, but first I want some answers,” Maria said.
Patrick sat there, silently thinking over what she was saying. For the first time, Maria saw the seasoned politician thinking over all of his options and how they might come back to him. Whatever this man was hiding, it was serious, and he was much more devious than she had thought.
“What is it you want to know?” Patrick said.
“For starters, why did you change your stance on development?” Maria said.
“What could that possibly have to do with any of this?” Patrick asked.
“Did you really think those developers who had sunk all that money into your campaign wouldn’t be vengeful when you stiffed them?” Maria said.
“I didn’t stiff anyone. I changed a policy platform. I could easily change it back later,” Patrick said.
“But you weren’t going to change it back, were you? Because someone did you a favor,” Maria said.
“I haven’t the foggiest what you are talking about,” Patrick said.
“A 501c named Save Our Homes sent three hundred thousand dollars to Vance Nixon. Shortly afterward, you changed your stance on development. Shortly after that, Les Hilton was hired to find some dirt on you to sink your campaign,” Maria said.
“I had no idea that Vance Nixon received three hundred thousand dollars,” Patrick said.
“You are an excellent liar. Not even a hint of deception in your mannerisms,” Maria said.
“That’s because I’m telling the truth,” Patrick said.
“What favor was done for you?” Maria said.
Patrick stared at her, completely mute.
“That’s what they said. They didn’t care who won the election because the incumbent was on board, and a favor had been done for the challenger. So what favor was done for you?” Maria said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Patrick said. But it was obvious from the tone of his voice that he knew exactly what she was talking about. “Aren’t you sworn to uphold the law? Why didn’t you arrest them immediately?”
“Is that really what you would have wanted? You seem to be going through a lot of trouble to keep the whole thing a secret,” Maria said.
“Dealing with the backlash would have been easier than this,” Patrick said.
“Guess that depends what you’re hiding,” Maria said.
“My wife was in that car,” Patrick said.
“And my girlfriend is dead, and my partner is still in the ICU, so you’ll have to learn to deal with the fact that I could give a shit about your problems. I need some answers, or I’m going to tell the first reporter I can find everything I know. Your ties to Vance Nixon, the change in development stance, your connection to Ariella’s death,” Maria said.
“Connection to Ariella? I barely knew her. She was some random volunteer,” Patrick said.
“She got close to your wife, and your wife told her something, but she was kidnapped before she could share it with the reporter who hired her,” Maria said.
“What do you mean?” Patrick asked.
“What the hell do you think I mean? Did you forget how to speak English? I was pretty clear in what I just said,” Maria said.
“Close with my wife? But what could my wife have told her?” Patrick said. He was back to lying. The change in his voice was subtle, but it was there. Patrick could have been a soap opera star with his good looks, but a real actor, never.
“I really don’t have time for this,” Maria said.
“Yeah, me either, I have some meetings to prepare for, so why don’t you let me know who it is that wants me dead, so I can deal with it properly,” Patrick said.
“Like you dealt with Christopher Wilkins? I’m not going to blame you. The guy probably killed your wife’s sister, kidnapped, raped, and killed. But they couldn’t get him for it, could they? The police failed. And the guy went to Thailand. Only God knows how many children he victimized over there, and then he made the mistake of coming back to the United States, and you saw your opportunity. But you couldn’t do it yourself, could you? You are too high profile. You couldn’t disappear. Maybe Nick said he’d deal with it, but he’s around too much too, isn’t he? But Vance Nixon. No one pays any attention to him and the two of you go way back, and you thought you were getting a favor, but you weren’t. You were getting attached to an anchor,” Maria said.
“This is all very fanciful,” Patrick said.
“Your secrets are getting people killed. You can play the patriot all day long for the press, but it’s bullshit,” Maria said.
“I served my country with distinction.”
“My girlfriend was handcuffed to a chair and blindfolded because my investigation got too close to your secrets. Whoever did this sat behind her and watched from over her shoulder. This person made her watch herself being watched in the mirror by someone in a black wetsuit and some strange mask just for the perverted pleasure of seeing her terror, and that’s who you are protecting,” Maria said.
“I’m very sorry that happened to your girlfriend, and I’m sorry that she’s gone, and if I knew who it was that had done it, I’d deal with them myself for you, even if it cost me the election,” Patrick said.
“That’s what Nick said. I’m beginning to think you’re all full of it. All those medals but hollow chests to pin them on,” Maria said.
“None of us feel like heroes. People call us heroes all the time. Fawn over us, but the reality is that most of the time we were just trying to stay alive. We were on our mission. We believed in the mission, but plenty of nights afterwards, you lay awake wondering if killing all those people was really worth it. The most honest of us can’t bear to put those medals on because the hypocrisy of it is a little too much, but heart and integrity are things I’ve never lacked for. Whatever secrets I have come from doing the right thing, just not always in what is considered the right way,” Patrick said.
Maria looked away. She wanted to believe the speech had been rehearsed, maybe something he was using in front of donors, but the sincerity had returned to his voice, and he’d more or less admitted to killing Christopher Wilkins. Maybe that was all she could hope to get out of this.
“You suspect whoever did this to your girlfriend of being connected to me in some way, don’t you?” Patrick said.
“I don’t know. I can’t decide if they’re trying to frame you or if you’re involved,” Maria said.
“Have they made any progress in finding him?” Patrick asked.
“We don’t even know if it was a male kidnapper. Carla said whoever it was had a chest like a man, but she couldn’t feel a dick pressing against her back,” Maria said.
“What kind of mask was it?” Patrick said.
Something about the question brought all of Maria’s attention back to Patrick. He was thinking of a specific mask, which meant…
“You know who it is, don’t you?” Maria said.
“I wish I did. So, I could kill him myself for you,” Patrick said.
“Yeah, you already said that,” Maria said.
“Are you going to tell me who attacked me?” Patrick asked.
“Are you going to tell me who kidnapped my girlfriend?” Maria said.
Patrick stood up and walked across the room. Opened the door.
“Unfortunately, I need to go to a pressing meeting, but we should pick up this conversation at a later date,” he said.
Maria didn’t want to leave, but something was rattling around in her brain. Something she couldn’t quite process sitting here thinking of ways to make Patrick open up and tell her what she needed to know. Her heart wanted to stay here and argue, but her head was telling her to go outside. For once, she listened to her head.
As she walked out of the office and made her way across the parking lot to her car, she realized what it was that she’d heard but hadn’t processed. Maria had said the person had no male genitalia, but Patrick had continued calling whoever it was, a he.
How could that be possible unless Patrick knew who it was?
Maria got in her car. She couldn’t wait in the parking lot; Patrick would see her sitting there. She looked around and saw a coffee shop across the street, windows dark. She drove out of the parking lot and took a left at the light and entered the back parking lot of the coffee shop. It had a drive thru, and she pulled around until she could see the front of the office. Then she turned the car off and waited.
She didn’t have to wait long.