Kara and Michael finally checked in to the hotel at five and she called Ryder Kim, the Mobile Response Team’s analyst. She knew it was after hours in DC, but Ryder answered on the first ring. She asked him to find contact information for William Lattimer and Violet Halliday. She gave him everything she knew about Will, but it wasn’t much.
Without a warrant, they could only access public source information, but an hour later Ryder sent what he’d found. She’d already left a message with First Contact on an answering machine but Will hadn’t returned her call. Ryder gave her a personal number—a cell phone, based on the prefix—but again, no answer. She left another message and planned to track him down on foot tomorrow.
The police would probably be reaching out to him, too, but she wanted to know why Craig’s last words were Will Lattimer. How did Will know Violet? Had he picked her up after she witnessed the shooting? If so, why hadn’t he brought her to the police station to make a statement? That was the first thing Kara had checked on—she still had friends in LAPD—and Violet Halliday hadn’t come forward.
Ryder had less luck finding anything about Violet. She owned a house in Burbank and worked for the City of Los Angeles. Only phone number attached to her was her work number. She could have a cell phone, but if it wasn’t in a public database, they couldn’t get it without a warrant. Kara wanted to go to her house, but first she’d talk to Will.
While waiting for Matt to return from the courthouse, Kara dug around on Google. Will Lattimer popped up immediately—quoted in articles about the homeless crisis, several op-eds critical of the government response and lack of oversight and transparency, extensive information about his work with homeless veterans. Nothing on Violet except for one article where she was photographed with Will at a homeless encampment in Venice Beach.
William Lattimer, President of First Contact “Empowering Not Enabling,” speaks about what he calls a “humanitarian crisis.” Pictured with him are volunteers Violet Halliday of Burbank, Anita Fuentes of Venice Beach and Mel Porta of Los Angeles.
Violet wasn’t smiling. She had dark blond hair and serious eyes. Kara scanned the article, but there was no other reference to her. She was doubly frustrated that Will hadn’t returned her calls. He would have answers to many of her questions.
She almost pounced on Matt for information when he walked into the hotel suite after seven that night, but hesitated when she saw how exhausted he looked. He took off his jacket and tie and sat on the couch.
She wanted information, but she also realized it was ten in DC and none of them had eaten. No wonder she had a headache.
“Hey, will the feds splurge on room service?” she asked. “I could eat a cow.”
“I think tonight we can make an exception,” Matt said. “Do you want to hear what’s going on first?”
“Did they catch Craig’s killer?”
“No.”
“Let’s order, then you can fill me in.”
Matt knocked on the door to the room he and Michael were sharing. Michael came in looking refreshed after a shower and catnap. They ordered, and while they waited for room service, they split a can of ten-dollar nuts from the in-room bar.
“LAPD has a person of interest in the David Chen shooting,” Matt said. “A woman named Violet Halliday, who works in the IT department of city hall.”
Kara straightened. “What?”
“She was seen running from the scene. An LAPD officer was across the street, and while he didn’t see the shooting itself, as soon as he heard the shots—there were five total, two in the bodyguard, three in Chen—he turned and saw her running. He knows her, identified her.” Matt frowned. “Is Violet the woman Dyson was talking about this afternoon?”
“Yes. She’s a volunteer for Will Lattimer’s group. She was bringing Craig information for his grand jury investigation into a graft and corruption scheme. It involved Chen, but seemed to be bigger than that. He didn’t give me many details, but said a lot of people in government wouldn’t be happy.” She paused, then added, “Remember that call he got, the one that upset him? I’m positive it was Will Lattimer telling him that Violet witnessed the shooting. When Craig was stabbed, he told me to find her, talk to Will. He didn’t make complete sense, but putting it together with what Craig said earlier in his office, I think that Violet called Will after the shooting and he was going to pick her up. Craig seemed very concerned about her safety. Is she a suspect or person of interest?”
“Right now, person of interest, but if they don’t find her that’ll change. Did you talk to Lattimer?”
She shook her head. “He hasn’t returned my calls. I actually know Will.”
“Personally?”
She shrugged. “Not well, but he and my old partner Colton were tight. The last time I saw Will was at Colton’s funeral. I left messages on his work and cell numbers. I thought he’d call me back. I asked Ryder to find everything he can about Will and Violet.”
“McPherson will reach out to him as well,” Matt said. “Did you tell McPherson what Dyson said?”
“About Will? Yeah.”
“And Violet?”
“He didn’t specifically mention Violet to me after he was stabbed. Everything he mentioned earlier is sensitive and confidential. He didn’t mean to share so much.” She wanted to smile, but couldn’t muster it. Craig was dead and she felt miserable. “I guess I just bring out the chatty gene in people.”
“Put everything in your report.”
“I know this isn’t our case, but Craig was a friend. I need to be involved.”
“LAPD is handling Chen, sheriff is handling Dyson. The FBI isn’t involved.”
“I’m LAPD,” she reminded him. “I know, on loan to the FBI.” She rolled her eyes. “What if the murders are connected?” She didn’t see how, exactly, but what were the chances they were disconnected?
“Doesn’t matter,” Matt said. “I was friendly, didn’t pull rank, so I think they’ll share information with me. But this doesn’t mean you’re not still in danger, Kara.”
“Chen is the one who wanted me dead, now he’s in the ground.”
“Until we know exactly what’s going on,” Michael said, “we have to assume the threat is still real.”
“I do, but—” Kara began.
“You think that these two murders, less than an hour apart, are coincidences?”
“No, but—”
“I’m asking you to follow protocols. Michael is the tactical leader of this team and until he says there is no threat, we act like there is a threat. Don’t go anywhere alone. Please.”
He looked worried, so she agreed. “I have to find Will and figure out what he and Craig were working on. You or Michael can come with me, but I need to do this. It’s the last thing Craig asked of me before he died, and I’m not going to let him down.”
“I would do the same thing.”
“We’re on the same page,” she said. “Agreed?” She looked at Michael.
“You haven’t been a complete pain in my ass about the rules.” Michael grinned. “I’m good with tracking down Lattimer tomorrow.”
Kara thought the situation was resolved, but Matt looked tense and stared over her shoulder at the wall behind her.
“You have a look on your face. It’s your I don’t want to tell you this but I have to expression.”
At that moment, room service arrived. Michael answered the door, signed the check and brought in the cart himself.
“I’m famished,” he said.
Kara was, too, but she wanted Matt to talk. She stared at him. “What?”
“Let’s eat.”
She glared at him. “Fine.”
She found her cheeseburger and fries, sat at the table and took a big bite. God, that was good. She chewed, swallowed, took another bite while Michael and Matt got out their food—Michael a burger, Matt a chicken sandwich.
“Okay, I ate,” she said with her mouth full. “Spill.”
Matt put a beer in front of her. He and Michael were drinking water.
“It’s worse than I thought,” she mumbled and opened the beer. She drained half of it in a gulp.
“It’s not bad, just something I didn’t tell you,” Matt said.
“Just rip off the Band-Aid, Matt.” Better than expecting the worst.
“With the cooperation of LA FBI, I have an investigator working undercover at their headquarters with the goal of finding out who was responsible for the media leak about you and Detective Fox.”
She didn’t know what she expected Matt to say, but that was not even close.
“Oh.”
“Tony and I came up with the idea after Thornton’s OPR hearing. We felt, along with one of the panel members, that he had been less than truthful.”
“Meaning, he lied.”
“Lied, or didn’t offer information he knew would be relevant.”
“Still a lie,” she said.
“And so,” Matt continued, “we recruited a rookie agent and had her assigned to Thornton in LA. There were some internal concerns—not necessarily criminal—about the overall unit that the director there wanted investigated, so we worked closely with LA to put together this operation. She’s been there just over four months.”
“And?”
“You’re not mad?”
“That you didn’t tell me?” She shrugged. “I get it. It’s an internal personnel thing. I know how undercover operations work—the fewer people who know the better.”
He stared at her, obviously having expected a different reaction.
She took another bite, didn’t say anything.
“You’re mad.”
She drained her beer. “Did you get me two?”
Matt produced another, popped the top off for her. She couldn’t help but smile. She stared at him; he didn’t avert his eyes. This man...he drove her crazy half the time. But he had an uncanny way of knowing how she felt. Not always what she was thinking, but he seemed attuned with her emotions and that was just weird. And a bit endearing.
“I’m not mad,” she said after a long pause, mostly because she wanted to get her thoughts together. She wasn’t angry with Matt. This problem wasn’t his fault. “Not about the undercover op,” she continued. “It’s a damn good idea. You have a couple bad feds, you need to get rid of them.”
“Then what are you upset about?”
“That he wasn’t fired when he lied to you. Or three years ago when he went after me and had me wrung through IA. Or seven years ago when we collided on another case and he nearly got me killed. Or ten years ago when he screwed with my investigation on the docks and put me in fucking handcuffs after I identified myself as a cop. He has never apologized, never accepted that what he did was wrong. He still has a badge, has been promoted, and I don’t think anything is going to happen to him. He’s going to keep his job because the FBI are a bunch of bureaucratic pricks. Present company excluded.” She waved her hands at Michael and Matt.
She stuffed a fry in her mouth. Yeah, she was still angry about all the bullshit Bryce Thornton had rained upon her over the years. “He got Colton killed. No doubt in my mind,” she said. “He’ll never pay for that, and you know it. But I’m not mad at you. You didn’t even know he existed seven months ago, and at least for the first time someone actually slapped his hand. He got reprimanded for lying to a fed, not for anything he did to me or others in LAPD.” She drank more beer. “So why tell me now?”
“Our undercover agent is coming here tomorrow morning with Brian Granderson, one of the SACs in LA. We’re going to debrief, and I want you here. She hasn’t uncovered a smoking gun, but we think that maybe she doesn’t know what she knows. She was a Marine, graduated top of her class at Quantico, but she’s still a rookie. We want a discussion—something that has been hard to do.”
That, Kara didn’t expect. “Happy to oblige,” she said.
Matt relaxed, finished eating his sandwich. “Sloane asked about several LAPD investigations that Thornton was interested in, but we can’t figure out why. She also asked to look at some other files, and we’ve quietly obtained them. It would send up big red flags if the FBI asked for files without giving a reason.”
That was true.
“I’ll give you access to Agent Wagner’s reports if you want to review them tonight.”
“I’d like that. I might be able to get those LAPD reports without raising a flag.”
Now Matt smiled. “I thought so.”
“We could also bring in Lex.”
“I’ll think on that.”
Kara glanced at Michael. He had been quiet. “Did you think I would get mad at you for keeping me in the dark?” she said to her partner.
“No. But you know me, I don’t like secrets, and I don’t like keeping them. I only knew about the operation, not the players. Now I do.”
Matt’s phone vibrated on the table next to his plate. He answered. “Costa... Sure, room 1050.” He ended the call and looked at Kara. “Your boss wants to talk to us.”
“Lex is here?”
“Elena Gomez.”