beer.
“Color me shocked.”
“Apparently Wire came to the attention of the great man while he was the attorney general. He intervened and negotiated a soft landing for Wire in return for keeping her mouth shut. That was almost five years ago. Wire ended up getting involved in that election case because she was working for Dixon and the Thomson Campaign and her little investigation crossed paths with McRyan’s murder investigation in St. Paul. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“Is she good?”
Gesch nodded. “I don’t know her, Grace, only of her. All I’ve ever heard is she’s smart, tough and clearly loyal.”
Delmonico took a look at her picture and then another tucked behind it, a full-body shot dated last November. “She’s tall,” the special agent noted, “And quite pretty.”
“I’ve also heard that.”
“So Wire’s smart. What about McRyan?”
“The director says he’s even smarter.”
Delmonico snorted her disagreement as she opened up the manila folder on McRyan. It took her a few minutes. McRyan had an undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota and a law degree, again summa, from William Mitchell College of Law. “William Mitchell is in St. Paul, right?”
Gesch nodded.
McRyan passed the bar, had an attorney job lined up at a big Twin Cities law firm when two of his cousins were killed in the line of duty. “Looks like he comes from a family of cops,” Delmonico reported, taking another sip of her beer.
“That’s what the director told me,” Gesch answered. “Director Mitchell knew McRyan’s father, said he was one of the best local cops he ever ran into. Says Michael Mackenzie, or Mac, is better.”
Delmonico kept reading. “He’s had some pretty good cases besides the election case last fall. I remember this double kidnapping case. That was him?”
Gesch nodded.
“And it says here that he is dating …”
“Lives with.”
“… White House Deputy Communications Director Sally Kennedy. I’ve seen her on TV, the super attractive ginger, right?”
“That’s the one.”
“How did he land … her …” Delmonico had flipped to a picture of McRyan. “Okay, I see how he did that. Tall, blond hair, blue eyes, athletic looking with a big dimple in his chin, I guess I can see how she might go for all that.” Delmonico exhaled, took another sip of her beer and slumped in her booth. “Okay, so I’ll admit these two have pretty good backgrounds. What’s their role with us?”
“The director said that these two would take a fresh look at the case in their own way. Like I said, the director said the two of them are just good at figuring stuff out. He says McRyan is what you call ‘Natural Police,’ a natural investigator. He’s just good at it, sees things that others don’t and thinks outside the box. The director offered him a job after the election, he offered them both jobs, in fact, and they both turned him down.”
“Why?”
“McRyan has money,
lots
of money,” Gesch answered.
“Another reason Kennedy probably went for him.”
“It probably didn’t hurt. It’s not in the file, but he made a pile selling out a minority interest in some coffee chain based in the Twin Cities. Wire has her own business which is thriving, so I think she’s been working and that’s why, I think, they turned down the offers. Also, it’s not generally well known, at least yet, but those two also got a sizable advance from a publisher to write a book about the election investigation, so neither of them needs the work or the paycheck.”
“So why come into the case?”
“Because the Judge, and by extension, the president, asked them to. Those are two people you simply can’t say no to.”
“And I suppose neither can we.”
• • • •
It was almost eleven. Mac had to get up early to pick up Wire and drive to Dover, and he wasn’t in the least bit of a hurry to go to sleep. Going to bed, yes, going to sleep, no. Of course,
“Color me shocked.”
“Apparently Wire came to the attention of the great man while he was the attorney general. He intervened and negotiated a soft landing for Wire in return for keeping her mouth shut. That was almost five years ago. Wire ended up getting involved in that election case because she was working for Dixon and the Thomson Campaign and her little investigation crossed paths with McRyan’s murder investigation in St. Paul. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“Is she good?”
Gesch nodded. “I don’t know her, Grace, only of her. All I’ve ever heard is she’s smart, tough and clearly loyal.”
Delmonico took a look at her picture and then another tucked behind it, a full-body shot dated last November. “She’s tall,” the special agent noted, “And quite pretty.”
“I’ve also heard that.”
“So Wire’s smart. What about McRyan?”
“The director says he’s even smarter.”
Delmonico snorted her disagreement as she opened up the manila folder on McRyan. It took her a few minutes. McRyan had an undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota and a law degree, again summa, from William Mitchell College of Law. “William Mitchell is in St. Paul, right?”
Gesch nodded.
McRyan passed the bar, had an attorney job lined up at a big Twin Cities law firm when two of his cousins were killed in the line of duty. “Looks like he comes from a family of cops,” Delmonico reported, taking another sip of her beer.
“That’s what the director told me,” Gesch answered. “Director Mitchell knew McRyan’s father, said he was one of the best local cops he ever ran into. Says Michael Mackenzie, or Mac, is better.”
Delmonico kept reading. “He’s had some pretty good cases besides the election case last fall. I remember this double kidnapping case. That was him?”
Gesch nodded.
“And it says here that he is dating …”
“Lives with.”
“… White House Deputy Communications Director Sally Kennedy. I’ve seen her on TV, the super attractive ginger, right?”
“That’s the one.”
“How did he land … her …” Delmonico had flipped to a picture of McRyan. “Okay, I see how he did that. Tall, blond hair, blue eyes, athletic looking with a big dimple in his chin, I guess I can see how she might go for all that.” Delmonico exhaled, took another sip of her beer and slumped in her booth. “Okay, so I’ll admit these two have pretty good backgrounds. What’s their role with us?”
“The director said that these two would take a fresh look at the case in their own way. Like I said, the director said the two of them are just good at figuring stuff out. He says McRyan is what you call ‘Natural Police,’ a natural investigator. He’s just good at it, sees things that others don’t and thinks outside the box. The director offered him a job after the election, he offered them both jobs, in fact, and they both turned him down.”
“Why?”
“McRyan has money,
lots
of money,” Gesch answered.
“Another reason Kennedy probably went for him.”
“It probably didn’t hurt. It’s not in the file, but he made a pile selling out a minority interest in some coffee chain based in the Twin Cities. Wire has her own business which is thriving, so I think she’s been working and that’s why, I think, they turned down the offers. Also, it’s not generally well known, at least yet, but those two also got a sizable advance from a publisher to write a book about the election investigation, so neither of them needs the work or the paycheck.”
“So why come into the case?”
“Because the Judge, and by extension, the president, asked them to. Those are two people you simply can’t say no to.”
“And I suppose neither can we.”
• • • •
It was almost eleven. Mac had to get up early to pick up Wire and drive to Dover, and he wasn’t in the least bit of a hurry to go to sleep. Going to bed, yes, going to sleep, no. Of course,
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