compromised.”
“Rachel. Anything you wish to add?”
“Good summary, Frank,” she said in reply to Jack’s question. Jack sat down, clasped his hands under his chin, and put his el-
bows on the armrests of his chair, the sleeves of his white shirt form- ing the sides of a triangle. “Okay then. We’ve got copies here of all the reports from all the agencies, including the ones Frank and Nora brought over from Metro PD. Everybody reads all of it before to- morrow.”
Jack noticed Rachel slipping out of her shoes. The skin on the backs of her heels looked smooth. He found it strange that he was so physically aware of her.
“If this were a routine murder,” Colin asked, “what would the local cops do next?”
50 David M. Bishop
“Everyone associated with the justice had both means and op- portunity,” Nora said, “so we’d look for motive.”
“I wonder if Monroe’s doctor had anything to do with the justice taking ginseng?” Rachel asked. “Maybe the doc gave it to him?”
“At the Montgomery scene Jack told Nora and me that this was still officially a Metro case, so, we followed up on that angle when we didn’t see anything in the FBI reports.” Frank crossed his Popeye- sized forearms. “And, incidentally, the doc’s a she. Doctor Joanne Hayworth had been Monroe’s doctor for twenty years. Bottom line: Doctor Hayworth didn’t even know Monroe took ginseng.”
“Good work,” Jack said. “Anything else?”
“I interviewed the justice’s wife,” Nora said. “Mrs. Monroe told me they had no visitors that morning or the prior night. And Dr. Hayworth never made a house call.”
“At least that part of the case makes sense,” Rachel interjected. “Doctors quit making house calls the year Norman Rockwell quit painting.”
Millet slouched in his chair like a bored kid in church. “We’re wasting time looking at families and coworkers.”
Jack held up his hand for quiet, turning toward Millet. “Update those background checks for all the employees and staff who worked closely with any of the three victims. Credit records, arrests, finan- cial records, bank accounts, travel in the past year, relatives who live outside the U.S., and so on.”
“Wilco, Jackman.”
“We checked out all forty-some law clerks and secretaries who work for the justices,” Rachel added. “We threw in the security and cleaning personnel and the people who work in the gift shop in the area open to tourists. The Supreme Court Police had extensive back- ground checks on those people so it went pretty quickly. We just up- dated them. I agree with Frank and Nora. We’ve got lots of folks with means and opportunity, but no one even remotely suspicious as to motive.”
For the next few hours they shared what they knew about the
the third coincidence 51
murder of Herbert Montgomery, the justice nearly decapitated in the National Mall.
Jack liked the way his team was coming together. The local cops weren’t slackers, and Rachel looked as capable as he had hoped she would be. Colin and Millet were knowns, but the others hadn’t got- ten past getting acquainted. The real work had not yet begun.
chapter 12
National Security Advisor Robert Quartz refers to McCall’s squad as lightweights.
—CNN, June 8
Soon after dusk he pulled into the Resort at Depoe Bay, parking near the back of the lot. After twisting the rearview mirror to be sure his bow tie was straight, he tugged down his red baseball cap, popped an antacid, and stepped out, holding the vase of flowers he had bought on the outskirts of Newport Beach, Oregon.
A series of precise circles of light were thrown to the ground by the dome-covered landscape lighting lining the path to the honey- moon cottage. As he moved, his warm breaths turned into small clouds, defeated by the chilly air. At the end of the path he stepped through the bushes and slowly worked his way around the cottage until he found a window with a narrow sag in a carelessly
“Rachel. Anything you wish to add?”
“Good summary, Frank,” she said in reply to Jack’s question. Jack sat down, clasped his hands under his chin, and put his el-
bows on the armrests of his chair, the sleeves of his white shirt form- ing the sides of a triangle. “Okay then. We’ve got copies here of all the reports from all the agencies, including the ones Frank and Nora brought over from Metro PD. Everybody reads all of it before to- morrow.”
Jack noticed Rachel slipping out of her shoes. The skin on the backs of her heels looked smooth. He found it strange that he was so physically aware of her.
“If this were a routine murder,” Colin asked, “what would the local cops do next?”
50 David M. Bishop
“Everyone associated with the justice had both means and op- portunity,” Nora said, “so we’d look for motive.”
“I wonder if Monroe’s doctor had anything to do with the justice taking ginseng?” Rachel asked. “Maybe the doc gave it to him?”
“At the Montgomery scene Jack told Nora and me that this was still officially a Metro case, so, we followed up on that angle when we didn’t see anything in the FBI reports.” Frank crossed his Popeye- sized forearms. “And, incidentally, the doc’s a she. Doctor Joanne Hayworth had been Monroe’s doctor for twenty years. Bottom line: Doctor Hayworth didn’t even know Monroe took ginseng.”
“Good work,” Jack said. “Anything else?”
“I interviewed the justice’s wife,” Nora said. “Mrs. Monroe told me they had no visitors that morning or the prior night. And Dr. Hayworth never made a house call.”
“At least that part of the case makes sense,” Rachel interjected. “Doctors quit making house calls the year Norman Rockwell quit painting.”
Millet slouched in his chair like a bored kid in church. “We’re wasting time looking at families and coworkers.”
Jack held up his hand for quiet, turning toward Millet. “Update those background checks for all the employees and staff who worked closely with any of the three victims. Credit records, arrests, finan- cial records, bank accounts, travel in the past year, relatives who live outside the U.S., and so on.”
“Wilco, Jackman.”
“We checked out all forty-some law clerks and secretaries who work for the justices,” Rachel added. “We threw in the security and cleaning personnel and the people who work in the gift shop in the area open to tourists. The Supreme Court Police had extensive back- ground checks on those people so it went pretty quickly. We just up- dated them. I agree with Frank and Nora. We’ve got lots of folks with means and opportunity, but no one even remotely suspicious as to motive.”
For the next few hours they shared what they knew about the
the third coincidence 51
murder of Herbert Montgomery, the justice nearly decapitated in the National Mall.
Jack liked the way his team was coming together. The local cops weren’t slackers, and Rachel looked as capable as he had hoped she would be. Colin and Millet were knowns, but the others hadn’t got- ten past getting acquainted. The real work had not yet begun.
chapter 12
National Security Advisor Robert Quartz refers to McCall’s squad as lightweights.
—CNN, June 8
Soon after dusk he pulled into the Resort at Depoe Bay, parking near the back of the lot. After twisting the rearview mirror to be sure his bow tie was straight, he tugged down his red baseball cap, popped an antacid, and stepped out, holding the vase of flowers he had bought on the outskirts of Newport Beach, Oregon.
A series of precise circles of light were thrown to the ground by the dome-covered landscape lighting lining the path to the honey- moon cottage. As he moved, his warm breaths turned into small clouds, defeated by the chilly air. At the end of the path he stepped through the bushes and slowly worked his way around the cottage until he found a window with a narrow sag in a carelessly
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