Electing to Murder

CHAPTER FORTY

“Justice at last.”

Friday, November 8th

“Go away,” Wire groaned at the ringing of her doorbell. The bell rang again and she pushed herself out of bed. She checked the alarm clock and it was just past 10:00 a.m. Her head was pounding. She quickly grabbed some sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

The funeral for Sebastian was yesterday in St. Paul, a gigantic political affair. It was unavoidable that the service became a political event with speeches by the president, the Judge and other political dignitaries. Those people gave the event a grand levity yet their presence and the size of the crowd attending inside and outside the St. Paul Cathedral seemed to miss the mark in properly celebrating Sebastian’s life. Sebastian’s life was about more than just politics. Politics was the focus of the service and the focus of the eulogies but he meant something entirely different to Wire. He was a friend and confidant. Sebastian helped her off the mat in her darkest hour and it had nothing to do with politics. He was not only a good political operative, but an even better person. Other than the remarks of the Judge, little of that came out in the eulogies. She had walked away from the Cathedral a little let down. The send off didn’t reflect the man.

McRyan must have sensed that as well.

After the funeral, Mac took her, Sally Kennedy and Kate Shelby to his family bar for a small impromptu Irish wake to properly send off Sebastian. The three ladies sat around the table laughing and telling stories about Sebastian while Mac made sure there were plenty of pints of Guinness and Irish Car Bomb shots to go around. That was part of her problem this morning. Between the Irish wake, the three vodka tonics on the long flight home and the two glasses of Chardonnay she drank when she got home, she felt like she’d gone fifteen rounds. Her head hurt, her mouth was dry and she just wanted to stay in her warm bed but the unrelenting ringing of the doorbell pushed her down the stairs.

She angrily opened the front door to find Mac. Wire was dumfounded, “Mac? What the…”

He held up two large Starbucks coffees. “I thought you might need a Bloody Mary and an ice pack but then I thought the better of it and got you coffee instead.” He quickly appraised her condition. “I definitely think I made the right call.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked as she waved him inside.

“I have a present for you,” Mac answered as he walked in, handing her the coffee as he passed by.

“A present?”

“Yeah, but to see it you have to change clothes,” he said. “We have a meeting at the Hoover Building with FBI Director Mitchell.”

An hour later, Mac and Wire were admitted to Director Mitchell’s office. Mac didn’t tell Wire what the meeting was about other than she would want to come and it would make her day.

“Dara,” the director began. “After Christian Pope killed himself, your partner here thought something was off.”

Wire looked at McRyan, who’d never said anything about it to her. “Did he now?”

Mac shrugged, “Call it a hunch. You didn’t get to slap the cuffs on Pope and were pretty disappointed. I didn’t want to say anything about this unless it amounted to something.”

“And it amounted to something?” Wire asked, looking over to the director.

“It did. McRyan here found a satellite phone in Pope’s office which he had us check. It turns out that about fifteen to twenty minutes before you arrived at Pope’s house and perhaps minutes after I gave my briefing to the president and the campaigns about the impending arrest of Pope, Mr. Pope got a phone call from someone. We were able to trace the call.” Mitchell maneuvered his mouse. “The call was made from a burner phone, this burner phone,” the director said, holding up an evidence bag. “It was made from the lobby of the Hay Adams Hotel. We found the burner phone in the garbage can. We were able to lift prints and we also were able to get video of its use. Let me show you who spoke on it and then threw it in there after calling Pope.”

The director played the surveillance tape.

Mac smiled, knowing what was coming.

Wire watched and then her eyes went wide, “No way.”

The FBI director smiled and reached inside his desk for an FBI badge, “Dara, how would you like to be temporarily reinstated for the day?”

* * *

Mac leaned back against the FBI sedan with his arms folded while he watched Wire and two other FBI agents arrest the vice president’s son, Donald Wellesley Jr., on the steps of his Georgetown condominium. The weasel had once cost Wire an undercover informant and then her FBI career. He’d denied Wire the satisfaction of arresting the man who had been responsible for Sebastian McCormick’s death. However, she got the last laugh, arresting him for the phone call to Pope. Donald Wellesley Jr. would be going to jail.

Wire put the cuffs on and walked Wellesley to the FBI sedan as the media, tipped in advance, filmed the spectacle.

After putting Wellesley down into the FBI Suburban, Wire slowly walked back to Mac, a satisfied grin on her face. “You are full of surprises, Mac McRyan.”

“Nah,” he answered, shaking his head. “I do believe in karma though. The douche finally got what he deserved.”

Wire nodded. “Thank you for this, Mac.”

“Justice at last,” Mac said, holding up his coffee cup.

“Justice at last.”





BOOKS BY ROGER STELLJES

www.RogerStelljes.com

FIRST CASE

THE ST. PAUL CONSPIRACY

DEADLY STILLWATER

FIRST DEADLY CONSPIRACY - Special Edition Three Book Box Set

ELECTING TO MURDER





About the Author

Roger Stelljes is the bestselling author of the McRyan Mystery Series. He has been the recipient of several awards including: the Midwest Book Awards - Genre Fiction, a Merit Award Winner for Commercial Fiction (MIPA), as well as a Minnesota Book Awards Nominee.

Author website: www.RogerStelljes.com

For book updates on twitter at: RogerStelljes