Detective Darren Fletcher
Fletcher cursed himself for letting Sam anywhere near his laptop. Of course she’d be digging into the lives of the dead, that was her job. He had enough respect for her instincts not to throttle her on the spot, though now he really was going to catch hell.
Could a nineteen-year-old boy manage to stage a biological attack of this scale on the Metro? Not without help, which meant there were more of them out there.
He couldn’t help himself, the REM song jumped into his head.
If the end of the world as we know it had Lenny Bruce involved, surely a suburban student could be, too.
The edges of a plan started to form in the back of his mind. It was risky, but what else could he do? He was being hamstrung here, and that wasn’t acceptable. He couldn’t just quit the JTTF, either; he was invested enough in the outcome of the Leighton case to want to see what the truth was, and now his fingerprints were all over it, literally and figuratively, so walking away wasn’t an option.
But someone else might be able to walk away.
“Listen, Sam. When Bianco gets here, let me talk. I’d rather neither of us go to jail today, all right?”
Sam crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. It wasn’t like her to gloat, so she must still be pissed at him. Great. How could she blame him? He was just doing his job. Covering his own ass. He was a bit miffed at her, as well.
Inez came back, looking harried.
“Bianco wants you to pass the information to Cusack. She said to stay on Leighton.”
Of course she does.
Sam finally spoke. “Well, that’s not fair. You found the info, you should be able to investigate it.”
Fletcher shrugged. “Technically, you found the info. But Bianco is all-powerful here. Inez, you didn’t hear that.”
“Of course not, sir.”
Crap. He didn’t want to do it like this, but it was unavoidable.
“Would you do me a favor, Inez? I’m starving. Sam must be, too. Think I could bribe you to grab us a couple of pastrami and Swiss sandwiches from the Au Bon Pain down the street?”
Inez was no dummy, but she stood automatically and held out her hand for money. He handed her thirty bucks and said, “Get one for yourself, too.”
“Thanks, Fletch.”
She disappeared down the corridor, and he turned to Sam. He spoke low so they wouldn’t be overheard.
“Here’s the deal. What you did was wrong. Nothing matters right now more than capturing the person who orchestrated the attack. Not our friendship, or your relationship. Can we agree on that?”
She was silent for a moment. “Agreed.”
“I trust you, Sam. I know that you’d never purposefully do something to hurt me, personally or professionally. We are friends, even though you feel we might not be close. You could have told Bianco that you’d been calling me all night and I didn’t answer, but you didn’t.”
Sam nodded. “I didn’t see the point.”
“I appreciate that. Because that would have made things even worse. I’m being railroaded here. The case on Leighton isn’t what it seems. There are some pretty intense accusations being laid on him, and if this investigation isn’t handled just right, it’s going to be me that goes down. You with me?”
“Fletch, what is it? What do they have on the congressman?”
With a quick glance over his shoulder, he slid the file to her. She opened it and, after a few seconds, looked appropriately shocked. She read through the reports swiftly, then closed it and pushed the file back to him.
“Oh. I see.”
“Yes. Something in my gut tells me we aren’t being given all the pieces of the puzzle. So I want your help. I really do. But I’m stuck here, dealing with this portion of the investigation. But you...you aren’t. You have the freedom to do what you want.”
She gave him a wary glance. “I thought I was in protective custody.”
“You are. But sometimes the greater good must be served. The door is over there.”
“What do you want me to do?”
She was quick, he’d give her that.
“Get the hell out of here, go dig up everything you can on Conlon and Ledbetter, find your fool of a boyfriend, and get back to me as fast as you can. Be careful, though. Don’t get picked up. Lay low. If something bad happens, and you can’t get back here, go to Captain Armstrong. He likes you, he’ll take care of you.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Try to figure out what the hell is going on here with Leighton. Now go, Sam. Before I change my mind.”