Chapter 24
Sam made another quick call to Fletcher while George hooked up the laptop to the projector.
He answered, a little more wary this time.
“Where are you, Sam? You need to get back here right now.”
“Ah. Bianco knows I’m gone?”
“You better believe it, sister. You are under orders to return here immediately.”
“Is anyone listening to this?”
“No.”
“Standing nearby?”
“Yes.”
“All right. I’ll be quick. Go check out Gretchen Leighton. She retrieved her husband’s sperm about an hour ago. They were about to do in vitro. DNA will be run for you. And Ledbetter was worth $20 million, her sole heir is her estranged daughter, also named Loa. Nothing on Conlon, I’m still here.”
Fletcher’s voice got a little lighter, like he held the phone away from his face. “Shit. She hung up. She didn’t say where she was, only that she was planning to head back to her house. You should probably send a couple of agents there to pick her up. I’m sorry, Andi. I thought I could keep her on longer.”
Damn, he was good. She’d never seen the deceitful side of Fletcher. She didn’t have much time, that was for sure. At least the agents would be heading to her house. She’d avoid home like the plague.
She listened as Bianco ordered a couple of people to go find Sam and bring her back in, then listened to Bianco dress Fletcher down.
“I still can’t believe you let a suspect go to the bathroom by herself, Detective. Sloppy work.”
“Yeah, well. I thought I could trust her.”
“You obviously are not thinking with the head resting on top of your shoulders.”
There she was, the bitchy Bianco Sam suspected resided behind the sweet, polite veneer.
“I said I was sorry. You’ll snatch her up in a few minutes and we’ll all move on with our day. Any more news about her boyfriend, Whitfield? Did you find him past Denver?”
“No. The call traced to the cellular tower closest to the Denver International Airport. The authorities are looking for him now. You stay focused on your task, Detective. You’re all Leighton, all the time. Report in to me as soon as you have something.”
Denver. Now his flight made sense to her. Xander had gone home. That was hugely valuable information. Thank you, Fletcher.
With any luck, he’d stay ahead of the JTTF until he had the information he wanted. She couldn’t call him and warn him off, either, though she assumed he knew he was working on borrowed time.
Fletcher came back on the line. “She’s gone. You get that?”
“Yes.”
“You know where he’s headed?”
“Yes.”
“Finish up there as quick as you can. I’ll get you on a flight.”
“You want me to go track him down?”
“Yeah. I think his theory is right. JTTF found the remnants of the website he was looking for, they’re going to go hot to look for the owners soon. You might be able to save Xander from getting wrapped up in this. Good job on the abrin, by the way. The ones who are still sick are being treated for it. You saved a lot of lives, Sam.”
“With your help, Fletch. Thanks for everything. I’ll call you from Denver.”
She hung up and something else in her brain clicked. She went into the conference room where George was patiently waiting.
“George. You said you met Dr. Ledbetter when she taught your graduate class. Where was she teaching then?”
“Harvard.”
“Does she still teach?”
“Yes. At American University. She’s on the anthropology/sociology staff there.”
Chapter 25
Time was getting short. Sam had no real way of knowing how close to placing Marc Conlon and Loa Ledbetter together the police might be, and she knew she needed to get a move on to get to the airport and fly out to Denver before everyone started looking for her. God, Fletcher was going to be summarily fired, and probably prosecuted, if Bianco caught on to his scheme. And so would Sam.
“George, there’s no chance she teaches during the summer session, is there?”
“No. Too busy. She does most of her excursions during the warmer months. But she teaches a class in the spring. Sociology 102.”
“Do you happen to have that class list? From this last spring semester’s class?”
“Sure. Hold on a second.”
The screen went blank. George tapped a few words into the computer and then excused himself. He was back in just a second with a sheet of paper, a printout of the Sociology 102 class in hand. He gave it to her, and it only took Sam a moment to find the name Marc Conlon.
“Damn it, she taught one of the other victims.” Another thought hit her. “George, she wasn’t friends with Congressman Leighton, was she?”
“Not that I know of, no. But she had a wide circle of acquaintances, people who met her once and just loved her. It was a gift.”
“I can see that. Hold on one second.”
Sam grabbed her phone and tapped out a text to Fletcher, not wanting to risk calling him again in case Bianco was back to ride him.
MC was LDB’s student @ AU. SOC 102