“Maybe it doesn’t.”
Sean shook his head. “Too many coincidences. It’s all connected.” He wished he could talk this out with Lucy, but Brad was going to have to do. “The girl, Elise Hansen, confessed that Rob Garza—Adeline Worthington’s campaign manager—hired her to take pictures of Worthington, and then when she went to collect the rest of the money, he shot her. If Garza is responsible for her attack, the feds must think that Garza is behind the shooting here at the hospital.”
“Does Garza have those kinds of connections? Since when does a political campaign manager go around killing people?”
“Fact: Mona Hill works for—or with—Tobias. Fact: Mona Hill sent Elise Hansen, the prostitute, to James Everett’s hotel. Fact: Rob Garza sent Elise Hansen to Worthington. It reasons that Tobias is also connected to Rob Garza.”
“And where does the congresswoman fit in? A pawn?”
“A co-conspirator. I’m not supposed to know this, but the FBI is already investigating her for political corruption.”
“Then why kill her husband?”
“Because she doesn’t know about the investigation, and Harper was digging into her finances and her abuse of power. HWI hired me to assist with the security and forensic audit. Though I haven’t put all the pieces together, Harper found evidence in an audit that Adeline was using her position to create artificially high land values—when she wanted to sell, or when a friend wanted to sell—or artificially low land values when someone in her circle wanted to buy.”
Brad stared at him, incredulous. “And no one figured this out?”
“We’re talking about huge tracts of land, manipulating the environmental impact reports, causing delays or expediting processes. And isolated, these transactions appear perfectly normal. It’s when you put them all together and identify the buyers and sellers, who benefits and who doesn’t, it’s clear that there’s a major financial scam going on to defraud the government and defraud Adeline Worthington’s opponents, as well as benefit her and her supporters.
“I’ve also been looking into her finances,” Sean continued. “Not legally—so I can’t give any of it to the FBI. But I can steer them in the right direction. She’s been hiding money all over the world. If she wants to flee, she has the resources to do so.”
“We have to tell Juan.”
“I need to talk to Kane first.”
“He’ll give you cover?”
Sean nodded without hesitating. Kane would protect him just like he protected Lucy when he left her out of his report about what happened at the Trejo compound. Sean glanced at his watch. “Lucy should be done by now. How long do x-rays take?”
He stepped out of the office and into borderline chaos. The cops in the waiting area were all talking on phones or listening to Juan speak. Barry rushed by.
Sean grabbed him. “What happened? Is Tia okay?”
“She’s still in surgery, still fighting,” he said. He glanced at Brad, obviously surprised to see him. “I have to go.”
“Where’s Lucy?”
“I thought you knew she was done. She and I have to go.”
“Not without me.”
Barry turned to him. “Rogan, I don’t know what your thing is, but your girlfriend is a federal agent and has a job to do.”
“Lucy was the target.”
“That’s absurd.”
Brad intervened. “Barry—an informant contacted me earlier, that’s why I came here. There’s some chatter that Tobias planned to take out a fed today. We assumed it was someone in the DEA, but when I heard about the shooting here, I realized that both Ryan Quiroz and Lucy were on the task force that took down Tobias’s San Antonio operation. She could very well be a target.”
Sean was surprised and pleased at how smoothly Brad blended the truth and the lies.
“And why are you here instead of your boss?”
“Because I’m an SSA, just like Juan Casilla,” Brad snapped. “He’s here, I’m here.”
“We need to talk to Juan. This is all screwed up,” Barry said.
Sean let Brad walk off with Barry to discuss the new information with Juan, and he called Lucy. She finally answered, her voice soft. “Hello? Sean?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m outside Tia’s operating room. I needed to check on her.”
“Where?”
“Second floor.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Sean took the stairs down to the second floor. Lucy was pacing in front of the nurses’ station. Just seeing her made him breathe easier.
She saw him and her face showed everything he needed to see. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. She winced, but when he tried to let go she held him close.
“Dear God, Lucy. If you hadn’t put on that vest.”
“Don’t even think it.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. A big bruise. No cracked ribs. I had the wind knocked out of me, that’s it.”
Sean touched a bandage on her arm. “What’s this?”