“That’s where we’re at. Mansur, who you met with, delivered the pickup bomb. He parked on your lot, went inside, and met with you.”
“I’m an American the same as you, Agent Grale. I wasn’t part of any plot to kill the pilots.”
“How did a negotiation for your sister’s daughters come to this? How did they get to you?”
“They didn’t get to me.”
“You needed money to pay the ransom and money to keep your businesses going. Bankruptcy was starting to look very real. Did you go along because you were desperate for money?”
When he didn’t answer, I felt I had to acknowledge a different truth.
“You didn’t know about the bombs.”
I said that and he looked at me and nodded.
“I didn’t know.”
“But you knew something would happen at the party.”
He couldn’t bring himself to go there yet, and I didn’t make him. I knew he’d broken and it would all come out. It might come in pieces, but he would tell us. He made an odd request.
“Please bring me paper and a pencil.”
We got him that and he drew a face in profile. He wasn’t an artist and drew and erased the nose several times before he was satisfied. The nose was average in size and with a slight hook, forehead tall, lips full, and chin ordinary. The skin was smooth, so a young man. He slid the sketch over to me. Not a great drawing, but it was a face and he had a point to make.
“This is Mansur,” he said. “He looks very different than the one in the photo you showed me.”
“How long have you known him?”
“I don’t know him.”
“Do you know where we should look for him?”
He shook his head then said, “I don’t know anything more about him.”
I touched the sketch he made and asked, “Did this man introduce himself as Mansur?”
“Yes.”
“Had you ever seen him before?”
“No.”
“Have you seen him since?”
“No.”
“Did he make a payment to you that night?”
“Yes, in my office.”
“The money in the safe?”
“Yes.”
“Did he say anything about where he lives or where he was going?”
“No, it was only business.”
“I believed you when you said a few days ago that you would never leave hundreds of thousands of dollars in a safe if you knew a bombing was about to occur. Maybe you thought some pilots would get shot and that would be it.”
He shook his head and tears came. He shut down and wouldn’t say any more. He bowed his head. I tried for another ten minutes, then left the room.
51
Two Nye County deputies went out to the airfield the day before to look for the bodies Beatty had reported. In truth, they were looking for Beatty. They didn’t find him and left me three messages last night. It was pretty clear they thought I knew where he was. I went looking for Venuti. I found him in a conference room with his laptop and morning coffee.
“You did a good job in there with Smith,” Venuti said. “You didn’t quite bring it home, but he’ll give up the rest. He’s done. The question is, will he help us anymore?”
“I’d guess no.”
“I agree. Why did he come in today?”
“I’ve been wondering.”
“And what do you think, Grale?”
“Not sure yet. For him it’s been about money and keeping his enterprise going. He didn’t know his building would get blown apart the way it was. He bargained for something else.”
I saw Venuti was waiting for more, but I switched subjects on him.
“I’ve got three messages from the Nye County deputies. They didn’t find anything and it sounded like they were out there looking for Beatty, not bodies. I thought we were getting agents out.”
“We don’t have anyone available and you’re right, the Nye deputies didn’t find anything. Strata told us the security pair was fired after what may have been an attempted rape of the French drone pilot. The French pilot doesn’t want to talk about it, so I don’t know where it’s going. The Nye deputies want directions to wherever Beatty is camping. They want a statement on these alleged bodies.”
“Beatty told me he’s in the mountains behind the airfield.”
“They say there are a lot of mountains.”
“It’s all I’ve got.”
“Why don’t you try to reach him and get him to come in?”
Instead, I called the Nye County sheriff’s deputy who’d left the message. He described the search they’d made for the black Land Cruiser with bodies in it and made clear he didn’t think it was out there.
“We need to interview Beatty. Where do we find him?”
“Check the mountains behind the airfield.”
“There’s a whole range. What about a phone number?”
“I’ll give you the last number that worked. Are you ready?”
“Go ahead, and can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”