“Actually, you’re wrong, Captain. This is a hate crime. One of the victims received a card calling him a ‘nigger-lover’ and telling him to ‘die soon.’ That’s a quote. I have the card in my purse. Doesn’t the FBI have jurisdiction over hate crimes?”
I’m about to pull her away from Ozan when a piercing beep sounds, and Kaiser takes his cell phone from his pocket.
“Yes? … Understood. Where? … Good, that’s good. I’m on my way.”
He pockets his phone, then cocks his head slightly as though sizing up Ozan one last time. The state cop looks braced for an argument, but Kaiser only turns to Walker Dennis and says, “Sheriff, feel free to call if you need us.”
Walker nods but says nothing in reply.
As Kaiser starts back toward the hospital entrance, he takes his flashlight from my hand and whispers, “Meet me in the parking lot. Bring Caitlin.”
Captain Ozan’s eyes follow Kaiser as he walks away. In the shadows, it’s hard to see much of the captain’s face, but I’m left with the impression that he has Indian blood.
“Are you Mayor Cage?” he asks, turning to me after Kaiser disappears into the dark.
“That’s right.”
“I understand your fiancée was standing a couple of feet from the victim when he was hit.”
“I was,” Caitlin says defiantly.
Jordan Glass steps up protectively beside her.
“You’re a lucky girl,” Ozan goes on. “To walk out of that room alive. Mighty lucky, I’d say. It’s a lucky thing I was in town, too.” He looks over at Sheriff Dennis. “This parish has been going to hell for a long time, and you don’t seem to be able to handle it.”
Walker looks like he’s about to have a stroke, but he doesn’t argue.
After holding my ground long enough to prove that Ozan’s scrutiny doesn’t rattle me, I take Caitlin’s hand and lead her back toward the main hospital doors. Jordan takes up station at Caitlin’s other shoulder as we walk.
“This is nuts,” Caitlin says shakily. “Who was that guy?”
“A killer,” Jordan says in a cool voice. “I’ve shot enough of them to know.”
CHAPTER 83
JORDAN, KAISER, CAITLIN, and I stand by my car like two couples after a mugging. We stare at each other in dazed incomprehension, the hospital’s sodium vapor lamps rendering everything around us in an eerie, dichromatic world of yellow and gray.
“What just happened?” Caitlin asks.
“One of the killers just showed up to investigate the murder,” Kaiser answers. “Or one of his flunkies, anyway. This state is something. It’s like it’s still 1964.”
“Are you saying the state police were involved in killing Henry Sexton?” Caitlin asks.
“Off the record?”
Caitlin glances at Jordan, who looks embarrassed by Kaiser’s insistence on secrecy among the four of us. “Off the record,” she says grudgingly.
“That’s what I’m saying. And I appreciate you standing up for federal jurisdiction back there. That took guts. But next time leave the turf battles to me, okay?”
Caitlin doesn’t know whether to be flattered or angry.
“Do you really have that card you mentioned?”
She takes a card from her purse and hands it to Kaiser, who reads it, then slips it into his pocket.
“Are you really just going to give up the crime scene?” I ask, stepping up to Kaiser. “Caitlin’s right about the hate crime angle, and Walker already invited you to consult on the case.”
Kaiser looks like a man trying to wrap his mind around something. “They shot Henry knowing that my team could respond in a matter of minutes. That’s balls, you know?”
“But maybe not brains. Although Ozan could be destroying critical evidence as we speak.”
The FBI agent shakes his head. “Don’t kid yourself. This murder won’t be solved unless the shooter confesses or a co-conspirator fingers him. They’ve been planning this hit since they missed Henry the first time.”
“What was that phone call you got at the end?”
Kaiser cuts his eyes at Caitlin as though deciding whether he should speak candidly. “My people found something in the trunk of Luther Davis’s car.” He points to a Suburban parked twenty yards away, its engine running. “It’s in the back of that SUV over there.”
“What is it?” she asks, glancing at the vehicle.
Kaiser steps closer to her. “Before I answer that, let’s talk about Henry Sexton’s backup files. I know you have them, and I need access to them.”
As Caitlin looks to me for help, I realize that what I feared this morning must have happened during the afternoon: Sherry Harden told Kaiser about Henry’s safe-deposit box keys.
“If Henry wanted you to have any of his case materials,” Caitlin says, “he would have given them to you before now.”
Kaiser’s face looks as serious as I’ve ever seen it. “Henry didn’t realize how much danger he was in. With all due respect, Ms. Masters, I think you have the same problem. Those files are a bullet magnet. Or worse. The Double Eagles are big fans of explosives, and old hands at using them. The Beacon building has already been burned. The Natchez Examiner isn’t exactly a fortress. Do you want to wait until Penn is picking out a casket before you face what you’re caught up in?”
Caitlin takes an aggressive step toward Kaiser. “Whoever shot Henry could have blown me away two seconds later. But he didn’t. I think I’m relatively safe, for the time being anyway.”
Kaiser shakes his head. “Maybe the triggerman didn’t know you were going to be there. Maybe he didn’t want to risk a cell call to get the go-order.”
“If things are really that dangerous, what are we doing standing out here? A sniper could shoot us from across the highway, couldn’t he?”
“Not at this moment. I’ve had a sniper on the hospital roof sweeping that field with a thermal imaging scope for the past four minutes.”
This silences us all.
“The Double Eagles probably don’t know you have those files yet,” Kaiser goes on. “But they will. Henry’s girlfriend was no fan of yours. She’s bound to have talked to somebody.”