Didn’t matter now, she supposed, with the case closed, and apologies — such as they were — delivered. But she was curious. “Go on.”
“His latest assignment was for the Nuclear Facilities Planning Committee. Until he got here he’d been billing the nukers sixty hours a week. And by the way, he’s expensive. I think I need a raise, boss. Am I a six-figure kind of agent?”
Dance smiled. She was glad that his humor seemed to be returning. “You’re worth seven figures in my book, TJ.”
“I love you too, boss.”
The implication of the information then struck her. She riffled through copies of The Chilton Report.
“That son of a bitch.”
“What’s that?”
“Royce was trying to get the blog shut down — for his client’s sake. Look.” She tapped the printout.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Posted by Chilton.
Rep. Brandon Klevinger… Ever heard of his name? Probably not.
And the state representative looking after some fine folks in Northern California would rather keep a low profile.
No such luck.
Representative Klevinger is the head of the state’s Nuclear Facilities Planning Committee, which means the bomb — oops, excuse me, the buck — stops with him on the issue of those little gadgets called reactors.
And you want to know something interesting about them?
No — go away, Greenies. Go whine elsewhere! I have no problem with nuclear energy; we need it to achieve energy independence (from certain interests overseas whom I’ve written about at great length). But what I do object to is this: Nuclear power loses its advantage if the price for the plants and the energy expended in the construction outweigh the advantages.
I’ve learned that Rep. Klevinger just happens to have been on a couple of posh golfing trips to Hawaii and Mexico with his newfound “friend,” Stephen Ralston. Well, guess what, boys and girls? Ralston happens to have put in bids for a proposed nuclear facility north of Mendocino.
Mendocino… Lovely place. And very pricey to build in. Not to mention that it seems the cost of delivering the power to where it’s needed will be huge. (Another developer has proposed a far cheaper and more efficient location about fifty miles south of Sacramento.) But a source has snuck me the Nuclear Committee’s preliminary report and it reveals that Ralston’s probably going to get the go-ahead to build in Mendocino.
Has Klevinger done anything illegal or wrong?
I’m not saying yes or no. I just ask the question.
“He was lying all along,” TJ said.
“Sure was.”
Still, she couldn’t concentrate on Royce’s duplicity just now. There was, after all, no need to blackmail him at this point, considering he was headed home in a day or two.
“Good work.”
“Just dotting my j’s.”
As he left she hunched over the MCSO report. She was a little surprised that David Reinhold, the eager kid — the one she’d played cat-and-mouse with last night — hadn’t brought it in person.
From: Dep. Peter Bennington, MCSO Crime Scene Unit
To: Kathryn Dance, Special Agent, California Bureau of
Investigation — Western Division.
Re: June 28 homicide at house of James Chilton, 2939 Pacific Heights
Court, Carmel, California.
Kathryn, here’s the inventory.
Greg Schaeffer’s body
One Cross brand wallet, containing Calif. driver’s license, credit cards, AAA membership card, all in name of Gregory Samuel Schaeffer
$329.52 cash
Two keys to Ford Taurus, California registration ZHG128
One motel key to Room 146, Cyprus Grove Inn
One key to BMW 530, California registration DHY783, registered to Gregory S. Schaeffer, 20943 Hopkins Drive, Glendale, CA
One claim ticket for car at LAX long-term parking, dated June 10
Miscellaneous restaurant and store receipts
One cell phone. Only calls to local phone numbers: James Chilton, restaurants
Trace on shoes, consistent with sandy dirt found at prior scenes of roadside crosses
Fingernail trace inconclusive
Room 146, Cypress Grove Inn,
registered in name of Greg Schaeffer
Miscellaneous clothing and toiletries
One 1-liter bottle, Diet Coke
Two bottles Robert Mondavi Central Coast Chardonnay wine
Leftover Chinese food, three orders
Miscellaneous groceries
One Toshiba laptop computer and power pack (transferred to California Bureau of Investigation; see chain-of-custody record)
One Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printer
One box of 25-count Winchester .38 Special ammunition, containing 13 rounds
Miscellaneous office supplies
Printouts of The Chilton Report from March of this year to present
Approximately 500 pages of documents relating to the Internet, blogs, RSS feeds
Items in Gregory Schaeffer’s possession
found at James Chilton’s house
One Sony digital camcorder
One SteadyShot camera tripod
Three USB cables
One roll, Home Depot brand duct tape
One Smith & Wesson revolver, loaded with 6 rounds of .38 Special ammunition
One Baggie containing 6 extra rounds of ammunition
Hertz Ford Taurus, California registration ZHG128, parked ? block away from James Chilton’s house
One bottle orange-flavored Vitamin Water, half full
One rental agreement, Hertz, naming Gregory Schaeffer as lessee
One McDonald’s Big Mac wrapper
One map of Monterey County, provided by Hertz, no marked locations (infrared analysis negative)
Five empty coffee cups, 7-Eleven. Only Schaeffer’s fingerprints
Dance read the list twice. She couldn’t be upset at the job Crime Scene had done. It was perfectly acceptable. Yet it offered no clues whatsoever as to where Travis Brigham was being held. Or where his body was buried.
Her eyes slipped out the window, and settled on the thick, barky knot, the point where two independent trees became one, then continued their separate journey toward the sky.
Oh, Travis, Kathryn Dance thought.
Unable to resist the thought that she’d let him down.
Unable, finally, to resist the tears.
Chapter 41