Veil. Part 6

"Not too early for the soil, but we should wait a bit longer for the roses. I checked the ground and it's plenty soft enough to turn. I brought the big tiller just in case. We'll turn what we can, put the equipment in the shed, and come back tomorrow if the weather stays nice."

"Thank you Fernando. I'm going to start on the main flower garden in the back. If you can spare one of your men, can you send him around to a.s.sist me?"

"Don't worry Lady Patrick, I'll take care of everything. I'll send someone as soon as we get settled."

Fernando went back to the truck and Fiona's heart sank a little.

Despite the momentary lift, being cooped up in the house depressed her.

She sulked over to a patio chair and plopped down, arms folded across her chest. A second later, she burst into laughter. So, that's where she gets it.

Most of the snow melted away in the afternoon sun, revealing more than a few dead flowers and weeds. Fiona picked up a garden hoe and chopped the withered foliage into pieces. She hummed as she worked.

The music lifted her out of her funk. Then, as quickly as it came, her good mood floated into a dense depressing fog.

She mourned her close friends, Judge Weiss and his wife Emily.

When the FBI informed her they'd been killed, she thought she'd pa.s.s out right in front of them.

She forced the agents to describe the murder scene, playing the hard and seasoned magistrate. The grizzly details turned her legs to rubber, like the day John died. Her breathing labored, she felt dizzy and sat down. It wasn't that she couldn't deal with the images, she'd seen and heard much worst. Judge Weiss and Emily, however, were her friends, and hearing how they'd been mangled and killed hit her harder than she antic.i.p.ated.

Fiona wondered what kind of demented monster could do such a thing. As rapidly as the question ran through her mind, the horrifying answer stabbed at her. The kind who could kill a little girl. She stopped working and shut her eyes. Her teeth chattered. Her body trembled.

She shook it off, determined not to give in. A nervous resolve replaced her depression and ghoulish fear. Tomorrow she'd call her good friend and mentor, Barbara. She'll know what I should do next.

"Mommy come play with me. Push me on the swing," Jessica bellowed from across the yard.

Fiona gathered herself, wiping the pools from her eyes. "Just a second baby," she called back, her voice scratchy, weak.

Her focus cleared. A landscaper working on the other side of garden startled her. She didn't hear him walk over, and hoped he hadn't seen her tears.

The sandy-brown haired man with a push-broom mustache carefully chopped and cleared the soil like he'd done it since birth. Smiling, he seemed to enjoy the work.

"Excuse me," said Fiona. "I didn't hear you walk up. I hope I wasn't rude."

"No ma'am, not at all," the gardener answered, in a thick Australian accent. "I saw you were occupied and didn't want to disturb ya. I hope that was okay."

Fiona removed her gloves, walked over, and introduced herself.

"Pleased to meet you mum," he replied, his mustache rising as he smiled.

"Mommy, you said you'd push me," interrupted Jessica, creeping up behind, and hugging her mother's leg.

"I was about to, hun, but I wanted to say h.e.l.lo to this nice man first.

Introduce yourself."

Jessica marched over like a soldier, gave the man a brisk handshake, barking out name, rank, and serial number.

"My name's McPhee," he said. Stephan McPhee, but you can call me Mick."

"You talk funny," said Jessica, giggling, her hands playfully covering her mouth.

"Jessica," said Fiona, embarra.s.sed. "That's not a nice thing to say."

"I was only kidding," answered Jessica, her hands on her hips.

"Not a problem mum," said Mick, his smile a little wider. "Where I'm from, you're the ones who talk funny." All three burst into laughter.

"He's funny," said Jessica. "Now can we swing?" The phone, hanging from Fiona's hip like a sleeping bat, spit out an abrupt chime and Jessica's face twisted. "I know what that means," she said, stomping off toward the swing in a huff.

Fiona excused herself. Helen, her a.s.sistant at the courthouse, needed a word.

"Why don't I give you your privacy mum," said Mick. "I'm not here to entertain, but I will go over and push the little tyke for a moment or two till you finish. That is, if you don't mind?"

"Oh, how nice of you Mick, that would be very helpful. Thank you.

She and I are going a little stir crazy around here. We've been cooped up for almost a week."

"I read the paper mum," Mick said, in a solemn, sympathetic tone. "I understand."

Rejuvenated, Fiona thanked him again and headed for the house. She liked the Aussies, always friendly and full of life. Mick's infectious smile and friendly manner made her feel a little better, a great temporary fix.

From inside the kitchen, she looked back. Jessica soared back and forth, swinging and laughing like crazy. It delighted Fiona to see Jessica having a little fun, even if short lived.

She plucked an apple from a bowl on the counter, took one last look at her daughter, polished the fruit on her blouse and disappeared into the living room. Maybe we'll eat at Al Tiramisu. Italian sounds good. Careful not to push too hard, the Australian sent Jessica high into the air.

Stephan McPhee, a common name in Australia, wore several names.

Some called him Andre; others called him "the Bear." None of it mattered.

"This is a fine house you live in," said Andre. "You must really like it here."

"It's okay," said Jessica. "It was more fun around here when my daddy was alive."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Andre lied. "You must get lonely."

"I do. I sit there in my room bored most of the time," she said, pointing to her bedroom window"

Andre memorized her window. Useful information when he came back to kill them. He stopped the swing, walked in front of her and knelt down on one knee. "Well, I'm sure things will change for you soon," said Andre. "I feel it in my heart. When you least expect it, good things will happen and your life will change forever."

"Do you really think so?" asked Jessica, excited.

Andre stared lovingly into her eyes. She was only a child. It didn't matter. No such thing as an innocent bystander. If you're home when I come to kill your mother, you'll die too.

"I know so," he said, giving her a big hug. "Now go inside and be nice to your mum. She's going through a lot ya know. She needs your help."

Jessica hopped off the swing, gave him another hug and took off toward the house. Andre watched her disappear inside, and quietly slipped around back to resume his surveillance, out of the agent's line of sight.

It took him more than six weeks to sell himself to Fernando. He'd observed the crew clearing snow from Judge Patrick's estate when he scouted the place three months earlier. The lingering cold weather made the South American immigrant hesitant to add to his crew. A sudden s.h.i.+ft in temperature left the groundskeeper a few hands short. The Russian came home from the Weiss' to a message on his answering machine welcoming him to Salvador Landscaping.

The glue on his phony mustache itched horribly. He shrugged it off.

The oversized push-broom hair under his lip required strong adhesive, but did a considerable job of changing his face. Makeup and disguise, a talent he mastered working for the extinct KGB, fed his love of new looks and ident.i.ties.

Andre scanned the sky. It'll be dark soon. He focused hard, and put his photographic memory to work.

Floodlights, mounted atop ten-foot poles, were equipped with diamond-prism motion detectors. Recently developed, the detectors emitted dense waves of infrared light in a net-like maze across a designated area. The slightest movement within the five to fifteen hundred square foot web, and the lights would spit out blinding white beams, like the sun on an August afternoon.

Two feet above double French doors, a white wood-grained metal box blended in perfectly with the rest of the exterior. Two small, barely perceptible antennas protruded from the top. A wireless transmitter for a silent alarm system. He smiled, and made note he'd need a high-grade Motorola handheld scrambler, and would need to cut the hard-line backup system.

Fifty yards from the house, a ten-foot stone wall surrounded the estate. Andre moved deeper into the yard, pretending to work an area alongside the white-brick stairway near the main garden. Two large Rottweilers sprawled out behind a metal fence, lay motionless. He lightly tapped his shovel on the stairs. The dogs sprang to attention.

Their black eyes locked in and followed his every move. Magnificent creatures. Obviously well kept and trained. He thought of poisoning them as they roamed about, however, in his experience, well-trained guard dogs didn't take food from strangers. No problem. I'll shoot them from the wall with a silencer fitted rifle.

He heard Judge Patrick laughing and playing with Jessica through an open window on the second floor. How would the seven-year-old sound crying at her mother's funeral? No. He would definitely save her the trouble and end her life too . After all, what was life without a mother?

"Excuse me sir, no one is allowed to move outside our view," the agent said, catching him off guard. "Please come to the front and let us know when you plan to work in another area."

"Sorry mate" he said. "Had no idea. Just trying to do me job." Counting the number and types of windows on the side and back of the house, he tried to determine which window led to what room. Idiots.

Fooling them is so easy. In the old Soviet Union, I'd be halfway to Siberia by now.

Andre needed more information. No matter. I'll return with the crew tomorrow. Later during the week, I'll break inside for a trial run and learn what I need.

An hour later, they were finished. Andre helped load the truck, thoughts of his brother, Vladimir, torturing his mind.

They pulled away from the estate and headed back to Salvador Landscaping's company compound. The truck's rhythmic movement lulled Andre into a twilight sleep. He dreamed of home. He saw his brother Vladimir walking past St. Basil's Cathedral in the Kremlin, tall and proud in his military uniform. He called out, but Vladimir didn't answer. He waved goodbye to Andre as American soldiers led him to a bullet-riddled wall. One of the soldiers, a General, blindfolded Vladimir, while the others lined up in front of him. The General stepped aside, raised one hand in the air, and slowly counted backwards from three.

Andre screamed for them to stop, to take his life instead. He was too late.

The General's hand dropped and the rifle's retort violently ripped through the air. Andre screamed again and ran to his brother, helpless.

Vladimir's body slumped to the ground, leaving a bright crimson trail streaking down the wall. The General smiled, a taunting, teasing display.

The mirth sealed his next victim's fate. The General wore the face of- Judge Fiona Patrick.

8.

After eight o'clock, the regular mix of tourists, political hacks and city veterans, went home for the night, and left traffic light. The city's ceiling, dark but clear, lost its frosty bite, but remained crisp and cold.

Robert treated the streets like a personal NASCAR speedway, barely missed a taxi or two, with Thorne right on his tail.

George Clinton pounded out funky beats from his stereo. Robert's pulse quickened, and his nose snorted air like an angry bull. He bit down on his lip, imagining Patrick Miller's jovial reflection in the winds.h.i.+eld.

A tight grip on the steering wheel, and his bloodless knuckles turned white.

I should've checked out that weasel who followed me to the mission.

Did he have anything to do with Miller's death? He slapped a palm against his forehead.

The Mustang and Range Rover slowed at Const.i.tution Avenue, where speeding cars attracted the attention of Secret Service and Army personnel, strategically hidden near each monument and major government building. Minutes later, they crept into the city's parallel dimension, where murky, dilapidated streets sp.a.w.ned an eerie sub-culture.

Bodies crowded the sidewalks in heaps, like scattered islands of misery, magnifying the overwhelming squalor. Bright orange flames leapt up from bonfires. The homeless and hopeless crowded around large metal drums in vacant lots for warmth.

Robert turned off his CD player, concentrating on Miller. What did he know? Why would someone kill him? Then he remembered something Charlie said back at the office. "They know I'm here and they'll come for you." Thorne was right. Robert didn't care.

Normally he didn't indulge in hatred, considering it a waste of time and emotion. Nevertheless, he despised and hated those responsible for President Kennedy's a.s.sa.s.sination. Robert considered politics a contact sport, where daughters disappeared, interns were seduced, and war a necessity if you wanted peace. Sometimes people died.

However, even for a realist like him, President Kennedy's murder extended beyond the realm of political necessity. He wasn't about to walk away from Charlie's revelation, not with hard evidence and one of the shooters. The sensation behind his eyes warned- Patrick Miller won't be the last to die.

Robert drove through his second roadblock of the day, pa.s.sing several fire-trucks and an ambulance. Flas.h.i.+ng lights bounced off the brick and asphalt, creating a surreal, psychedelic atmosphere. They parked across the street from the mission.

Robert spotted Popeye, sullen, slumped down in his wheelchair, taking slugs from a bottle in a brown paper sack, watching the police work a large crowd a.s.sembled in front of the shelter. He avoided Popeye's gaze, but felt the weight of the old vet's glare.

Inside, uniformed police and plain-clothes detectives nearly outnumbered the homeless, with every room and office being used for questioning. A mix of stress, confusion, and frustration obvious, detectives tried to get information from reticent staff members and shelter residents not inclined to talk with police.

In the cafeteria, several distraught volunteers pointed at him, including the Bahamian woman who directed him to Miller's office earlier. The detectives took note, reluctantly sending them to the fourth floor, escorted by a young female officer, a rookie Robert guessed, for questioning.

They reached Miller's tiny office and were greeted by another sizeable police contingent, edgier and more frustrated than their cohorts downstairs. Robert asked for the lead detective, and was met with silence and looks of aggravation.

"Mr. Veil?" a m.u.f.fled voice called from somewhere inside.

In the back of the office near Miller's desk, a man mountain, with a fiery red crew cut, rose up from the floor and towered over the room. He grunted and pulled off the largest pair of rubber gloves Robert ever saw, a proctology nightmare.

Making his way toward them, his considerable girth demanded several people step outside the room to accommodate his movement.

"Detective Ralph Durbin, homicide," he said. "I'm the one who called you."

Robert nodded, introduced himself and Thorne, then extended his hand, which disappeared in the giant's tight grip.

He glanced around the detective to get a good look at Miller's body.

The director sat in the chair behind his desk, eyes wide, chin on his chest, jellybeans strewn all over the floor, a bullet hole centered in his forehead.

Durbin moved his frame so they could get a clear look.

"We were wondering what you could tell us about our little situation here," said Durbin. "You were here earlier were you not, Mr. Veil?"

"I was here," answered Robert. "What makes you think I know something about this?"

Thorne filmed the scene while they spoke.