Dani put a hand on his arm, and he savored her steadying touch. He was more than a little glad she was by his side. He turned his attention to Ann. The woman looked over her shoulder, then back at him.
"Do you have any proof of this?" he asked.
"No. If I did, I would have given it to the FBI a long time ago."
"What are you talking about?" he asked, frustrated by her vagueness. "Be specific."
"Eight years ago, someone contacted me with a story. I was a reporter for the
Washington Tribune
at the time. This person said he'd seen the tip of an iceberg, and he wanted to warn someone, but it had to be the right person, and he didn't know who he could trust. He thought he would take a chance on your mother, but he needed an introduction. I had political connections, so he chose me to make that introduction."
"Why did you choose my mother?"
"Because she was in Texas, and she had a reputation for being open-minded, honest, and tough. I had covered her work for a couple of years. I thought she was the best choice. So I made a call to your mother to ask if she would meet with my source. She agreed. She met with him once and then two more times after she brought in Senator Stuart. The last meeting was the night before the plane crash."
He drew in a breath, forcing air into his tight chest. "Who's your source?"
"I told you I can't tell you."
"You have to tell me. You should have told the FBI what you just told me."
"I wasn't sure if I could trust the FBI. More importantly, my contact wasn't willing to go public after what happened. He was too scared. He'd also given the concrete evidence he had to back up his story to your mother, so he no longer had any proof in his possession. It would have been his word against some very powerful people. He told me he'd deny everything if I tried to bring him into it. He swore he'd disappear before he talked to anyone else. I tried to get him to tell his story to me or let me set him up with another contact, but he refused. He said he'd lost and they'd won, and that was it."
"And you just dropped it? Why? If it was that big, it would have made your career, Ann, so why didn't you push harder or do your own digging?"
"I spoke to my editor at the
Tribune
about what little I knew."
"Which is what?"
"That the information concerned a defense contractor, MDT."
His gut tightened. Why did that company keep coming up? It couldn't be a coincidence.
"The owner of the
Tribune
played golf with Alan Packer," Ann continued. "I was ordered to drop the story unless I got hard, irrefutable evidence. I thought something might come up during the crash investigation, but nothing did. It was ruled an accident. The case was closed, and I had nothing except a bad feeling and a source who wouldn't talk."
"So you're saying he had something on MDT?" Dani asked, breaking into the conversation.
"I believe so. Based on the news that came out last year about their security lapses, I think my source saw similar problems eight years ago."
"Who else knew about your source?"
"No one. We used the code word
hummingbird
for the meetings."
"But Rico Montalvo knew the code word."
She nodded. "I didn't know he knew anything about it until you told me he gave you my name."
"What about my mom's chief of staff?" he asked. "Someone else must have known."
"I spoke to your mother directly. I went to the salon where she got her hair done, and I talked to her in the parking lot. I never contacted anyone on her staff. If she told them, I didn't know about it."
"When was the last time you spoke to your source?" Dani asked.
"It was probably a month after the crash. He was running scared. He gave me a number. He said if I ever found someone he could trust again, to give him a call. Otherwise, he was done trying to save the world; he was going to save himself."
"And you never found anyone else?" Dani challenged.
"No. To be honest, I stopped looking. I was scared, too. I was pretty sure whatever my source told your mother was what got her killed, and I'd already shown a bit of my hand to my boss. I was afraid I already knew too much."
"You have to call your source," Patrick said. "Tell him Jackie Kane's son wants to meet him. If he trusted my mother, he can trust me."
"I'm not sure he'll come out of hiding after this long. He still just has what he knows, no backup proof."
"You should remind him that five people died, probably because of what he knew," Dani interjected. "And now that Patrick is digging into it all again, even if you don't tell him who your source is or set up a meeting, Patrick will probably still find him. He's a very good investigative journalist."
Patrick was touched by Dani's passionate statement.
"I'm well aware of who Patrick is." Ann's gaze narrowed on Dani. "Who are you again?"
"Dani Monroe," she replied.
"Maybe a better question is—who do you work for?"
"Senator Dillon."
Ann looked shocked at Dani's answer. "Are you serious? Why the hell are you talking to me then? Talk to him."
"You think Senator Dillon knows something about this?" Patrick asked.
"I'd be shocked if he didn't. He's part of that good-ole-boy network in Texas. The Packers are his friends. They give him a lot of money." She paused, giving Dani another sharp look. "Does he know one of his staffers is looking into the crash?"
"No," Dani said.
"I didn't think so. You're walking a dangerous line. We all are. Just talking about this now is not a good idea. I shouldn't have come."
"But you did come. I think you want to help, Ann," Patrick said. "And I think you want your story—the one you would have had eight years ago if my mother hadn't died."
"I do want that story," she admitted.
Her ambition would only help them. "You can have it if you help us."
"I'm sure you're going to write it yourself."
"I'll give you an exclusive if you hook me up with your source."
She stared back at him, and he could see the temptation in her eyes. "I hate to have anyone else's blood on my hands. I felt guilty about your mother, about my part in getting her involved."
"I appreciate that. So help me now, make up for it."
She took a deep breath, then nodded. "I'll try the phone number he gave me eight years ago. There's a good chance it won't work, but if it does, I'll tell him you want to speak to him."
"Good."
"Give me your number. I'll be in touch."
He rattled off his phone number. Ann took it down and then disappeared into the shadows.
After she left, he paced around in a small circle, adrenaline rushing through his bloodstream. Ann Higgins had just delivered a bombshell. Could she back it up? Would he finally have the opportunity to speak to someone who knew what had happened and who was responsible? He wished he could do something now. He felt restless, charged up, impatient, but he was going to have to wait again, and it was frustrating as hell.
"Are you okay, Patrick?" Dani asked, as he came to a halt in front of her.
"I don't know."
"What are you thinking?"
"That this could be the big break I've been looking for, but there are parts of it that don't feel right."
She nodded, worry in her green eyes. "I know. Why did a reporter as ambitious as Ann drop this story in the first place? Why would she hold on to a phone number for eight years? Why didn't she go to the FBI, to anyone else, with the story? Was it really just fear? Was she that afraid?"
"Your questions echo mine," he said with a confused shrug.
"We should go. We can talk about it in the car." She looked over her shoulder. "I feel like it's important that we leave now."
He could see that she felt spooked and why not? He felt much the same way. He'd just been told that his mother had been murdered. An icy chill swept over him. If that was true, how had no one known? How had eight years passed without anyone digging deeper into the crash? He felt a crushing wave of guilt that he hadn't done anything before now. He was an investigative reporter, for God's sake.
"Why didn't I ask questions?" he said. "If not right after the crash, why not later, six months down the road, or a year, or three years, or last month? How did I just let my mother's death go without demanding more answers?"
"Oh, Patrick. This isn't your fault. You were what—twenty two years old when it happened? You were barely out of college, and you were heartbroken and stricken with grief."
"I still should have asked more questions. I should have made people talk. That's what I do. That's what I'm good at. But I didn't. I just accepted what I was told." He'd never felt so angry with himself as he did right now.
"We shouldn't do this here," she said. "You can berate yourself when we're in a locked car, okay?"
"Yes, sorry, let's go."
They walked quickly back to the car. Once inside, doors locked, he started the engine and pulled away, checking his rearview mirror for any followers, but the street behind him was empty.
"I'm sorry, Patrick," Dani said quietly. "To have Ann tell you your mother was murdered had to be a horrible shock."
"There was a part of me that expected it, but then I wasn't ready for it."
"How could you ever be ready for that?"
"I don't know. But it doesn't matter if I'm ready or not. I've heard Ann's theory. Now I need evidence to back it up." He turned his head to look at her. "It all comes back to MDT—your family—my mom."
"I don't think they're connected," she said quickly.
"Don't you? I do. I think everything is connected. Maybe your great-grandmother was right; maybe you are going to find the missing piece of the puzzle, not just for your father, but also for my mother."
Dani immediately shook her head. "I don't believe that. And don't forget that a lot of secrets about MDT came out this past year. Maybe the information that Alicia and Jake discovered was the same information this source had. Maybe he knew about Jerry and the other traitors at the company. The people he might have been blowing the whistle on could have been the same people who have already been caught."
"Were they caught or were they killed?" he challenged. "And you already said your siblings don't think this is over. Neither do I."
"But not everything has to be connected," she protested.
"And yet it is. You have to stop fighting it, Dani. You have to accept that we're both caught up in different parts of the same story."
"You don't have enough evidence to support that."
"Then help me find it."
She sighed. "I really should have gone home after the gala."
"Well, you're home now," he said, pulling into a parking spot not far from her building.
"You don't have to park," she said quickly. "I can walk from here."
"Not a chance. There's too much going on. I want to see you safely inside your apartment."
They walked down the block together. Dani let him in the building, and they took the stairs to her apartment. When she got to her door, she stopped abruptly, and shot him a panicked look.
"It's open," she whispered.
He stared in shock at the slightly ajar door. "I'll go in. Wait out here."
"We should go downstairs and call the police."
"You go downstairs. I want to see what we're dealing with."
"Someone could be in there, Patrick."
She had a point, but it was quiet, no sound coming from inside the apartment. "I'm going to take that chance. Go. I'll come and get you when it's clear."
He gently pushed open the door. The apartment was dark, so he flipped on the light switch. As light flooded the room, it was immediately clear that someone had searched the place. The cushions had been taken out of the sofa, drawers in the coffee table were open, jackets and coats from the hall closet had been tossed onto the floor.
He moved through the living room into the bedroom and bathroom and found the same messy chaos in each of those rooms. When he returned to the living room, Dani was standing by the couch, looking dazed and confused.
"They're gone," he said. "And I told you to wait outside."
"It felt scarier out there." She let out a breath. "Who would do this? Who would break in here?"
"We should call the police."
"This is about you. Someone thinks you told me something or gave me something…" Her gaze swept the room. "This wasn't a robbery; it was a search."
"Yes, it was." He pulled out his phone and punched in 911. As the operator came on the line, he reported a break-in. After being told that the intruders were gone, the dispatcher told them the police would be there shortly.
Dani picked up a sofa cushion and put it back into place.
"Don't do anything else," he said. "Let the police see it as it is first." He paused. "Do you have anything of value hidden away? Money, jewelry, electronics? Do you want to check and see if anything was taken?"
"I'll look."
As she went into the bedroom, he walked back to the front door, noting that the lock had been broken.
"I don't think they took anything," she said, returning a moment later. "I had a twenty-dollar bill on my dresser. It's still there. I don't own much in the way of expensive jewelry, but the few pieces I have are in the jewelry box."
"Computer?"
"I left it at work. I had a late meeting, so I changed for the gala in the office, and I went to the hotel right after work. But there's nothing on my computer, at least nothing to do with you. This has to be about you and your questions, right?"
He met her gaze, happy to see that her green eyes were losing their haze. The shock was wearing off; she was getting back to business. "I think so. Sorry."
"But not that many people are aware that we know each other."
"Erica knows. She could have told any number of people. Joe and Rico both saw us together," he said. "Ann didn't become aware of our connection until a few minutes ago, so I think we can count her out."
"We shouldn't have called the police," she said, her eyes growing more distressed. "There's going to be a police report. Erica is not going to like that. That will be twice in one week that I've made a statement to the police."