The Shut Mouth Society (36 page)

“
Where the hell have you been?”

“
I thought you didn’t want me around.”

“
Abraham Douglass is old news. If you remember, you have a job here. What is this, some kind of juvenile snit?”

“
I have a personal issue. One I’d prefer not to discuss. Put me on vacation. I have three weeks coming.”

“
You’re already on administrative suspension. I don’t know if I can get it changed to vacation. Why’d you run?”

“
Long story, but you’ve got to trust me for a few more days. I’ve got something I need to handle, and I want more time. Is it true I’ve been cleared of that Rock Burglar thing?”

“
Yeah. But the chief’s still upset that you took off. He thinks you might be hiding something else.”

“
My problem isn’t police business. Can you put me on vacation? Talk to the chief.”

“
I’ll try, but you’re not giving me much to lay in front of him.”

“
Okay, listen, I got pissed off and went on a surfing trip along the coast. At first, I just wanted to clear my head, but now I’ve found a woman. One I think might turn into something serious, and I want to give it a chance. Get me some time … please.”

Evarts listened to a long hesitation and then heard a reluctant, “All right.”

“
One other thing. I’ve been thinking about the Rock Burglar. Someone at the department tried to frame me. I want you to check the schedule of the rest of the force to see if anyone has a pattern that tracks to the robberies.”

“
You suspect someone on the Santa Barbara force?”

“
I think implicating me might have been a diversionary tactic.”

Damon paused again. “Okay. You might be right. I’ll put someone on it.”

“
Can I make a suggestion?”

“
Sure.”

“
Detective Standish.”

“
Good choice. She should be clean.”

After Evarts hung up, he thought about what he had just done. Was it peevishness? If word got out that he had initiated a broad internal investigation, he would have trouble with his fellow officers. Unless they found something—then that news would override all else.

When he returned ten minutes later, he slid the cardboard coffee cup over to her and said, “I need to interrupt you.”

She put her finger in the middle of the document to indicate where she had stopped reading. “What?”

“
Put that down … please.”

Now she looked worried. “What is it?”

“
I have a message from your parents.”

She looked confused for a moment and then glanced at the computer. Her eyes looked scared when they returned to his. “You deciphered a message to me?”

“
Yes. It’s very short, but I thought you should read it before we try to figure out what the rest of it means.”

“
Give it to me.”

Evarts pulled the tablet out of his back pocket and made a mental check one more time. The motel logo dominated the top of the paper, and the chain’s contact information took up a good part of the bottom. He hadn’t needed much room. He checked the two rows of numbers and the cursive note below.

41111, 124252, 221105, 1230118

214834, 512913, 512914, 121612, 121629

If find, then dead.

Daughter – Dear’st Love – Mother Father

He handed it to her and sat on the edge of the bed. She read the note, paused a long moment, and then took off her glasses and looked out the window. Evarts sat still and sipped his coffee as quietly as he could manage. After awhile, he saw her dry her eyes, with her head still diverted. She turned away from the window, and sympathy welled up in him when he saw her rueful smile. Without a word, she came over and sat beside him on the bed, leaning her head against his shoulder. They stayed like that for several minutes. She didn’t cry, and he sensed that she didn’t want him to pull her closer.

After awhile, she said, “That was sweet.” Then she heaved a big sigh and added, “I assume there’s more.”

“
Yes … about the union, that is.”

“
That’s what I meant.” She kissed his cheek. “Let me see it.”

“
On the computer. I didn’t transcribe it.” They both went over to the table, and Evarts opened the file he had saved to the desktop. The screen showed three additional rows of numbers.

41213, 111522, 324216, 126131, 128944

416254, 414161, 222121, 22352, 122635

323116, 414161, 41411410, 5127127, 122635

Below, he had typed the three corresponding messages.

believe Dog lass told all

stuff at john she man

danger at lake nor man

“
What do you think it means?” she asked.

“
The first message seems obvious. Douglass was supposed to tell us what we needed to know, but he didn’t sense the danger, so he played a little game with us to whet our appetites for solving the mystery. We failed to start this mission with a proper brief.”

“
Mission? Brief? You’re reverting to your old army intelligence mindset.”

He shrugged. “Secret codes and hidden files.” He pointed at the screen. “I don’t understand the second two lines, but I hope the ‘stuff’ reference means evidence against the union … modern evidence.”

“
John she man?”

“
I don’t know, maybe a transvestite?”

“
You’re kidding.”

“
No. Cops call the client of a prostitute a john. This may be a lead—a sexual freak who we can find by checking police records.”

She studied the screen a minute. “Do you think Shakespeare used the Sherman family name in his play?”

“
What? No. Why?”

“
Because I don’t think my father found Sherman in
The Tempest
.”

Evarts looked at the screen again. “Damn it.” He felt stupid. “John Sherman belongs to the Mute Council. Greene already gave me his name.”

“
Some code breaker you are.”

“
Now all we’ve got to do is find him?” He caught her smile. “You know, don’t you? Tell me.”

“
John Sherman, who I assume is a descendant of all these other Shermans, is an influential congressman from Ohio. You should watch more news.”

He read the screen aloud. “Stuff at john she man.” He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. “A congressman. They gave the stuff to a congressman for safekeeping.”

Baldwin suddenly looked worried. “What if they’ve already killed him?”

“
Check the Internet.”

Baldwin made a Google search and said with relief, “He gave a speech on the floor yesterday.”

“
Are you sure? Members can just hand speeches over to the Congressional Record and pretend they’re doing their job while they sail around on some lobbyist’s boat.”

“
No, he made a real speech. The
Washington Post
has a story on it. Big news. He slammed the Mexican Panther party for corruption. He’s taking a lot of flack, especially from Hispanic activists.”

“
Thank god. How soon can you get packed? I want to get on the road to D.C.”

“
What about the last message line?”

“
Piece of cake. Dog lass, Douglass. She man, Sherman. Nor man, Norman. The last line warns us about a danger at Lake Norman. With any luck, it’s the center of the union.”

She typed quickly and hit the enter key hard. When she tapped the touchpad at the first listing, the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce website popped onto the screen.

“
North Carolina,” Evarts read over her shoulder. “Over five hundred miles of shoreline. That’s a big lake.”

“
Smaller than all of North America.”

“
You got that right,” he said. “Those sons of bitches are almost in our sights.”

Chapter 44

“
Where are we going?”

“
A friend’s house.” He smiled. “This time we won’t have to stay in a motel that counts its crummy towels.”

“
Who?”

“
Steven Harding. A friend from when I lived here.”

“
Can you trust him?” She looked nervous.

“
With my life.” He gave her a pat on the knee. “And more importantly, with yours.”

“
How much are you going to tell him?”

Evarts had spent a lot of time thinking that through. “Everything. Steve and I ran several missions together. He’s a good guy to have around in a fight.” Evarts thought she still looked nervous. “Trish, we need help.”

“
I think we should talk to the congressman before we disclose anything to outsiders.”

“
I thought so as well … at first, that is. Trish, the congressman might be another dead end. I have people in this town I trust from my army days and—”

“
You’re going to pull others in?”

“
No.” He wished he had brought up Harding before they had rolled into Georgetown. “No, just Steve for now.”

“
What kind of missions?”

“
What?”

“
What kind of missions did you run with this Harding character? And don’t give me that crap about a secrecy oath. People are trying to kill us. I want to know about Harding.”

Without hesitation, Evarts said, “We ran covert insertion operations: small, highly trained teams that implanted surveillance devices in unfriendly or hostile locales. I ran the technical side, and Steve’s crew took care of any trouble we ran into, but we were all trained to do any function.”

“
I thought the NSA could intercept any communications.”

“
Only transmitted communications. We were after private conversations. The kind that occurs between two people behind closed doors.”

“
You planted bugs?”

“
In a way of speaking, but the stuff we have nowadays, you don’t need to actually get inside, just close.”

“
So, you didn’t break codes?”

“
Oh, I did my share of that, but mostly I tried to pinpoint where we needed to insert close-quarters listening devices. Then I joined the missions to make sure they got implanted in the right spot and were properly calibrated. I mostly worked behind a desk, but Steve always played on the dark side.”

Baldwin seemed to think these revelations over and then said, “How many times did you run into trouble?”

Evarts laughed. “Seemed like every time, but we only ran into the shooting kind of trouble twice.” He looked at her. “Trish, I trust Steve when things get dicey.”

Baldwin turned toward the side window, and when she spoke, she sounded like she was talking to herself. “‘Dicey’ seems like such a civilized term for what we’re into.”

Evarts had arrived at his destination in Georgetown. His friend from his military service had inherited a townhouse in the toniest section of this tony enclave. Evarts had lived with Harding during his last year in the service, and Harding had been badgering him to visit, but he never seemed to find the time—or perhaps the motivation. These were not the best of circumstances, but he looked forward to seeing his old comrade in arms again.

The street appeared empty and the house still, but Evarts thought that Harding could be home. People closed themselves off inside their houses in this neighborhood, and Harding had enough money not to work. Evarts parked at the closest spot he could find, which was nearly two blocks away. They grabbed their bags and walked back along streets lined with immaculate brick townhouses.

Evarts rang the bell. When no one answered, he stepped into a flowerbed and removed a loose brick in the planter, where he found the spare key. When he returned to the stoop, he checked the street and windows before inserting the key. After he unlocked the door, he said, “There’s a security panel just inside the door. If he’s changed the code, an alarm will go off. If it does, we walk away as calm as two residents taking an afternoon stroll. Okay?”

“
What’s he going to do when he sees you’ve broken into his house?”

“
Give me a bear hug.” He pushed the door open and keyed the old code into the keypad. A green light blinked on and he sighed with relief.

They stepped into the entry, and a burly man with a .45 hanging at his side suddenly appeared at the end of the hall.

“
Steve. You didn’t answer the bell.”

“
I was on the crapper.” He rushed over and did exactly as Evarts predicted. He gave him a crushing bear hug that made it hard for Evarts to get a breath. “Damn, it’s good to see you. Why didn’t you call?”

“
Long story, but we’ll get to it. This is Patricia Baldwin. A friend.”

“
I hope she’s just a friend,” Harding said with a broad wink.