“More like my boss thinks I missed something.”
“That car was being serviced.”
Just like I thought. “Oh…wait. I might have had a different car. Can you look up by address to see if a car was there?” I give him the address of the Winter Festival.
He taps at his keyboard again. “That car has been retired.”
“But it was used on that day? Can you tell me who checked it out?”
“I thought you did?” He looks at me now like I’m up to something.
“I…ah…”
He purses his lips. “An Agent Dan Smith checked it out.”
“Right. Thank you.”
Back at my desk, I do a search for Agent Dan Smith.
The only one I find is from the cyber crimes unit and who passed away this past January from cancer.
I sit back.
How did someone sick with cancer and dying in January, check out a car and kidnap a child in December?
Doing a deeper dive, I see Agent Smith had been on leave since September last year.
So he couldn’t have checked out the car.
I stare at my screen, feeling slightly nauseated. This is concrete evidence supporting Dom's accusation.
Bureau resources used in a child's abduction. A car checked out by an agent who wasn’t even working.
And somehow…my license plate, maybe, is linked to me.
If someone in the FBI orchestrated Rocco's kidnapping, what else have they done? What else have I unknowingly participated in?
I sit back as a cold clarity settles over me.
The distance between becoming a criminal and becoming corrupted in the name of justice is smaller than I ever imagined.
The path to hell truly is paved with good intentions.
Or perhaps intentions that only appeared good on the surface.
Someone in the Bureau crossed that line. And I'm going to find out who. But what if Blackwood is behind this?
What if he orchestrated Rocco's kidnapping, Mrs. Ferraza's murder, the deliberate sabotage of La Corona's peace, what am I supposed to do?
Go to Assistant Director Morris? The Office of Professional Responsibility? Internal Affairs?
"Hey, I think my boss might be conducting illegal operations against the mafia because my mafia boyfriend suggested it." Even in my head, it sounds absurd.
Even more puzzling is why my boss would cross this line. He’s a good agent. Is it just frustration over an inability to pin anything on La Corona? Or is there something more? Who is Victor Blackwood?
I pull out my personal phone and search for information on Victor Blackwood. The first results have to do with his career. Nothing shady or questionable is mentioned.
“Hey Ricci.” Agent Thompson sits on the edge of my desk.
