Everyone turned as the voice of Chief Mackall entered the fray. He stepped off the elevator and strode in their direction. “Officer.” He nodded to Sara and then to Lainie. “Detective. You all did great work.” He motioned for Lainie and Mike to step out of the interview room, and he closed the door.
“But Agent Isaacs is from the Bureau. Seems you all have unwittingly stepped into the middle of an FBI investigation.”
“What investigation?” Lainie found her voice as anger overwhelmed the shock.
“I’m not at liberty to relay details,” Isaacs said. “Suffice it to say, Bucshon is part of it. I want him in my custody.”
“He asked to talk; he signed a Miranda waiver.”
“Has he said anything important?” the chief asked.
Lainie wished she could say yes, but she couldn’t. Her gaze bounced from the chief to Isaacs and back again. “We just got started.”
“We’ll be able to do more with what he has to say than you will,” Isaacs said.
“You don’t know what he wanted to talk about. Besides, we saw him almost kill his girlfriend and you want us to let him go?”
Heat rose in Lainie’s face. Now over the initial shock of seeing Isaacs, there was no way he would take away her chance to nail Dallas Vine.
“Chief, Bucshon works for Dallas Vine and he wants to talk. Are we going to let the Feds just take him?”
Chief Mackall gave her a sympathetic gaze. “I’m afraid we have to.”
“I’m not going to release him,” Isaacs said, “if that is any consolation. He will answer to your charges, just not immediately.”
“That’s no consolation at all.” Lainie folded her arms, livid now, hating being condescended to. “This isourarrest. No one asked the Feds in on this. How did you even know he was in custody?”
“That information is on a need-to-know basis. I’m sorry, Detective, you don’t need to know.” Isaacs’s keen cerulean gaze was almost hypnotic. Then he softened his tone. “Detective, all you want is Vine behind bars, right? Does it really matter who pounds the nails in his coffin?”
Lainie wasn’t sure how to answer. “We had a clear shot” was all she managed, and even to her it sounded weak and pathetic.
Later, after Bucshon was gone, the chief pulled her aside. “Lainie, everyone in the department knows your history with Vine.”
“Chief, I—”
He held up a hand. “I know this was a random happening. But your history with Vine is problematic. Good work helps people forget black marks. And your work since your last contact with him has been exemplary. Please don’t do anything to refresh people’s memories, clear?”
She bit her bottom lip to keep from saying something stupid. What he said was true and wise. “Clear.”
Later, when she and Mike were back in her office, Lainie brooded.
“Get over it, Lainie. Why are you taking this so hard?”
“I wanted another crack at Vine. Bucshon seemed like an omen or something. Dropped right into my lap after all this time. Why is the FBI involved anyway? Vine is a Long Beach criminal; he should be arrested by Long Beach cops.”
“He was only saying what you wanted to hear. You don’t even know if what Bucshon had to say would have been actionable.”
“If it wasn’t, why did Isaacs swoop in and take him away?”
Mike had no answer and Lainie kept brooding. She busied herself with writing the namesSkiffandCharleson a notepad. Were they first or last names? She logged on to her computer and decided to do some searching. When she came up with nothing on those names, her thoughts turned toward Agent Isaacs.
She wished she had a photo of him to put on her dartboard. Her first official contact with the FBI and she hated the agent she’d met.
CHAPTER 2
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was methodical in its investigations, sometimes taking years to finish a case and make arrests. They wanted to be certain all their t’s were crossed and their i’s dotted so they wouldn’t lose in court.
Ben wanted to explain all of that to Detective Jensen. If their roles were reversed, he would have been just as upset as she was. There just hadn’t been time.
