Winston ejected it, pulled it from the USB port, and tossed it to Lucas. “It’s gonna hurt if you tell her where this came from,” Winston said. “The word will get around the school that I’m a narc.”
“I’ll cover you if I can, but she may suspect,” Lucas said. “I’m willing to tell her some lies to cover up my sources.”
“Try hard,” Winston said. “What Mom’s saying... that’s what a lot of my friends would say, too. You say, ‘Maybe a kid would get killed if you didn’t turn her in,’ but that’s all theoretical. If a kid doesn’t get killed, I’m gonna be the school dick.”
“I understand,” Lucas said.
“Do you?”
“Yes. I did murder investigations in Minnesota and I had a number of confidential sources,” Lucas said. “If they were found out, they weren’t the school dick. They were dead men walking.”
Winston thought about that, then bobbed his head: “Okay.”
Lucas stood, patted him on the shoulder, said, “Go easy on your mother,” and left.
—
HE WAS BACK AT THE WATERGATEfifteen minutes before Henderson was due to arrive, so he took a quick shower and changed into a clean shirt. As he was getting dressed, he took a phone call from Rae.
“See,” she said, “you really don’t want to be one of those shitkickers who kills somebody, but then thinks, ‘This is an expensive gun, I think I’ll keep it.’ And then, you get clever and hide it under your spare tire, where every moron who ever wore a Carhartt jacket hides his gun.”
“What kind?”
“Smith M&P nine, the perfect size to make that hole in Gibson. Threaded barrel, and we found the suppressor stuck in the crack between the seat back and the seat, in the back of the car. About the only thing small enough to fit back there.”
“Call Jane...”
“That’s all done, the FBI guys have the gun and suppressor. Nothing else of interest in there. We’re leaving here now, heading back to the Watergate.”
“Let’s meet at nine tomorrow; I’m jammed up right now.”
“See you then.”
—
HENDERSON MESSAGEDthat he was running ten minutes late, so Lucas plugged Winston’s thumb drive into his own MacBook, pulled up the files, and ran through them again. He was making notes on the metadata on the last photo when Henderson knocked.
Lucas let him in, and the senator, looking harried, yanked his necktie loose, took a chair, and asked, “I don’t suppose there’s a beer in that refrigerator?”
“As a matter of fact, there is.”
Lucas got a beer, popped the top, and handed it over. Henderson took it, swallowed some beer, said, “You know the mostamazing thing about my job? It’s talking to famous people, people you see on TV all the time, pontificating, and realizing how many of them are grubbing around for money. Still looking for angles that will make them a few bucks. And they don’t care what they have to do. Bend over the desk and take it in the ass? Sure, no problem, give me a hundred bucks.”
“Maybe you’re amazed because you never had to do that,” Lucas said. “Being born with a gold brick up that ass.”
“That’s not it,” Henderson said. “Sure, I chose the right parents and got born rich. But if I wasn’t rich, I wouldn’t grub. I know all kinds of good people who are willing to work hard but would refuse to grub around for money like some of these guys. I’m mean, it’s embarrassing.”
He hesitated in mid-rant, then said, “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. What happened? And why can’t I tell Porter?”
“Because Porter’s a Republican and Roberta Coil is a Southern Democrat who is holding on to her seat by her fingernails. I looked. She won her last election by fewer than nine thousand votes. And the Senate is delicately balanced right now.”
Henderson leaned forward. “Jesus Christ, what are you about to tell me?”
Lucas said, “The 1919 website was invented by Audrey Coil, Senator Coil’s daughter.”
Now Henderson leaned back, nearly speechless, until he managed, “Oh, fuck me! Lucas, that can’t be right!”
“Yeah, it is. I was afraid Porter...”
