“BOY DID I blow that,” said Brown.
She, Decker, and Jamison were sitting in a conference room at the WFO.
Bogart, Milligan, and an attorney from the Justice Department were with Natalie in another part of the building going over the preliminary terms of a deal because of her cooperation in the case.
The woman had broken down in sobs when she’d been taken away from Dulles Airport. And even Decker could tell that this time the tears were real.
“We got that scenario totally screwed up. She set her own father up,” said Brown. “It never occurred to us. How did you figure that one?”
“Alex here actually made me think it was possible because of something she said about Anne Berkshire getting Walter Dabney under her thumb. Plus, there was no way someone like Natalie would have been allowed to run up millions in gambling debts. They would have cut her off long before.”
Brown looked over at Jamison with new respect. “I guess I just assumed that our intel on who was the gambler was true.”
Jamison said, “Amos and I have a policy of not believing anything unless we know it to be true. And that’s a high bar.” She shot Decker a glance after she said this, but he was lost in thought.
Brown said, “So Natalie described the guy who approached her. He sounded Russian to her. He made the deal of paying off her debts. It wasn’t like she could really ask her father. She said she owed about three hundred thousand. He might have been able to pay that off, but then she’d have to explain what it was for, and she didn’t want to do that. And she had borrowed the money she gambled with from some not-so-nice people who would have hurt her and her family if she didn’t repay.”
Jamison said, “So she sets her own father up.”
Brown said, “She says she didn’t know anything about her dad stealing secrets.”
“How could she not know?” retorted Jamison. “Where else was he going to get ten million?”
Brown said, “He might have mortgaged their house, cleaned out his retirement, sold every stock and bond he had. I wonder how they would have reacted if he had done that instead of stealing secrets.”
Decker interjected, “It was a chance they were willing to take. And if he did do all that, it would make him susceptible to selling secrets down the line. He wouldn’t have had any money left for retirement. So either way, they probably win. It seems that these folks are very patient about how they go about their work. They think long-term. But they didn’t have to worry about that, because he went for the sale-of-secrets route first.”
“But how do we track down this Russian guy?” asked Jamison. “He’s the only lead we have on this.”
Decker said, “We have his description and the name he gave Natalie, though it wouldn’t be his real one. They’re circulating that info to all the agencies here and overseas. Maybe something will pop.” He looked at Brown. “You said the money was untraceable?”
“Now that we know it wasn’t ten million in gambling debts we’re going to take another look at it. But don’t hold out too much hope.”
“Why not?” asked Jamison.
“First of all, in the digital age, moving money around the world is a lot easier to do and a lot harder to track. And my guess is that whoever struck the deal with Natalie paid off her debts. The ten mill for the secrets that Dabney stole was probably a sham transaction. We know money did change hands, but we lost it in the digital ether. It could have gone out of one account and bounced around the world before going into another account controlled by the same party. The proof to Dabney that the funds made it to where they were supposed to go would be in the form of Natalie and her family being alive and well.”
Jamison nodded, obviously disappointed. “That makes sense.”
“And if Natalie is telling the truth now, it doesn’t seem like she knows anything more that could help us.”
“So what sort of deal will she get?” Jamison asked Brown.
She shrugged. “If they believe that she didn’t know what her father was going to do, they might be lenient. There’s no crime in asking your parents to help pay off your debts. And gambling was legal where she did it. If you take the espionage piece out she may be looking at no prison time.”
“That hardly seems fair for what she did.”
“She lost her father over this,” said Brown. “She’s going to have to live with that the rest of her life. That might be more punishment than sitting in a prison cell.”
Decker said, “But what none of this explains is the core issue that began this case for us. Why did Dabney kill Berkshire and then himself? They have to be related to what Natalie did. But how are they connected? If we don’t answer that, we answer nothing. And what the hell is the point of that?”
He got up and walked out.
“The man is ticked off,” said Brown.
Jamison settled her gaze on the other woman. “He doesn’t like bullshit. He likes to cut right through that to get to the truth.” She paused. “How about you?”
“How about me what?”
“Do you like bullshit better than the truth?”
Brown looked at her coolly. “Do I take your aggressive tone to mean that Decker told you what happened between me and Melvin last night? And you’re upset about it?”
“He did tell me. And I was upset about it. But then you’re both consenting adults, so there you go. No, I was talking about your ‘blowing’ it, as you said about the gambling debts. I thought you were supposed to have experience and be this hotshot agent. Decker saved your ass on that one. But what I can tell you is that he will never rely on anything else you say again. Because the man with the perfect memory is never going to forget that a veteran like you made a rookie mistake by assuming something was true when you hadn’t bothered to prove that it was actually true. He said your dad was on some honor wall at DIA. Maybe you want to be too. Well, in my humble opinion you’ll need to up your game. But then maybe you don’t care about that. I’ll leave you alone now so you can think about that, if you even want to bother. And tell Melvin I said hello the next time you see him. But if you hurt him in any way, I will kick your ass.”
And with those biting remarks, Jamison got up and followed Decker out.