Chapter Nine
ALICIA
I was still smiling as the elevator doors closed to take me back up to the apartment. I could tell Adam was nervous when he first got there tonight, but as usual, he’d charmed the pants off of everyone in the room. The elevator stopped on the second floor and a man stepped on. It took me a second to realize it was Miles IV. “Mr. Brigham, what are you doing here?” I asked, feeling very uncomfortable.
“You and I need to talk, young lady.” He looked – and smelled – as if he had been drinking heavily.
“Why don’t you come into the office and see me in the morning? I’ll be there by nine.” Miles pushed the stop button on the elevator. I was beginning to feel panic well up inside of me.
“What are you doing?”
“I said we need to talk. The papers and the television are smearing my family’s name all across this State. I’m up on charges for a murder I didn’t commit. My son will probably be arrested soon for a murder he probably did commit, but no one was supposed to know about, and all of the information my company has kept private and personal for years will probably pop up any day now. You and your damn boss are responsible for all of that, and I want to know what you plan to do about it.”
My heart was racing and I could feel the sweat on my palms. I stood my ground though.
“Mr. Brigham, I will forgive you for this, just this once, because I believe you have had too much to drink. In the future, however, if you wish to speak with me, you will use the phone and make an appointment to see me at my office. Now, I have company waiting for me in my apartment and would appreciate it if you would press that button and get us moving again. If you choose not to do so, I will press the emergency button and you can explain to the police why you felt it was okay to trap me here against my will.”
Miles looked at me and smiled. “I like your balls, young lady,” he said before pushing the button for my floor. We rode up without speaking further, but as I stepped out, he said, “I’ll be calling you for that appointment.”
“That’ll be fine,” I told him.
I waited for the elevator doors to close before turning my back on him. The hairs on the back of my neck were still standing up. I thought about calling Adam and telling him, but decided to let him rest easy tonight. I would tell him in the morning.
********
I told Adam about Miles on our way out to meet with David. “He’s so used to using intimidation in his business and family dealings, he probably thought it would work with you, too. Way to go putting him in his place, babe.”
I smiled. “Thanks, I can take care of myself when I have to.”
“I know you can,” Adam told me as he took one hand off the wheel and reached over to take mine.
We arrived at the diner ten minutes before David was supposed to be there and went inside to order coffee. We were both alternately anticipating and dreading what David might have to say. We were surprised when he walked in to see him flanked by two large men who appeared to be Federal agents. We had known he would be under close watch, but for him to be willing to talk to us directly in front of the officers seemed curious.
David walked up to the table and said, “Mr. Hanson,” and then looking towards me, “Miss Winston, I’m glad you both could make it. I’d like you to meet my colleagues, Agents White and Williams.”
We were confused. “Colleagues?” Adam asked.
“Yes,” David told us as he took out his wallet. He opened it and laid his FBI identification and badge on the table in front of them. There was a picture of him on the ID and it identified him as “Special Agent David Tyler.”
“You’re an agent?” I asked, still unsure what was happening. Adam picked up the wallet and examined it more closely.
David said, “May I?” When we both nodded, he sat down with us at the table. The two other men took a seat in the booth behind us. After the waitress brought David his coffee, he finally continued.
“I’m sure this is confusing to you both. I will try to explain as best I can. I am a Special Agent with the FBI. I have been deep undercover for several years now. My job was originally to find out what was going on with a large influx of money coming both in and out of the President’s campaign fund.
“I was placed as an intern. I was given a background as a Political Science major who was attending law school and had loyalty to the Republican Party. I met Vick and realized that as campaign manager, he was going to be a very important piece of the puzzle.”
I couldn’t help it; my face must have involuntarily shown my disdain regarding the man’s scruples.
David smiled at me and said, “I assure you, Ms. Hanson, I was not using sex to get what I needed from Vick. Vick and I worked closely together for a while. He agreed to help us before anything sexual ever took place between us. We fell in love. Vick was working with me, to expose what was going on with that campaign.
“I admit, it is seriously frowned upon in my line of work to get romantically involved with an informant, and especially if that informant is of the same sex as you. I have been severely reprimanded for that, and I am sure I haven’t heard the last of it.” He paused and glanced over at his colleagues.
“Anyways, Vick was already on the inside. It was where I needed to be, but didn’t have the time I needed to work my way all the way in.”
“Wait,” Adam said, “Brigham had proof that Vick was stealing funds himself. I’ve seen the paper trail.”
“That was part of the plan,” David said. “Vick needed to look dirty so he could attract the people who were really behind all of this. We set it up to look like he was a playboy and a philanderer. His fiancée Cindy McGuire was paid to play her part. Money was not the draw for her; she loved the drama. His mistress however, the stripper, she did it for the money.”
“What about your relationship with Celia Brigham?” I asked. “You used that young girl?”
“Yes, I did,” David said with what seemed to me to be little remorse. “After Vick began giving us information, we started figuring out that getting close to Brigham was going to be key for us to infiltrate this political circle. He was in very good standing with the President and all of his close advisors before the oil spill and all of the negative press. We needed to get close to the family so we could get close to him.
“The plan was that we would stage Vick’s arrest, and Miles would push for me to become the President’s campaign manager. Instead, Vick ended up dead and Brigham had discovered our relationship by then. He pushed for Alex Fritz to be put in his place. What Brigham didn’t know, at least from what we’ve discovered, was that Fritz was already deeply involved in what was going on.”
“Now wait,” Adam said. “Alex is and has been a very good friend of mine for some time now. There’s no way he’s involved in any dirty politics.”
David took a long sip of his coffee and said, “I’m afraid he is, Mr. Hanson. Fritz is involved up to his eyeballs.”
“Involved in what, exactly?” I asked. “You aren’t exactly telling us what this is all about. “
I could tell Adam was getting angry. I put my hand on his thigh under the table in a calming touch and waited for David to answer the question.
“Let me back up a bit,” David said. “A few years back when Miles Brigham IV began putting his money in politics, he made a deal with some very powerful people to look the other way, so to speak, about the way he does business. They were willing to do so in exchange for a lot of cash.
“They were willing to do it up until the time that hundreds of barrels of oil were spilled into the Gulf and people all over this country wanted the billionaire oil mogul to pay for his sins. They wanted him prosecuted and if Miles Brigham IV were to fall, a lot of other people were going to go down with him. The EPA was investigating, the Feds were investigating, and as you both know, the reporters in this city have dug up every piece of dirt on him that they could find. That was when people started getting nervous.
“These were people in high places with powerful positions and six figure monthly incomes. They didn’t want any of the dirt being dug up on Brigham to be connected to them in any way. They started trying to cut ties with him. We believe Vick’s murder was part of that. We have some ideas about who the biggest players were and who may be responsible.”
Adam and I sat silently trying to absorb all of this information. There was one primary question on both of our minds and Adam asked it first,
“Why are you telling us all of this?”
“Well, we believe that your ex-wife’s murder was related, as well. Someone is also afraid of what you know. You’ve been working closely with Brigham and as you said yourself, Alex Fritz is a close friend of yours. We believe that whoever killed Marjorie was actually looking for you that night.”
I didn’t want to think about what may have happened if Adam had gotten home before Marjorie that evening. I pushed that thought to the furthest reaches of my mind and said, “What about Jack Grant? On the phone, you said he was a part of this, too.”
“Yes, Mr. Grant’s family also has significant monetary ties to the President’s campaign. Vick was the connection early on when the donations were still legitimate. At some point, the money started coming in at such massive rates that we began to get suspicious that the Grants were using these donations to launder dirty money. Interpol has already been investigating them.
“We believe the senior Mr. Grant has ties to a very sophisticated international smuggling ring. A huge part of getting his textile business into the U.S. was to have an outlet for smuggling other items in, as well as another place to hide the illegal monies. The junior Mr. Grant was sent here to make sure that no one found out exactly how much of our money had already been moved into the United States.”
I had been suspicious of Jack’s motives lately and I had seen him arguing with Alex that day not too long ago, but from what I knew, Jack had never been interested in getting involved in his father’s business. It had always been a point of contention between the two. Jack had spent hour upon hour talking it over with me when we had been together. I couldn’t imagine how now, less than four years later Jack had become willing to get his hands dirty.
“So, the Grants sent large amounts of money to the United States under the guise of making political donations and establishing a business here. But it was dirty money?”
“Yes,” David said. “That, we believe was the money that had been disappearing. We made it look like it was Brigham’s money and that Vick was the one taking it, when in actuality we were moving it around.
“Once we had given the money to the campaign, we needed people on the inside to make sure the money didn’t stay in politics, and instead when into business accounts that we could access.
“We couldn’t just approach someone like Vick. He had no criminal history, and there was no reason for them to believe he would be willing to become involved in such a scheme. If we had approached him and he had agreed, we wouldn’t have known if we could trust him. We needed our own man inside. That, I’m afraid, is where Mr. Fritz came in.”
Adam scratched his head, “I still can’t believe that Alex is involved in this. He is my best friend. How could I not know?”
I put my hand on his arm and looked back at David. “What do you want from us?”
David waved over the other two agents. They sat down at the table and the one that David had introduced as Agent Williams took the lead.
“All of what Agent Tyler has told you thus far is so that you will believe what I have to say next. Mr. Hanson, we feel very strongly that your life may be in danger. Through your connection to Mr. Hanson and your connection to Brigham, we are concerned for your safety, too Ms. Winston.
“We are here today to give you a few options. You are free to choose, as I’m sure you both as attorneys know, which option is best for you without any repercussions from us. The issue may be repercussions with regards to your safety.”
Adam raised a skeptical eyebrow. “What are these…options you are offering?”
“The first option is that we put you both into a safe house and remove you completely from the danger.” We both shook our heads in the negative simultaneously and the agent went on. “The second option is that we offer you both incentive to work with us, to help us find out who exactly is responsible for Mr. Field’s and Mrs. Hanson’s deaths and bring this mess to a close.”
We looked questioningly at each other and then I asked, “And the third option is?”
“The third option is that you continue on with your lives and choose not to be any part of this at all.”
I looked at Adam again. I knew him well enough to know what his choice would be. I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure myself that it was the choice I wanted to make, but I also knew I would choose Adam no matter what.
“I won’t hide, or be hidden,” Adam said, dismissing the first choice off-hand. “I need to know for myself, see firsthand what Alex has gotten himself involved in. I also want Marjorie’s murderer found. She wasn’t much of a wife, but she deserved better than to be murdered naked in her tub, especially if they were there looking for me and she was an innocent bystander.”
He looked at me and went on, “I don’t want you involved in this, though. These people are dangerous. I want you somewhere safe, until it’s over. I couldn’t lose you, Alicia.”
I sighed. “You know me better than that. I won’t accept less than being wherever you are. I won’t be hidden and protected while you’re out there putting your life at risk. I will do whatever I need to do to catch these people, as well.”
Adam started to speak, but was silenced by the look of determination on my face. I was right, he did know me well enough to know I wouldn’t accept being whisked away and protected like a fragile princess. I was tough, probably tougher than he was when you got right down to it.
“What about our ongoing cases, though? Adam is lead counsel in Brigham’s civil case. Does he continue with that as if nothing happened? If so, he can’t give you any information that is privileged. He could be disbarred. And what about me, I am defending him in Vick’s murder trial.”
Agent White took that one. “Ms. Winston, you have our word that we will not ask you to do anything which compromises you or Mr. Hanson’s law licenses. We are not interested in whether or not Mr. Brigham wins or loses his civil case. We have what information we need with regards to that.
“As far as Mr. Field’s murder, the police have arrested and charged Mr. Brigham, but we are continuing our own investigation. Mr. Brigham won’t go to trial for quite some time. Perhaps we can have these issues resolved prior to that happening.”
“Do you have any ideas who took the files from our offices?” Adam asked.
“Yes, it was Grant’s men. Grant is the one who gave some of the information to the press, too. He has been meeting with a reporter named Rose Dugan.”
“Figures,” Adam said with a disgusted tone. “I knew she was trouble the first time I met her. What is Grant’s goal here?”
“To get Brigham convicted of murder and locked up, to cause him to lose billions of dollars in the civil case, and ultimately, to ruin him. If Brigham is so preoccupied with his own problems, he won’t have the time or the funds to dedicate to investigating why the money is still disappearing, even though Vick is no longer around to take it. Fritz can explain it away for a while, but we all know that Mr. Brigham’s tenacity will drive him to pursue an issue as far as he can.”
I looked at my watch and said, “I need to get to the office. I have a meeting with a client at ten. What do you want us to do?”
“In your case, Ms. Winston, we know how close you are to Mr. Grant. We would like you to continue that friendship, and perhaps he will share information with you that we can use.” Adam started to object, but I put my hand on his arm to quiet him.
“I can do that, as his friend. I won’t go any farther than that, however, do you understand?”
“Absolutely, again, we do not wish to put you in harm’s way. We would just appreciate if you could share with us anything Mr. Grant tells you which may be of suspect.”
“I can do that,” I said and gave Adam a reassuring look.
Adam sighed heavily and said, “And what about me?”
“We need you to find out what you can about Alex Fritz’s involvement, if you can.”
Before Adam could speak up, I interjected, “He tells you only what Alex chooses to share with him, right? He’s not going to be on a fishing expedition that will make Alex realize he knows something.”
“Same rules apply. We ask only that you share with us what you find out in normal conversation. We are not setting you up to take any type of fall here. You will be watched closely by our undercover agents. You won’t even know we are there, but you will be safe, of that I assure you.”
We got a few remaining details from the agents before we left to head back to Manhattan and the office. We were both quiet on the drive. each lost in our own thoughts.
It was a lot to absorb, and I couldn’t help thinking about the Jack I used to know versus the guy he’d allegedly become. I remembered all the time I had spent listening to Jack talk about wanting to be one of the good guys. He wanted to defend and protect the innocent and had told me over and over that he wouldn’t compromise his values to become part of his father’s business. He had known even then that everything his father did was not on the up and up, and he had told me countless times that he wanted no part of it. I couldn’t help but wonder what leverage his father may have used to convince him otherwise.