Honeymoon - James Patterson [89]
“I want a leave of absence. With pay, Frank. I’ve been working too hard. Double shifts and all that.”
Well, at least something could still surprise Frank Walsh.
“Wow,” he finally said. “Before I deny your request, John, is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”
I nodded. “I made a copy,” I said.
Then I pushed the file forward.
“You want to tell me what’s inside?”
“Contents of a well-traveled suitcase, Frank. There was also some clothing, which I guess was just there for padding, or maybe in case the wrong person opened up the suitcase.”
Walsh nodded. “Looks like the wrong person opened it.”
“Or maybe the right person. Susan said that this was all about making the world safe. Monitoring terrorist funds in and out of the country, checking out illegal offshore accounts. That was how we accidentally found out about Nora. She transferred a lot of money, all at one time, and we caught her.”
Walsh nodded, then smiled. It was the greasy smile that gave him away. Kind of insincere, definitely nervous. “That’s what happened, John.”
“Sort of,” I said, “but not exactly. Susan believed your story, Frank, but I had some trouble with it. So what if the FBI and Homeland Security were tracking terrorist funds and bending the law here and there? John Q. Public would probably understand.”
Frank Walsh wasn’t smiling anymore, but he was listening intently.
“So, yeah, I looked inside the suitcase. When I did it, I thought I might need some leverage someday, and maybe what was inside might help me. Purely self-serving. I had no fucking idea. Open the manila envelope, Frank. Take a look. Get ready to have your mind blown. Or maybe not.”
He sighed heavily, but then opened it.
What he found was about the size of a forefinger. It was a small flash drive. My copy of the original.
“There’s a printout in the file, too. Funny thing, though. It’s not terrorist funds, Frank.”
“No?” said Walsh, and calmly shook his head. “What is it, John?”
Finally I had to smile. “You know, I’m not entirely sure, and I have to preface this by saying that I’m not a huge fan of either political party. I’ve sort of liked presidents along the way, on both sides. Don’t know what that makes me. Agnostic?”
“What’s on the printout, John?”
“What I think it is, somebody in the Bureau tracked money coming and going to several offshore accounts. People trying to hide cash, lots of it, close to a billion and a half dollars. And as best I can tell, Frank, everyone on the printout is a contributor or ‘friend’ of the political party not currently in power. How about them apples?
“Now that would be embarrassing to the Bureau, and the administration, if it had come out during Nora Sinclair’s murder trial. That would be considered very unlawful, highly unethical too. Even worse than screwing Nora Sinclair, which I’m incredibly ashamed of, by the way.”
I stood up and noticed that my legs were a little shaky now. For some odd reason, I reached out and shook Frank Walsh’s hand, maybe because we both knew I was saying good-bye.
“Leave of absence, with pay,” he said. “You’ve got it, John. You deserve it.”
Then I walked out the door and headed home—to Riverside.
To Max, John Jr., and Susan—if she’d have me. And I’ll tell you what, the whole ride to Connecticut, I prayed that she would.
And that Susan, that incredible, wonderful Susan—eventually she did.
About the Authors
JAMES PATTERSON is the author of the two best-selling new detective series of the past decade: the Alex Cross novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Big Bad Wolf, Four Blind Mice, and Violets Are Blue, and the Women’s Murder Club series, including the #1 bestsellers 1st to Die, 2nd Chance, and 3rd Degree. He is also the author of the best-selling love stories Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas and Sam’s Letters to Jennifer. He lives in Florida.
HOWARD ROUGHAN is the author of The Up and Comer and The Promise of a Lie. He lives in Connecticut with his family.