The Narrows - Michael Connelly [89]
“What connected Backus to him?”
“Nothing for sure. But as you can imagine, everything Backus did or touched as an agent was gone over once he was revealed. His entire case history was audited as much as possible. He did a lot of consulting on cases abroad. Part of the FBI image machine. He went to places like Poland, Yugoslavia, Italy, France, you name it.”
“He went to Prague?”
She nodded.
“He went to Prague on a case. To consult. Young women disappearing and ending up in the river. Prostitutes. The doctor—the face man—was questioned in the investigation because he did the breast augmentations on three of the victims. Backus was there. He helped question the doctor.”
“And he could have been told about the doctor’s suspected sideline.”
“Exactly. We think he knew and we think he went there to change his face.”
“That wouldn’t have been easy. His real face was on the front of every newspaper and magazine back then.”
“Look, Bob Backus is a psychopathic killer but he is a very smart psychopath. Outside of the made-up guys in books and movies, nobody’s ever been smarter at this. Not even Bundy. We have to assume that he had an escape plan all along. From day one. When I put him out that window eight years ago, you better believe he already had a plan in place. I’m talking about money, IDs, whatever he would need to reinvent himself and get away. He probably carried it with him. We assume from L.A. he made his way back east first and then split to Europe.”
“He burned down his condo,” I said.
“Right, we give him credit for that, which puts him in Virginia three weeks after I shot him in L.A. That was a shrewd move. He torched the place and then got to Europe, where he could lie low for a while, change his face and then start again.”
“Amsterdam.”
She nodded.
“The first killing in Amsterdam occurred seven months after the face man burned in Prague.”
I nodded. It all seemed to fit together. Then I thought of something else.
“How is the director going to announce the surprise that Backus is alive when four years ago you had Amsterdam?”
“He’s got all kinds of deniability on that. First and most important, that was another director’s watch. So he can lay anything he needs to off on him. That’s FBI tradition. But realistically, that was another country and it wasn’t an investigation we were running. And it was never absolutely confirmed. We had handwriting analysis, but that was really it and that is not in the same league as fingerprinting or DNA when it comes to confirming. So the director can simply say nothing was for sure about Backus in Amsterdam. Either way he’s safe. He just has to worry about the here and the now.”
“Manage the moment.”
“FBI one-oh-one.”
“And you people are going along with his going public?”
“No. We asked for a week. He gave us the day. The press conference is at six p.m. eastern time.”
“Like anything’s going to happen today.”
“Yeah, we know. We’re fucked.”
“Backus will probably go under, change his face again and not turn up for another four years.”
“Probably. But the director won’t get hit with any blowback on it. He’ll be safe.”
We were silent for a few moments thinking about that. I could understand the director’s decision but it certainly helped him more than it helped the investigation.
We were on the 15 and I was pulling into the exit lane for the Blue Diamond Highway.
“What happened at the nine a.m., before the director’s meeting?”
“The usual round-robin. Updates from every agent.”
“And?”
“And there’s not a lot that is new. A few things. We talked about you mostly. I’m counting on you, Harry.”
“For what?”
“For a new lead here. Where are we going?”
“Do they know we’re riding together, or are you still supposed to be watching me as in watching me.”
“I think they would prefer the latter—in