The Second Mouse - Archer Mayor [103]
That last part still wasn’t sitting too comfortably on his conscience.
Other things were sitting awkwardly as well, not the least of which was what they were all doing here tonight. Nancy’s information had created an instant flurry of debate among the leaders of most of the agencies represented in the county. Her evidence pointing to things as varied and damning as murder, assault, robbery, and grand theft promised a healthy combination of case clearances and good press.
But none of it touched her prize offering. Being told of the Niemiecs had been like finding a solid gold nugget in an otherwise bulging Cracker Jack box, and when it came to tantalizing law enforcement, the promise of a big drug bust was hard to resist.
Thus, despite Joe’s urging that a bird in the hand could just as easily be complemented by a separate operation against the Niemiecs, the decision had been made not to grab Mel separately but to sweep them all up at one time.
To pay them their due, the advocates of this approach did have a few points buttressing their position, not the least of which was that Mel had gone to ground, leaving a message to Nancy at the trailer that for security reasons he’d decided they should reassemble only at the airport on the night in question. According to the note, which she’d read to Joe over the phone after reaching home, Mel had heard there were extra cops in the area, asking questions about him.
Ellis had also proved problematic. Nancy, using the police department phone, had located him after calling a half-dozen numbers, and had stopped him from telling Mel what had happened at the college. However, he’d also refused to speak to anyone but her. He’d understood that she was making a deal with the cops and that he was the primary beneficiary, but he’d said no to coming in. An uneasy compromise had been cobbled together where he would see how things stood only after Mel was in handcuffs.
His position thus weakened, Joe had been forced to concede. But as he stood in the dark, watching the peaceful scene outside, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they’d taken on something involving far too many variables.
Finally, for Joe personally, there was one last disappointment that had nothing to do with this, at least not apparently. He couldn’t escape a lingering sadness that Michelle Fisher had never surfaced in any of Nancy’s tellings. While she had acknowledged Mel’s purchase of his truck from some “fat guy” on Gage Street, she had cast no light on any trips to Wilmington or any boasts about a lucrative hit job.
Michelle Fisher, as seemed her fate, had once more slipped into the background.
Joe crossed over to the shadowy figure of Johnny Massucco, who was, as it turned out, the team leader of the Bennington SWAT.
“Any problem with my going up to the roof?” he asked in a whisper.
Massucco, calm but focused, shrugged and pressed his throat mike. In a murmur, he warned the crew above them that Gunther was on his way. He didn’t bother telling Joe to keep low and quiet when he got there.
Up top, Joe cleared the darkened trapdoor on the roof and scuttled over to a makeshift tarpaulin tent that had been erected even with the low wall along the edge. Crouching inside, shielded from sight by the tent, Sammie Martens was manning a laptop computer whose unearthly glow lit her face. On its screen was a map, with the airport in its middle.
“Any sign of her?” Joe asked quietly.
“At the edge,” Sam confirmed, tapping the image with her fingertip. “Looks like she’s stationary near the corner of Gypsy Lane and Route 9, probably in a car.”
They’d had Nancy Martin attach the GPS transmitter to her bra, between her breasts, where they knew it would be the most comfortable, and presumably the least visible.
“Wish we could tell if she’s alone or not,” he muttered, half to himself. They hadn’t dared tell Ellis of this one small detail and had sworn Nancy