Trail of Destruction

Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Christine parked her rental car in the parking lot at FBI headquarters in Quantico. She glanced at her watch and saw that she had about fifteen minutes before her scheduled meeting time with her boss, Frank Elliot. She had filled Frank in on Terry Brinson's murder last week and then made an appointment for today to go over her findings in more detail. This time, she had his assurance that the meeting would be between only the two of them, not the dog and pony show she had walked into the last time she came in for a briefing.

She sat for another five minutes, collecting her thoughts and preparing herself for the grilling that she knew she would face. Then she stepped out of her car and began to walk to the entrance of the building. She shivered, partly due to the fall chill in the air, and partly due to the tension running through her body. After showing her identification to multiple security personnel, she arrived at her supervisor's office and faced the last sentry, his secretary.

In spite of having met Christine at least a dozen times, the secretary still eyed the agent suspiciously. "Mr. Elliot has you scheduled for thirty minutes, but he's very busy today. He's already running about twenty minutes late."

Christine nodded and took a seat in his waiting area. She opened her file and began to review her notes. She had spent hours putting together a cohesive presentation pointing to Terry Brinson as the man responsible for killing Amy and implicating Brad Newcomb in the plot. Now it looked as though she was only going to have about ten minutes to sell her boss on her theory.

She watched as Frank's door opened and a group of people she didn't recognize exited. A couple of minutes later, Frank came out looking as frazzled as she felt. He greeted Christine and then asked his secretary to bring them some coffee before he led the agent into his office and had her join him at a small round worktable.

"So there have been some new developments?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, let's see what you've got."

Christine began to present her findings as methodically as if she were in a courtroom. When their coffee arrived and Frank told his secretary to push back his next two meetings, she knew she had him hooked.

For the next hour, she took him through all the evidence she had linking Brinson to Amy's murder. She led off with background on his close relationship with the candidate, going back to when they were in school together and progressing to when Brinson started working for Newcomb. Next she provided him with Brinson's military records, including his training as a sniper. Having laid the groundwork for Brinson's loyalty to Newcomb as a motive, and his military training as an opportunity, Christine began to delve into the logistics of the crime.

She had hotel receipts for when Brinson was in Dallas the week prior to the shooting, when she believed he planned the fake assassination attempt. She had statements from witnesses who were on the Dallas task force that worked with Brinson setting up the logistics for the candidate's speech. They'd all agreed that he was instrumental in determining exactly where the stage and podium were to be set up.

She had a record of Brinson's flight to Chicago and a receipt from a shooting range near his home, showing that he had been practicing that same week before the Dallas speech. The owner of the range and gun shop also provided a statement verifying that Brinson owned the type of rifle used in the shooting, and that he sold him bullets matching those found in the victim.

Christine also explained to Frank how a thorough search of Brinson's Chicago apartment had failed to turn up the rifle, which she believed was in the custody of the FBI. Unfortunately, with the serial number filed off and no fingerprints or DNA evidence, they would probably never be able to prove definitively that the rifle had belonged to Brinson.

Next Christine pulled out a copy of a UPS tracking slip indicating that Brinson had shipped a box large enough to accommodate a rifle from Chicago to his hotel in Dallas. She had yet to determine where he had hidden the rifle before the murder, but she had her team canvassing storage unit facilities in the hopes that someone would recognize Brinson's picture.

Although Frank hadn't said much up to that point, Christine could feel that he was moving from skeptic to believer as she laid out her case. With her confidence growing, the agent began to review the highlights of her interviews with the suspect.

"When I first met with Brinson right after the shooting, he referred to the victim's death as collateral damage. It was such an inappropriate comment. I think that was when the first seed was planted in my mind that this so-called assassination attempt might not really be one."

Christine reminded her supervisor how her suspicions were further raised when the autopsy revealed a perfect head shot, which she thought was too coincidental to be a miss.

"And I remember telling you to dismiss that theory," Frank said.

"In fairness, sir, I did devote all of my team resources to investigating the case as if it were an assassination attempt against Newcomb. I did most of the legwork on this myself up until Brinson was murdered."

Frank raised his eyebrows, but chose not to comment. "What about motive? I buy into his loyalty to Newcomb, but why kill the woman?"

"That's the final piece of the puzzle, sir." Christine drew a deep breath. "I believe the victim was pregnant with the candidate's baby."

Christine watched as her boss gripped the edge of the table and brought his face within inches of hers. "You've got to fucking be kidding me!" he bellowed.

Christine had to smother a smile. This was the first time she had ever seen her ice cold supervisor lose his composure.

"Do you have any proof of that?" he asked.

"That's what I need your help with, sir." Christine began to tick off her points with her fingers. "First, I have proof of the pregnancy based on the autopsy. Second, I have witnesses to a possible affair between the candidate and the victim. Third, I have DNA for the fetus."

She lowered her hand, her eyes boring into Frank's. "Now I just need to get a warrant for Newcomb's DNA so that I can match it to the fetus."

"Holy shit. Do you realize what you're asking for? This man is probably going to be elected president in..." Her boss looked up at a calendar over his desk, a serene picture of snow-capped mountains over the block of dates. "Jesus, a week from today."

"Yes, sir. That's why we have to move on this now."

Frank shook his head. "Even if you can prove that Newcomb was this baby's father, how do you know that he was involved in the plot to murder his lover?"

"Because someone killed Terry Brinson. I was about to break this guy, and he turned up dead the next morning. That's too big of a coincidence for his murder to be a hotel robbery gone bad. Someone was tying up loose ends."

"Yeah, but Brad Newcomb?"

"Did I mention that he was the last known person to see Brinson alive?"

Frank put his head in his hands. "And the hits just keep on coming." He looked up. "I need some time to absorb this."

"Sir, we don't have --"

He held up his hands. "Not another word. The political ramifications of this thing are huge, and I'm not willing to throw myself in front of a train if the whole case derails." He stood up, indicating the meeting was over. "I'll give you an answer tomorrow."