The Vanishing Gary Brown (booksvooks TXT) 📖

“What did you discuss?”

“I told him what Walter told me. That my parent’s death wasn’t an accident. He made some inquiries but never came up with anything significant. Seeing Amanda’s picture in Martin’s book and recognizing Krebeck’s name is how I made the connection to the partial name Pennimore had given me.”

“Just the same, I think I’d like to talk to Inspector Maddox and compare notes. He may know more about the case than he realizes. Do you have his number?”

“I do,” Claire replied. “I’ll get you his card.”

30

AS CLAIRE ROSE from her chair, Maggy jumped to her feet and followed her inside, still chewing on her rawhide. Martin walked over to Mark and sat beside him on the porch railing.

“What do you think?” he asked.

Oyama shook his head. “This is going to be a tough one, Martin. Think about it for a second. First, the daughter of a prominent doctor and scientific researcher disappears. Shortly after that, her parents are killed. Then the same daughter pops up again, years later, having successfully sidestepped what I imagine would have been an extensive investigation by both local and federal law enforcement. To make matters worse, when she’s finally located, she’s photographed in the company of her parents’ suspected murderer.”

“What are you driving at?”

Oyama’s face bore an experience-hardened look, but it was the glint of revelation in his eyes that Martin found most unsettling.

“I’m just examining the facts as I see them, Martin. Evaluating them at face value. Putting the square peg in the square hole, so to speak.”

Martin stared at the former FBI agent. “Wait a minute,” he said. “I’m getting it now. You think Claire’s sister may somehow have been involved in her parent’s death.”

“It’s too soon to tell if that’s true or not. But considering the facts as we know them, it’s a distinct possibility.”

“Jesus! If you’re right about this, Claire’s going to be devastated. Her sister is the only family she has left.”

Mark nodded. “I realize that, and I empathize. But you know better than anyone we don’t always like what we find in these matters. The evidence and the facts never lie.”

“I just hope for Claire’s sake you’re wrong on this one.”

The screen door to the porch opened. Maggy and Claire returned.

“Found it,” Claire said. She handed Mark the business card. “I’m sure the Inspector will give you all the information you need.”

“Thank you,” Mark said as he took the card. “I’ll phone him first thing in the morning. But right now, if you’ll excuse me, I still have a few reports to review before I can call it a day. Are you planning on staying over, Martin?”

“Yes,” Martin replied. “I want to review our files on The Brethren with Justin in the morning.”

“Good idea,” Mark said. “We need to gather as much intel on this group as we can. Tell Justin to concentrate on this Krebeck fellow and to search for any links he may have to other groups besides The Brethren.”

“What can I do to help?” Claire asked.

“I’d like you to work with Martin and Justin,” Mark said. “Review the information they come up with on Krebeck. See if anything catches your attention. I’d also like to borrow your file on Pennimore and study it tonight, if that would be all right.”

“No problem.”

“Excellent,” Mark said. He stood. “Well, tomorrow’s looking like it’s going to be a busy day. I suggest you both get a good night’s sleep.”

“Goodnight, Mark,” Martin said. “Get on with your reports. I’ll show Claire to her room.”

“Thank you, Mark,” Claire said.

Mark smiled. “Don’t mention it.”

31

MARTIN AND CLAIRE sat alone on the veranda in the pale moonlight. A symphony of cicadas buzzed among the cypress trees.

“Mark seems like quite a guy,” Claire said.

Martin nodded. “He’s the best.”

“How long have you known him?”

“Ten years.”

“How did you meet?”

“Mark offered to help with my investigation into Anne and Melanie’s disappearance.”

“He strikes me as a man very dedicated to his work.”

“Believe me, Mark is the Bureau, through and through. I’ve met no one else with the conviction for helping people that he has. Mark is doing exactly what he was born to do, and he does it very well. I don’t think there’s anything else he could do, even if he wanted to. When I came up with the idea for this place, I immediately knew who I wanted to run it.”

“He quit the FBI to come here?”

“In a manner of speaking. Mark was still with the Bureau, but he was eligible for early retirement. Like many other organizations, they were going through a period of rightsizing. They wanted young blood, fresh ideas, less grey hair. Mark and I met for lunch one day. He told me they’d made him a lucrative offer to accept an early retirement package. The only catch was it was a limited time offer. He had two weeks to either take the package and retire comfortably with full benefits or pass on it and take his chances on being laid off within a few years.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a choice.”

“It wasn’t. Mark’s a proud man and a total professional. He wasn’t about to have a successful career end abruptly one day because he turned down the offer. I offered him the position as director of this center, and he accepted.”

“Still, it must have been a difficult transition,” Claire said. “To go from the FBI to working in the private sector.”

“Yes, and no. Over the years, the Bureau had taken its toll. Mark was special agent in charge of Domestic Terrorism for four years before he packed it in. He’d seen a lot in that time. It’s not an easy job. You’re privy to a world of secret information most of us wouldn’t even want to know about. When the country goes to sleep at night, people don’t worry about going to work the next day and becoming the innocent victim of a poison gas attack in a subway train station or being blown to bits