The Fix (Amos Decker 3)

She nodded.

Brown interjected, “They wasted no time on that one. They hit us the same night.”

“How did Anna end up with Jules’s doll?” asked Decker. “Did she have it all this time or was it more recent?”

“She demanded it from me in return for helping with Natalie. I guess she considered it a symbolic victory considering how we had used them for our spying.”

Decker looked at her. “It’s funny,” he said.

“What is?” Ellie demanded.

“Jules told me she believed you were incapable of keeping secrets from the family. She was obviously wrong about that. Did Cecilia Randall knowingly help you with the dolls and the spying?”

“No, she knew nothing about it.”

“Did you kill her?” asked Decker.

She shook her head. “I could never do that. But her house key, which we kept in the kitchen, went missing. I can only think that Anna’s people heard something that she said that distressed them. And they killed her.”

“I think you might be right about that,” said Decker. “She told us about your coming from money. And your family’s health issues. They were probably worried she might say something else that would make us suspicious.”

Bogart walked over to Ellie and said, “Eleanor Dabney, I’m arresting you on the charge of espionage against the United States.” He read off her Miranda rights as Milligan handcuffed the woman.

No more tears passed down her face as this was being done.

She looked once more over at her husband’s grave. “I’m sorry, Walt. For everything.”

Before Bogart and Milligan led her away, Decker said, “Mrs. Dabney, I have another question.”

“What is it?” she said wearily.

“Why did your husband shoot Berkshire in front of the FBI building? Was that your choice or his?”

“I had arranged to meet with Anna that day. Only she didn’t know that she instead would be running into Walt. But to answer your question, it was Walt’s idea to meet her there. The actual meeting place I had given Anna was to be around the corner at a café. But Walt told me that after I signaled him he was going to confront Anna in front of the FBI building and shoot her there.”

“And then kill himself?” said Decker.

She nodded, looking down at the ground.

“You’re an amazing actress,” said Jamison. “When you were at your husband’s bedside at the hospital I never would have guessed that any of it was an act.”

In a quavering voice Ellie said, “I had just lost the only man I’d ever loved. My tears were very real, I can assure you.”

There was an awkward moment before Decker said, “But why in front of the FBI building?”

“Walt said he wanted to scare the bastards really badly. And killing Anna there would send a powerful message, he told me. I just wanted to see that woman dead.”

“So he said nothing to you that would indicate why?”

She shook her head and then let out a low sob. “Maybe he didn’t trust me anymore. And who could blame him?”

She was led away by Bogart and Milligan.

But Decker didn’t follow.

He walked over and stood next to the grave. Jamison and Brown sat down on the bench and watched him.

Brown whispered. “What do you think he’s thinking?”

“The Lord only knows,” replied Jamison. “I’ve never, ever been able to get inside that mind of his.”

At the grave Decker looked down at the freshly turned earth. “I’m sorry, Mr. Dabney. You deserved better. A lot better.”

CHAPTER

75

“DO THE DAUGHTERS KNOW?” asked Jamison.

She was looking across at Decker in their office at the WFO.

He nodded. “They were stunned, to put it mildly. It’s like they’ve been hit with one tsunami after another. They won’t be able to see her for a while, but Bogart has informed them of everything. They’re getting her a lawyer. She’s going to need a really good one.”

“She helped us. She told us a lot.”

Decker looked over at her. “She’s in her sixties. And in addition to the espionage, she conspired to kill Berkshire. So even with favorable treatment it’s doubtful she’s coming out of prison alive.”

“I know. But talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.”

“She chose to become a spy.”

“Oh, come on, it was the Soviet Union. Do you really think she had a choice? They would have shot her or sent her to Siberia if she’d refused.”

“It doesn’t matter, Alex. The law doesn’t make exceptions for that. They searched the house and found multiple surveillance devices. That’s how they knew what was going on. They were all wireless and could be picked up by someone sitting in a car a quarter mile away.”

She slumped back in her chair and fiddled with a pen taken from a holder on her desk. “What did you mean when you were asking her why Dabney had chosen the FBI building to shoot Berkshire?”

“Because I wanted to know if she had the answer.”

“Well, I know that. But why do you think that’s important?”

“Because it’s inexplicable.”

“Right. And you don’t like inexplicable?”

“Like Anne Berkshire, everything we know about Walter Dabney shows that he’s a person who does nothing without a good reason. He was smart, accomplished, methodical, focused. It’s not easy to build the sort of business he did. You remember he had put together a video and other evidence to try to nail these bastards? He wanted to beat them at their own game. He’d worked in the intelligence field his entire adult life. He knew how much damage these people could do with what he had given them. He wanted to try to make it right before he died. And I don’t think that plan simply included blowing Berkshire’s head off.”

“But Mrs. Dabney answered you. He said he wanted to send a message to those people.”

“I know that is what she said he told her.”

“Are you saying you don’t believe her? What reason would she have to lie to us now?”

“I don’t know. And we’re almost out of time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Brown texted me. The chatter has gone silent. The prep is