Orchid Beach (Holly Barker 1)

“After dark, until morning.”

“The community college has a gymnasium that’s also used as an auditorium. It’s separated from the rest of the school by a stand of woods, and there’s a big parking lot.”

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sp; “You know anybody there?”

Jackson wrote down a name and handed it to Harry. “That’s the president,” he said.

Harry went back into Jackson’s office and closed the door.

The phone rang, and Holly picked it up.

“Chief, it’s the dispatcher. You had a call from a Barney Noble.”

Holly dialed the number and asked for Barney.

“Hi, Holly. You asked me to call if Rita Garcia didn’t show up for work this morning. She didn’t. We called her home number, but there was no answer.”

She wanted to scream at him, but instead, she said, “Thanks, Barney.”

“Has her mother heard anything?” Noble asked.

“No.”

“Let me know if you hear anything. Maintenance will want to find a substitute if she’s not coming back.”

“I’ll let you know, Barney.” She hung up. “I wish I could just go out there and shoot him right now.”

“I’d help,” Jackson said.

Harry finally came out of the office. “Okay,” he said, “we’re set. I’ve got over three hundred men coming—FBI, DEA, ATF—every federal agent we could muster. They’ll be arriving at the community college after dark in vans and cars, and they’ll be heavily equipped.” He sat down. “Holly, there’s not going to be a lot in this for you—not even Barney Noble.”

“I had a feeling,” Holly said.

“Killing an FBI agent is a federal crime. I want him for that. If we can’t put together the evidence to support the charge, then you can have him on the falsification-of-records business, and you can have whoever did the work for him at the capitol, if the state doesn’t take it away from you.”

“What I want most is the murderers of Chet Marley and Hank Doherty,” Holly said. “Can I have that, if you take Barney?”

“Sure, you can. I’ll talk to the federal prosecutor for you.”

“I’m going to have to get a confession, or somebody to finger them, so I’ll need interrogation time.”

“You’ll have it, I promise. In the meantime, I think you’d better go to work, keep everything as normal as you possibly can. You and Jackson can come out to the gym tonight around nine. I’ll leave word with the sentries that you’re to be admitted. I want your input on how we go about this. Ham’s, too, of course. He’s the only one with any hard information about what we’re up against.”

“Sure,” Holly replied.

Harry looked out over the sea, and he seemed far away. “This is not going to be an easy one,” he said.

CHAPTER

55

H olly went into the office like a good girl, but her heart wasn’t in it. She was sad and angry and having a hard time with both emotions. Finally, for something to keep her busy, she picked up the personnel files and began to plow through them, concentrating as hard as she could.

There was a rap at the door, and she looked up. Bob Hurst, the homicide detective, was standing in her doorway. “Morning, Bob,” she said.

Hurst looked red-faced, angry. “Why didn’t you call me on the homicide last night?” he demanded.