I told them Nancy was a quiet woman. She did Barb’s shopping, prepared their meals, and kept the apartment clean. Outside of all that, which didn’t seem relevant, I knew nothing about her.
“How did your aunt find her?”
“I can’t remember the details, but I think it was through a temp agency.”
Ali nodded. “I’ll see what I can find on the housekeeper. What’s next?”
“Irish, Buck, and I have been focused on making connections between the people we consider to be players. Let’s start with Nicholas Kerr, he was Interpol’s president when Barb’s article came out, as well as director general at MI5.”
“Got it,” Ali murmured. “Wasn’t there talk of an affai
r?”
“She never admitted it to me, and I have reason to believe those allegations were untrue. I’ll circle back to that, though.”
“You said that Barb accused Kerr of accepting bribes?”
“That’s right.”
“Just him?”
I shook my head. “All of the executive committee.”
“Who else was part of it back then?”
This was one of the reasons I liked Ali as much as I did. Her mind worked in a similar way as mine. “As I said, Kerr was president. The VP was Antoine Moreau, the General Directorate for France’s External Security. The secretary-general at the time was Stanley Donofrio, who was on leave from his assistant director job at the CIA. When his Interpol tenure ended, he was promoted to director within a year.”
“Heavy hitters,” Ali murmured.
“No kidding.” I looked over at Irish, who was deep in thought, staring into space rather than at his computer. “What are you thinking?” I asked him directly.
“How many cold cases of murdered agents could be linked to these three men.”
“And?”
Irish directed his gaze at me. “All of the older ones.”
I shuddered.
“Let’s delve deeper into Kerr’s background, if that’s okay with you,” Ali suggested.
Before proceeding, I surveyed the room, mainly Cope, Decker, and Buck. All three looked as though they were waiting for me to continue. “Early in her career, my aunt and Kerr both worked at the Council on Foreign Relations. I’m making the supposition that’s where they met.”
“Logical, what else?”
“Ed Fisk also worked for CFR, but in the DC office. Barb and Kerr were in New York.”
Ali looked up at Cope. Fisk had been his and Irish’s main target in their investigation and the person responsible for both men coming close to dying.
“Go on,” said Cope.
“An aside, but important to note. When Kerr left his position at Interpol, he also stepped down as DG at MI5. He served in more of an advisory or consultant role from then until his retirement. According to Z Alexander, that wasn’t unusual. Anyway, that’s connection number one.”
I waited for Ali to finish typing. When she looked up and nodded, I continued.
“Kerr also has connections to Interpol’s current executive committee. Daniel Byrne, the president, and Boris Antonov, the VP, both served as delegates under Kerr. We haven’t been able to find a connection to the secretary-general, Kim Ha-joon, yet, but he is tight with Byrne and Antonov.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“You okay?” asked Irish.