Mystery: Family Ties: Mystery and Suspense (9 page)

“Ha,” Todd Gibson joked despite their dark mood. “Everyone in Montana is a well-trained shooter.”

Asa could understand why he was joking, but the joke was wasted on her. She still couldn’t understand the whole situation, but one thing was for sure, it wasn’t funny at all. Gibson demanded to see the personal effects of the agents, while Asa remained in the room with the photos and the medical examiner’s report. She went through the whole thing again and again, until it became obvious that there was nothing new in there for her right now.

Cursing under her breath, Asa took out her phone and dialed the number in Salt Lake City and waited for the Deputy Director to answer. On the third ring, Shepherd answered and Asa prepared herself for yet another hard conversation.

“This is Asa Clark, sir,” she said and continued. “The bodies of the two FBI agents were found today.”

“Bodies, right,” the Deputy Director signed. “I don’t know why, but I still hoped for a better turn out.”

“They had been shot multiple times, but multiple shooters,” Clark continued. “According to the medical examiner, they have been dead for more than one week, so it is safe to say that they had been killed the same day they disappeared.”

“Yeah, I imagined that much,” Shepherd commented. “Now you have something to work with, and I hope that you will be able to find the killers soon.”

“Yes, sir,” Agent Clark said readily. “We have the site, where the bodies were dumped and the one where we found the car. That will help us to triangulate the possible position of the murder.”

“Okay, okay,” Shepherd agreed. “You do just that, but now explain what is that thing I am hearing about your recent behavior?”

“What do you mean, sir? What recent behavior?” Asa tried to act as if she had no idea what it was all about.

“Let me see,” the Deputy Director didn’t let her escape so easily. “According to Todd Gibson you have been indulging in excessive drinking and partying with the locals. I know that I told you to mingle with them, but I don’t remember telling you to go so far.”

“I am not sure what Agent Todd Gibson told you,” Asa said coldly. “But, I haven’t done anything that could jeopardize the case. I can assure you of that. All I did was visit a pool hall and play some pool. I made a few friends among the locals and even was invited to one of the ranches around here. I don’t see…”

“Okay, okay,” Jennifer Shepherd signed into the phone at Clark’s angry explanation. “I suppose Gibson still hasn’t gotten over the fact that I sent you there to lead the case. And anyway, all I want is to see results from now on. Stop any other nonsense and do your job.”

Deputy Director Jennifer Shepherd closed the phone and leaned back into her chair. She really needed to become more personally involved in the case. Now that Agent Gibson had informed her that Asa might be losing focus, Shepherd was afraid that her protégé might fail at her job. And that wasn’t something any of them needed right now. The case was big and needed to be resolved quickly and well, by bringing down the criminals. And if agent Asa Clark wasn’t able to do so, Shepherd was going to give her the necessary push in the right direction.

Back in Montana, Asa Clark was walking quickly out of the city morgue, looking determined. Gibson had already left the building and taken a taxi to the FBI field office, but that wasn’t going to change anything for her. The young woman dialed Gibson’s number and waited for him to answer.

“Agent Gibson,” Todd answered from the other side of the line. “Clark, did you find something else?”

“Is that how you deal with your colleagues, agent Gibson?” Asa asked sarcastically. “How could you go over my head and contact Shepherd about something that is not even true?”

“True or not true, remains to be seen, but it is a fact that you keep coming in late for work, suffer from a hangover and are in a romantic relationship with Gabriel Kimble.” Gibson answered calmly. “I just did my job, by reporting the facts. If you need a friend,
however, go find him somewhere else, because the FBI office is not a place where I make friends.”

“I am glad that you finally came clean about this, agent Gibson,” Asa answered him. “I will see you in the office.”

She closed the phone with a loud click and almost stamped with her foot on the ground. Gibson and his macho attitude were just annoying, but right now she was really angry with his meddling with her reputation in front of the Deputy Director.

With a renewed fervor for the case of the killed agents, Agent Clark decided to start visiting the outlying ranches and farms in the area. According to the theory, Gibson and she had fabricated, the agents were killed somewhere close to the city, probably in one of the farms or ranches they had been visiting. Asa had already seen how the local farmers treated the strangers and she could imagine what some fanatics could do if they thought the FBI was coming to take them.

The working theory was that a group of local terrorists had managed to corner the two agents and kill them, before they had the chance to take out their guns. Gibson was convinced that Smith and Holliday had managed to step on someone’s toes and with that had got themselves killed. Asa wasn’t so sure about that and still wanted to think that there might be some other explanation.

So, the next day, Asa filled the tank of her car with fuel and headed towards the nearest ranch in the area, Gibson had pointed to on the map. Asa really wanted to enjoy the trip in the country, but the different theories in her mind were too disturbing for her to really have a good time driving around.

At the first farm, Asa was greeted by a nice looking woman, who invited her inside and offered a cup of tea. “I saw those two men, dear,” Mrs. Keller said, while cutting her a piece of pie. “They spoke to my husband and he told me that they asked about our views about the government. My Jimmy is rather conservative, but he hasn’t hurt a fly in his life and he told them that.”

“Can you tell me the exact time that happened?” Asa asked and took another bite of the delicious pie.

“Yes, if I remember correctly, it happened around three weeks ago,” Mrs. Keller said. “It was around lunch time and I offered them to stay, but they said that they had too much work to do and were going to eat in the car. I had a nice roasted chicken that day and sweet potatoes too. So, they climbed back in their car and went to the next farm. They asked about it and my husband gave them directions on how to reach it. I can do the same for you if you want?”

“That would be great, Mrs. Keller,” Asa said with a smile to the kind woman. “The pie was magnificent. I think that this was the first time I have tasted something so good.”

“Thank you, that is my mother’s recipe. She left it to me.” Mrs. Keller said proudly and continued to chat happily, while pointing the way to the next farm and promising to call if something else came to mind.

Agent Clark visited a few more farms and ranches and was received differently by the owners. Some of them were nice, like Mrs. Keller, but there were also those, who preferred to be rude and frightening. At one point, Asa almost considered running away, while staring at a rifle, but her training and experience forced her to stay. She noticed that a few of the ranchers refused to talk directly to her, although neither of them told her to get off of their property.

She made a point to ask all of them about the dead FBI officers and watched their reaction to her questions. Some of them said they hadn’t, while others affirmed that the agents did visit them and asked them questions about their views on government and conservative politics. Asa questioned them about their answers to the FBI agents and took notes of their answers.

Agent Clark noticed that she was getting closer to Kimble’s farm and that worried her. She hadn’t been completely honest with them and the fact was making her uneasy. She didn’t really care about the family’s reaction, but Gabriel and his feelings were important to her. Unsure what to do next, Asa decided to stay away from the Kimble farm for the time being or at least until there was no other choice for her. And anyway, there were enough other places for her to visit.

One of the last ones she visited belonged to a man named Ezekiel Warren, whom Asa remembered seeing in Kimble’s ranch. From the very beginning the man was tight-lipped, but she didn’t give up.

“Can you tell me if two FBI agents came to your farm in the last two weeks?” She asked politely.

“Who is asking?” The man asked in a cold voice.

“My name is Asa Clark, I am an FBI agent,” she showed him her badge and waited for an answer.

“No, agent Asa Clark,” the man made sure to use her whole name. “I haven’t seen those agents before.” Ezekiel Warren pointed at the photographs of the two agents.

“Okay, Mr. Warren, thank you for your time,” Clark said to him and walked back to her car. The man stood in his place in the middle of the road, leading to his house until the car of the FBI agent disappeared from view.

Asa returned to the FBI field office later in the afternoon and sat behind her desk to go through her notes. She needed to compare everything she had found out and try to find something that connected the farm to the killing of the agents. She started slowly by tracing a diagram of the area in which the deceased agents conducted their study. Comparing them to her own field notes that were retrieved from their hard drives at the Kalispell office. The young FBI agent noticed that there was a pattern in their notes. They seemed to have been on to something, but Asa just couldn’t figure it out yet.

After another few days of hard investigating, Asa was exhausted and exasperated. No new leads had come to her attention and her own field trips also weren’t leading anywhere, a fact that made her wonder if she was the right person for the job. That was the first time Asa felt that way about her work and it made her think that she should find something quickly, if she wanted to keep her sanity.

On Friday evening Asa Clark found herself walking towards the nearest local bar and ordering a
drink. She sat at the bar alone and her
sombre
impression warned the lonely men around her to keep away. Asa drank in silence for about twenty minutes, thinking that she wasn’t making much progress with the case and started feeling sorry for herself.

After her second drink and another twenty minutes of reconsidering her actions, Asa was about to leave the place and go back to the hotel, when she saw Gabriel, his brother and his sister-in-law enter the bar. Asa felt horrified. She had been ignoring Gabriel’s calls for almost a week now, fearing that she would have to explain to him about her job and the reasons, why she came here in the first place.

Asa considered leaving the bar unnoticed by the three of them, but Jane spotted her almost immediately and pointed at her. The small company came towards her and Asa stood up to greet them.

“We haven’t heard from you in so long, Asa,” Jane said after they all shook hands and ordered something to drink. “Gabriel said that you were too busy.”

“Yes,” Asa answered a bit embarrassed. “Actually, I was just about to call you…” Asa let her voice died down and make a point of looking right at Gabriel.

“I was wondering why I haven’t heard from you in a while,” Gabriel repeated almost the same words Jane had used before.

“I think this is a hint for us to go now,” David commented and tugged Jane towards one of the tables at the back of the restaurant. Asa and Gabriel watched them go and only then the man sat in the empty bar stool beside her.

“Is everything okay?” Gabriel asked softly. “I thought that there was something happening between us?”

“Yes and yes,” Asa said quickly. “I am sorry for not calling you until now, I think I was a bit afraid that things are happening too quickly between us.”

“I can understand that,” Gabriel smiled and Asa realized how much she had missed that smile. “But, now that fate brought us back together, what would you say to start anew?”

“Start what anew?” Asa asked playfully.

“That thing that we might have had, but are still not sure about,” Gabriel said and both of them laughed at his rather confused expression.

Gabriel ordered them another round of drinks and they talk about their previous meetings and the visit to the Kimble ranch. Asa felt herself relax and wasn’t surprised at all when she was laughing with him and leaning against his muscular body, all thoughts about her job, Gibson’s and Shepherd’s warnings forgotten.

“There was too much work at the farm these last days,” Gabriel was saying. “But, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

“Is that so,” the young woman smiled seductively and opened her bag to search for a tissue. “I wanted to ask you something.” She suddenly changed the tone, as her eyes fell on the photos of the two deceased agents. “Have you heard anything about some dead FBI agents, who were poking around in the area?”

“What?” Gabriel asked, surprised. “Dead FBI agents? I don’t know. Why are you asking?”

“I heard someone talking about finding their bodies near the lake and wondered if you know something more about it,” Asa explained.

“Sorry, I don’t know anything about it,” the man shook his head and then added playfully. “But, I know that the lake is a wonderful place for a swim in the summer.”

For another hour they talk and drank, and kissed each other, until neither of them could take it anymore and Gabriel asked if she wanted to show him her hotel room. Asa didn’t hesitate and agreed to show him all of it, if he gave her two minutes to visit the
ladies’ room. Gabriel sent her away with a kiss and went to speak to his brother and his wife.