Raven: A political thriller (11 page)

They finally pulled up to the station house. Don was
off duty that Saturday. Under normal circumstances he would not have made an
appearance, but this case was different. People were being shot at all around
him. He could not rest until this was solved.

Chapter 18

 
Don got out
of the squad car, followed closely by Raven. Neither one talked while hurrying
through the station house. Don occasionally glanced back at Raven to make sure
she was keeping up with him. He was troubled by all the information he had to
digest. It all seemed illogical that murder was the end result of infidelity
when a divorce could be easily obtained. Why dirty your hands at the risk of a
lifetime vacation furnished by the federal government?

Even pilfering campaign funds didn’t seem worth the
risk. How much money was enough? Rich people didn’t seem happier just because
they had more money, and who needs a six-thousand-dollar shower curtain when a
thirty-eight-dollar one from a local retailer was just as good. What made the
one for thousands worth so much more? Don never could figure that one out.

It angered Don that in the end most crimes came down
to greed. People never seemed happy with what they had, always wanting more or
what the next person had. He always tried to make it his goal not to envy what
others had and be content with what he was able to afford. In the end it may
not have been much, but he could look at himself in the mirror in the morning
and not be ashamed. That was why he wasn’t pressing charges against Jackie for
cleaning him out. He was just glad to be rid of her.

Don guided Raven through the rows of empty desks to
the far end, where Charlie sat in front of the computer monitor studying the
screen intently. Charlie was close to retirement. His wife passed away a few
years back. His whole life was the work he did on the job, so even on Saturdays
he would come in to work on old cold cases when there wasn’t an active investigation
that his services were needed for. Charlie glanced up when Don stopped in front
of his desk with Raven behind him.

“Whoever came up with this code was a genius.”

“You crack it yet?” Don asked with a look of
excitement.

“Did I say that?”

Don tossed the slip of paper Raven gave him across
the desk.

Charlie picked it up with a puzzled look on his face
as Don turned back to Raven. She hadn’t said much on their walk through the
station house and seemed somewhat intimidated by everyone’s interest in what Willie
was working on.

On turned to Raven. “Is there anything else Senator
Maxfield gave you that we should know about?”

Raven just raised her hands while shaking her head.
“That’s it,” she said.

Charlie stared at the sheet of numbers and letters.
He set it down and pressed the insert key and typed in the letters that
coincided with the numbers on the sheet. After a few entries, Charlie sat back
while Raven and Don quickly leaned over the screen to see what it said.

Charlie appeared puzzled. “There is no reasoning
behind the code,” he said and then continued shaking his head. “Nothing
what-so-ever,” he snapped.

“There was no method to his madness either.
Everything was random,” Raven added.

“What’s with this guy?” Don asked.

“That’s how Willie was. Nothing made sense and
nothing added up, so to speak.”

Charlie punched in a few more characters and then
looked up at Don and Raven. “It’s going to take me a few days to get through
all these documents.”

Don glanced at the screen again, and in the first
two lines the name Maxfield showed up twice. He appeared a little puzzled and
then turned to Raven.

“He even investigated himself?” Don said pointing to
the name on screen.

Raven just shrugged. “He didn’t tell me.”

Charlie watched the two closely. He’d known Don personally
for ten years now. In all that time Don never looked at his girlfriends the way
he kept glancing at this girl he was with that morning.

Don knew he was being observed by Charlie. He
purposely studied the screen for the longest time, but then he ran his fingers
along the back of his head where he got hit the day before. He turned to Raven
and stared at her. When he sensed Charlie was still watching him, he quickly
asked Raven.

“Where does all the money go?”

“Most candidates hire an accounting firm to keep
track of the contributions.”

“How many firms do this type of business?” Don
asked, curious for some reason.

“I don’t know. I expect there is only a handful
because it is such a complicated process, with all the government filings that
have to be made because of the campaign financing laws.”

Both men seemed interested in what Raven had to say.
Neither man really cared much for politics, and this was all new to them.
Although they worked in the Capital it didn’t mean they had any special
interest in how politicians handled their campaigns or their day-to-day
operations. It was kind of taboo to even look twice at any of the politicians
in town. Even for a simple speeding ticket, because in the end it would get
pulled as if it never happened. So it was common practice not to waste your
time or energy with the stop in the first place.

Don turned to Raven. “How would someone go about
finding out what firm the candidates used?”

“At the end of the year it’s reported to the
government’s accounting office. You could probably start there.”

Don thought for a moment. He looked at Charlie and
then turned to Raven.

“Do you know if Senator Maxfield ordered this
information for his project.”

“Through the Freedom of Information Act, I’m sure a
formal request would have to have been made. There should be a paper trail
somewhere.”

“And if anyone was curious about the direction his
investigation was going, all they would have to do was look to see what he
requested?”

Raven shrugged. “I guess so.”

Raven leaned over the computer screen and then used
the mouse to open a file on the flash drive. She checked on the one that said
GAO and then turned to Charlie with raised eyebrows. Once the documents came
onscreen, all there was were garbled characters.

“This should be the list that you want.”

“Oh shit,” Charlie said looking at the mass of
symbols and characters. “What am I supposed to do with this.”

“You have the code, you have to go and decipher all
the characters.”

“Thanks a lot. Isn’t there an easier way?”

Raven just smiled. “There should be a macro on the
flash drive. I’m not sure what it’s called but you load it into Excel, it
should decode everything automatically, otherwise you do it manually.”

Don glanced over at Raven and then at Charlie.

“We’ll go get a cup of coffee while you work on it.
Want a cup?” Don asked.

“Only if it comes in eighty proof!”

Don laughed as he took hold of Raven’s arm and
walked off, allowing Charlie time to concentrate on the task at hand.

Raven didn’t mind. She needed a break from
everything that was going on. She was getting a headache trying to relay all
the information she knew. Raven never realized how critical the project Willie
was working on was, in that people were being killed trying to cover it up.

She would have given anything to have her old life
back. Spend her Saturday getting caught up on work around the house, having
lunch with her friend Cathy. But if Cathy was the woman killed in her car, she
would never see her friend again. It bothered her that once this case was over
with, she would have to clean up the mess that was left at her house and her
life. Raven would have loved to spend this weekend with her friend Tad,
reminiscing on their college days and his upcoming trip to the Vatican in Rome.
It all seemed so distant now.

Raven didn’t know if she had a job anymore or what
she would do once the case was resolved. She knew for a fact once they caught
the perpetrators there would be a trial, and to what extent would she be
involved in testifying about what she knew, she wasn’t sure.

They took their time walking to the break room. Don
stood there in silence drinking his cup of coffee. Raven was actually enjoying
the peace and quiet because she knew if Don talked to her, it would be more to
pump her for information.

Don and Raven sat quietly in the break room for a
good twenty minutes. Neither really wanted to talk or discuss the case, as the
more they talked the more Don realized how tangled Raven was in all of this.
She was Senator Maxfield’s personal assistant and assisted him in the day-to-day
operations at the Senate office building. He no longer suspected their
relationship being more than just that.

Don finally glanced over at Raven. “I think we gave
Charlie enough time.”

Raven just shook her head. “I just wish this was
behind me. I want my life back,” she said as she got up and followed Don out of
the room.

Don didn’t say anything. Actually, he really didn’t
know what to say to assure her that in the end everything would be made right.
Because he knew from past experience that things would never be the same for
Raven. Senator Maxfield was dead, and, technically, her life as she knew it was
over with. The one good factor was that Raven probably didn’t have to work for
a living, but, after knowing her for that short period, she seemed like the
type of person who had to have purpose. Raven would not be able to just sit
back and do nothing.

They walked up to Charlie’s desk as he was busily
scrolling through the document onscreen. Don and Raven walked in back of him to
get a better look at the screen.

“Do you know Albright Enterprises?” Don asked Raven.

Raven looked surprised. “That was the firm Cathy
worked for.”

“You never mentioned that,” he said.

“You didn’t ask. I think David Sinclair used to be
affiliated with them before he started his own Super PAC.”

“You said Senator Maxfield was getting ready to
report his findings,” Don said and then stared at the screen. Finally he turned
to Raven. “Where would the report be?”

“On his laptop.”

“Do you know if he replaced his laptop?” Don asked.

“Sure. He couldn’t live without one. He had me pick
one up for him at Best Buy.”

Don turned to Charlie. “Check to see if the laptop
was in his possession when he was attacked.”

Raven turned to the two. “He had it when he walked
into the restroom.”

Don picked Raven’s purse up off the desk and then
handed it to her. He took her arm.

“We have to take a little trip.”

When Don touched Raven’s arm a surge of electricity
went through his body that startled him for a moment. He shook himself free of
what that was and just stared at Raven for the longest time without saying a
word.

“What is it?” Raven asked.

“Nothing,” was all he said.

He let go of her arm and then motioned for her in
the direction he wanted her to go. If he was going to be objective in this case
he would have to keep his distance from her. Don knew his mind was clouded when
it came to Raven’s innocence. But he also knew one thing, she was directly in
the middle of this, and until he could sort it out he would have to keep an
open mind.

Chapter 19

Once they walked across the street where the squad
was parked, Don quickly opened the passenger door for Raven. Before getting in
she turned and looked up at him. She had a teasing smile on her face.

“Where are we going now, Sherlock?” she asked.

Don was startled for a moment because it was
bothering him at that point, not knowing if he was being played. A part of him
trusted that Raven didn’t have it in her to play him for a fool. But there was
another part of him who had seen the worst in people, and he didn’t want to get
caught off-guard.

After a long silence of thinking about Raven’s
involvement in all of this, he finally replied, “To see your boss’s wife, if
that’s okay with you.”

“I thought you didn’t want her knowing I was still
alive,” she said with raised eyebrows.

“Under the circumstances, I have no choice.”

Raven got into the squad and, once in the squad, Don
shut the door and just stared at her for the longest time. Normally, he could
read people quite well, but it was different with Raven for some reason.

The Senator’s house was a good hour’s drive through
busy traffic. Weekend traffic always seemed worse than weekday traffic because
it was all day long no matter what time it was. People were always on the move,
shopping and getting caught up with their lives after a busy week.

Once they finally got to the Senator’s house, Don
got out of the squad, followed by Raven. It was when they walked up to the
front door and saw it open that Don motioned for Raven to stay back as he
unholstered his gun.

Raven just glanced up at him and shook her head.
“Christ, what is it with you and open doors?” she snapped.

Don just put his finger to his mouth and whispered,
“Quiet!”

Don swiftly entered the house, looked around while
listening. In his mind he tried to remember the layout of the house from his
earlier visit.

They slowly moved through the downstairs of the
house. The sun parlor was now empty, but in total disarray. There were no kids
playing out back as there had been yesterday. Don could hear music coming from
down the hall. He slowly maneuvered his way and listened as the music got
louder. Raven followed close behind. Once they entered the kitchen, Don reached
for the radio and turned it off. It was then he heard the car engine running in
the garage. He quickly ran to the door at the opposite end of the long kitchen
and, when he opened the door leading to the garage, he got hit by exhaust
fumes. Don turned and coughed. When he finally gained control he pointed a
finger at Raven.

“Stay put and call 911,” he said.

Don reached into the garage and pressed the
automatic garage door opener and then grabbed a towel off the counter. Before
rushing into the garage, he put the towel over his mouth and hurried over to
the Mercedes. Ellen Maxfield was slumped over the wheel in a way that seemed
unnatural. Luckily the person who did this didn’t have the fortitude to lock
the car doors, so Don opened the door and turned the car engine off. He then
grabbed the Senator’s wife, pulled her out of the Mercedes, and dragged her
outside onto the driveway where he started CPR on the lifeless body.

Raven came running out of the kitchen and over to
where he was working on her friend lying on the ground. Don quickly glanced up
at Raven.

“I told you to stay inside,” he said between
compressions, and then bent down for the breath of life.

Raven just ignored Don and held Ellen’s hand,
rubbing it fiercely as if she could somehow will the life back into her friends
body.

“I knew she’d take it hard about Willie. I never
expected this,” Raven said as tears streamed down her cheek.

“She had help,” Don said.

Just then a car pulled into the driveway and came to
a screeching halt. The kids in the backseat panicked at seeing their mother
lying on the driveway pavement. The maid rushed up to Don working feverishly on
Mrs. Maxfield. She tried pulling Don off her while Raven stopped her.

“What have you done,” the maid yelled.

Don was puzzled by her outburst. “Nothing, we found
her like this!” he said and then continued working on Ellen.

Suddenly the maid collapsed into a weeping frenzy.

Raven just turned to Don and whispered. “Is she
dead?”

Don shook his head, “No.”

In the distance sirens could be heard as they got
closer. Don was thankful because he didn’t know how much longer he could keep
up the CPR. The kids were crying in the maid’s car while Raven tried to assure
them their mother would be okay.

Don for a moment was relieved, knowing that Raven
wasn’t involved in the attempt on the Senator’s wife because she had been with
him the whole morning. It angered him now that he even remotely suspected she
was involved in any of this.

* * *

Once the ambulance got there and the Senator’s wife
was stable, the maid took the children to her apartment for the day because no
one was allowed inside the Senator’s house. It was now a possible crime scene.

Don still was not letting Raven out of his sight.
They looked through the Senator’s house for a clue to what the perpetrators
were looking for.

Don finally turned to Raven. “Did anyone else know
about the Senator giving his wife his briefcase?”

Raven shrugged. She tried to think back to that day,
whom they saw. “I’m not sure. The whole thing seemed so insignificant at the
time.

“Well, think. They trashed your place and now they
came here looking for something.”

Don walked slowly through the house followed by
Raven. They walked into the Senator’s study. Books, knick-knacks, and papers
were strewed about. It was clear they searched other areas of the house, but
this room took the brunt of the search. The computer tower lay on the floor
smashed to pieces. They even took the time to open it up and take out the hard
drive. The waste basket had charred remains of paper. Don turned to Raven.

“Always one step behind,” he snapped.

Raven walked over to the couch and collapsed. She
started to cry as Don sat down beside her. Raven just turned and glanced up at
him.

“When will it end?” she said between sobs.

“I wish I knew,” Don replied.

There was an anguish in her eyes that Don hadn’t
seen before. Don put his arms around Raven to offer her comfort in the only way
he knew how. It reminded him of the time his mother got the news about his
father’s death. No matter how much comfort he could offer, he had no control in
the end. Raven just sobbed uncontrollably for the longest time. Don knew she had
to get it out of her system.

* * *

As they pulled up to Cathy Monroe’s apartment
complex, Don whistled. He lived in the Capital long enough to know the price of
apartments in this section of town. This one came with an indoor gym compound
and two pools, one indoor and one outside. Don turned to Raven as they got out
of the car.

“Where did you say your friend worked?” Don asked
with raised eyebrows.

“Albright Enterprises,” Raven said in a
matter-of-fact manner.

“Think they have an opening?”

Raven turned to Don and laughed. “These people would
eat you alive.”

Don smiled. He knew Raven didn’t mean it in a mean
way. She was just stating a fact that these people didn’t play nice. Not that
his being a detective in the Capital made him unworthy of consideration for a
job like that. It was just that Don upheld the law, and these people skirted
around the law to get what they wanted.

Politics in general was a dirty business. No matter
how upstanding you were, your opponent tended to see your strength and then
come up with something dirty about it and used that strength to take you down.
It was a vicious business. Don kept thinking about all the negative campaign
ads he saw just before elections. It angered him that no one ever really talked
about what they planned to do once they were elected. They would rather trash
their opponent. And if you weren’t smart enough to research those ads for
validity, you might just be buying into the lies being spewed and technically
elect an unworthy candidate.

Don walked into the manager’s office. It took some
doing to convince him to let them into Cathy’s apartment without a search
warrant. The badge he carried didn’t intimidate the manager. If anything, it
was a turn-off. The one factor in their favor was that he knew Raven as being a
friend of Cathy’s, so that put credence on his letting them in.

As they walked up to the second floor apartment, the
manager quickly pulled out his master key. Don turned to him.

“When was the last time you saw Ms. Monroe?”

The manager thought for a moment and then replied.
“Last week one day. She locked herself out of her apartment. She did that quite
a lot.”

Don turned to Raven and asked. “Was she a blonde?”

Raven just frowned, before she could give him a
comeback, the door swung open and all they could see was the trashed living
room. The couch was slashed, the lamps broken, while pictures were ripped off
the walls and tossed on the floor. It was one thing to be looking for
something, it was another to literally destroy everything in the process. There
had to be a lot of anger behind the person who did this. Don turned to the
manager as he held out his hand.

“Don’t touch anything!”

Don slowly walked into the living room. He noticed
the phone cord still hooked to the wall outlet. He bent down and picked up the
cord and followed it to where the phone lay under a bunch of debris. Don took a
hanky out of his pocket and picked up the receiver and then punched in some
numbers with the tip of his pen.

Don waited until someone answered at the other end.

“Hey, it’s me,” Don said and then listened a moment.
“Yeah, I still have her.”

Don went on to tell the person at the other end of
the line to have the lab guys come out to Cathy’s apartment. This case was
keeping the department busy. Once they got done at the Senator’s house, Cathy’s
apartment would be the next crime scene to process. It would be interesting to
see if fingerprints from both places matched up. More interestingly would be if
they were in the system. Time would tell, and it would be early next week before
he would get that information for sure.