Calculated deception, p.2
Calculated Deception, page 2
Parker shook his head. “Nothing. No personality traits that scream sociopath, terrorist, or drug addict. Nah, if she’s doing it, it’s got to be for the money. But she lives in a modest house, drives a modest car, walks almost everywhere. Works all the time, seems to get along with people okay.”
“So, she makes decent money, and she doesn’t seem the type, but our intel says she’s still getting missile guidance system components shipped to her office when her boss isn’t around. That doesn’t exactly help us. Guess we need more information?”
“Yeah. Unfortunately, we need to do a little digging, see if we can find evidence or motive. I already filled out the paperwork to search her office and want you to come with me when we go. It’ll take a couple of days to go through, but that’ll give us some more time to see if she’s up to anything.” Parker slid a piece of paper across the desk to his partner. Paperwork or not, they weren’t planning to get caught. Nothing would save them from the ridicule from their fellow agents if they got busted by an academic. Even if they could talk their way out of it, they’d never live it down at the Bureau. Per protocol, they treated her as armed and dangerous, even though Parker hadn’t seen Dr. Ryland armed with anything other than the barely-drinkable beverage they called coffee from the student lounge.
* * *
Before the week was over, two FBI agents wearing Indiana Polytechnic sweatshirts and carrying shoulder bags arrived at the mechanical engineering building at 8:55 a.m., just before Dr. Ryland’s first class. If their intel was accurate, her colleague had left for a conference the previous day, and Dr. Ryland’s shared office would be empty inside of five minutes. While Mike and Parker preferred to perform the search at night, when the risk of being caught was lower, Dr. Ryland wouldn’t be careless enough to leave anything important behind in the evenings. Since Enterprise, Indiana, wasn’t usually the epicenter of FBI investigations, this part should be straightforward. Still, Parker had been in the business long enough to know that things often went sideways when you least expected it, and saying anything was “straightforward” was one of the best ways to invite disaster onto your investigation.
Parker and Mike both wore earpieces so they could talk freely without too much notice, even though Dr. Ryland’s office wasn’t on a busy floor. There was no sense in being careless just because there weren’t many people around. Mike edged into the lead position as the two men changed their respective paces to put some distance between them. When Parker caught up to his partner, Mike had positioned his back in a corner. This spot would give him visibility down both hallways that led to the automotive safety lab while his phone would stream the surveillance feed from adjacent hallways. Parker would depend on Mike for defense, and a camera embedded in Parker’s glasses would collect evidence without him needing to extract anything physical during his search. It was as good as it was going to get, considering they were conducting a covert search on a busy campus in broad daylight.
When Parker reached Dr. Ryland’s office, he eased the door shut behind him and began to work. Given the time constraints, he kept his search localized to the office space.
Mike waited a few minutes before giving in to his curiosity. It was impressive, considering Mike didn’t have a lot of patience and was used to watching a live feed. “Finding anything, buddy?”
“Nothing yet,” Parker said, as he flipped through the files in Dr. Ryland’s desk drawer. Fortunately, the weather was cool, and it looked as if Parker just hadn’t removed his leather gloves upon coming inside, rather than his more calculated motivation of ensuring he wouldn’t leave fingerprints behind. The lab was lined with windows to the hallway, but there was a door separating the lab and the office. He had closed it upon his arrival to minimize exposure, noting the position so he could open it back up again before he left. Parker lifted stacks of papers on her desk and flipped through them. He took a few minutes to read the contents of the papers but didn’t find anything outside of a lot of calculations and diagrams. He carefully arranged them back into the neat, color-coded pile he had found them in. It took a few extra moments, but his attention to detail would ensure he left no evidence of his visit. He pulled out his lock picks and went to work on the only locked desk drawer, briefly glancing at the clock to note the time he had left. The simple lock clicked open and he began to examine the contents of the drawer.
“Shit.” Parker’s body tensed. While he had been reminding his brain that she might be guilty, his gut thought they were chasing the wrong lead. However, he had misjudged the seemingly good-natured Dr. Ryland. “Mikey, she brings the gun to work.” Parker carefully lifted a gun with the muzzle pointing at the floor from Dr. Ryland’s handbag so Mike could see it on video later.
“What is it?”
“Small Glock with a trigger lock.”
“A criminal that locks up her piece out of her possession near the scene of the crime? Too easy, Parker. Keep looking.” Since Mikey was occasionally right, Parker bit his tongue instead of telling his partner that not all criminals were masterminds, and sometimes evidence was easy to find. Parker placed his hand back inside the bag, and his shoulders relaxed a fraction as his mood flipped from angry to amused.
“I just found her concealed carry permit. It matches her purse. Did you know you could buy a purse with a gun pocket and matching concealed carry case?” Parker quipped. Dr. Ryland wasn’t off the hook, but in his years at the Bureau, he hadn’t found a lot of hardened criminals who kept the appropriate paperwork in a stylish case next to a secured weapon. He placed the weapon and paperwork back into the handbag and fiddled with the inexpensive drawer lock until it clicked back into position. Checking his watch, Parker quickly mounted a small surveillance camera in the vent over Dr. Ryland’s desk.
“Class lets out in five minutes, P, and the hallways are about to get busy. You need to get a move on,” Mike’s voice reminded him. Parker opened the door between the lab and the office to precisely the same position he had found it in and took one last look to ensure her office showed no evidence of his visit. It would be nearly impossible to know he’d been there, and while he didn’t have the information he needed, they had a surveillance camera in place. It was a start.
4
After her class, Ree dropped into her chair, and the air hissed out of the old cushion in response. Teaching could be both exhilarating and exhausting. She swiveled the chair, then placed her feet on the floor to come to a sudden stop. Something was off. Straightening the stack of papers in front of her, she did a quick scan of her lab and made a mental note that she needed to find a lab assistant this semester. Yes, something was definitely off – the lab door usually swung back a bit from full open, no matter how hard she pushed it, but it didn’t seem like it was in the same spot it always settled into. Maybe maintenance had worked on the door or something. Besides, it was just a door, and it wasn’t off by more than a fraction of a degree. Between almost hitting the ceiling when a student came to talk to her several days prior and thinking that the same student was trying to hit on her, her internal radar was off in a big way and obviously could not be trusted. Shaking her head to clear it, she opened her laptop and started checking emails when she heard a tap on her door.
“Ree! A pleasure to see you again, and looking beautiful, as always.” Steve Huff strode into her office and graced her with his presence without preamble. She stepped around her desk to shake his hand, and he pulled her close to kiss her cheek.
Ree fought the urge to wipe her face like a petulant teenager. Reining in her behavior and words around this man was always a struggle, especially when he insisted on putting his overly affectionate lips on her cheek. While she had been successful in keeping their interactions professional, Ree couldn’t help calling him “Skeezy Steve” in her head. She’d been trying to break the habit, not because it wasn’t true, but out of the fear she would say it out loud someday when she was tired or not paying attention.
Steve was a lawyer in Chicago, and Ree had a terrific working relationship with several of his partners at the law firm. They regularly contracted with her lab when they needed additional information for their cases. However, Steve had been a little too attentive ever since they worked together on a motorcycle accident case. He was frequently as close as was appropriate, always pushing the limit but staying just on this side of professional. She’d never seen him act unethically but suspected his motivation for doing the right thing came from the fear of getting disbarred rather than a strong moral compass. Regardless, she worked with his firm regularly, and it was important to treat him with the same respect she’d treat another colleague. It wouldn’t kill her to be friendly to the man. Probably not, anyway.
* * *
Just outside of the building, in a nondescript black van, Parker watched the video feed from Dr. Ryland’s office with Mike. Mike leaned forward and pointed to the monitor. “Now, isn’t that interesting?”
Parker squinted at the screen. “Is that the sleazy lawyer from that firm a few miles away? What’s his name? Huff, something. Seems pretty friendly with our suspect.”
“Steve Huff. Very sleazy, and yes, a little too friendly.”
“What is he doing in Dr. Ryland’s office?”
“Maybe he’s our missing link. Let’s see how this plays out.”
* * *
“Steve – what brings you all the way down to Enterprise? I’m afraid I’m short on time today. I can set something up with one of your associates for next week if you have a case you’d like to discuss with me. I’ll be up in Chicago for an unrelated meeting.” Ree invented a scenario so that Steve could get what he came for and find someone else to bother.
“Ree, while I enjoy our time together and would absolutely love your help on all of my cases, that’s not why I’m here.” Ree wrinkled her nose as Steve slipped out of his suit jacket, slipping it over his arm before adjusting his tie. Wonderful. He planned on staying awhile.
“I actually need to pick up the evidence your lab was kind enough to examine for me from the John Doe case in Rockford. It looks like they will settle out of court, but loose ends, and all of that. I was here meeting with the provost and thought I would stop by.”
It was unlikely the provost would take time to meet with an out-of-town lawyer unless his firm was making a large donation to the university, but Steve loved nothing more than sounding important. Silencing her childish side, Ree indulged him in order to be rid of him as quickly as possible. “Of course, I’m happy to help.”
Ree walked briskly over to the lab cabinets, unlocked them, removed a large box, and handed it to Steve, thrilled to be getting rid of him so easily. As a bonus, his hands were occupied, so he couldn’t get any grabbier. Steve, arms full of a large box, still managed to let his gaze linger then drift up and down. He paused and looked around the office, but Ree grabbed her jacket and ushered him out the door by sheer force of will. She picked up her laptop and keys, locked the door behind her, and waved a quick goodbye before making her exit from the building.
* * *
“Well, that was interesting,” Parker said. He leaned away from the video feed of Ree’s empty office and tapped a pen against his palm.
“You’re telling me. Did you get a chance to look inside those boxes while you were in there?” Mike asked.
“Negative. I only had time to plant the camera and search her desk. We have no excuse to stop Steve. Her handing him a box is purely circumstantial, even if we have it on camera. But all the missile parts we’ve tracked are small enough to fit in that box, and she sure wanted him out of her office in a hurry.” Parker narrowed his eyes at the unchanged video feed. Her actions made her look guilty but didn’t prove anything. Parker pushed himself to think of a reasonable explanation for her strange behavior but came up with nothing.
“Be right back,” Parker said over his shoulder as he hopped out of the surveillance van. “Gotta grab a cup of coffee, and then we can head out,” he called over his shoulder for the benefit of anyone who might be listening. What he was about to do fell in the gray area of investigation at best and absolutely wouldn’t be upheld in court. However, he couldn’t risk the sleazeball lawyer getting his hands on dangerous weapons. He had friends who were lawyers. He respected them and their job, but this guy wasn’t anything like them. And he didn’t like doing nothing while a man like Huff crossed paths with his suspect.
Jogging across the street to reach the campus grounds, Parker warred with himself as to how to strike up a conversation to find out what was in the box. He sped up to ensure his path would intersect with anyone leaving Dr. Ryland’s lab and heading towards the main parking garage. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his target and adjusted course. When he passed a slow-moving student, inspiration struck, and he pulled out his cell phone as if texting. Parker corrected course one last time and, once he was perfectly positioned, he tripped, throwing his body into Steve.
“Whoa! Sorry, man!” Parker grabbed Steve’s arm to keep him from falling as the box he was carrying tumbled to the sidewalk. The flimsy cardboard lid popped off of the box, revealing a bound report and a couple of plastic bags with damaged metal and plastic parts, neatly labeled in large red block letters as “EVIDENCE.”
Steve glared at the mess on the sidewalk and dramatically wiped the dust from his suit. When he made eye contact with Parker, he slowed his hands and softened his scowl. He raised his hands in the air and said, “No harm, no foul.” Steve picked up his box, replaced the lid, and grumbled before resuming his walk to the parking garage.
* * *
“What the hell was that about, P?” Mike asked when Parker jumped into the van several minutes later. Parker handed Mike a coffee, placed his hand on his chin to pop his neck to the left, then right, and took a satisfied sip from his own coffee.
“Clumsy me,” Parker said. “I ran into that lawyer that was in Ryland’s office while I was grabbing us some coffee and he dropped his box of parts. Good thing nothing got damaged. Looked like he was carrying some pretty important samples with a case number on them.”
Mike rolled his eyes and started up the van. Parker didn’t usually bend the rules, but the information on this case in the analysts’ reports had them all on edge. They knew that someone was acquiring high technology capable of directing missiles to a target but knew little else. Their team was charged with searching the university for a target, a motive, and a killer who had gone to great lengths to stay invisible. Usually, they would know at least one of the three, but all they had was one suspect who wasn’t giving them enough to work with. While Parker’s behavior was a little reckless, it had gotten results. They had just observed their only suspect interacting with a known asshole but saved themselves the trouble of following up and wasting time on the wrong lead. Mike began the long drive back to the office to meet with their unit chief for an update.
5
“You did what?” Patrick Sandhill clenched his teeth and glared at Parker. Known as Sandy to just about everyone in the Bureau, he had been Parker’s unit chief for over five years and knew his people well. Sandy was average in height with a build that had been drilled into him in basic training and had not slipped with middle age. The dark hair at his temples had begun to gray, but he otherwise did not look his 50 years. His eyes narrowed as he stared down one of his best agents. “I don’t recall approving you engaging with any suspects outside of Dr. Ryland, Parker.”
Parker’s voice was pure reason. “Sir, I simply ran into him this morning and took advantage of the opportunity to look inside the box that had opened during our purely incidental interaction. I don’t believe that’s against the law, is it, sir? I was only out to grab some coffee since we had a break in surveillance, and Agent Moretti was covering Dr. Ryland’s office. It could have happened to anyone. However, given the opportunistic nature of my observation, as well as Steve Huff’s interactions with Dr. Ryland, I felt it was my duty to report the mishap in order to provide the details needed to solve this case, sir.”
Sandy crossed his arms and glared at the two men, allowing an uncomfortable silence to settle into the space. Mike shifted in his chair and Parker kept his poker face even. He projected a disapproving look for another few moments but didn’t overdo it. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe Parker’s story – no one on his team believed in accidents when it came to interacting with suspects. However, he wasn’t in the habit of punishing people for results when no laws were broken, and he wisely left the matter alone.
“Okay, now that you guys have had some time with the suspect, what are your impressions?”
Mike spoke first. “Look, I know we’ve only been at this for about a week, but if this woman is involved in a multi-million-dollar weapons smuggling ring, she’s the best actor I’ve ever seen. Her habits are predictable, she’s friendly when she doesn’t have to be, and she hasn’t broken any laws in the interactions we’ve observed. She’s not hurting for money and doesn’t have any addictions or gambling problems. After a few days of surveillance, something usually slips, but we aren’t seeing it. She’s carrying a weapon, but it’s registered, and she has the proper permits for it. She’s a single woman who works odd hours, and our background check shows her dad is in the security business. If she was my sister, I’d have her packing too. The only problem is she’s the perfect person to commit a crime without suspicion.”
“You realize if she isn’t behind this...” Sandy started, and Parker finished.
