Hidden Prey

Democratic president is elected, these people may continue to provide sensitive information to their old Republican friends. Do you see how I mean this?”
    “Yes. Goes on all the time. Some people think it’s the only thing that makes government work.”
    “Yes, I have heard that argument. Oleshev was believed to be in contact with the Circle. Whether he was an active agent, this is not known. But this is the reason we are both so anxious and so ignorant—the Circle has resources that we do not have now. Perhaps just . . . memories. Memories that are not in files anywhere. We need to know more about the Circle, we would like to know about these memories. But we can’t help, not much. Because we just don’t know. ”
    “Okay.”
    She frowned at him: “You know what I was saying?”
    “Yes. Years ago, I was asked to consult on an investigation in New York City. A group of police officers had taken it upon itself to clean up the city by killing criminals. Murdering them, really. The circle of cops went very close to the top of the police department, and had a lot ofsympathy. And it was working; they probably saved lives, and certainly wiped out a lot of potential misery. But it was still murder, and we had to stop it.”
    “Okay,” she said. “This is it. This is what we deal with.”
     
    S PIVAK WAS SITTING , head down, at the end of the bar, eating a hot dog with sauerkraut when Lucas, Nadya, and two St. Louis County deputies walked in. A bartender was behind the bar, wiping glasses, and said, “Here we go.” Spivak lifted his head, chewed twice, swallowed, and said, “Oh, boy, what now? I just talked to the FBI.”
    “We’ve probably got another dead man,” Lucas said. “This is the third killing.”
    “Who?” Spivak asked. He still had bandages around his neck.
    “The guy who tried to hang you, in fact. We have to stop this. We want to give you one last chance to tell us who was at the meeting with you. If you don’t, I’m going to arrest you for accessory to first-degree murder. The penalty is the same as for first degree: thirty years without chance of parole. You’ll never get out of Stillwater alive.”
    “But I don’t know who they were,” Spivak said, his voice rising. A piece of sauerkraut flew across the bar.
    “I think we can prove that you do,” Lucas said. “I’m not sure we can prove that you wanted the murders committed, but I think we can prove that you knew the people who were involved and refused to name them. That’s at least obstruction of justice, and probably accessory to murder.”
    Spivak put his head down and stuffed the rest of the hot dog into his mouth. He chewed and chewed and finally said, “I want a lawyer.”
    “You can certainly have one,” Lucas said. He’d gotten the arrest warrant from one of the deputies before they walked into the bar; now he took it out of his pocket and said, “Last chance.”
    “Lawyer.”
    Lucas nodded and said to one of the deputies, “Cuff him. Take thewarrant with you. I want him isolated.” To Spivak: “You’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent . . .”
    Lucas recited the rest of the Miranda warning, asked Spivak if he understood, and Spivak said to one of the deputies, “Jesus Christ, Clark, this is just like a bunch of fuckin’ Nazis or something. You’ve known me all your life.”
    “Just doing what the man says,” Clark said. The other deputy said to Lucas, “We’ll take him right down . . . we’ll have him there in an hour.”
    “Can I close the bar?” Spivak asked. “Let me count the cash drawer.”
    “Have your bartender call your kid,” Lucas said. “Starting now, you don’t get any favors.”

     15 
    O N THE WAY from Virginia to Duluth, Lucas got a call from Andreno. “The Spivak kid hotfooted it down to the bar right after you took his old man off. He was in there for twenty minutes, then went off to Wal-Mart and got on the phone, just like his daddy did.”
    “You’ve got the time and phone number?”
    “I do.”
    “I want you to call this FBI guy and tell him to make it a priority.”
    “Maybe something begins to break,” Nadya said, when he got off the phone.
     
    L UCAS DROPPED N ADYA at the hotel, then went on to the St. Louis County Jail, so he could watch Spivak being processed. Lucas took him all the way to the cell; left him there, alone, head down, silent, waiting for his call to his lawyer. On the way out, Lucas said, “Have a longtalk