The Kill Room

you did kill him, any deaths that resulted—even if you hoped to avoid them—are murder.”
    His head turned and it seemed that he took in a pattern of scuff on the wall. It looked like a lightning bolt to Laurel.
    And then she realized: Lord, he looks like David! She’d had the same thought when she’d seen Lincoln Rhyme’s aide, Thom. But Shales’s glance just now had been like an electric shock; the airman was much, much closer in appearance and expression.
    Schoolmarm…
    Said in the heat of the moment.
    Still…
    David, her only real boyfriend. Ever.
    A deep breath and Laurel, steadied, continued, “Are you aware that Robert Moreno was not, in fact, engaged in a plot to attack the American Petroleum building in Miami? And that the chemicals he imported into the Bahamas were for legitimate agricultural and commercial purposes, to aid his Local Empowerment Movement?”
    “I’m choosing not to answer that question, either.”
    “We’ve datamined your phone calls, determined your whereabouts, have air traffic control information about the drone, photos of the Ground Control Station in the NIOS parking lot—”
    “I’m choosing—” his voice caught. “I’m choosing not to respond.” His eyes could not hold hers.
    Like David’s.
    There, sorry. I didn’t want to say it. You made me…
    Instinct told her to back off now. Immediately. Softer voice. “I want to work with you, Mr. Shales. Can I call you Barry?”
    “I guess.”
    “I’m Nance. I want to work something out. We believe that you were a victim in this too. That you weren’t given all the information about Robert Moreno that you probably should have been when the STO was issued.”
    Now a flicker in his eyes.
    Which, fuck it all, are just as blue as David’s.
    “In fact, it’s possible,” she continued, “that some of the intelligence was intentionally manipulated to make a stronger case for assassinating Moreno. What do you think about that?”
    “Intelligence is hard to analyze. It’s a tricky business.”
    Ah, no more name, rank and serial number. No doubt: Shales knows that Metzger fudged the intel and it’s been eating at him.
    “I’m sure it is. But it presumably is also easy to manipulate. Isn’t that the case?”
    “I guess it can be.” Shales’s face was flushed. She believed that veins in his jaw and temple were more prominent than earlier.
    Excellent.
    Fear was a good tool for persuasion.
    Hope was better.
    “Let’s see if we can work something out.”
    But his shoulders rose slightly and she measured the level of resistance. Still pretty high.
    Laurel had played chess with David. This was one of their Sunday-morning things to do, after breakfast and after, well, what often came after breakfast.
    She loved those games. He was slightly better than she. That added to the excitement.
    Now, she thought. Now’s the time.
    “Barry, the stakes are high here. The death of Moreno and the others in the Bahamas are one thing. But the bomb in the coffee shop, the murder of Lydia Foster, that’s—”
    “ What? ”
    “The bomb, the murder of the witnesses.” Laurel appeared perplexed.
    “Wait. What are you talking about?”
    She paused. Then, surveying his face closely, said, “The individual trying to stop our case, the specialist, they’re called, aren’t they? He killed a witness in the Bahamas and one here in New York. He detonated an IED to destroy a computer holding evidence, nearly killed a half dozen people, including an NYPD police detective. You’re not familiar with these?”
    “No…”
    Bishop to queen’s knight three. Check.
    She whispered, “Yes. Oh, yes.”
    He looked away whispering, “Minimal steps…”
    She didn’t know what that meant.
    But Laurel did know that this wasn’t an act. Shales, of the pink flesh and eyes impossibly old and achingly blue, hadn’t known anything of Unsub 516. Not a single thing. Shreve Metzger had thoroughly deceived him.
    Work it…
    “Well, Barry, we have proof positive that this man was in the Bahamas around the time of your drone strike. We thought he was your partner.”
    “No, I work alone. NIOS sometimes has assets on the ground for intel…” His voice faded.
    “Who are sent there by Shreve Metzger.”
    Not a question.
    “Sometimes.”
    “So he’s the one who manipulated the evidence in the first place. And has been trying to stop the investigation.”
    “You have a name?” Shales asked.
    “No, he’s an unknown subject at this