The Collectors

Jerry Bagger had personally put a bullet into her brain when she wouldn’t rat out her husband. Paddy certainly hadn’t returned his wife’s loyalty. He’d fled when Bagger started to close in. A

Bagger might have been a walking caricature of a casino chieftain in a bad mob film, but one thing that wasn’t phony or fu

With all that, in Tammy Conroy’s case, a ten–grand con wouldn’t have ordinarily led to death. But it wasn’t a simple case, because her father and Bagger had a long ru

There was no evidence linking Bagger to the murder, of course, and he’d had a million alibis, so no charges were ever filed in the case. However, some veteran cons with inside knowledge that A

Having him so close to her over the last week, A

She picked up the TV remote and cha

The last article she read caused her to sit up so fast she spilled her pretzel and mustard on the bed. She stared wide–eyed at the small, grainy photo that accompanied the back–page story. It was a short tribute to a distinguished scholar and man of letters. There was no cause given for the death of Jonathan DeHaven, only that he had died suddenly while at work at the Library of Congress. Though he’d died some time ago, funeral arrangements were just now complete and burial was set for the next day in D.C. A

A

Chapter 28

“Oliver! Oliver.”

Stone slowly came to and sat up with difficulty. He was lying fully dressed on the floor of his cottage, his hair still damp.

“Oliver!” Someone was banging on his front door.

Stone rose, stumbled toward the door and opened it.

Reuben stared back at him with an amused expression. “What the hell’s going on? You getting into the tequila again?” However, when he noted Stone’s obvious distress, he quickly turned serious. “Oliver, are you okay?”

“I’m not dead. I take that as a positive.”

He motioned for Reuben to come in, and Stone spent the next ten minutes filling him in on what had happened.

“Damn! You have no idea who they are?”

“Whoever it is, they’re well up on their torture techniques,” Stone said dryly, rubbing at the knot on his head. “I don’t think I can even drink water again.”

“So they know about the Behan co

Stone nodded. “I’m not sure it was a total surprise to them, actually. But I think what I told them about Bradley and DeHaven was definitely new intelligence.”

“Speaking of DeHaven, his funeral is today. That’s what we were calling you about. Caleb is going, along with most of the Library of Congress. Milton’s coming too, and I switched my shift at the dock so I could go. We thought it might be important.”

Stone rose but immediately wobbled.

Reuben grabbed his arm. “Oliver, maybe you should just sit tight.”

“One more torture session like that, you’ll be attending my funeral. But the service today may be important. If only for those it happens to bring out into the open.”

• • •

The service at St. John’s Church next to Lafayette Park was very well attended by many library and government types. Also in attendance was Cornelius Behan with his wife, a tall, slender and very attractive woman in her early fifties with expertly colored blond hair. Her haughty air was intriguingly coupled with a wary, fragile bearing. Cornelius Behan was well known in Washington, and people continually went over to him, pressing the flesh and paying homage. He accepted it all with good graces, but Stone noted that he kept one hand on his wife’s arm at all times, as though she might fall without such support.

At Stone’s insistence the Camel Club members had scattered in the church so they could survey different sections of people. Though it was clear that whoever had kidnapped him knew of his involvement with the others, Stone didn’t want to give those people, in case they were here, a reminder that he had three friends who would make nice targets.

Stone sat in the very back, and his gaze swept the area with a practiced motion, until it stopped on one woman who sat off to the side. As she turned and flicked her hair out of her face, Stone’s gaze intensified. His previous training had made him highly skilled at remembering people’s features, and he had seen that profile before, although the woman he was looking at now was older.