Blood Silence Read Online Free PDF Page B

fair.”
    The Judge indeed took him on a full tour of the entire plane, finishing with a walk up to the president’s suite in the nose of the plane, where he was warmly greeted by the president and the First Lady. Then he took Mac up to the cockpit, where he met the pilots and checked out the view. Mac realized he was getting the tour usually reserved for
National Geographic
or
60 Minutes
if they were interviewing the president or reporting about Air Force One. The tour ended in the president’s office, which sat just behind the cockpit. The office contained a small desk with a flat screen on one wall, with the Presidential Seal embellished on the wall behind the desk. Two leather chairs sat in front of the desk.
    “Is it okay for us to be in here, Judge?” Mac asked, uncertain.
    The Judge nodded. “I have certain privileges around here.” He waved to the leather chairs in front of the desk. He was using the president’s office, but even Judge Dixon wasn’t brazen enough to actually sit behind the desk. “Tell me.”
    Mac spent a half hour laying out what he’d learned.
    “Executed?” the Judge exclaimed, shocked, his mouth agape. “You’re sure? You’re absolutely sure?”
    “Am I absolutely, one hundred percent, no chance it’s anything else sure?” Mac shook his head, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, looking the Judge in the eye, “No, Judge, but if you want my professional opinion, it sure looks like it to me. Coolidge thinks so as well and is investigating on that basis. The question, Judge, is why?”
    The Judge sat back in his chair, stunned. “He’s a scientist. He’s probably never even harmed a fly because of its trickle-down effect on the ecosystem. Why would anyone want to kill him?”
    “If he was executed, there was a reason beyond a couple credit cards, a watch, and a cell phone. He had a laptop and some papers he showed Kane. Those papers and the laptop were gone.”
    “Any idea what the papers were about?”
    Mac shook his head. “Does Shane’s dad know who he was working for?”
    “I asked, but he didn’t know.”
    “How hard did you ask?”
    “Pretty hard. I pushed him again the other night, knowing you were going to look into this. He spoke to Shane a few times a week, staying in touch, but Thomas didn’t really know what he was working on. Has Coolidge found anything?”
    “Two things, but who knows if they’re related. He’s determined that Shane flew into town from Minneapolis, but he actually started with a flight from Bismarck that day, so I presume he was working up in North Dakota—but again, we don’t know that for sure. Second, he recently deposited twenty thousand dollars into his bank account from a company or entity called Soutex Solutions.”
    “And who is Soutex … Solutions?”
    “I don’t know,” Mac answered, shaking his head. “Coolidge is looking into it, but for now the trail stops at a post office box in New Orleans.”
    The Judge steepled his fingers under his chin, deep in thought. After a moment, he said, “I assume he is still looking into that?”
    “I presume so,” Mac replied. “If Weatherly and Kane were executed, they were killed by a pro. The pro is probably long gone by now.”
    “How does he investigate the case, then?”
    “The harder way, he’s trying to figure out why they were killed and who wanted them dead. So he is looking into Soutex Solutions to see who they are and what Shane might have been doing for them. It’s the only option he has at this point.”
    “I see.”
    Mac could almost see the wheels turning in the Judge’s brain. “I did, of course, tell Coolidge I’d be telling you what I’d learned.”
    “What else did you tell him?”
    “I suggested that you might be willing to discreetly allocate some federal resources if he asked, through me of course. We couldn’t have Coolidge go direct.”
    “Good boy,” the Judge replied approvingly.
    “So if he calls to ask, Judge, I’ll let you