Intersection (19 page)

“Yep.”

Alex took a deep breath. It might not mean anything, but it might mean everything. She picked up her cell phone and headed into the spare room, closing the door slightly. “Fallon?”

“Hey, Toles,” the voice on the other end answered cautiously, “everything okay there?’

“Yeah…Listen… Fallon….can you run another background on someone. I have the preliminary but I think there is probably an FBI file already. Can you do it, quietly?”

“Yeah… why?”

“Just …”

“A feeling?” He chuckled.

“Not exactly… but yeah,” she said.

“Okay.” He said running to get a pen, “What’s the name?”

“Carl Edward Fisher.”

“Okay…you got it…I’m not there yet….”

“Good,” the agent continued opening the door back up and taking note of Dylan fondling the sugar crystals in his fingers. “Then you can stop and get some milk and cereal on your way and stop here before the office.”

“What?” Fallon asked.

“Yeah… and get some bagels and juice while you’re at it.”

“Toles…”

“Hey… you dropped them off here. Christ, Fallon, you let her carry all that crap by herself?”

Agent Fallon shook his head and Alex swore she could actually hear him grinning from ear to ear. “On my way,” he groaned caving into her request.

“Here you go,” Fallon said to his partner handing her the bag. She accepted it gratefully and headed to the kitchen. He followed her and took a seat at the small table in the corner watching as she started a fresh pot of coffee, filled a bowl with cereal and milk and poured a glass of juice. She walked past him into the other room and handed the boy the bowl and glass.

“Thanks,” he said as Alex touched the top of his head.

“You’re welcome, Speed Racer.” She stopped and picked up a folder, flipping it onto the table in front of her partner.
“Take a look,” she said continuing to the counter to pour them each some coffee.

“What am I looking at?” He asked accepting the cup with a smile.

Alex leaned against the counter and shook her head. “Dylan recognized him from the O’Brien campaign.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, Toles.”

“Maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t,” she agreed, turning to start putting the cereal away and cleaning up the counter, “all I know is someone is watching Cassidy and the congressman is in ICU. As far as I’m concerned everything is something until we prove it otherwise.”

Cassidy had rolled out of bed at the sound of voices in the other room. She shuffled past Fallon putting a hand on his shoulder and offering him a smile. “Morning,” she greeted, coming up behind the agent.

“Morning,” Alex responded letting the woman fall against her slightly. Agent Fallon dropped his face behind the file trying to hide his widening smile. “Go on,” Alex prompted him as she poured Cassidy a cup of coffee.

“What?” Her partner chimed, making his best attempt at playing dumb. Cassidy tried not to laugh and thanked the agent for her coffee with a peck on the cheek before smirking and heading for the living room. Alex watched her leave and looked back at her friend.

“Just say it,” she instructed him.

Agent Fallon pondered the look on his partner’s face. He knew she expected him to give her hell. “I’m happy for you, Alex,” he said simply. “Cassidy’s great.” Alex looked at him as if he might have hit his head and then he continued. “So don’t screw it up,” he finished, returning his attention to the file. Alex just shook her head.

“Fallon… I know you think this is probably nothing, but I don’t think that the congressman’s accident was any accident.”

Her partner took a deep breath. “Yeah, Alex…about that, I went back over the file last night….I don’t think so either.”

Alex looked at him and moved to the table, not wanting Cassidy or Dylan to overhear anything. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to say too much…I have to pull some footage this morning to be sure….but there’s footage from a security camera nearby. The light, I don’t think it was red.”

Alex set down her coffee and rubbed her eyes. “Fallon if that’s true, it would mean whoever was driving the congressman ran into that car deliberately.” He just looked at her silently acknowledging that her observation was his fear. “All right,” she looked into the other room. “I’ll meet you at the office in a while…Cassidy’s mom is flying in.” He nodded and headed for the door calling out his goodbyes. Alex opened the door and leaned into the hallway, “Fallon…”

“Yeah?”

“If there are two… if we’re right, Cassidy and the congressman are both in danger.”

“I know,” he said.

Alex glanced over her shoulder at Dylan and Cassidy. “Do me a favor…keep the footage between us for now.”

He gave her a crooked smile. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Alex worried now that there could be someone within the FBI involved. “Fallon, be careful.”

Agent Brian Fallon stopped halfway down the hall and turned back to the agent. “Toles…”

Alex spun on her heels to face him again. “Yeah?”

“She really is great.”

Agent Alex Toles offered her partner a crooked smile, noting the sincerity in his voice and the affection on his face. “Yeah…I know…..don’t screw it up,” she winked. “I got it.”

“Hey…Toles,” Agent Fallon beckoned his partner to follow him.

“What’s up?”

“I’ve got something I want you to see.” Alex followed Fallon into a small room. He stopped behind her, locked the door and pulled the small shade in the window down.

“Is it the footage you told me about?”

He pulled a chair up to the computer and inserted a disc. “Just look.” Alex stood over her partner’s shoulder and leaned toward the computer screen as he slowed down the footage. “Just watch,” he instructed. Both agents kept their eyes firmly set on the video as it rolled slowly. The congressman’s car was approaching the intersection at what appeared to be an average speed. It slowed slightly and the left blinker began to signal. It was clear that the driver was preparing to make the left turn normally. The car gradually began its curve to the left when in an instant there was a crushing blow to the driver’s side, sending it sailing at least fifteen feet sideways and across the street onto the curb.

Alex stood up. “Okay, but Fallon, that seems to jive with the report.”

Agent Fallon shook his head. “Yeah… I know… but there’s a couple of problems… watch.” He typed in numbers on the keyboard cueing a different point in the video. “You have no idea what it took to get this footage,” he said.

Alex moved around the side of her partner’s chair, completely obstructing her partner’s view. “Play it again,” she ordered and he complied. “Where did you get this?”

“There’s a little convenience store just about a block from the intersection. Just so happens they installed two outdoor cameras a few days ago after a break in. They record movement in both directions toward the store,” he explained, rolling the video again.

Alex watched closely as the blue SUV drove down the street at a fast pace and continued straight through the green light.
“He’s not going eighty…speeding, but…Fallon….stop it right when they are about to hit.” Agent Fallon backed the tape up and played it, pausing it just before the collision. “Again,” Alex instructed.” Can we split screen this? Show both?” Fallon looked at his partner. “Fallon….if both lights were green…”

“I know…neither driver had a chance.”

“Does that store keep recordings for more than the current day?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know, why?”

Alex sighed and began to pace. “The lights didn’t turn green on their own, Fallon….Aren’t there traffic cams at that intersection?”

He frowned. “There are.” Alex put her hands in the air questioning him silently. “That’s where I got the tape of the congressman’s car.”

“Okay, so what about the tape of the SUV?” He cued another point on the video and set it in motion. Alex pinched the bridge of her nose hard.

“I know,” her partner said.

Alex sighed. “So, that’s where the 80 miles per hour scenario came from….somebody altered that footage.”

“Yeah….and the log for the lights. It clearly shows that the Pennsylvania light turned red 6 seconds before the collision.” Alex took a deep breath continuing to pace and rub her temples simultaneously. “So…what now?” Fallon asked. “Do you think Cassidy’s off the hook?” Alex didn’t answer. “Toles, if this is all about O’Brien…I mean… it makes sense that Cassidy… the letters were probably meant to scare him off…you know… I mean…”

“Yeah, I know…. But there’s a problem with that scenario. I agree…the later letters probably were meant to throw him off….something….or to try and paint him in a negative light…. he didn’t bite, didn’t go public and we got put on the case…. BUT, Fallon…. The first letter, that was all about Cassidy, not politics…the fifth, the picture….somebody who knew about
that first letter….somebody leveraged that…or tried to,” Alex stopped her pacing and rubbed her eyes.

“What is it?” Fallon asked.

Alex looked at him now. “If the light was green…Where are all of the witnesses?” She shook her head. “The middle of the day… middle of the day, Fallon…What about the car behind the SUV? What about the pedestrians? No one saw this?”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying… this is a lot bigger than a car crash. Get those witness statements.”

“What are you going to do?” He asked.

“I want you to run backgrounds.”

“On the witnesses?” He asked with some reservation.

“Yeah…Fallon…on the witnesses.”

“What about Tate? Don’t you think…”

“I think this stays between us for now, Fallon. Tate made it clear to me this morning he was not pushing to open a review of the accident. I don’t know if that’s his decision or someone else’s…. BUT, knowing Tate, with what I did tell him, it wasn’t his call. There’s got to be more than one thing going on here.” Alex paused and looked at the frozen image on the screen. “Whoever is behind this didn’t count on our involvement.”

“What about Cassidy?” He asked. “You still want that background for that photographer?”

Alex looked at him. She felt sick. This was much bigger than she anticipated. She still suspected there were two very different motivations behind the letters. That meant Cassidy was in far more danger than the agent had originally thought. “Yes. I’m not discounting anything. Someone goes to these lengths to deter a congressman….If he lives….”

Fallon nodded. He looked at his partner whose face was grim and he could feel the tension pouring from her in a way he never had before. “Toles?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe…. Maybe this will…you know….take the heat OFF Cassidy, even if there are two.” Alex swallowed hard and forced a fake smile. “Toles, really…”

“Fallon, just run the backgrounds…and no emails or calls… okay? I’ll call you in a couple of hours and let you know where I am. Bring them hard copy…. And pick up some Chinese food on your way.”

“What?” He asked.

“Look, Fallon…no one can know we suspect this…understand?” He nodded as she began to head out the door.

“Is Cassidy going back to the congressman’s?”

“No. She doesn’t want to stay there.”

“She staying with you?”

“My place is not really…. Well….No. I have a friend who has made arrangements for Cassidy and Rose to stay at a condo in Arlington his family owns.”

“A friend?” Fallon shook his head. “You’re talking about the president.”

Alex gave the first hint of a real smile seeing that her partner was still annoyed by her failure to share her friendship with the president with him. “Fallon, we’ve always kept our friendship quiet. I’d prefer it stays that way, okay?” Fallon didn’t really understand but he smiled and nodded his agreement. “I’ve got to go…stuff to do before we head over the bridge. I’ll call you when I get there….Get those files.”