Page 152 of The Midnight Lock (Lincoln Rhyme 14)

Rhyme didn’t point out the embarrassing fallacy that it hardly made sense for Harrison to deal in stolen info since screwing with investigations and prosecutions workedagainsthis interest as a candidate.

Rodriguez answered more delicately. “Not you, sir, but you have a big infrastructure here. The leak could have come from anywhere.” He continued, “The mole had to be pretty high up, someone with access to investigative information across all the divisions. That would include City Hall.”

Beaufort asked, “How did you get to Brett Evans?”

“Just like what we hoped would happen: Buryak put one of his people on me to stop my supposed renegade investigation against him. Aaron Douglass.”

Rodriguez explained, “He’s a gold shield with the OC Task Force working undercover in Buryak’s operation.”

“Maybe he was legit but he was the only connection we had to Buryak, so Amelia and I made up a story about some drug drops at the Red Hook piers in Brooklyn.”

Rodriguez said, “I put a team on Douglass. We ended up with this. Recorded at an outdoor café on the East Side. We got an undercover at a table next to Douglass and who shows up but Evans?” He put the transcript on the mayor’s desk.

EVANS:How’s Buryak?

DOUGLASS:Thank Christ he doesn’t watch the news. I told him I nailed that Sachs bitch downtown, ran over her. Then, the fuck, she shows up on TV talking about help us find the Locksmith.

EVANS:You could talk your way out of it.

DOUGLASS:Yeah, Viktor trusts me. More and more. Still. [Garbled noise.]

DOUGLASS:Listen, I’ve got something good you can sell to Viktor. There’s going to be a series of narc drops at the Red Hook piers. A lot. If you can get me details Viktor’ll put it up at one of his auctions. He’s got some customers’d pay large to know when a crime scene bus is taking the shipment to the Queens lab. Easy to knock over, especially if it’s late at night.

EVANS:Excellent. I’ll get on the horn with Narcotics now and get back to you … Aaron, let me ask you a question. You’re walking a tightrope here. You haven’t nailed Buryak yet. Isn’tyour captain getting impatient? Six months with nothing solid against him. You have an endgame?

DOUGLASS:I’m banking ten K a week. I hang in for another, maybe, five, six months, and then I’m out. Retiring.

EVANS:And doing what?

DOUGLASS:Opening a chain of food trucks. Already got it planned.

You can be my first customer. You get a discount. [Laughter.]

The mayor pushed the document away. He muttered, “Jesus … I never would have guessed Brett. He always seemed rock solid.”

Rhyme said, “I was thinking I should’ve been more suspicious of him too. There was something odd about him calling me up after I was fired. Sure, I helped make his career, but that was years ago, and we haven’t talked much since. He was saying he’d get me a commercial job or a slot at the New Jersey State Police. But he was spying on me, wanted to know what I was up to.”

Harrison shook his head. His distinguished mane of silver hair was at odds with his rolled-up shirtsleeves. Like now, his top collar button was rarely fixed, his tie forever lopsided. “Looks like my firing you added a layer of complication.”

Rhyme muttered, “To put it mildly.”

Al Rodriguez said, “When I heard about your edict, sir, I called Sally Willis and talked my way into overseeing the disciplinary effort. Had to run interference and make it look like Lincoln and his team were toeing the line, while we went after the mole.”

Then the mayor was looking out over the harbor. “The Murphy murder. Did Buryak commit it?”

Rodriguez said, “No.”

“What if the jury’d come back with a guilty verdict?”

“We have the real perp on ice—a safe house in Queens. A signed confession. Buryak wasn’t at risk. And Sellars had some legitimate cause to bring the case: motive, means.”

“We got our mole. What about Douglass?”

“He’s disappeared. We’re looking for him.”

“And Buryak?” Harrison’s face was grim. “Do you have him on tape?”

“No,” Rodriguez said. “He’s been as cautious as he’s always been.”