A Quiet Vendetta by R.J. Ellory Read Free Book Online Page A

that he might seriously regret.
    He reached his car and sat for a while until his heart slowed down. He started the engine, turned around, drove back the way he’d come for a good thirty minutes before he finally slowed and stopped. He got out and leaned against the wing of his car. He tried to think in something resembling a straight line, but he could not.
    Eventually he climbed back into the car, started the engine, and drove back to the city.
    The FBI were waiting for Verlaine when he reached the Precinct House. The dark gray sedan, the dark suits, dark ties, white shirts, clean shoes. There were two of them, neither of whom looked like they’d smiled since their teens. They knew his name before he reached them, and though they shook his hand and introduced themselves respectively as Agents Luckman and Gabillard there was no humor in their tone, nothing warm or amicable. Whatever this was it was business, straight and direct, and when they expressed their wish to speak with Verlaine ‘in confidence’ he understood that somehow he’d managed to step on the toes of something that he was regretting more and more as each minute passed.
    Inside his office it was cramped. Verlaine asked if they wanted coffee; Luckman and Gabillard declined.
    ‘So how can I help you?’ he asked them, looking from one to the other as if there really was no discernible difference in their faces.
    ‘A body was discovered,’ Agent Gabillard started. His face was smooth and untroubled. He looked singularly at ease despite the awkwardness of the situation. ‘In the trunk of a car last Saturday evening a body was discovered. An attempt was made through your Prints Division to identify the victim, and that is the reason we are here.’
    ‘The security tag,’ Verlaine stated.
    ‘The security tag,’ Luckman repeated. He turned and looked at Gabillard, who nodded in concurrence.
    ‘The identity of the victim cannot be divulged,’ Luckman went on, ‘save to say that he was in the employ of a significant political figure, and was here in New Orleans on official business.’
    ‘Official business?’ Verlaine asked.
    Gabillard nodded. ‘He was here in the capacity of security for someone.’
    ‘The significant political figure?’
    Luckman shook his head. ‘The daughter.’
    Verlaine’s eyes widened. ‘So this guy was babysitting some politician’s daughter down here?’
    Gabillard cracked his face with a smile that seemed to demand a considerable effort. ‘This is as much as we can tell you,’ he said. ‘And the only reason we are telling you is that you have a very credible and distinguished record here in New Orleans, and we trust you not to communicate anything regarding this matter beyond the confines of this office. The man you discovered in the trunk of the car was attending to a matter of personal security for the daughter of a significant political figure, and with his death the case becomes a matter of federal jurisdiction, and as such your attention to the killing and any subsequent investigation is no longer required.’
    ‘Federal?’ Verlaine asked. ‘She must have been kidnapped then, right? You guys wouldn’t get involved if it was simply a murder case.’
    ‘We can say nothing further,’ Luckman said. ‘All we ask of you at this time is to turn over any paperwork, case files, notes and reports that have been made thus far, and we will speak to your captain when he returns and clarify the position we are now in regarding this investigation.’
    Verlaine frowned. ‘So we just drop it? We drop the whole thing, just like that?
    ‘Just like that,’ Gabillard said.
    Verlaine shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know whether to feel frustrated or relieved. ‘Well, okay. I don’t see there’s a great deal more we have to talk about then. Medical Examiner and County Coroner will have their reports. You can collect those from the respective offices, and as far as I am concerned I haven’t yet filed a report.