“I think you know all you need to know about the case. It’s been resolved, Agent Puller. You can freely move on to other unsolved cases.”
“Your opinion on the matter, unfortunately, carries no weight with me since you were clearly plucked out to come here and tell me absolutely nothing.”
“I’m doing my job,” she shot back.
“So am I—at least I’m trying to, but you’re not helping.”
“I didn’t know that it was my job to help you. But, regardless, I wish you good luck in whatever you’re doing.”
Puller held out his card. “If anything occurs to you, I’d appreciate a call.”
She didn’t take it. Lanier turned and walked back through a doorway, closing it hard behind her.
A moment later the hefty cop appeared from another door.
“How did it go, Agent Puller?” he asked hopefully.
“It didn’t,” replied Puller as he turned and walked out into a gathering storm. It was not nearly as intense as the one going on inside his head.
Chapter 19
OVER THE PHONE JACK LINEBERRY sounded weak and a bit depressed. He’d known both of Pine’s parents for decades. Pine had recently learned that he’d worked with a government agency back then on the sting operation against the mob in which Pine’s mother acted as a mole. Lineberry had been sent to Andersonville to watch over them, a mission at which he’d failed. Since then, he’d become extremely wealthy through an investment company he had started.
And Pine had also learned that Jack Lineberry was her and Mercy’s father, having conceived them with their mother before she met the man Pine thought had been her father, Tim Pine.
“Jack, are you okay?” asked Pine in a worried tone.
She had put her phone on speaker so that Blum could listen in.
“Just a bad day. Some infection, they said, and a bit of pain accompanying.”
“Wait a minute, are you still in the hospital? I thought they were releasing you.”
“They’ve assured me it’s nothing serious, but they are keeping me a while longer, as a precautionary measure.”
“Are they sure it’s not serious?”
“Yes, just typical postsurgery stuff, but I’m feeling claustrophobic. I just want out of here. Hence, my mood is not all that good.”
“Hang in there, Jack. They need to make sure you’re good to go.”
“Where are you?”
“Trenton.”
“Ito Vincenzo, then?” he said.
“Yes. We’ve found out a few things and had some curveballs thrown our way.”
“Such as?”
Pine said, “Such as Ito’s grandson, Tony, is a fleeing fugitive. And Ito’s son and Tony’s dad, Teddy, was just murdered in prison shortly after I spoke with him.”
To his credit, Lineberry did not sound shocked by any of this. “Life is full of curveballs, Atlee,” he said quietly. “And I surely speak from experience on that.”
“Which is why I’m calling you for some help.”
Lineberry said, “Your call could not have been better timed. It will give me something to do while I wait for the next bad meal they’re going to serve me today.”
Pine told him about the letter they had found in Evie Vincenzo’s closet.
“What?” gasped Lineberry. “That sounds like Bruno knew about your mother’s working with us.”
His heavy breathing was making her worried. Pine said, “I don’t think you’re in a condition to hear any more.”
“No, no, I’m…I’m fine, please go on.”
“I take it you didn’t know that Bruno might have known about my mom.”
Lineberry said disgustedly, “Bruno Vincenzo was a cold-blooded killer. If I had known that, I would have pulled the plug on the whole op in a New York minute.”
“He said he didn’t rat out my mom, but that he was screwed over. He made it sound like he had worked a deal where he would get some sort of immunity but that it didn’t come through.”
“I can’t believe that, I really can’t. But you have to understand that I was kept out of the loop on the legal end of things. I’m not a lawyer. My job was to watch over your mother. Any deal would have to have been made with the prosecutors, the folks at the FBI, and ultimately the Justice Department. Not with me. But still, I would have been made aware of it, or at least I should have been. Bruno knowing about your mother’s real role comes squarely down on the operation’s side. That was my jurisdiction. If the lawyers did cut such a deal and didn’t tell us? Well, it would have been incredibly stupid. If we had known we would have changed how we engineered the whole op. I guess we could have used Bruno as an asset. Not that I would have ever trusted the son of a bitch.”
“He eventually did turn state’s evidence,” pointed out Pine.
“Right, only to save his own ass. And he failed at that, and you won’t find me crying over it. That guy probably had the blood of at least fifty people on his hands. Good riddance.”
“But assuming that Bruno’s having found out about my mother’s undercover status was relayed to the prosecutors, why wouldn’t they have struck a deal with him? I mean, he had leverage. He could have blown the whole investigation, like you said. He could have put my mother’s life in danger. They might not have had a choice but to go along.”
“Her life was already in danger,” noted Lineberry.
“In more danger, then.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Atlee. I wasn’t in those discussions, if they did occur.”
“It seems clear that was why Ito did what he did. To avenge Bruno.”
“Look, don’t assume that Bruno was telling the truth in that letter. It could have just been sour grapes on his part. And he deserved what he got. Like I said, the number of people he killed while he was in the mob? And how he killed them? It was nauseating. The bastard!”
“Okay, Jack, just calm down. The last thing you need is to get all worked up.”
She could hear him take several deep, calming breaths. “I’m sorry, I don’t usually let it get to me like that. I’m good now. Continue on with your questions.”
“You’re sure?” she asked.
“Yes. Quite sure.”
“Okay, moving on, you said that, at least initially, my family was in witness protection?”
Lineberry said, “That’s correct. After your mother served as an inside source for law enforcement, her identity was leaked, and threats were made. The decision was made to put all of you into witness protection.”
“How was her identity leaked?” asked Pine.
He didn’t answer right away. “That is something we never determined, although we did an exhaustive investigation.”
“Did you make the assumption that her identity had been leaked because of the threats?”
Lineberry coughed and said, “Exactly. That was the surest proof of all.”
“What was the nature of the threats?”
There was a long moment of silence.
She said cautiously, “We can do this another time, when you feel better.”