It definitely fit his mood.
Before he got to his car he phoned Pine and filled her in on his meeting with Moss.
“What the hell is going on? Why is all this happening?”
“Teddy did mention that his son was involved in something way over his head. Maybe the people behind that got me called on the carpet with Moss.”
“But that would mean the folks involved in a criminal enterprise have connections to the government.”
“Corruption is the number one business for some politicians. Serving the country faithfully doesn’t even run a close second.”
“Well, it’s certainly plausible that Tony Vincenzo or the people he was working with could have connections to some powerful people.”
“We just have to find out who they are. Hey, how about some dinner tonight and we can plan our next moves?”
“Sounds good.”
Puller gave her the time and place.
“But we need to tread lightly, Puller. It’s all well and good not to be called off by a jerk like this Moss guy. But there have to be people behind him who carry a lot more clout.”
“It’s one of the reasons I didn’t shoot him. See you tonight.”
Chapter 10
PINE TOOK A SHOWER, changed into jeans and a sweater, gunned up, and slipped her badge and creds into a bag, which she slung over her shoulder. She caught her reflection in the mirror.
I do look like my mother.
The mother who had abandoned her. That was not a motherly thing to do. It had tainted everything that Pine felt about her. Yet she still wanted to know where her mother was. Whether she was alive or dead.
She drove to the restaurant, which was in a suburb of Trenton. She had looked it up online. It served Italian cuisine without breaking the budget of two federal stiffs like herself and Puller.
He was already waiting in the small foyer when she got there. He was dressed in jeans, a gray V-neck sweater with a T-shirt underneath, and a windbreaker.
The waiter took them to a back table, something Puller had requested. He sat with his back to the wall, which was something Pine liked to do as well.
The restaurant had the usual decorations for that kind of place. Fake vines growing out of old Chianti bottles, framed prints of yachts and beachgoers on the Mediterranean hanging on the wall, red-and-white-checkered tablecloths, and menus thick enough to be novellas.
They ordered Peroni beer and opted to share a pizza with Greek salad starters. Each of their gazes had already taken in all the patrons in the place, and all possible exits. It was in the DNA. It should be in everyone’s DNA, Pine thought, particularly these days when any building could, at any moment, become a shooting gallery.
“I didn’t ask you before, but how’s your brother and your father?”
“Bobby’s doing great. Running a chunk of the country’s cybersecurity now.”
“And your father?”
Puller’s father was “Fighting John” Puller, a legendary Army three-star with more medals than almost anyone. He was now in a VA hospital suffering from dementia.
“Hanging in there” was all Puller would say. “Just hanging in there. How’s Arizona?”
“Hot. And dry. How about you? Are you still in Virginia?”
Puller said, “Yeah, but I spend most days on the road.”
“Our jobs don’t leave much time for pleasure.”
“No they don’t. You still doing the Olympic weightlifting and MMA tournaments?”
In college Pine had competed to be on the women’s weightlifting team for the Olympics but had missed out on a slot by a kilo. She was a black belt in multiple martial arts and had competed in MMA matches.
“I still lift just to stay in shape. I’m getting too old for the MMA stuff, but I can still kick over my head,” she added with a grin.
“I hear you.” He paused. “So, I dug a little into this Moss guy, but I didn’t find much. I don’t think he’s been in the job long.”
“He hasn’t” was Pine’s reply.
He looked up at her. “You scored something?”
She nodded. “Called in some contacts. Up until a year ago he was a bigwig attorney in Manhattan. Then he joined a lobbying firm. He went right from there to working for the Bureau of Prisons. He’s currently the northeast regional director, which puts Fort Dix under his jurisdiction.” She paused. “If you met the guy, didn’t he tell you that? Or wasn’t the title on his office door?”
“No and no. I don’t think it was even his office. There were a bunch of photos on the wall, but he was in none of them. He’s probably not based in Trenton. He was just the closest attack dog they could sic on me.”
“That’s interesting.”
“It’s also informative. And infuriating. He obviously doesn’t hold the military in high regard.”
“Why’d you even bother to meet with him?”
“I got the call and was told to meet with the guy.”
“Who told you to do that?” she asked.
“A guy two levels up from me at CID. He didn’t seem happy about it. I think he was just grudgingly passing the request along. But his tone made it clear I had to go.”
“So Moss ordered you to stand down?”
“Which I told him he had no authority to do.”
“Bureau of Prisons is under DOJ.”
“Still not in my chain of command,” Puller replied.
“But DOJ can make it really hot for you.”
“I haven’t heard any blowback yet from my side, which I take as a good sign. My folks want whoever’s behind this drug ring Tony Vincenzo’s involved in. Like I said, if they’re selling to soldiers, it diminishes their military readiness. If soldiers are selling the drugs, it opens them up to blackmail by enemies of this country. So it ultimately strikes right at America’s national security. If DOJ wants to make the argument to the DoD that something takes precedence over protecting this country, I’d love to be in the room to hear what it is.”
“At the end of the day, politicians do love the military, at least publicly, so you might have both right and might on your side there.”
“Maybe,” Puller said. “Did you find anything else about your mom and your sister?”
She took a few minutes to fill him in on what she had discovered in the box in Evie Vincenzo’s closet and also her conversation with Darren Castor, the man who had worked for Ito at the ice cream shop.
“So Ito did go down to Georgia, abducted your sister, and almost killed you. That seems to be confirmed, or as close as is possible at the moment.”
“Looks to be.”
“In revenge for his brother, Bruno?”
“It seems the case, yes.”
“And Ito told his employee that he was shocked by what he had done?”
“I don’t know if that refers to almost killing a six-year-old girl, me. Or…” Pine could not bring herself to say it: Or murdering my sister.
Puller, obviously sensing her distress, gripped her hand and said, “One thing I’ve learned over the years, you have to hope for the best, and plan for the worst. But it’s also true that until we know everything we really know nothing. There is no evidence that conclusively shows your sister was killed, correct?”