Read Online The Narrows by Michael Connelly - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Michael Connelly
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start there if —”
“No. I’d like to go to the scene.”
They stepped through the automatic glass doors and Rachel felt the dry Nevada air. It wasn’t at all as hot as she’d expected and packed for. It was cool and crisp, even in the direct sun. She took out her sunglasses and decided the jacket she had worn to the airport in South Dakota would be needed here. It was stuffed into her bag.
“Rachel, the scene is two hours from here. Are you sure you —”
“Yes. Take me there. I’d like to start there.”
“Start what?”
“I don’t know. Whatever it is that he wants me to start.”
This seemed to give Dei pause. She didn’t respond. They walked into the parking garage and found her car—a government Crown Vic so dirty that it looked like it was in desert camouflage.
Once they were driving, Dei took out a cell phone and made a call. Rachel heard her tell someone—probably her boss or partner or the scene supervisor—that she had picked up the package and would be taking it to the scene. There was a long pause as the person she’d called responded at length. Then she said good-bye and hung up.
“You are cleared to the scene, Rachel, but you have to step back. You’re here as an observer, okay?”
“What are you talking about? I’m an FBI agent, same as you.”
“But you’re not in Behavioral anymore. This is not your case.”
“You’re saying I am here because Backus wants me here, not you people.”
“Rachel, let’s try to get off to a better start than we did in Am —”
“Anything new come up so far today?”
“We’re up to ten bodies now. They think that’s going to be it. At least for this location.”
“IDs?”
“They’re getting there. What they have is tentative but they’re putting it all together.”
“Is Brass Doran at the scene?”
“No, she is in Quantico. She’s work —”
“She should be here. Don’t you people know what you’ve got here? She —”
“Whoa, Rachel, slow down, okay? Let’s get something straight here. I’m the case agent on this, okay? You are not running this investigation. This is not going to work if you confuse that.”
“But Backus is talking to me. He called me out.”
“And that’s why you are here. But you aren’t calling the shots, Rachel. You have to stand to the side and watch. And I have to tell you I don’t like how this is starting out. This isn’t Driving Miss Rachel. You mentored me but that was ten years ago. I’ve now been in Behavioral longer than you ever were and I’ve booked more cases than you ever did. So don’t talk down to me and don’t act like my mentor or my mother.”
Rachel didn’t respond at first and then she simply asked Dei to pull over so she could get her jacket out of her bag, which was in the trunk. Dei pulled into the Travel America on Blue Diamond Road and popped the trunk.
When Rachel got back into the car she was wearing a baggy black all-weather coat that looked like it might have been designed for a man. Dei didn’t say anything about it.
“Thanks,” Rachel said. “And you’re right. I apologize. I guess you get like me when it turns out your boss—your mentor—is the same evil thing you’ve been hunting all your life. And they punish you for it.”
“I understand that, Rachel. But it wasn’t just Backus. It was a lot of things. The reporter, some of the choices you made. Some people say you were lucky you still had a job at the end of it.”
Rachel’s face grew hot. She was being reminded that she was one of the bureau’s embarrassments. Even within the ranks. Even with the agent she had mentored. She had slept with a reporter working on her case. That was the shorthand version. It didn’t matter that it was a reporter who was actually a part of the case, who was working with Rachel side by side and hour by hour. The shorthand version would always be the story that agents heard and whispered about. A reporter. Was there a lower breach in agent behavior
“No. I’d like to go to the scene.”
They stepped through the automatic glass doors and Rachel felt the dry Nevada air. It wasn’t at all as hot as she’d expected and packed for. It was cool and crisp, even in the direct sun. She took out her sunglasses and decided the jacket she had worn to the airport in South Dakota would be needed here. It was stuffed into her bag.
“Rachel, the scene is two hours from here. Are you sure you —”
“Yes. Take me there. I’d like to start there.”
“Start what?”
“I don’t know. Whatever it is that he wants me to start.”
This seemed to give Dei pause. She didn’t respond. They walked into the parking garage and found her car—a government Crown Vic so dirty that it looked like it was in desert camouflage.
Once they were driving, Dei took out a cell phone and made a call. Rachel heard her tell someone—probably her boss or partner or the scene supervisor—that she had picked up the package and would be taking it to the scene. There was a long pause as the person she’d called responded at length. Then she said good-bye and hung up.
“You are cleared to the scene, Rachel, but you have to step back. You’re here as an observer, okay?”
“What are you talking about? I’m an FBI agent, same as you.”
“But you’re not in Behavioral anymore. This is not your case.”
“You’re saying I am here because Backus wants me here, not you people.”
“Rachel, let’s try to get off to a better start than we did in Am —”
“Anything new come up so far today?”
“We’re up to ten bodies now. They think that’s going to be it. At least for this location.”
“IDs?”
“They’re getting there. What they have is tentative but they’re putting it all together.”
“Is Brass Doran at the scene?”
“No, she is in Quantico. She’s work —”
“She should be here. Don’t you people know what you’ve got here? She —”
“Whoa, Rachel, slow down, okay? Let’s get something straight here. I’m the case agent on this, okay? You are not running this investigation. This is not going to work if you confuse that.”
“But Backus is talking to me. He called me out.”
“And that’s why you are here. But you aren’t calling the shots, Rachel. You have to stand to the side and watch. And I have to tell you I don’t like how this is starting out. This isn’t Driving Miss Rachel. You mentored me but that was ten years ago. I’ve now been in Behavioral longer than you ever were and I’ve booked more cases than you ever did. So don’t talk down to me and don’t act like my mentor or my mother.”
Rachel didn’t respond at first and then she simply asked Dei to pull over so she could get her jacket out of her bag, which was in the trunk. Dei pulled into the Travel America on Blue Diamond Road and popped the trunk.
When Rachel got back into the car she was wearing a baggy black all-weather coat that looked like it might have been designed for a man. Dei didn’t say anything about it.
“Thanks,” Rachel said. “And you’re right. I apologize. I guess you get like me when it turns out your boss—your mentor—is the same evil thing you’ve been hunting all your life. And they punish you for it.”
“I understand that, Rachel. But it wasn’t just Backus. It was a lot of things. The reporter, some of the choices you made. Some people say you were lucky you still had a job at the end of it.”
Rachel’s face grew hot. She was being reminded that she was one of the bureau’s embarrassments. Even within the ranks. Even with the agent she had mentored. She had slept with a reporter working on her case. That was the shorthand version. It didn’t matter that it was a reporter who was actually a part of the case, who was working with Rachel side by side and hour by hour. The shorthand version would always be the story that agents heard and whispered about. A reporter. Was there a lower breach in agent behavior
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