Abyss by David Hagberg

Author:David Hagberg [Hagberg, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781429971591
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2011-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-NINE

McGarvey’s cell phone rang as he was passing the Kennedy Center on his way over to pick up Eve Larsen at the Watergate. It was Otto. “How’d it go with Page?”

“He wants me to be the unofficial point man on the investigation,” McGarvey said. “They said you’d left the building. Anything I need to know?”

“Sorry, Mac, but we didn’t want to worry you until we were sure. It’s about Audie. We took her to the doctor this afternoon.”

Something so cold, so alien, so completely beyond understanding flashed through McGarvey’s body, nearly causing him to run off the street. But then he got hold of himself. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing, honest injun. It’s just an ear infection. The doc gave her some antibiotics and eardrops and said she’ll be fine.” Rencke was talking in a rush. “But she had a fever last night so Louise stayed home with her, and she called me this morning. Anyway, it’s okay now.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah,” Otto said. “Raising a kid isn’t as easy as Louise and I thought it would be. But I’m not complaining. We love her, and there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for her. And not a day goes by when I don’t think about Todd and Liz who should be here with her.”

McGarvey settled down and it was like starting to hear again after being temporarily deafened by a sudden loud noise, and things seemed to be just slightly out of focus. “I’m on my way over to pick up Eve Larsen and take her to the Fox studio on North Capitol. Get into the D.C. police system and see if Reverend Schlagel has a permit to stage a demonstration on the street.”

“Just a sec,” Otto said.

McGarvey turned off New Hampshire Avenue at the parking entrance for the Watergate Mall and the East and South buildings, and drove around to the lobby of Eve’s building.

Otto came back. “Yup. Leonard Sackman, who’s the Soldiers of Salvation Ministry special events coordinator, if you can believe that, arranged for the permit. It’s been limited to one thousand people, for ninety minutes from six thirty to eight. So if you’re on the way you’ll definitely run into them. But there’ll be plenty of cops, and none of those people will be allowed inside.”

“Have you tried to get anything from the computers in Schlagel’s organization?”

“Yeah, and it was easy, but nothing important’s there. It looks like all the major decisions are made face-to-face. Probably paper records at their McPherson headquarters. I suppose we could find someone willing to break in and give it a try.”

McGarvey had been born and raised on a ranch in western Kansas and he knew the state well. Most of the towns out on the plains, well away from Kansas City and Wichita, were small. Just about everybody knew just about everybody else. Strangers tended to stand out. It was one of the reasons the FBI had such a tough time getting any in-depth information on the reverend. “Take a look at their security measures. If you can get inside the system without attracting any attention, do it.

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