Part 37 (1/2)

”Who?” Mara asked.

”Sarah and Jeremy Gamble. They sat next to you on the flight. What contact have you had with them since the flight?”

”Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize their names. I met them on the flight.”

”We have witnesses who saw you at Sarah Gamble's house several days ago. What were you doing there?”

”Jeremy had trouble with his portable gaming device. I had fixed it when we were on the plane, and Sarah had called me when the problem recurred. I stopped by to look at it.”

”You made a house call to fix a toy?”

”It's not unusual for me to drop by a customer's home. Besides, we shared a traumatic experience, and I thought it would be cathartic to talk to Mrs. Gamble. She was a nice lady.”

”So you worked on the toy and left?”

”That's correct.”

”Was anyone with you?”

”Mr. Ping drove me there. We happened to be out on another errand, and he agreed to stop by.”

”And were Sarah and Jeremy Gamble still at the house when you left?”

”Yes.”

”Do you know Bert Reilly?”

”I don't.”

”Another pa.s.senger. We were told he went by the shop where you work and hasn't been seen since.” Suter gritted his teeth. The slow breathing exercise appeared to be wearing off already. ”The Gambles are missing. So are several other pa.s.sengers, including Matt Sandoval, the pilot. Kathy Harrington is missing. We picked you up at her house this morning. What is your explanation for all of these disappearances?”

”I have none,” Mara said.

”You have none! We have a laundry list of witnesses a.s.sociating you with these disappearances. What did you do with these people, Ms. Lantern?”

”I had nothing to do with the disappearances of those people. Your witnesses must be mistaken,” Mara said, looking to Bohannon. ”If the two of you are accusing me of something, maybe it would be better for me to have an attorney here.”

Suter jumped out of his seat, on the verge of vaulting over the table. Bohannon blocked him with an arm. ”I think it's time we took a break,” the detective said.

Suter turned and stomped out of the room. Bohannon turned to Mara, raised an eyebrow and shook his head, and followed the FBI agent into the hall. ”We'll be back in a few minutes.”

CHAPTER 55.

SUTER PACED BETWEEN the walls of the beige featureless hallway. He loosened his tie and damp collar, craned his neck while closing his eyes to little slits. Bohannon stood in front of a soft-drink vending machine and watched him for a few minutes before approaching. He wasn't sure if the FBI agent was sick again or on the verge of some kind of a breakdown.

He handed a bottle of water to Suter. ”Here, drink this. You look like you need it.”

Suter's head snapped toward Bohannon. ”We're not getting anywhere with her. I think we should put her on ice for a day or two. See if that makes her more cooperative.”

”Her attorney will have her out this afternoon. What do we charge her with? Kidnapping, murder, terrorism, what? All we have are a few witnesses who saw her with some of the pa.s.sengers from the flight. We have no real evidence she did anything to the plane or any of the pa.s.sengers.” Bohannon leaned against a wall while Suter continued to pace. ”Your best bet-”

George Pirelli, the NTSB chief investigator, turned the corner at the end of the hallway, raised a meaty arm with a rolled-up sleeve to get their attention and lumbered toward the investigators. His wrinkled striped b.u.t.ton-down hung loosely over his belt, on the verge of becoming untucked, but, despite his disheveled appearance, he looked relaxed. ”Just the gentlemen I was looking for. I've got some news for you.” He smiled to Suter. ”We're wrapping it up. Have your final reports to me tomorrow afternoon.”

A vein bulged on the side of Suter's neck, raced up to his hairline behind his ear. ”But we're still following up on the pa.s.senger interviews and the disappearances.” He snarled, looked ready to take a bite of Pirelli. Bohannon lifted his backside off the wall, just in case.

Pirelli seemed oblivious to Suter's demeanor. ”We've got enough information from the pa.s.senger interviews, and we have concluded the pa.s.senger disappearances are not related to Flight 559. Let the Portland P.D. deal with the disappearances. Shut it down, gentlemen.” Pirelli turned sideways to fit his waist past the two men and walked to the exit at the end of the hall. He stopped and looked back at Suter. ”Man, you look awful. You should take some time off before reporting back to your office.” He continued out of the building.

Suter stood in the center of the hall, trembling, glaring at Bohannon. ”We can't let her get away with this. Let's get back to the interrogation.”

”What's the point? We're done. You heard Pirelli. Let's send her on her way and go work on our reports,” Bohannon said, smiling. ”The sooner I get out of here, the better.”

”No!” Suter shouted. He caught himself, took a deep breath, twitched a little and lowered his voice. ”Look, if she had anything to do with the disappearances, we have an obligation to find out what we can. Pirelli can't tell the FBI not to investigate a kidnapping case. I can a.s.sert jurisdiction, if necessary. Let's ask a few more questions and let her attorney spend a few hours bailing her out.”

”First of all, we don't know there was a kidnapping. Second, I'm only a.s.signed here for the NTSB investigation. If you want to work the disappearances, you need to coordinate with the local FBI office and the Portland police. That's a little above my pay grade,” Bohannon said. ”We can't arrest people without the authority to investigate. If Pirelli is shutting down the investigation, we have no case.”

”Just a few questions. That's all. If nothing else, it will help us hand off a more complete case file to the local cops looking into the disappearances.”

”I don't know.”

Suter shook his head.

Bohannon didn't want to get into a fight this close to being free of this investigation. ”Just a few questions and only if you keep your cool. Pirelli is right. You look like h.e.l.l.”

Mara switched the phone from her left ear to her right. ”I don't know if they intend to arrest me. If they were going to, wouldn't they read me my rights before they started questioning me?”

”I would think so, but I'm not an expert in these matters. I've got a call into the attorney, but he's in court, and it may be a while before we hear back,” Ping said, his voice sounding slightly tinny as he spoke via his phone's hands-free function. ”In the meantime, Sam and I are on our way over there, just in case.”

”Just in case of what?” Mara asked.

”In case they decide to move you. I want to make sure I know where you are. Also, if they decide to release you, I'll be there, and we can continue working on getting the Chronicle back.”

”At the rate this is going, you could be waiting all day.”

”Don't worry about that. Now tell me, what specifically are they asking about?”

”Well, they definitely suspect we had something to do with the disappearances of-” The doork.n.o.b to the conference room rattled. ”I gotta go. They're coming back.”

”Call me if they try to take you anywhere.”

Mara hit the End icon on her phone and slid it back into her jeans pocket.

Bohannon reached across the table and placed a bottle of water in front of Mara. She nodded a thank-you to him. He smiled and sat down. Suter took his seat, leaned across the table and once again led with his sweaty face while holding his hands under the table. Although Suter maintained his intensity, Bohannon looked more relaxed. Mara wondered why. She pressed back in her chair, tried to appear neutral.

”Ms. Lantern, when you were at the Gamble home, did you encounter a man named Travis Johnson?” Suter asked, staring without blinking.