Read Online 3 a.m. (Henry Bins 1) by Nick Pirog - Free Book Online Page B



    “ Tomorrow morning.” She
pauses. “They’re going to arrest the President for
murder.”
     
    …
     
    “ What?”
    “ Callie Freig isn't really
Callie Freig.”
    I put on my best surprise face. Big eyes.
Open mouth. A loss for words. It works.
    “ The FBI got an anonymous
tip; before she changed her identity, Callie Freig was
actually a young girl named Jessica Renoix. She worked for
Sullivan's governor campaign in Virginia. The tip also said that
they saw the President leave the woman's house the night of the
murder.”
    She looks at me skeptically.
    “ It wasn't me,” I assure
her. Then add, “Still that's not a lot to go on. The Secret Service
came and got the phone, so they couldn't use that. You would think
the FBI would have more.”
    “ They do.”
    She takes a deep breath.
    “ President Sullivan
underwent a battery of tests when he became President, one of which
was a DNA workup. His DNA wouldn't show up in a routine search of
the national DNA database, but the FBI has it on file somewhere.
They ran his DNA against a couple of hairs found in her bed and it
was a match.”
    I didn't have to fake my surprise face this
time.
    “ They made a courtesy call
to my Captain, because the homicide is technically our
jurisdiction, but yeah, they are arresting him at the White House
tomorrow morning.”
    “ What did your Captain
say?”
    “ What could he say, he let
the biggest arrest in the history of the United States slip through
his fingers. He smelled like he'd drank a fifth of scotch by the
time he called me and Cal into his office and told us what was
going on.”
    I thought of Cal, who had been so adamant
that I'd killed her. “It would have been nice to see Cal's
face.”
    “ He still
thinks it's bullshit,” she scoffs. “Thinks it's some big
left wing conspiracy to get the President out of office and get a
democrat back in.”
    “ Asshole.”
    She nods and both of us go quiet. I wonder
if she is playing the same simulation in her head, the one of the
President being arrested, and the media atomic bomb that is going
to explode tomorrow. This will, without a doubt, be the biggest
story since 9/11.
    “ I talked with
him.”
    She cuts her eyes at me. “Who?”
    “ The
President.”
    “ Yeah, right. You talked
with Connor Sullivan.”
    “ I did. Two nights
ago.”
    It takes her three seconds to realize I'm
not joking. She takes two steps towards me. We are a foot
apart.
    “ Tell me.”
    I start at the beginning. The very
beginning. “So, Lassie isn't my cat. I mean, he is now, but he
was Jessica's.”
    She looks at Lassie, who is sitting on the
top of the couch. Hearing his name he meows.
    It takes ten minutes for me to tell bring
her up to date; the vet, the microchip, Jessica Renoix, the
goons, the tasing, the backseat chat with the most powerful
man in the world. I leave out the part of my breaking back into the
house, the pawn receipt, and the watch. 
    “ She was blackmailing
him?”
    “ That's what he
said.”
    “ And this tape, it never
came out?”
    “ I think even the people
of Jupiter would know if a video of the President banging an
eighteen-year-old campaign volunteer leaked out.”
    “ Okay, so then what? He
admits to being there that night, bringing the blackmail cash, and
then leaving. Then someone else comes and kills her and takes the
money. Who?”
    Well, his son for one. He'd obviously been
in contact with Jessica at some point. Maybe he knew about his
dad's affair. Maybe she'd told him everything. Maybe he needed the
money to pay off his gambling debts. Maybe Jessica and Risky were
supposed to split the money, but he got greedy and killed
her. Lots of maybes.
    “ I don't know,” I
reply.  “Odds are it's a bunch of bullshit and Sullivan did
it.”
    “ Is that what you think?
You think it's bullshit? You think he was
lying?”
    I run the clip back in my head. His
clenched jaw. His commanding gaze as he said, “I didn't kill
her.”
    “ No.”