CHAPTER 53
Boston, February 27
“So let me get this straight—this guy took a civilian hostage, fired at our boys, caused a bomb to blow up in downtown Boston, and you still think he’s the good guy?”
Detective Rick Mooney looked at the suspect, this Daniel Morgan—not too tall, but strong as a bull, wide-shouldered and muscled—through the two-way mirror of the interrogation room, then stared at Detective Silvia Padilla, his partner of three years.
“I think there’s a chance he’s telling the truth,” said Padilla. “After all, he did manage to save his wife without anyone else getting hurt. She seemed totally convinced.”
“And still, she wouldn’t tell us anything useful about how she ended up there, with a suicide vest strapped on her,” said Mooney. “Something’s definitely rotten here.”
“Well, maybe he’ll talk, and shed some light on all this,” said Padilla, shrugging.
“All right, I’m going in,” said Mooney.
“Break a leg,” said Padilla.
“Thanks.” Mooney walked around and unlocked the door to the interrogation room. “Mr. Morgan, is that it?” he said as he entered. “Daniel Morgan?”
The man looked at him blankly, making no response.
“I get it,” said Mooney. “You’ve got nothing to say, right? You’re going to exercise your right to remain silent? Sure, that’s fine. You took a hostage, buddy. You shot at cops in the plain view of about three dozen witnesses. We don’t need you to talk in order to lock you up. But it can only help your case if we understand what you did.”
“I saved you all,” the man growled.
“Sure, sure,” said Mooney. “And your wife. It was very impressive, I’m told. And still. It seems you had a detonator the whole time. Say, how did you come by that exactly?”
Morgan didn’t respond to that, so he tried a different approach.
“Sure. All right. Listen. You got a lot of people’s attention out there. Now, we’re all very shaken by the stuff that’s been happening. All these terrorist attacks. Maybe you were trying to make a statement about that. Am I getting warmer?”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Morgan said.
“Why don’t you tell me then?”
At that moment, the door to the interrogation room opened and in walked a professional-looking woman, fortyish, slim, brown haired with striking blue eyes, escorted by a hulk of a man, tall, black, and muscular, with a military bearing. “What the hell is this?” asked Mooney.
“Sarah Peters,” she said. “FBI. I’m here to take Daniel Morgan into custody.”
“You gotta be kidding me,” said Mooney.
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” She didn’t. In fact, she didn’t seem like the type who’d ever kid about anything.
“You can’t just cut me out of this investigation.”
“I already did,” said Peters. “This is no longer in your jurisdiction. This case and all the details pertaining to it are now classified. I’ll need his personal effects, if you please.”
“Listen, that’s not how things work,” Mooney said. “We don’t just turn over suspects to the FBI. We got a liaison with you feds. We do things through him.”
“You may,” she said. “I don’t care who he is and what authority he’s got. I’m leaving here with that prisoner, and I’m doing it now.”
Mooney sneered at her. “You’re not the type that hears no very often, are you?”
“Not from the likes of you, no. But call your liaison if you need him to spell it out for you. This goes over his head,” she said. “It’s frankly above his pay grade. And yours too. Now, are you going to comply, or do I have to get the commissioner down here?”
“Shit,” said Mooney, and he walked out of the interrogation room. “Hey, Padilla!” he called out. “Would you call up Foreman and find out what the hell’s going on?”
“You got it,” said Padilla.
“He’s just going to tell you what I’ve already explained,” said the woman.
“Well, I gotta check, don’t I? Can’t let you out of here with just your word on the matter.”
“Very well,” she said. “Check, and make it fast. He’s going to tell you to do as I say.”
“Looks like she’s right, Mooney,” Padilla called out from his desk. “Foreman said he doesn’t know what’s going on, but the order came from higher up. Prisoner’s supposed to be released into this fed’s custody.”