Together Again(57)
“Brandy something. Last name’s a president — Johnson? Ford?”
“The one in between. Nixon. Brandy Nixon. The woman we found dead in Forest Park in possession of Margo’s messenger bag. You flew to Philadelphia with Frank Jameson and from Seattle to Portland with his girlfriend, Margo.”
“Why would that coincidence be of interest to anyone?”
“Maybe someone doesn’t think it’s a coincidence. The other piece of information you need is that a man went out to the airport with Brandy Nixon’s employee ID and tried to retrieve her briefcase. I don’t know how he knew it was there — maybe she told him about the swap before she was killed — but the agent said he had a foreign accent, maybe Russian. He was told you had taken it to the police.”
“Doesn’t that look like I don’t know what’s in the bag?”
“I see what you’re getting at, Sam,” Tony said. “The feds think Jameson was trying to peddle Microsoft information. We didn’t find anything on him or in his briefcase. But what did you tell us you heard him say in the Portland airport, Margo?”
“If you don’t want it I know someone who does,” Margo replied.
“Which sounds like he was playing two people off against each other — maybe the competing Russians. He flies to Philly, meets with one guy, gets himself killed. Nixon gets the news, tries to do the deal herself. She flies to Portland. In both cases, you’re with them. Yes, you turned the bag into the airline, but you came and got it back.”
Sam continued, “You could have removed what you wanted before you handed it in to me. Whoever did Nixon had already been played. Not hard to see why they might think they were being played again.”
“Why do you think she was involved?” Margo asked. “I didn’t find anything in her messenger bag that looked like Microsoft information.”
“No, but, she did work with Jameson at Microsoft and, just before he moved in with her, quit her job. Told her friends she was about to be financially set for life. They thought she meant she and Jameson were getting married.”
“Did you empty the bag when you got it home?” Tony asked.
“Sure, once I saw it wasn’t mine, I looked for ID, went through it all. There was a wallet, some make-up, a cell phone, pens, breath mints, lint; the usual junk a woman carries around. No Microsoft documents.”
“I doubt it would be paper, Margo. More likely a disc, something like that.”
“We should find out what Jameson and Nixon were working on and some idea of what it would take to steal it. Might give us some idea what we’re looking for. We can talk about all this tomorrow, Tony. You staying here?”
Tony looked to Margo for the answer. “Yes,” she said, “he’s staying here with me.”
“Good. That’ll give you an extra layer of security. I have a patrol car swinging by here regularly and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s boat will be cruising the marina. Jeff’s got the courthouse on alert so I think we have you covered.”
“Like a blanket. All that makes me feel claustrophobic.”
“Get used to it, counselor. You’ve got a whole new set of best friends until we get this figured out. The chief doesn’t like Jeff’s deputies being harassed.”