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“ADA Cardozo?”
“Yes, Miss Butler. What’s happened?”
She sighed. “I got a phone call from an anonymous caller today. I recorded it, because I’ve been recording all my calls since I reported Doyle to the police.”
He’d known she was recording calls. He’d been the one to recommend she do so. Louisiana was a one-party consent state, so she didn’t need the other party’s permission. “What did the caller say?”
“That someone was going to kill me on my way to the city from my house. Apparently, the tipping point for the person reporting this was that my husband had decided that he and our daughter needed to be in the city with me. For support.”
For a moment, Kaj’s mind raced, unable to come up with a coherent thought. There were too many moving parts in his brain. Finally, he cleared his throat. “Wow.”
Her laugh held no mirth. “I know. I just sent a copy of the recording to your burner. The woman who called sounded familiar, but I can’t place her voice. It’s driving me buggy.”
“Did she say who was targeting you?”
“No. All she would say was that these people are very serious and that they killed one of their would-be operatives who tried to back away when they learned a child would be involved.”
“You believed this anonymous source?”
“I can’t afford not to.”
Kaj thought of the threat to Elijah. “I understand. What are your plans?”
“I tripled my security, leased a helicopter, and found a new hiding place.”
Kaj blinked. “Excuse me? Did you say ‘helicopter’?”
“I did, indeed. My head of security has his helicopter pilot’s license. We moved to a new location this afternoon and I sent him to your house with the flip phone. He told me that he’d been waylaid by NOPD, but you’re calling me, so the phone got to you.”
“Captain Holmes brought it to me.” Kaj puffed out his cheeks, then blew out a breath. “Will you still be testifying?”
“You bet your sweet ass I will,” she declared, then coughed. “I mean sweet ass in general, Mr.Cardozo. Not your... y’know.”
He laughed, surprising himself. “I get it. How will you get to the courthouse?”
“In a goddamned armored car. I leased one of those today, too. I’ll be accompanied by a virtual platoon of military vets as security. I will make that trial and I will testify. This is all Doyle’s doin’. I know it.”
Kaj thought about the online chatter. “Maybe not.” He told her what he’d heard.
“I know about that. My security has been watching it for a while. They didn’t think it was serious, though. Do you?”
I do now that they’ve expanded their vitriol to Elijah. “I don’t know, to be honest. But like you said, you can’t afford not to.” And neither can I.
“Well, unless they have an anti-aircraft missile, we’ll be okay.”
“All right, then. What else do you know?”
“Nothing more about the attack. This was enough.”
“Do you know who gave the info about your plans to your would-be attackers?”
“Not yet. The decision for us all to be in that car was made only yesterday. My security head is searching all communications into and out of my old residence and reviewing personnel files. We’ve put each shift on lockdown as they come in while we search belongings and phones. Anyone who refuses will be handed over to the police as a possible accomplice.”
“So you’ve told the police?”
“Not yet. I hoped you would. You know who you can trust. In the wrong hands, this information could be lethal to my family.”
“I’ll get Captain Holmes involved. He will likely involve the Feds. Witness tampering is a federal offense.”
