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Hollis watched Locke pace the floor in her office. She knew he was thinking about what she had said. She was, too. What she was thinking might sound far-fetched, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Walter Roker was a wealthy businessman with the means to finance Barcos’ operation.
Locke stopped pacing. “There is only one thing I would find impossible to believe about your hypothesis.”
“What?”
“That at any time Walter Roker would have placed his daughter’s life in danger. He would not have deliberately tracked Nyla’s location and given that information to Barcos’ men, knowing harm could come to her.”
Hollis knew that was true. There was no doubt in her mind that the man loved his daughter more than he hated Karl. He would not have put her in danger. “What if he didn’t give the order but Barcos’ men made the move on their own?”
Locke nodded. “Yes, there is that possibility. And that’s what we will assume for now. I suggest we order reports to find out as much as we can about Walter Roker’s finances, travels, and associates over the past ten years. We need to find out everything about him. If he is the ringleader that Agent Wells and Harris have been trying to expose, I don’t want to imagine how hard that will be on Nyla. Knowing her father looked down on Karl because of his criminal background, and then he turns out to be the biggest criminal of them all.”
He rubbed a frustrated hand down his face at the thought that Walter Roker could be involved. There was no reason for the police to have suspected him of any wrongdoing in Karl’s case. Now more than ever, he was glad no one knew the charges against Karl were dropped.
“I’ll have Carol start generating all that information. I have a feeling we’ll have a lot of stuff to go through,” he said. “And until we have proof of anything, I wouldn’t mention what we suspect to the others.”
***
It didn’t take long for Carol to start sending files. Instead of going back ten years, Hollis requested data from even further back. She was glad she found the information she was reading very interesting. Roker’s wealth had nearly doubled over the years. Why and how?
Locke snagged an area on the corner of her huge desk as he read from his laptop as well. A comforting, relaxed tranquility settled in as she shared her workspace with him. And he smelled good. Not for the first time, she thought his cologne was his signature brand. “Hmm.”
“What’s wrong, Hollis?”
She glanced over at him. “Did I make a sound?”
“Yes.”
There was no reason not to be honest. “Your scent. I was thinking how good you smell.”
He smiled and winked at her. “Please stay focused, Ms. Calloway.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Dangerfield.”
Three hours and two cups of coffee later, she made another sound before glancing over at him. “What’s wrong? I still smell good?” he asked, grinning.
“Yes, but I think you need to take a look at what I just read, Locke.”
***
Later that night, while snuggled into Locke’s arms after making love, Hollis couldn’t sleep. They had skipped lunch and instead spent the rest of the day making notes and putting together a timeline of what they had read. The information they had discovered was damaging, to say the least. First thing tomorrow, they would call Prosecutor Irvin and suggest he bring the team in so they could share their findings and come up with a plan.
“Can’t you sleep, sweetheart?” Locke asked close to her ear.
She noted this was the first time he had used a term of endearment when talking to her. “No, I can’t sleep. When the truth comes out, it will break Nyla’s heart.”
“Yes, but she will have Karl, and there’s no doubt in our minds that they love each other very much. He will take care of her. He will be her strength during this time.”
“She’s going to need him more so than ever, Locke.”
“Yes, she will.”
CHAPTER 30
Nearly a week later, the Integrity Team put a full-fledged plan in place. After reading the reports and notes Locke and Hollis shared, the others could fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Including the role Nick Underwood had played and why he had been eliminated, as well as how the watch ended up in Pensacola.
It had also been discovered that the woman who manned the switchboard at the local FBI office, knew to transfer Karl’s calls to the fake agents. The number of people involved in the organized crime scheme was mind blowing.
Prosecutor Irvin had signed warrants to arrest all parties involved, and the FBI had done the same in all four states. Timing was of the essence. Everything was being handled under strict security protocol and absolute confidentiality.
