The Investigators Part 24

"The blonde, second from the left in the second row, is the former Daphne Elizabeth Browne," Matt said. "Now Mrs. Chadwick Thomas Nesbitt the Fourth."

"Interesting," Davis said. "The hostess of the party, right? We should have picked up on that."

"I don't think Daffy is the type to blow things up, and/ or help fugitives," Matt said.

"Take my word for it, Detective," Jernigan said. "As suming that 'nice' people can't be involved in some pretty nasty business isn't smart."

"Which is rather what I had in mind when I mentioned to Detective Malone that 'nice' is something we should all keep in mind."

Matt didn't reply.

"You said you knew a couple of faces?" Davis went on.

"Sitting beside Daffy is a female named Penelope Alice Detweiler," Matt said, "who I know know is not aiding and abetting our fugitives." is not aiding and abetting our fugitives."

"How do you know that?" Jernigan challenged, "She's dead," Matt said.

"Penny Detweiler died of a narcotics overdose," Chief Coughlin said.

"I see. Well, that would seem to b.u.t.tress my observation about the meaning of the word 'nice,' wouldn't it?" Davis said.

The group shot disappeared from the screen and was replaced by a series of other snapshots of Bennington girls, each showing Susan Reynolds with a square box around her face and a circle around the face of either (or both) Eloise Anne Fitzgerald or Jennifer Ollwood-in some shots, of both.

"The blonde is Miss Susan Reynolds, of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, white female now twenty-six years of age, five feet five, 130 pounds, blond hair, pale complexion, blue eyes, who has puncture wounds, entrance and exit, on her inside upper thigh caused by her having taken an arrow during archery practice at summer camp when she was sixteen."

There were chuckles around the table.

Somebody-Matt could not tell for sure, but it sounded like Jack Matthews-asked incredulously, "Archery practice? Some girl didn't know the bow was loaded?" practice? Some girl didn't know the bow was loaded?"

There were more chuckles.

Another photo of Susan appeared, a more recent photograph. In it she was wearing a dress.

"This was taken three months or so ago, outside the Department of Social Services Building in Harrisburg, where Miss Reynolds is employed as an appeals officer," Leibowitz said. "She resides with her parents in Camp Hill and drives a red Porsche 911-which she obviously didn't buy with what they pay her at Social Services-and in which she frequently drove to her family's summer home in the Pocono Mountains on weekends."

"When this came to our attention," Leibowitz continued, "we sought and received a.s.sistance from the local authorities."

"What 'local authorities'?" Chief Coughlin asked.

"The county sheriff, Chief," Leibowitz said. "We gave him a camera with a tripod and a telephoto lens-"

"You gave gave him a camera?" Peter Wohl asked. him a camera?" Peter Wohl asked.

"I asked about that myself, Peter," Walter Davis said. "It was cost-effective, Agent Leibowitz told me. I suppose a good camera like that is worth five hundred dollars. . . ."

"I think that particular camera outfit cost us $412.50," Leibowitz said.

"How do I get on your gift list?" Wohl asked.

"Anytime you're willing to place a premises such as the Reynolds summer home under at least part-time surveillance and save the FBI the man-hours of keeping it under surveillance ourselves."

"Clever," Wohl said appreciatively.

"And it has a certain public-relations aspect, too, Peter," Davis said. "Getting a camera from the FBI makes the local authorities look on us as their friends. As hard as you may find this to believe, not all police officers look on us fondly."

"But on the other hand, Walter," Wohl said, "some of my officers like FBI agents so much that they take them on sight-seeing tours, absolutely free of charge."

"Actually, now that my temper has had time to cool down," Leibowitz said, "I have to admit that was sort of funny. But let me show you what our $412.50 bought."

A somewhat grainy photograph of a Ford sedan came on the screen.

"We ran the plate. The plate plate was stolen. There were no recent reports of a Ford like that having been stolen in a four-state area." was stolen. There were no recent reports of a Ford like that having been stolen in a four-state area."

"They switched plates," Denny Coughlin thought out loud.

"We think that's probable. And there are just too many two-year-old Fords like that to make it cost-efficient to run every one of them down."

"Yeah," Wohl agreed.

"This is, in case anyone can't guess, the Reynolds summer house," Leibowitz said. "And this gentleman is Mr. Bryan C. Chenowith," he said, as a picture of a young man in sports clothing and wearing horn-rimmed gla.s.ses getting out of the Ford appeared on the screen.

"Bingo!" Chief Coughlin said.

"On this occasion," Leibowitz said, "Mr. Chenowith was accompanied by Miss Ollwood."

The screen now showed Jennifer Ollwood, wearing a tweed skirt and a sweater, standing on the porch of the Reynolds cabin. She was being embraced by Susan Reynolds.

Jesus Christ! Matt thought. Matt thought. There's no question about it now. Susan is in with these lunatics up to her cute little a.s.s. There's no question about it now. Susan is in with these lunatics up to her cute little a.s.s.

"Obviously," Chief Coughlin said, "you didn't get this in time to do anything about it, and the sheriff's deputy?"

"We asked the local authorities to locate and identify, not apprehend," Leibowitz said. "We want the Chenowith Group alive, taken into custody without the firing of a shot. The last thing we want to do is kill one of them and make a martyr out of him," Leibowitz said, "or, especially, one of the females."

"But aren't these photographs enough to pick up the Reynolds girl?" Denny Coughlin asked. "Charge her with aiding and abetting? Accessory after the fact? Lean on her hard?"

"After we get the Chenowith Group, Chief," Leibowitz said, "I'm sure the U.S. Attorney will go after her. But the priority is the apprehension of the Chenowith Group." we get the Chenowith Group, Chief," Leibowitz said, "I'm sure the U.S. Attorney will go after her. But the priority is the apprehension of the Chenowith Group."

"I understand," Coughlin said.

"Once we had these pictures, and identified Chenowith and Ollwood, we put the premises under surveillance, of course," Leibowitz said. "And the to-be-expected result of that, of course, was that they never went back to the Poconos."

"They spotted the surveillance?" Peter Wohl asked, "That's possible, of course," Leibowitz replied. "But we think it's equally possible that they simply suspected they had been using that rendezvous point too often. Whatever the reason, they never went back to the Reynolds summer house."

"What's the purpose of the rendezvous?" Matt asked.

"I was about to get to that," Leibowitz said. "First of all, we think it has to do with money. We believe that since we have been looking for them, the Chenowith Group has been involved in as many as four bank robberies. We have surveillance-camera proof that Chenowith and Ollwood have been involved in two bank robberies. A total of $140,000, in round figures, has been taken. One of them was a very recent case."

The lights went out and several surveillance-camera images of a female with a kerchief on her head wearing a raincoat and large dangling earrings appeared on the screen.

"That's Ollwood?" Detective Wee w.i.l.l.y Malone asked doubtfully.

Leibowitz chuckled. "That's Mr. Chenowith," he said.

"My G.o.d, the very ugly white woman with hairy legs," Wohl said, laughing. "The Girard Bank job in-where was it?"

"Bucks County. Riegelsville," Leibowitz furnished.

"I'm missing the point of the humor here," Chief Coughlin said.

"Mickey O'Hara wrote a hilarious story about it," Matt said. "The guy in the bank described the bandit as a very ugly white woman with hairy legs."

"That woman is Chenowith?" Coughlin asked.

"The lab did some interesting stuff, comparing the nose, hands, ears, and so on, of the 'woman' with Chenowith's features. That's him, Chief."

The news did not seem to please Coughlin.

"So they're wanted on bank-robbery charges, too?" he asked.

"In a sense, Chief," Leibowitz said. "We have not charged any of them with bank robbery. We don't want them to know we know they're involved. Our thinking here-the thinking of the attorney general-is that once we apprehend them, we can quickly bring them to trial in Federal Court and get a conviction, using the surveillance-camera footage as proof. There is very little sympathy for bank robbers, and the evidence for the two bank jobs where we have surveillance-camera footage is not not circ.u.mstantial. Their defense cannot bring up the morality of using animals in medical research, et cetera. And once they are convicted, then we can try them on the University of Pittsburgh bombing charges." circ.u.mstantial. Their defense cannot bring up the morality of using animals in medical research, et cetera. And once they are convicted, then we can try them on the University of Pittsburgh bombing charges."

"Public relations, huh?" Coughlin said in disgust.

"Unfortunately, that has to be considered," Davis said.

"Now, our thinking is that they they are thinking that since we are not searching for them on the bank-robbery charges we may not know about the bank robberies. Consequently, if we should get lucky and get them into custody, they don't want to be found in possession of a large sum of money that even the none-too-bright FBI might decide came from unsolved bank robberies." are thinking that since we are not searching for them on the bank-robbery charges we may not know about the bank robberies. Consequently, if we should get lucky and get them into custody, they don't want to be found in possession of a large sum of money that even the none-too-bright FBI might decide came from unsolved bank robberies."

"You mean you think Reynolds is holding the bank loot for them?" Matt asked.

"Yeah," Leibowitz said. "And dispensing it as needed to pay their expenses. Being a fugitive is expensive."

"I thought she might be getting money to them," Matt said. "Not the other way around."

"In a sense, she is, Payne," Davis said. "But I see what you mean."

"And even if you could get a search warrant," Wohl said, "the question would be where would you search?"

"Precisely, Inspector," Leibowitz said. "If we'd tumbled onto the Reynolds woman's connection to the Chenowith Group earlier, maybe we could have done something. And, of course, the minute we would serve a search warrant on her, that would be the end of any meetings with any of them."

"Yeah," Wohl said thoughtfully.

"So what we have to do is find out where the Reynolds woman is going to meet with the Chenowith Group, or Chenowith individually, in sufficient time to set up an arrest that can't possibly go sour. We don't, to repeat, want to have to shoot any of these individuals and turn them into martyrs."

"If we winged one of them in the arm," Jernigan said. "Their defense counsel would wheel them into the courtroom in a wheelchair, in a body cast, with intravenous tubes feeding him blood, an innocent college student showing his-even worse, her-grievous injuries suffered at the hands of the American Gestapo."

"That bad?" Coughlin asked.

"We think that's exactly what would happen. We want to take these people without giving them a bruise," Davis said. "So that, Payne, is where you come in. Get close to the Reynolds woman; make that happen."

"When I call 'the Reynolds woman,' " Matt said, "she's liable to tell me the same thing she told me when I tried to get her out of the Nesbitt party. 'I told you once, f.u.c.k off!' "

"Did she really say that?" Davis asked.

"What she said was, 'I'm sure you're a very nice fellow, but I'm just not interested.' "

"I still think it's worth a try," Davis said. "Two or three tries. She's our best shot at the Chenowith Group."

"Okay," Matt said. "I'll give it a shot."

"We don't expect her to lead you to the rendezvous, Payne," Leibowitz said. "We don't even expect you to find out where she's meeting these people. All we want from you is to call us-which means Special Agent Matthews-when you have reason to believe she is going to meet them. Just tell us where she is at that moment. We'll take it from there."

Matt's mouth ran away with him.

"Tail her, you mean? The way you tailed me? If she spots you as quickly as I did-and I suspect she'd be looking for a tail, and I wasn't-this is all going to be an exercise in futility."

Davis glowered at him. Wohl looked amused.

"We will have a.s.sets in place, Detective Payne," Leibowitz said, "that will permit us-providing you give us enough time to deploy those a.s.sets-to keep the Reynolds woman under surveillance without being detected."

"I hope so," Matt said.

"Matty," Chief Coughlin said. "I hope you heard what Mr. Davis and Leibowitz said about how they want to arrest these people?"

"Yes, sir."

"They don't want to run any risk of these people being injured, or their resisting arrest," Coughlin went on. "You understand that?"

"Yes, sir."

"Consider that an order from me," Coughlin said. "If you should run into this Chenowith fellow and the other man and the two women skipping down North Broad Street at high noon, all you are to do about it is tell the FBI. You take my meaning?"

"Yes, sir."

If I see any of these sc.u.mbags, Detective Payne thought, his mind full of the faces of the eleven innocent people who had been killed, Detective Payne thought, his mind full of the faces of the eleven innocent people who had been killed, and I think I can put the arm on one of them-or all of them-without getting myself hurt, I will, and no one will ever remember that I got that order. and I think I can put the arm on one of them-or all of them-without getting myself hurt, I will, and no one will ever remember that I got that order.

ELEVEN.

When Matt rang the bell at Number 9 Stockton Place, it was opened by a muscular man in his late thirties. Matt was startled, not so much by the man opening the door instead of Daffy herself, or one of the ever-changing parade of maids, but because the man smelled of cop. That instant reaction was immediately confirmed when Matt saw the unmistakable bulge of a pistol in a shoulder holster.

"Who are you?" Matt blurted.

"Who are you, you, sir?" the man said with exaggerated courtesy that rubbed Matt the wrong way. sir?" the man said with exaggerated courtesy that rubbed Matt the wrong way.