Page 26 of Caught
She gestured again toward the graph, with more flourish this time.
“That’s a yes,” Leilah told him.
“Is there more than that graph?” Omar pressed. “Because I don’t know if you know this, but that’s just a bunch of dots.”
She sighed a Gallic sigh. “Yes, you troglodyte. There’s more. He spells it all out. He didn’t for Natsuo, by the way. He wanted to talk to him face-to-face. But while Olivia was yammering on the phone, we created a memo.”
“I was literally on the phone for less than three minutes,” Olivia protested. “Maybe two.”
Marielle shrugged. “Leilah drives fast. I think fast. Deal with it.”
“So,” Leilah said. “Do we know who’s trying to kill Ryan?”
“Yes,” Marielle and Ryan said in unison.
Leilah turned to stare at him. “You do?”
“I do now.” His face was white, as white as chalk, and his eyes blazed.
11
“Alice Broderick.” Ryan announced the name in a low growl.
Marielle was nodding her head. “Yes. Wait. What?” Her head stopped bobbing, and she gave it a decisive shake. “No. No, no, not Alice Broderick. Ripley Broderick.”
Ryan blinked at her. “Who’s Ripley Broderick?”
She spoke slowly. “Ripley Broderick is the CEO of Adjaveta Pharmaceuticals, the company that supplies the Army with its analgesics. Actually, according to Reuben, Adjaveta supplies all branches of the military with analgesics. It’s their specialty. Who’s Alice Broderick?”
“Alice Broderick is the Inspector General of the Department of Justice.” He turned to Leilah. “Remember how you said the DOJ is just a bunch of suits? You were right, but you were also wrong. The Office of the Inspector General has six divisions. Five of them are administrative in nature. They handle things like audits, budget planning, and inspections and evaluations. But the sixth, the Investigations Division, investigates crimes and civil violations. And, just like DCIS, the Investigations Division employs Special Agents who are authorized to conduct investigations, carry weapons, and make arrests. They’re law enforcement officers, just like FBI agents, DEA agents, or Secret Service agents.”
“So, this Alice Broderick basically has her own police force?” Leilah asked.
He grimaced. “That’s not how it’s supposed to work. Each Division is run by an Assistant Inspector General. But those six AIGs all report to Alice Broderick. And the AIG for the Investigations Division retired at the end of last year. He has an aggressive form of bone cancer. The AIG slot has been vacant since January 1.”
Marielle’s fingers had been flying over her keyboard. She looked up. “Alice Broderick is Ripley Broderick’s mother.”
“Ah, there you have it,” Jake said, shaking his head. “Blood is thicker than water.”
“Always,” Trent intoned.
Leilah pursed her lips. “I wonder ….”
“What?” Ryan turned to study her.
“Well, think back to everything that happened. Chronologically, I mean. From the beginning. First, two and a half years ago, Natsuo started dating Reuben. They talked to each other about their ketamine cases, and then King Cortez was killed in a fight. More recently, Reuben found evidence that Ripley Broderick had manipulated the system to create a ghost order and texted the graph to Natsuo. Within days, Nat was pushed or fell to his death down a flight of stairs.”
“With you so far,” Ryan told her when she paused.
“After that, government cars started to follow you.”
“Right.”
“Around that same time, someone ran my pit chief off the road and stole the barricade from Potomac’s storage barn to cause us to wreck. Then your car exploded.”
“Yes, and then Grover was murdered, and Reggie Slidell was murdered today. We’re all caught up,” he said, unsure where she was going with this.
Leilah gestured with her hands as she tried to explain. “I think there are two bad guys. Some of the things that happened—King Cortez, Nat’s death, Keisha being run off the road, and the first two attempts on your life—were … I don’t want to say clumsy, but ….”
