if Adelphia has told you that she followed us to the river and watched us head to the island, that doesn’t mean we were witness to that man’s death.”
“But I believe you saw everything. And I think whoever killed Patrick Johnson discovered your presence, and you had to make a run for it. That would explain the bullet hole in the boat and the blood. What I can’t understand is why you didn’t simply go to the police and tell them what you saw.”
“Easy enough for you to say,” Reuben interjected. “They’d believe you. But look at us, we’re a scruffy bunch with questionable pedigrees.”
“So you’re admitting you did witness the murder?”
Caleb started to speak but Stone broke in. “We’re not admitting anything.”
Kate said, “Oliver, I’m just trying to help you. And don’t forget, someone tried to kill Alex and me after we found the boat.”
Reuben shot Stone a puzzled look. “Oliver, you didn’t tell us that.”
Milton blurted out, “But what about Chastity? They’ve kidnapped Chastity!”
They all stared at him as tears fell down his twitching cheeks.
“If someone’s been kidnapped,” Kate said, “the police should be notified immediately.”
“It’s not quite that simple,” Caleb said, glancing at Stone, whose gaze was on the floor. “We really can’t go to the police.”
Kate looked at Stone. “Oliver,” she said quietly, “as a team we might be able to do something.”
“Hell yes, we could,” Reuben said. “She’s official, being with DOJ, and our sorry asses can only get things second- and third-hand.”
“It is time to work together,” Caleb chimed in.
Stone still said nothing.
Reuben put down his cigar “Okay, since our exalted leader is uncharacteristically mute, I hereby call a special meeting of the Camel Club to order. And I move that we tell Kate here everything. Do I have a second?”
“Second,” Caleb said immediately.
“All in favor,” Reuben said, his gaze on Stone.
The ayes carried.
Reuben said, “The Camel Club has spoken.”
“What is the Camel Club?” a puzzled Kate asked.
“Let me do the honors,” Stone finally said.
CHAPTER
50
“YOU DID WHAT!” ALEX YELLED into his cell phone. He had been sitting in his hotel room the next morning just strapping on his gun when Kate called.
“See, that’s why I waited until this morning to call you,” she said. “Because I knew you’d be upset.”
“What the hell did you expect me to do? Say, ‘Good job, Kate, and I’m really glad you’re not a corpse’?”
“I told you I was going to check into Oliver Stone and his friends, and you said it was okay.”
“But I didn’t know they were eyewitnesses to Johnson’s murder, which was the very thing I told you to stay away from in the first place!”
“Well, I didn’t know they were connected either. So just hear me out. I’ve got a lot to tell you.” She spoke for several minutes, relaying what Stone had told her last night.
When she finished, Alex shook his head incredulously. “Okay, okay. Let me get this straight. They saw the murder and didn’t go to the police because they were afraid the police would think they were involved?”
“I don’t believe Oliver likes the police very much. Maybe it’s to do with his past.”
“And on top of that, they traced one of the murderers, went to his house and were almost killed?”
“Yes.”
“And while they were ‘burglarizing’ the killer’s house, Milton Farb’s home was broken into by these same guys, and they got them on film doing it?”
“But Milton’s girlfriend’s been kidnapped by these people, and so they can’t go to the police about that either.”
“But they didn’t tell you the names of the murderers?”
“I think they only know one of their names.”
“But they have them on film. Did you recognize them?”
“They haven’t shown me the film.”
“Why the hell not?”
“They want to show it to you first.”
“Great, but I’m a four-hour drive away with work out the gazoo, and the president will be here tomorrow.”
“They won’t budge on that, Alex. I tried. They’ll only show it to you. I mean come on. I work for the Justice Department, and they don’t know me. It was a real effort for them to tell me as much as they have. Oliver trusts you, not me.”
Alex rubbed his hair, cupped the phone under his chin and finished putting on his holster. “Okay, so do you have a plan?”
“Well, I was thinking we could come up to see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow! Tomorrow POTUS is here. And he takes precedence over everything, Kate, you know that.”
“I know. But I wanted you to meet with the Camel Club—”
“The what?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s what Oliver and his friends refer to themselves as, the Camel Club. It’s sort of a conspiracy watchdog organization they’ve been running for years. Do you know they were the ones who first got on to the scandal with the defense secretary years ago? You remember, right? He was taking kickbacks for directing government contracts to certain vendors? The Camel Club discovered that through a scrap of information they got from an assistant chef at the White House. It’s really amazing stuff, Alex.”
Alex lay back on his bed and closed his eyes. “An assistant White House chef is spying on the secretary of defense for something called the Camel Club? This is a joke, right? Please tell me this is a joke, Kate.”
“Forget that. It’s not important.”
Alex jumped up. “Not important!”
“Alex, will you please listen to me? They’ve done some incredible investigative work on this case. They really have.”
Alex managed to calm down. “Okay, you all come up here and then what?”
“We attend the ceremony, and after that we all sit down, and they can show you the film and tell you the man’s name. Then we can go from there.”
“Meaning I take all this to the Secret Service?”
“Right. With a name and these guys on film, we have solid stuff. And we have to get Chastity back. Milton is heartbroken.”
“Who the hell is Chastity?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, that’s Milton’s girlfriend. She’s the one who was kidnapped.”
“The FBI handles kidnappings. And every second that goes by the odds are she won’t be found alive.”
“These aren’t ordinary kidnappers. They have a lot more at stake. They’ve called and let Milton talk to her for a few seconds every couple of hours, to show she’s alive. I don’t think they’ll harm Chastity, for now anyway. Things are at a stalemate.”
“And how exactly does Patrick Johnson tie into all this?”
“Well, they were sort of vague on that. I’m sure they’ll explain it more fully to you. From the little they’ve told me, I think they actually have it figured out.”
Alex let out a long breath. He had a day crammed with final preparations ahead of him. He should be totally focused on his work as a Secret Service agent. And yet now he knew the main thing occupying his mind would be the Camel Club. God help me.
“Alex, are you there?”
“I’m here,” he snapped.
“So what do you think? Can we come up?”
Alex actually glanced at his gun, wondering for a fleeting second if it wouldn’t just be easier to end it right now.
“Alex!”