And the glory that comes with solving it. We were just poor shmucks from the

backwaters of Tidewater.” “Okay, and?” said Knox. “And there came a day about

three weeks after they’d joined the investigation where they pulled up their

tent pole and went home.” Knox and Puller exchanged a glance.

 

Knox said, “They just left?” Peckham nodded. “Out of the blue. There one day,

gone the next.” Puller said, “And did they give you any reason for that?”

Peckham slowly shook his head. “I can tell you that the agents on the ground

were pissed off. But there was nothing they could do about it.” “And were they

ever given a reason?” asked Knox. “If so, they never shared it with us,” said

Lorne. “But if you ask me, they got the same spiel we did.” “National security,”

said Puller, and Lorne nodded.

 

Knox said, “So presumably the orders came from higher up.

 

Maybe as high up as the Hoover Building?” Lorne shrugged. “I wouldn’t know about

that. But about two months later I got a call from some high up muckety-muck at

the FBI.

 

He asked how things were going. I told him what I knew, which wasn’t much. Told

him it didn’t look like we were going to crack this sucker.” “And what was his

reaction to that?” asked Puller.

 

Lorne licked his lips and started playing with the pen again. “Detective Lorne?”