CHAPTER SIX
Detective Franks sat alone in a booth inside what had to be one of greater D.C.’s cheesiest coffee houses. It was in a rundown neighborhood on the south side, just inside the Beltway, and looked as if it had not been redecorated since its construction in the 1950s. The tacky red vinyl covering the seat and back of the booth was cracked and stained, and the tabletop was missing a few plate-sized chunks of Formica. Franks smiled to himself as he thought of the likelihood that some of the chewing gum stuck under the table could have belonged to Eisenhower.
He had to admit the coffee was good, though. As he impatiently tapped his fingers on the table, the detective checked his watch for the umpteenth time. Knowles was over twenty minutes late, and was obviously not coming. Franks had better things to do.
His waitress, a plump red-haired lady about Colin’s age, materialized at the booth with a broad smile and asked, “Anything else, hon? You need another refill?”
“No thanks,” replied Franks. “I’m actually on my way out. Very good coffee, by the way.”
While the waitress was walking away, Franks consulted the bill and fished through his pockets for a couple bucks, which he left on the table. As he continued searching his pockets for small change to add to the tip, a voice spoke very softly, “When you start to leave, pretend to know me.”
Colin looked around, but could not immediately identify the source of the voice. The café was sparsely populated and the man in the adjacent booth was positioned so that his back was to Franks.
When the voice spoke again, it was obvious that it was coming from the man in the next booth. “Don’t look around. Just get up and walk toward the door. When you pass me, pretend you know me.”
Colin remained standing by his table, somewhat confused but certain that the man in the next booth was the one speaking to him. He added a small pile of coins to the bills on the table and turned toward the exit. Two steps brought him even with the man in the next booth, where he stood before a thin, bearded man whom he did not recognize. The man was nursing a hot cup of coffee, and gave no indication that he realized Colin was standing there.
Still confused and uncertain, Colin said, “Um, excuse me…hello. You look very familiar to me. Do we know each other?”
The man looked up, scowling, and said, “I don’t know. Maybe. You think you know me?”
Colin turned to leave, saying, “No. I guess not. Sorry to have bothered you.” He walked only a few steps before the man suddenly scooted out of the booth and stood, saying, “Wait a minute…Colin Franks. Is that you? My God, man, it’s been years!”
He excitedly grabbed Colin’s hand and shook it with an almost violent greeting. Then he offered Colin a seat and the two returned to his booth.
Colin leaned in and whispered, “Dan Knowles?”
Dan grinned as he said in a very low voice, “And I take it you have no idea what you’re getting into. Try to smile while we talk, as if we are rehashing pleasant old memories. Yes, I’m Dan, and we don’t have much time.”
Donning a fake smile, Franks said, “Okay, Dan. Why the theatrics?”
Continuing to smile, Knowles said, “We’re being watched. Don’t turn around, but there is an agent at the counter who has been shadowing me off and on for about two years now. If he’s around, it means from now on you’ll need to assume you are being followed as well.”
“Really?” Franks asked with a smirk as he picked up a polished chrome napkin dispenser from the table. “An agent at the counter?” He held the dispenser up to this face and went through the motions of smoothing out his gray hair with his fingers. Angling the dispenser a little, he could see the distorted image of a man sitting alone at the bar drinking a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper. Although the image was not good, he could discern that the man was tall, thin, well dressed in a business suit, and obviously quite old. He was paying no obvious attention to their booth. After a few moments, Franks put the napkin dispenser down and said with a genuine laugh, “Well, the good news is that he’s old enough to be your grandpa. I think we can take him. In any event, you won’t have to worry about him following you for too long before he has a stroke and leaves you alone, huh?”
Dan replied with a serious look. “Now laugh, Franks.” Eliciting no response from Franks, he said, “Seriously, laugh now…loudly.” Dan suddenly laughed largely and Colin joined him. The two were momentarily the center of attention and even the old man looked up at them disapprovingly. After the laugh subsided, Dan said, “I guess you’re not aware of his history at all; otherwise, you wouldn’t be taking all this so lightly.”
Colin looked perplexed. “Whose history? The geezer at the bar?”
Dan replied in a serious tone, “No, the man you’re investigating.”
Franks was suddenly very interested. “Dawson?”
Dan lowered his voice even more. “No. The man who ordered his death.”
There was a moment of silence while Dan let his statement sink in with his guest. Neither man spoke as Franks’ eyes betrayed his skepticism. Captain Johns trusted this man, but how could he possibly know the inner workings of the federal government well enough to identify a political killer if, in fact, that was the real story of Dawson’s death? Dan leaned over the table and whispered to Franks, “Check out the television over my left shoulder.” He leaned back so as not to obstruct Colin’s view, and Colin scooted slightly sideways in his seat to inspect a high mounted television in the corner of the room. A commercial advertisement was featuring a large, colorful mascot hawking the value of a local fast-food restaurant. As the feathery mascot sang and danced on spindly legs, several children gathered around and were given French fries and cheap plastic toys.
Colin looked away from the television thoughtfully. Then he looked at Knowles with wide, incredulous eyes, and said, “My God! It makes complete sense. The Burger Bird has been trying to overthrow our government one politician at a time!”
“What?” Knowles asked in a frustrated tone as he turned to look at the television. On seeing the feathered mascot he jerked back around to face Franks and angrily said, “Let the commercial end you sarcastic twit.”
Franks, still amused with himself, returned his gaze to the television as the commercial ended and a news channel began to broadcast a live speech by the President of the United States, Robert Tyler. The sound from the television was muted, so it was impossible to hear what the President was saying. Colin looked back to Knowles and said, “Sorry, Dan. Now it’s just the President, and I’d come nearer believing it was the Burger Bird before I…”
As he spoke, Colin looked down from the television into Knowles’ eyes and saw that his expression had changed completely. Now he appeared sincere and maybe a little afraid. Colin abruptly stopped talking and looked back and forth between Knowles and the television several times. Finally he laughed and said, “You have to be joking!”
Dan shook his head slowly and took another drink from his cup as Colin stared at him expectantly. Finally he said almost in a whisper, “As far as I have been able to determine, there have been twenty-one mysterious deaths connected to President Tyler over the last seventeen years.” He let that sink in for a moment, then continued, “The first had to do with campaign contributions during his second term as governor.”
Franks interrupted and said sarcastically, “Right…well…was it at least a big contribution?”
Knowles went on as if he hadn’t noticed Franks’ tone. “Big? Yes…but that’s not the interesting part.” He stared at the tabletop for a moment, picking at a broken section of Formica, then looked directly at Franks. “The money came from a big-time drug dealer with ties to the Columbian drug cartels.” He stopped and stared at Franks, expecting a reaction.
Colin obliged by asking, “So you are saying the President is both a murderer and a drug mule?”
Dan sighed but doggedly went on, “Rumor was that the cartels had been providing him with contributions and funding during his whole political career, which hadn’t been all that long at the time. In exchange, Tyler provided a ‘safe harbor’ in his state where they could stockpile and distribute their product.”
Colin continued to be snide. “Sounds like a good business decision to me.”
“Damn it, Franks,” Dan said angrily, “you really don’t understand how serious this is. Tyler is up there,” he motioned toward the television, “offering condolences for what is probably the twenty-second questionable death during his career. Something has to be done and I’m being watched too closely to do it. I was hoping the things you discovered would make you interested…seriously interested enough to help, but I am not going any further with this if you’re just going to…”
Franks held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay…okay. Lighten up. Let’s assume I am buying into just a little of this. You have to understand how difficult it is for me to comprehend. Ten minutes ago I was just a cop investigating a murder and violating direct orders from my Captain. Suddenly, I’m involved in a case with elements of murder, drugs, national security, intrigue…and, if anything you say is true, the primary suspect is the President of the United States! Have a little sympathy, okay?” He paused for a moment, then asked, “Do you have anything that substantiates this connection between Tyler and Dawson’s death?”
Dan relaxed and sat back. He picked up a magazine that was beside him in the booth and began to thumb through it. After a few seconds he looked up at Franks and said, “Nothing conclusive, but that is just how these people work. I’ll tell you what I can.” He slid the magazine over to Franks opened to a perfume ad. Colin looked at him, puzzled. Dan motioned silently for him to turn the page, and Franks did so. Taped to the next several pages were a number of photographs and copies of what appeared to be official documents with a few lines of text blackened out. Franks studied the pages while Dan spoke, “Dawson has been with the President almost from the beginning of his career. They were friends, or at least everyone believed they were…so you wouldn’t think Tyler would want him out of the way. But that’s where the evidence points.” He touched Franks on the arm, causing Franks to look up from the magazine. “Not that it is really so unusual,” he continued, “not when you look very deeply into Tyler’s past. There have been many murders…so many victims who thought they were close to Tyler. I’m not so certain I would want to be his friend. They are what you might call a ‘high risk’ group.” He paused for a moment, looking briefly toward the old man at the bar, then went on. “There’s more, of course…more info and more evidence. But we’ve been here too long.” He snatched the magazine back from Colin.
“I’ll send a courier with more detailed information for you,” Dan said in a businesslike fashion. “This goes much deeper than just the Dawson murder, so you’re going to have a great deal of reading to do. Make damned certain you keep it to yourself, though…don’t even bring your Captain in on this. When you’re involved in cases at this level of the federal government, there is no one you can trust.”
Colin asked sincerely, “So, how do you know you can trust me?”
Knowles smiled, “Because I haven’t told you anything they don’t already know that I know. Besides, this group is not very proactive; they’re much more reactive. They’d send someone to kill me before they would send you around just to chat with me. Rest assured, I have already checked you out and I’m still going to do more. You don’t stay alive with these folks by being careless. Now…when you leave, take a good look at the old man at the counter, but don’t let him see you doing it. Remember his face. From now on you must be very, very careful. Watch your back, Detective Franks. You have to be alive to get to the bottom of all this.”
Both men were quiet for a few minutes, each absorbed in his own thoughts. Colin slid out of the booth and stood, turning as he did to look at Knowles’ mysterious “agent.” He found the man was looking at him intently. They stared at each other silently for along moment until Dan broke the tension with a loud laugh. He stood up from the booth and slapped Franks on the back, saying with a broad smile, “It is really good to see you again, Colin! Let’s not lose touch this time. We should try to get together in a few weeks if you’re not busy.”
Colin smiled and nodded. He was a little thrown from the implications of their conversation, and was suddenly very suspicious of the man at the counter. As he and Dan left the restaurant, Colin glanced back toward the old man and found him reading his newspaper once more. When they were outside, Knowles patted him on the back and shook his hand. The large fake grin encompassed his face as he said in a loud voice, “I’m so glad we ran into each other, Colin.” He lowered the volume of his voice and said with a knowing look, “You will be catching a lot of heat from your superiors very soon. Don’t let on how much you know.”
“Sure thing,” Franks said. He stared into the sky for a long moment with a serious expression before turning back to Knowles. Suddenly he broke into a wide grin and added, “Hey, do you think we need a secret handshake or something?”
Exasperated, Dan turned and began to walk away, saying, “Watch your back, Franks. I’ll find you when we need to talk again.”
Colin watched him for a moment, then turned the other way and walked across the street to a corner newsstand. Looking past the coffee shop up the sidewalk, he could no longer see Dan Knowles. Just as he was about to turn back and continue on his way, the old man exited the building, looked up and down the street, and turned to walk the same way Dan had gone.
