Chapter Fifty-five
Sitting at his desk Hughes couldn't help but be distracted by the rain that lashed against the window behind him. The forecast called for the skies to clear up by the afternoon, but the storm didn't appear to be letting up. Having trouble concentrating the dark rainy day outside wasn't helping his mood. Despite their initial hope that the Collins lead would go somewhere it wasn't really getting them anywhere, and worse yet their current active case load was making it increasingly difficult to devote time to it. Trying to plow through extra work after the already long day was done without any results was becoming draining both mentally and physically.
Already on edge Hughes jolted violently when there was an abrupt knock at his open door. Hughes' blood ran cold as he looked up and saw his boss standing in the doorway. It wasn't that the appearance of Andrews himself was distressing, it was what he was holding. Andrews welcomed himself in holding two medium sized matte black boxes.
"Hello, Reese." Andrews said with a sad smile.
"Assistant Dire…"
"It's time, Reese." Andrews interrupted. "I know it, and if you were honest with yourself you'd know it too."
"We have a possible lead." Reese said without thinking.
"And I suppose you handed that lead off to Agent Walsh immediately instead of over working your own people?" Andrews asked with a heavy sigh.
"I…"
"Don't worry about it. Just give whatever you have over to Walsh, I promise you he's good."
"I know he is."
"I'm going to leave this here." Andrews said putting the black boxes on Hughes' desk. "When I come in on Monday I want to see it where it belongs."
"David…"
"No more excuses." Andrews said firmly. "Honor your fallen Agent. That's an order."
"Yes, Sir."
Andrews quietly let himself out without further word. With a sickening pit opening in his stomach Hughes stared at the boxes he had left behind. Reaching out with a resigned sigh Hughes pulled the sleek boxes closer. Opening the top one he stared down at the 8 by 10 silver framed photograph of Peter. Peter had his usual good natured expression in his dark eyes with a hint of a lop sided smile on his lips. Closing the lid on the box and setting it aside Hughes opened the other one even though he knew what was inside. Neatly folded into a triangle and placed inside a wood and glass case was a beautifully hand stitched American flag, along the outside edge of the frame was a silver medallion of the FBI seal, Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity written boldly in the banner inside the seal. The sight of the bright white stars against the deep blue background caused Hughes' eyes to uncharacteristically sting with tears. Heavy hearted he closed the second box and pushed both to the side of his desk.
There was another knock at his door, this time lighter as if the visitor didn't really want to intrude. Jones waited for Hughes to nod before stepping inside. Walking up to the desk Jones looked over at the boxes and froze for a moment. Hughes could see the stress of working in his new position as ASAC and continuing to try to work Peter's case wearing on the veteran. Jones was not the kind to leave a man behind, but it was starting to look more and more like that was exactly what they needed to do in order to keep moving forward.
"Is that what I think it is?" Jones asked solemnly.
"It is." Hughes nodded. "We'll have the memorial wall hanging ceremony on Friday."
"Honestly I think the department could use the small amount of closure that will provide. It's painful to have Peter and Neal suddenly gone, but I think ignoring the hard reality of it isn't helping."
"It's not." Hughes agreed. "Although it's not putting Peter on the wall that's going to make this real for me…it's taking this flag to Elizabeth with no answers to go along with it."
"I would like to be there when you do, I'm sure Diana wants to be there as well."
"Thank you, I know that will mean a lot to her."
"How is she doing?" Jones asked apprehensively.
"I don't really know. She has been working with someone from Light for the Lost, which seemed like a positive step, but now she thinks it might be a money laundering front."
"Maybe it is." Jones shrugged. "Elizabeth has good instincts."
"I looked into it briefly, the organization is squeaky clean and well respected. However they do move a ton of money, most of it directly to Skiptracers."
"I don't like Skiptracers, I don't trust them." Jones said darkly. "I'm not saying they are all bad, but there's a lot of conning to be done when people are desperate for answers."
"I agree, but Light for the Lost works with nearly a hundred different ones. If Walker is laundering money through them it would be an extensive and complicated network. He would have to have absolute faith in the loyalty of his accomplices to keep something like that quiet. Although a set up like that would be nearly impossible to prove if run properly."
"Yeah, that's a serious many headed snake, even if you nailed a handful of the Skiptracers there would be no real tracing it back to the source. Even if you tried any half way decent lawyer could get that tied up in the courts indefinitely."
"And Walker could afford better than halfway decent. Assuming he is doing anything wrong. I'm not convinced anyone could set something like that up and be completely off our radar." Hughes said with a hint of doubt.
"Sir?"
"There is one thing that does still bother me. Shortly after all this started Walker went to Elizabeth directly to invite her to Light for the Lost."
"What? We never went public with Peter and Neal's disappearance."
"He said he had a friend in the FBI."
"But no name."
"No. I looked into it at the time, but there were no red flags around Walker or his organization and he was known for personally inviting other people in the past. He's very well connected and respected so it's not a huge surprise he found out about it since missing persons is what he specializes in."
"But do you really think an Agent would tell Walker something like that?"
"No, but word spread through this building like wildfire and there are plenty of people working here that aren't Agents and people love to share news with powerful people."
"True."
"It's all just speculation and tail chasing." Hughes sighed. "Elizabeth wants someone to blame and so do I, but there's no good evidence of anything anywhere."
"Diana is sifting through Collins' financials as we speak even though she's supposed to be on the Macelli case, I've wanted to help more with it but…"
"I know, it's okay." Hughes assured.
"She mentioned it was slow going because of having to go down all the rabbit holes that were caused by his philanthropy. Collins moved a lot of money basically all the time. I know it's a huge jump between running a charity and being a money laundering kidnapper for hire, but Walker's organization does special in missing persons. What if there is something going on? What if Light for the Lost is some sort of front for more than just laundering? What if he's making some of these people missing?"
"I don't know...why take such a huge risk in contacting the spouse of a victim?"
"…ego?" Jones guessed. "I don't know Walker, but if he's a major kingpin that is completely unknown to the FBI he's probably one cocky bastard."
Hughes knit his brow as he thought though Jones' scenario. He had to admit it was fairly insane, but so was two highly skilled men going missing without a trace. He wasn't used to taking a leap of faith without any hard evidence, going on gut instinct was more Peter's specialty. It was dangerous to even hint at accusing rich men of being anything other than outstanding members of society,
"Diana?"
"Yes, Sir?"
"Did Collins ever donate to an organization called Light for the Lost?"
"Yes."
"You answered that quickly."
"Light for the Lost was one of the charities he donated to near his son's death so it was top on list for looking into. However it looked legit, plus it wasn't the first time he had donated to them so it didn't throw up any flags like a pay off. It looked like a dead end to me. Why do you ask? Do you have something?"
"How much did he donate?
"Twelve million. I know that sounds high, but it's not outside the norm, he arranged a seventeen million grant to UNICEF right before his suicide. In fact he started giving heavily to a lot of places in the months leading up to his death, twenty three charities in total. He donated everything 'anonymously' so the charities didn't know who it was but of course he had to declare it on his end. He literally gave almost all his money away before the end."
"Thank you." Hughes hung up the phone and looked up to Jones. "It looks like there's a connection between Collins and Walker, on it's own it doesn't really mean anything…but it's there."
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to get Charles Walker in Interrogation within the hour."
"Do I have any actual charges I can use to make that happen?"
"No, but if he is our man he's also confident that he's untouchable."
"You think he'll come willingly just to internally gloat?"
"I do. And it's over confidence like that that gets you caught."
