Chapter 5: The second one
Thursday 9:15 a.m.
When the members of the two teams that worked on this case arrived in the CBI this morning, the situation had only become more difficult than it had been the last days. The murder of Howard Hanson had turned into a really big case. There were not only two CBI teams, but also the Sheriff´s office of Shasta Lake and the Police Department of Redding involved, nowadays even the authorities that supported the CBI Witness Protection Program to build a new identity. Every step that Mr. Hanson alias Andrew Greene had done, had to be recovered; they must try to get out when and where his real identity was revealed and how the killers could find him. If the witness protection unit of the CBI was guilty in any way, maybe with having a leak or some traitor it would end in a catastrophe.
Maybe the bureau of Agent Price was spied again or some contact man got bribed – worse, if it was an Agent or someone from the police who´d been working on the new identity. But perhaps the leak was in the other official buildings or networks, where they issued the new passport, the driver´s license, and the other documents. If anyone there could be bribed to give away sensible information, that would have a tremendous impact. Every one of these possibilities kept haunting Director Bertram, and therefore he continuously made pressure from the back to clear this up.
Luckily enough there were two teams working on that case, but they were barely enough people nevertheless to investigate every possibility. And it was like chewing and re-re-chewing a piece of gum that had already lost all its flavor – and you are forbidden to spit it out. Again and again they asked the same questions and got unsatisfying answers.
Cho and Rigsby went back to Shasta Lake on Wednesday to talk to the witnesses again; on the return way today they were going to visit the working place of Mr. Andrew Greene and his house again. Since they knew that this house in Redding was a "safe house" and bought especially for the WPP, they wanted to have another, closer look at it taking a bug detector with them. At their first visit there no one thought on this possibility, so they had to try now. Maybe a technician or a false postman, or a bribed plumber placed a spying device there to get to know his life-circumstances to find the right moment to take him.
Lisbon and Price had visited the divisional traffic office, the US-citizens registration and the California resident´s registration office in the last days, to search for a leak there, but although they had long talks there was no outcome. Van Pelt was working with Agent Mallory on the internal security, whilst Agent Ramirez of Price´s team tried to get contact with the most endangered other witnesses in this program, the others that were involved in the same case. The last Agent of Price´s team, Hollyman, tried to find out as much as he could about the main suspect in this case; the only one Howard Hanson ever made a statement against, and this was: Lazar Levine. This person was in the Sacramento county jail, his major associates had carefully been separated from him to other prisons. Could he be behind this? And if he was, how could he have arranged that? He apparently had no contacts to the outside, he phoned rarely enough to say that, the only remarkable visitor was his attorney sometimes, but this was clear; there were some parts of his process that weren´t ready yet. The state attorneys were pleading for the ultimate, death sentence behind the scenes. No one knew until now how many people he really had harmed, tortured, lied on or ordered to kill. He was guarded 24/7, but still somehow he must have had influence on the murder of Howard Hanson.
The only one who seemed not to be working was Jane, but the impression was wrong. It was true that he never accompanied his fellow Agents to the sites they went, not even Lisbon, but they called him more than often for advice, every now and then one of his co-workers that were currently in the Headquarter passed by and showed him some old case file or the newest investigation results on the computer. Once asked why he did not wish to accompany anyone, he only answered that he was more useful in the bureau where all the facts were melting together, than outside on a scavenger hunt. He was right with that; and Agent Prices team was thankful that they also could address him in difficult situations; and Jane was really almost round the clock in the CBI; he only went "home" twice a day for a shower and some other minor important things, the rest of the time he spent reading files in his roof chamber or his bureau corner.
Every now and then one of his own team wondered slightly about his behavior – he was at the CBI day and night, and although he pretended to, he still did not pay real attention to the current case.
It was an investigation with some very difficult riddles; they could still not find any trace to the murderers, and no connection to Lazar Levine, even though they were convinced that he was behind this. They had checked out all other possibilities than that not existing link to Levine. Hanson had no enemies in his identity as Mr. Andrew Greene, and before the thing with Lazar Levine and his bar he was free of any charge – otherwise he could not have been with the Sacramento police. So after all investigations every path led to Lazar Levine.
And now another day of work that would most likely have no real effect was coming up. All of them looked like they had had not enough sleep over the last days, and if they had, it was not really relaxing. The worst of all was that some reporters seemed to have picked up the case and started to be nerve racking, so now the public relations division of Brenda Shattrick also wanted some statement for the media.
»Jane.« Lisbon sighed his name more than she really spoke it, while she let herself drop on the couch besides him. »Good morning first; but then back to work – immediately. I think you´ve heard it already, cause you were here earlier than me.«
»No, I never left. I was here overnight and read some files…« he answered. »While I dif so, I found out something… we´ve got to talk secretly somewhere.«
Lisbon knew at once that he did not refer to the current "official" case, so she blocked at once: »Not now. Wainwright wants a report later this afternoon. We need to collect all our investigation results together and present them what we got. They want to select some details for Brenda, because we need to inform the press tomorrow. The reporters know that something is going on; maybe someone close to the media listened to the police radio talks about the corpse in the woods near Shasta Lake; or one other civilian wants to make rumor and money with it. So Wainwright, Shattrick, or even Bertram are up to do a little press audition at nine or ten a.m. tomorrow, to prevent too many speculations.«
»And what do I have to do with it?« Patrick asked back. »I don´t talk to Brenda Shattrick nor Wainwright, nor to the press.« It was not mere imagination; his undertone really was hard on the edge to resentment.
The silence that followed his words was tense, not nice. In the last, busy days they had not talked much, and… and if they would have time to do, it was as if they couldn't. They both felt as if an invisible wall was building up itself between them; like never before. And this was strange – they could have been much more weld together because of those happenings, but on the contrary, it seemed to part them more and more with every day.
Now Lisbon answered his question; remaining strictly with the facts: »Wainwright and Price begged me to ask you a favor. Would you please visit the county jail and Mister Lazar Levine with me? We´ll talk to him. We are all sure that he must know about the murder of Howard. Maybe you notice something in his behavior that gives you a sign that he really is involved somehow.«
»Mm, maybe this would be a good idea. He´s a good liar, but when I met him before I got the impression that he cannot conceal his disgusting pleasure about the pain he brought to others; be it when he did it himself, or when he ordered someone to do it.« He wrinkled his brow. »Okay, if you want, we´ll talk to him.«
Jane followed her into the elevator, and the dark silence between them bothered them both. In the car they hardly spoke a word; only the most necessary things concerning the case. It was a heartrending admission they had to make when they left the car: They were happy that this drive was over. For the part of a moment Lisbon could hardly breathe without feeling the aching pain of emptiness in her chest. The least thing she ever wanted was that Jane´s friendship was taken from her – but right that seemed to happen now.
:-:
Luckily the guard at the prison gate distracted them with his welcoming words and the first questions. When they arrived at the door to the visitor´s room, they were both anxious and stern. They knew what Lazar Levine had done; of course they had read again the investigation files on all his crimes.
Levine was awaiting them in the visitor´s room, he had an orange overall and sat there alone; there were no other visits allowed at this time.
His expression was still unbroken, not really evil or crazy as one might expect it; but he knew what he wanted and how to get it, he was selfish and unwilling to feel with other people. The only thing that mattered for him was his own pleasure, even now, behind bars.
»Oh, look who´s visiting! Agent Teresa Lisbon and Patrick Jane; who is consultant for the CBI. Nice to meet you again. I still remember you, and the rumors in this estate also brought some interesting news about you to my ears.« he smiled. With a few words he had made clear that he knew very well who they were, and maybe more. And of course he knew why they were here: »It´s about the murder of this scum-bastard in the woods near Shasta Lake. Am I right? Finally someone killed that filthy traitor. You already know who did it? I want to send him my regards and flowers.«
Lisbon sat down opposite to him, Jane placed himself leaning at the wall, but a guard in front of the door pointed to the rules that were written on the wall: »Take a seat during your visit. Don´t change seats once seated. No touching or photos allowed« So he sat down at the next table to look at the conversation from some distance.
Lazar Levine was still as friendly as one could be: »Why don´t you join us, Mr. Jane, or should I say your little joke name? You don´t have to be left out. Come to the party.«
»No thank you.« Patrick replied. »I am fine here… I´ve had enough when I met you once. I´ll just sit here and watch.«
Lisbon cast a fast look at him, then she started her questioning: »Tell me what you know about the murder of Mister Howard Hanson, also known as Andrew Greene.«
Levine smiled back at her: »Well, what I know? Maybe I know more than you, maybe not. What difference makes that for me? I am happy that this heap of crap is dead and I am only sorry that I weren´t there to watch it happen. You can´t connect me to that, you never will. And even if you try – you won´t have any proof. You are in a dead end here.«
And now suddenly he changed his behavior and started complaining: »You only try to talk me in to this because you are in a dead end and the only connection that this Howard-guy had to any "oh-so-bad" man is me. I am the only one who´s the most likely person to do this. You are the ones that accuse me falsely; you are the ones that tricked me. This is why my attorney is still fighting for me. This is why I seek the help of a psychologist and the chaplain. I am falsely accused and that tears me down. None of the witnesses who made their statement against me is really reliable. There are doubts in this case! This is all a big conspiracy against me, maybe led by someone in the police or high politics itself. I was put in charge by false witnesses. I am the victim here…«
Lisbon interrupted him: »Oh, don´t be pathetic, Mister Levine, we all know what you´ve done and that you are in here maybe expecting the death sentence; for right! You have got something to do with the murder of Mr. Hanson, I am sure about that.«
Now Levine smiled again, it was such a sort of a smile that makes a cold shudder run through your body. He whispered: »Um, if you know this, Miss Lisbon, you also must realize what I am capable of. Probably I am going to die in here, but … if I have to, I will die satisfied.« His look flickered to Jane for the part of a second, then he stared back into Lisbon´s eyes, still smiling, but silent. He leant back and crossed his arms in front of his body.
They were both convinced that he would not say anything more, so they called for the guard to open the door. When they were walking back to the car, Teresa asked: »So what do you think about him?«
»I think he did it.« Jane said. »I don´t know how, but he´s to put in charge for the murder of Mister Hanson. We will have to prove it still, and this won´t be easy.«
»Hm.« she replied. »We must find some contact that he probably had out of his prison cell. I think we must check on the attorney he sees, on every single phone call he made since he was in, and on the attorney and the psychologist. He´s seeing the prisons chaplain too, but I think that this man can be cut out of our investigations.« She hesitated to open the car´s door and looked at Jane. »We´re still here, let us talk to the chaplain right now, maybe that will save us time.«
Patrick agreed vaguely: »Maybe.«
They returned to the prison entrance and the guard let them pass a second time. Again a few of the prisoners who were behind the fence of the inner court stopped their playing or muscle training, to whistle and call out for Lisbon, but she did not care. They went upstairs to the director´s office, and were called in about only four or five minutes later.
The director asked: »How can I help you, again? Do you have more questions for our guest Mr. Levine? He´s only allowed one visit a day. You have to return tomorrow.«
Lisbon shook her head: »No, we don´t want to talk to him, but to the prison´s chaplain. Levine told us that he talks to the priest now and then.«
»Yes, he does, not regular, like some other prisoners, but he does. I´ll call him here, if you like. But I can tell you that he won´t give away any confessing. He´s taking that very serious. He won´t betray them, even if it was something very bad.«
Lisbon insisted: »My consultant and I talk to him. Now.«
»I´m not.« Jane said that moment.
Teresa felt like being stabbed from behind: »You are not?« she re-asked.
»No. If you don´t mind, director, I´ll be waiting outside, maybe running round a little bit. We´ll meet at the car, Lisbon. Good bye, Sir.« He turned round and left the office.
The CBI Agent remained, delivered to the slight sarcasm of the prison director. He asked: »Your consultant is not up to consult you, isn´t he?«
»Uhm, I think that he only doesn´t like chaplains. But I don´t need him anyhow.«
:-:
About an hour later they met again at the car, and Lisbon used the drive to tell him what the chaplain said, and that this man was really no subject of any investigations. The prison chaplain really knew some of the deepest secrets of some of the prisoners, and he was a long time in this business. He could very good distinguish between those men who meant their confessions honestly, and the others, who only asked for his advice so that they look better at the next parole term.
»He did not tell me what Levine said to him, but he said that this man was one of the prisoners that only consulted him because of calculation. Levine wants that his visitor´s file contains talks to him, for whatever cause.« She sighed. »The chaplain is very experienced, but cannot be invited as a witness before court. If there is another hearing, they will see the consulting terms with the clergyman in Levines file, which makes him look better.«
Jane nodded: »And the chaplain can´t tell the jury the truth because then he would act against his seal of the confessional; which would of course backfire at him. So Levine comes off with this. They look in the files, see that he´s been talking to a clergyman, confessing and repent maybe feel sorrow for what he did… a good move.« He cleared his throat.
»Teresa, please let me tell you what I found out, while we are still in the car, only the two of us.«
She took in a deep breath: »Fire away, then. If you can´t wait…«
»I´ve re-read all the files we´ve got about Red John, also those where someone tried to "make believe" that an attack was made by him, and got the impression that the attack on you was…« That second both of their phones rang out, almost simultaneously.
Jane, who was not driving, took the call. »Cho.« he said. »Who´s calling Lisbon?«
»Rigsby.« Cho answered, and turned to his colleague in the Headquarter: »You can hang up, I got Jane. Lisbon is with him.« then he was back: »Turn on the speaker please.«
»Done it.« Patrick replied.
Cho continued: »Ok, listen, both of you. Wainwright wants to be updated at three pm instead of half past four. Bertram has announced his coming, he wants to be informed too, and because of term collisions they´ve agreed to meet earlier. Bertram is anxious and nervous; some high politician has asked him about the current case – about the body in the woods, that a close friend of that high politician had found. So there are rumors in the Capitol, that´s not good. We have to stop that chit-chatting before the weekend. They will have a press conference tomorrow with good results.«
»Oh shoot.« Lisbon cursed. »We´ve got so much to do, and I must add the statements from Levine and the chaplain… Cho, would you please write down what I tell you right now? So we save a little bit of time.« She started to dictate him the statement of the clergyman, and was still talking when she stopped at the CBI parking lot.
They returned to the CBI building right one hour before Wainwright wanted to have his meeting; and there was plenty of work to do. Van Pelt, Rigsby and Cho had nearly typed their fingers off at the keyboards of the laptops, but there was no time to print all the relevant facts on handouts; they had to prepare a show on beamer and screen.
It was not much what they could present the bosses, and everything was not very nice. Nevertheless the small bureau of Wainwright was full of people no one had an idea who killed poor Mr. Hanson. Although in the meantime they were sure that Lazar Levine was most likely the client of the mercenaries and murderers; they could see no reliable connection to this jailbird, so he was nothing – but out of reach until they had a real proof. The statement of the chaplain was another part in this puzzle; if he was not really confessing but using that clergyman-visits as a "nice-maker" of his file, he was still big in planning and not broken or lost in the prison. There must be a connection, that was clear, but they still had no idea where the leak in the chain of the witness protection program was, and how they had been able to find him.
So they only could report about the life of Mister Andrew Greene, the new identity of Howard Hanson, and about the life and career that Hanson had made before his downfall. They had all the facts concerning Howard aka Greene, but nothing about the murderers.
Bertram sighed: »So at least we can bury the poor man that was murdered, can we?« he asked. »We cannot close the case of course, but we´re ready with examining his body.«
»Yes.« Agent Price confirmed. »We´ll bury him as Mr. Andrew Greene and I suggest that the press only needs to know about the murder of Greene; nothing about the rest, for the moment. His murderers will be found, of course, but the man himself should find his eternal rest on holy ground. That smoothes the public meaning.«
Director Bertram agreed to that: »Fine. As long as we can feed the media with some shocking story they won´t ask about the leak in out witness protection program. Please prepare some facts for Brenda Shattrick, concerning the murder in the woods and make clear that we still search for his killers. Give them as less information as possible of course, but enough to silence them for a while. Ah, and let be clear, that, for he had no relatives or someone else close to him, that the CBI will grant his funeral. People love it if we take care for our victims.« He turned to the two team leaders again: »Agent Lisbon, Agent Price, continue with your good work.«
Wainwright added: »We´ve come so far now that we can split up the parts of the investigations again; except for necessary and information exchange, of course. Agent Prices team – please try to find out who´s the leak in the witness protection program, concentrate on this. Do this on your own as long as it is possible, trust no one, if not needed. Try to prove that Levine, our main client-suspect, really is behind this; or prove that we are wrong with our suspicions. His lawyer must not know anything about that; he could use this at court, if we make any false accusations. And, besides, take a closer look at that attorney of Mister Levine, will you? Levine must have some connection to the outside. Maybe it´s the lawyer.«
Price and his team member Agents nodded, and left the room with words of good bye.
Then Wainwright turned to Lisbon: »Your team... oh my, I almost don´t try to ask you… try to find those murderers, will you? It is not a nice job, for that torturing and the kind of murder was not very nice, but… we have to. Stay in contact with the Shasta Lake and Redding police. I´ve read the file of Mr. Levine and the process files against him – a disgusting person. The most of his favorite mercenaries were convicted with him, and the attorneys looked after that no two of them were together in one jail. Find out what you can about them. If only one of them talks, we might have some track to follow.«
»We will.« Lisbon said, then her team also left Wainwright´s bureau.
Another time full of stress lay before them and at this time the brutality of the case affected them all more than they liked to admit.
:-:
Monday morning
The press conference was over; the most media were up to send the revelations on their midday and maybe evening news. They were not so important to make a breaking news report and this was really fine for all the CBI Agents. Breaking news always made more wind than solid, common reports during the usual news time. The promise to bury the poor murdered man calmed everyone down and after the weekend no one seemed to be talking any more about that case. Bertram was satisfied, and the increasing pressure that had haunted the investigating teams because of the press statement had been decreased a great amount. So they had only to do the day shift over the weekend and had been able to go home in the evenings, so they got a back little bit of their loss of sleep, although now and then the cruel pictures kept returning.
This day, the first of the new week, Lisbon and Van Pelt had a meeting with the attorney of Mr. Levine, who had been so friendly to offer them his ten o´clock term. They met at the CBI in the morning, packed the most needed things and were off to the attorney.
Vincent Delanor was a balding, broad, if not to say fat man with an expensive suit, and a really luxurious bureau. »What can I do for you, CBI? Is it about Lazar Levine again?« he asked. He was friendly, but his voice let them know that he´d been asked about his major client already once too often.
Lisbon started: »We only got to know that you are one of the only visitors of Mr. Levine. Does he talk to you much, respecting the fact that you seem to be one of the very less persons outside the prison that still care for him?«
»No. We´re talking about his case, and that is a secret between attorney and client. He more than once insisted that he was tricked into this, that he´s not guilty. And by all means, I have found some evidence that he really was tricked. And I can tell you, if we re-open the case, he´ll be much better off. Did you know that your consultant… ah…« he flickered through some papers, »Ah, yes, a Mr. Patrick Jane, sneaked into his club without official permission, and started sniffing round there? You need a warrant, you know? And not only that; Agent Lisbon! Your Mr. Jane also provoked my client without any cause; from the beginning to the end. And he hurt one of Mr. Levine´s guards. You understand, no wonder that my client got mad at this time. I mean, being spied without official permission and in addition to that, pure sarcasm? I think that this would interest the jury. Shall I continue?«
»No, it´s enough, and this is just ridiculous.« Van Pelt said with a very hard voice. »You are his attorney and you know more than you tell us.«
Vincent Delanor smiled, and he looked like a heap of an old, slimy thing when he leant back in his seat: »Of course I know more than I tell you. We will see at court, Agent Van Pelt. As I recall, you also took part of that unauthorized entry. You shot a door lock; that is damage to property. And you endangered the lives of my client and his friends, because of the ricochet of the bullets. That will also be part of our…«
»Oh shut up with that crap!« Lisbon roared, and not only the fat lawyer startled, but Van Pelt too. It was just so unusual that her boss got that mad that she lost her self control! And it seemed, as if Teresa was not ready yet: »I can´t tell how I´d love it to stuff back your nonsense into…« That moment, her phone rang out; that seemed to get her rage level down in a second. She excused herself for a moment and left the bureau of the attorney. It was Luther Wainwright who told her with a stern voice, that there had been another attack that may be linked to the gruesome murder of Howard Hanson aka Andrew Greene.
She informed Van Pelt immediately: »We have to leave.« then she turned to Mr. Delanor: »We will do everything to prove that your client earns the death sentence that was judged for him in the first process. See you at court, if not earlier.«
»You can try, Agent Lisbon.« the fat man called after her. »You can try.«
Teresa did not pay any attention to these offending words. She heard them well, but decided that it was not worth it. Instead of discussing with the lawyer, she told Grace: »We shall go there without returning to the CBI, the others will meet us there. It´s not far away and we have to hurry. This time the victim is still alive. But the doctors say that it is very critical. And that they´ve never seen someone like this before. So be prepared. We go to the San Francisco Seaside hospital.« It was enough to know this to make them feel very uneasy about what might be expecting them.
:-:
And really… the encounter with the victim was so much revolting, that even the toughest of the Agents did not really know what to do – they were so shocked that they could hardly breathe, not even to think of a talk. Agent Price forced himself to go in the room with one of his male teammates; the tall, afro-American Gregory Hollyman, but his steps were uneasy and full of reluctance.
It was also the first time ever that Lisbon backed off so far until she could feel Jane behind her; he immediately put both his hands on her shoulders to show her clearly that he was right there, and won´t go away. Nobody paid much attention to that unusual touch right now; it only was natural to react in this way.
Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt sat outside the ICU, Agent Mallory had the medical report in her hands right now, and her teammate Agent Ramirez was also reading it over her shoulder – but they all had the impression that he only wanted to be next to his younger, female colleague in this very unwelcomed situation; to support her with his presence. This was nothing to wonder about; Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt also were close together, trying to cope with their shocked and really overwhelmed feelings. None of them spoke a word.
The victim was not unknown this time, therefore they could compare the name to the files they had in the CBI. It was Peter Thompson, the State´s primary evidence against Lazar Levine. They also had given him a new name, "Winston Airdale", but this meant not much now – or maybe it did, because "Winston Airdale" was happily married in Southern Oregon since one and a half year and his wife was also missing.
What they did to him was indescribable, the medical report fixed itself on the facts only, but what he really had to endure no one could say. His tongue was cut out and his face severely mutilated; and there was not much left from his limbs – after the medical treatment where the doctors had do amputate even more parts of his legs and arms because of the massive infection; they must have held him at least one, maybe two days in a state like this, with ligaments so that he did not bleed out. He was only a corpus. He lived, yes; but whoever did this took care that he suffered the most imaginable pains, but they let him live.
»Oh this can´t be true.« Price said. He coughed and turned to a doctor who was standing at the door: »Is there any possibility that we can talk to him?«
The doctor shook his head: »No, not at the moment. He won´t hear you and he won´t see you, so communication is not possible. He´s still in a critical state. We do everything to keep him alive, yes, but… god knows that he´d be better off the other way. Whoever did this wanted to be sure that he´s found at the right time; so that we must keep him alive.«
Lisbon said through clenched teeth, feeling her stomach revolt: »Can we try later?«
»Maybe.« The doctor said. »But you can´t do nothing now.«
Jane asked the CBI-Teams: »Shall we talk to the coast guard officers who found him?«
The doctor said: »They are also here, they need shock treatment.«
So they went downstairs to the room where the coast guard officers were resting. They were still in a very upset state of mind although they had already talked to the crisis intervention team of the hospital. The older of them took the lead of the talk: »We found a little engine equipped rubber-boat that was driving without someone steering it. There were no other boats in the area; but it was clearly only the life boat of a greater yacht. It kept moving on straight to the bay of San Francisco and maybe one of the bridge´s pillars, so we took on the pursue. We thought of terrorism first, but then we found him. I think I will never forget this. He was so severely hurt but he must have noticed that he was at sea; and with every might he could afford he tried to make us throw him in the water… he so much wanted to die, but we… couldn´t do that. I think that this will also hunt us forever.«
The both coastal guard man were really down with their nerves.
Jane stepped closer to the older man and showed him a shining coin. Slowly he started to move the coin and spoke with a soft voice: »Look at the light, only concentrate at the shimmering light, like the sun at the surface of the sea in the mornings; in the bright midday and the endless wideness of the dusk, when the sun disappears behind the waves…«
Price rose his hand and protested: »He´s hypnotizing him. He must not do that.«
Lisbon stopped him with a gesture and whispered: »Don´t stop him. I trust his experience with this… I think he´s up to help them. You see, the younger officer also is falling for him. A wonder how Jane makes the coin glitter, isn´t it?«
The team leading Agents watched the scene so closely that they almost got hypnotized too, but Jane seemed to notice that and moved his body a little bit, so that they could only see his back, but not the blinking and reflecting coin. »You love the sea, both of you, don´t you? Therefore you chose to be with the coastal guard. To be at sea and to help people who are in danger, or to prevent mischief done out there. True?«
»Yes.« the coast guard men answered in unison.
Patrick asked: »Go back to the moment when you saw that little boat. You told me that your gaze was fixed on that little boat, and that you noticed no other vessel nearby. But maybe your subconscious knows… Look deep inside you as if there was a wide ocean without anything disturbing… just try to remember if you have seen another boat.«
»I have.« the younger officer said. »I was steering, my colleague had the binoculars, and was searching the sea between the coast and us part for part.«
»Yes I was.« the older said. »I kept an eye on the shoreline.«
The younger man continued: »A white yacht, bigger I think than our coastal guard boat. Must be a rich man´s boat, looked well cared for. It went almost the opposite direction of the rubber boat, but then Frank cried out that there was the small boat and I looked away too. I… The name of the yacht started with a W and L, it was a two part name, White… White Lady? Wind Lady? Wild Lily? Not sure, it was so far away. But it had an American flag.«
»Thank you, you did really well.« Patrick ensured him.
The older man was so much beaten with shock that he almost started to cry under hypnosis, and told between sobs: »God… the man has to live in this body… he… never… oh, he never even has the chance to kill himself. Oh shit…«
Jane calmed him down: »Frank, that´s your name, right? And you are Paul, aren´t you?« he asked the younger man.
»Yes.« they answered in unison again.
»Frank, and Paul, I want you to remember one thing. You saved a life out there. The man was severely hurt, you won´t ever be able to deny this. But you did everything right. You did a good job and there´s nothing that you have to make any self-reproach about. Ok? As soon as I wake you up you won´t remember the clear vision of the mangled body of that man, you won´t remember that you made yourself grim thoughts about that it would be better for him to die. You are both humans, with very human feelings, and it is clear that you were able to feel with the other man in that situation. You are good people, good men, but don´t allow that this question ruins your life.« His voice became constantly more like a whisper so that they had to listen to him very closely. And suddenly he slammed the aluminum board for the med-reps against the metallic bed post; the men startled in shock and blinked, looking at each other disoriented; but Jane gave them no explanation.
He only stood up and turned to the CBI Agents: »We have the name of a boat. Let´s do something with that, and… for all sakes, please tell the police department of the new home town of Mr. Thompson that they have to find his wife. I think she´s… not in a very good state. If they took her…« he needed no more words.