A Hostile State by Adrian Magson (reading eggs books txt) 📗

‘No. Not all of them. And not that one.’ He stood away from the desk and growled, ‘And nor do you. Remember that if they ever strap you to a polygraph.’

‘Absolutely. Already forgotten.’ He crossed himself. ‘Scout’s honour.’

‘Balls. You were never in the Scouts. I checked. And you’d better never tell a living soul about that camera. Understand me?’

‘Got it. It’s already gone – I promise.’

‘Good. What else have you got?’

‘A couple of things. I’ve been looking into Dalkin’s background, hoping to find a link to his recent acquisition of money, like a family bequest or an old insurance policy we didn’t know about.’

‘Good thinking. And?’

‘There’s nothing like that. I got as far as a transfer account but it was blocked. Some kind of offshore fund thing which I thought might be a family trust fund arrangement. I trawled his family records but it wasn’t heavy on numbers; a sister he rarely sees who’s been in intensive care with cancer; no brothers, uncles or aunts still alive … and no associated funds. But I did come across a cousin with an interesting name.’ He smirked. ‘You’d never guess—’

‘Surprise me.’ Callahan stole a glance at his watch and got ready to stand.

‘Carly Ledhoffen.’

Callahan froze, his jaw dropping. ‘Say what?’

‘She and Dalkin are first cousins. I took a squint at both their records and neither mentions having a cousin anywhere, least of all here in DC.’

‘I guess if they didn’t know the other was here they wouldn’t have to mention it. I have cousins I’ve never met nor would I want to. Do they have any contact?’

‘They exchanged a couple of calls recently. Prior to that almost never. They’re not Facebook or social media buddies either.’

‘Yeah, well they wouldn’t be, would they? If what people say is correct, Ledhoffen’s a social climber and I doubt Dalkin inhabits any kind of rung on her ladder, especially now he’s out of a regular job.’ He chewed his lip. ‘What about their phones?’

‘I had a quick look, but the recent calls lasted less than a minute, max. It was like they were saying hi and goodbye. They both have WhatsApp accounts, but we can’t access those.’

‘Hi and goodbye after a long period of no-contact?’ Callahan looked sour at the idea of encountering a dead end. ‘That doesn’t sound likely. What does your wannabe cop instinct tell you?’

Andrews shrugged. ‘It set me thinking: cousins or not, would she help him for free?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Right, please bear with me here; this is cafeteria scuttlebutt so has to be taken with a bucket of salt, as my mom always says. Ledhoffen name-drops a lot, about who she knows, the people she parties with and so forth. Most are high on the DC totem pole, a lot in politics and a fair few celebrities. She’s got a nice apartment in Mount Vernon and she hobnobs with people upstairs more than she does general staff, which has earned her a nickname—’

Callahan scowled. ‘I know what they call her. It’s unpleasant. But hobnob? Do you have any more of these quaint words, only I’m growing older and greyer by the minute?’

‘It’s Shakespeare,’ Andrews replied. ‘Allegedly.’

‘Thank you.’ Callahan’s face was deadpan. ‘It was a rhetorical question.’

‘Oh. Sorry. Well, she’s dropped hints in the past that she has family money, but there’s no evidence of it.’

‘So maybe they’re good at hiding their cash. That’s not a crime; my wife does it all the time. What about a secondary bank account?’

‘I was going to ask if I should try that … or let Warner and Cahill take the lead. Only I’m not sure how much more we can do.’

Callahan considered it. ‘Good point. We’re already beyond our remit on this thing. If this business involves some kind of money transactions that contravenes a host of regulations, it’ll be something the FBI can get their teeth into.’ He gave a thin smile. ‘It’ll probably make their day.’

‘There’s another point I found – well, two, in fact; one about Ledhoffen’s skill-set, the other I’m not so sure about. It could be a coincidence.’

‘Go on.’

‘She’s smart. And I mean very smart. She’s got degrees like some people pick up groceries at the supermarket. Mathematics and economics are the main ones. But I got chatting to one of the gals in IT. They had a clash just recently and she was happy to dish the dirt. She told me Ledhoffen let slip once that she took a combined course in information technology and software engineering, although she dropped it after a couple of years because she didn’t want to spend her life below-stairs with a bunch of geeks.’

Callahan was impressed, although not surprised. Langley had more geeks than most places had windows. ‘They fell out over a minor slur?’

‘Ledhoffen made a remark about geeks not having any fashion sense.’

‘Jesus. That probably hurt. OK, so how much could a smart person learn in a couple of years?’

‘A lot. Ledhoffen’s obviously got a talent for learning. I’ve known people like her who absorb stuff without even trying. I wish I’d got it but I had to put in the hard work.’

‘But why would she go to the Support Directorate? It’s kind of limiting, isn’t it, with those skills? She could have gone anywhere inside the building or out.’

Andrews shrugged. ‘She gets to mix with some powerful names. And it’s the world’s best known intelligence agency. For some people that’s enough. Anyway, if she transfers across departments, who knows where she could end up in a year or two?’

That was a thought Callahan didn’t want to entertain; if she was involved in supplying information from the comms section to her cousin and, by association a Moscow sleeper agent, how much more damage could she do if she was allowed to continue?

‘You said there were two things. What else, only I’m out of time.’

Andrews referred to his tablet again. The screen showed a series of media photos taken at functions and events, some black tie