Mike Doogan - Capitol Offense (A Nik Kane Alaska Mystery)

T om Jeffords leveled the Glock .45 and pulled the trigger. The automatic tried to kick upward, but Jeffords was a big man and held it level with ease as he fired again. When hed run through thirteen rounds, he ejected the clip and laid it and the automatic on the counter in front of him. He removed his big hearing protectors and motioned to Nik Kane to do the same. The last shot still echoed in the big room, empty except for the two of them. Jeffords pushed a button on a pole next to his shooting station and a motor began to whir.

While he waited for his target to arrive, he said, So you want to go out on your own.

His tone made it sound as if Kane intended to do something distasteful.

Yes, I do, Kane said. Im bored.

Jeffords nodded and examined the target. It was an outline of a man with a gun. All thirteen holes were within the kill zone. Jeffords might be a desk-bound bureaucrat who was pushing sixty-five, but he could still shoot.

The Glock .45 was the Anchorage Police Departments standard-issue side arm, but the version lying in front of Jeffords was anything but standard issue. It was chrome-plated and had honest-to-God pearl handles with TSJ inlaid in ebony. A grateful salesman had given Jeffords the automatic after the department selected the Glock .45, and it went well with his $1,000-a-copy tailored uniform, his full head of well-barbered white hair, and his Maui tan.

Its easy to mistake Jeffords for a show horse and his automatic for a show gun, Kane thought. But not if you watch him on the firing range.

Jeffords clipped a new target to the line and hit the button again.

Id think boredom would be preferable to the life youve been leading for the past several years, he said. Id think youd welcome some peace and quiet.

Ah, Kane thought. The oblique reference. A Jeffords specialty. So much more elegant than using words like drunkenness, killing, and prison.

And if your life were moreexcitingyou would be forced to carry a firearm, the chief said.

Kane hadnt carried a gun of any sort since the night hed answered an officer needs assistance call on his way home from a bar and shot and killed a twelve-year-old. Of course, for seven of those eight years hed been in prison, where they sort of frowned on inmates packing. Hed finally been exonerated when a witness recanted and admitted the dead boy had been aiming a gun at Kane, but hed tried to steer clear of firearms since hed gotten out anyway. Jeffords seemed to regard that as a form of weakness.

Jeffords put a fresh clip in the .45.

A man in your line of work needs to carry a firearm for self-defense, he said, as he waited for his target to reach the proper position, even if his assignments are boring.

The chief put the hearing protectors back on before Kane could reply. Kane did the same, then watched as Jeffords put another thirteen rounds right where he wanted them.

When Kane had gotten out of prison a little more than a year before, he had wanted to go back to his old job as a detective lieutenant with the Anchorage Police Department. Jeffords had put the kibosh on that, but had seen to it that Kane was hired by 49th Star Security, a firm in which he was a silent partner. Kane had had an interesting case or two, but mostly hed been doing corporate background checks, some divorce work, a few pilfering cases, the kind of thing theyd left to the newbies when hed been with the police department.

When his target returned, Jeffords regarded it for a moment.

If he had any emotions, Kane thought, that look might be satisfaction.

Jeffords took the targets up to the range masters stand, returned with a handful of supplies, and began breaking down the automatic.

Arent you a little old to be chasing after excitement? he asked.

Kane laughed.

Im, what, seven years younger than you, he said. Are you too old to be bossing cops and politicians around?

Jeffords shot Kane a look that said age wasnt his favorite topic of discussion, then shrugged.

If you are really thinking about going out on your own, he said, then this is a happy coincidence. I have a job offer for you.

Kane laughed.

And here I thought you just wanted to see my smiling face, Kane said. Im heartbroken.

Very amusing, the chief said, in a tone that made it clear he wasnt amused. Theres a woman in town named Mrs. Richard Foster. She has some work that needs to be done. Id like you to do it.

Kane had so many questions, he wasnt sure where to start.

Youd like me to do it? he said. You mean, this isnt an order?

You arent with the department anymore, Nik, Jeffords said. I cant give you orders.

Just like Jeffords, Kane thought. We both know he owns the security firm, but he wont admit it even to me. In an empty room, no less.

Why am I hearing this from you instead of someone at 49th Star? he asked.

Im told the firm cant take this job, the chief said.

Hes told, Kane thought. Thats rich.

Why not? he asked.

Jeffords was slow to reply.

The reasons arecomplicated, he said at last.

Great, Kane thought. Now were in the world of Jeffordsisms, answers that dont answer anything. Kane had known the chief for more than thirty years. Theyd come up through the ranks of the police department together. Jeffords, who had joined the department sooner and had a much better grasp of politics, was always a couple of rungs above him on the career ladder. Since hed often worked under Jeffords, Kane had had plenty of reason to study him. He had watched the chief become the man he was, each year growing a little more devious and a little less human.

You want me to take a job the firm wont take, for complicated reasons? Kane said.

Cant take, the chief said.

Why not? Kane asked.

Jeffords looked around to make sure no one had entered the firing range.

He probably arranged for this place to be empty, Kane thought. He didnt want anyone else to hear this conversation, and hes still not saying anything. I wonder who he thinks might be listening.

The case involves a politician, Jeffords said. It would beincongruentfor me, or the firm, to be involved with this.

And thats as close to an admission that he owns the firm as Im likely to get, Kane thought.

Incongruent, Kane said. I guess those word-a-day calendars really do pay off.

He was silent for a moment.

If youre trying to lay low on this, why send me? he asked. All your political pals will figure youre involved the minute they see me anyway.

Jeffordss job title was chief of police, but for the past decade or more hed actually run Anchorage, stage-managing the elections of mayors and assembly members who did what they were told. Because so much of the money that made the city go came from the state and federal governments, he had made himself a force in state and federal politics as well.

Im not responsible for what people may think, Jeffords said. But if anyone asks, you can truthfully tell them that I am not involved in this case.

Kane decided to let that go.

This politician have a name? he asked.

His name is Matthew Hope, Jeffords said. Hes a member of the Alaska State Senate.

Kane was silent as he thought about what Jeffords had said. Matthew Hopes name had been all over the news in the past couple of days. Hed been arrested for the murder of a young woman in the state Capitol. The victim had been beautiful and scantily clad, as the newspapers and the TV newsreaders put it. Shed also been white, and Hope was an Alaska Native. The story had everything needed to crank up the mediasex, politics, violence, and race. The crime had even been given a tabloidy nicknameThe White Rose Murder, for the flower embroidered on the front of the garter belt the victim had been wearing.