WASHINGTON DC: The Sadir Affair (The Puppets of Washington Book 1)

  Chapter 34

  “Sergeant Phillips, would you ask Officer Carvey to come to my office as soon as possible?” Sorenson said on the phone. “I have something I’d like him to do for me.”

  “Right away, sir,” the sergeant replied. “Did you want to see Delgado as well?”

  “No, not at the moment. I’ll be expecting him as soon as he’s free.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Putting the receiver down, the sergeant shrugged and called Carvey.

  “What’s up, Sergeant?” Carvey answered distractedly, his focus remaining on whatever he was doing.

  “Get your butt upstairs on the double. Sorenson wants you.”

  When he heard the chief’s name, Carvey jumped up. “Yes, Sergeant, on my way.”

  Delgado was looking at the sergeant from across the room. “Does he want me, too?”

  “No, mate, just Carvey.”

  Carvey made his way to the sergeant’s desk, saying, “I wonder what he wants now. I hope it’s not running after another bloody Jew or a lost Canadian.”

  “Watch your language, Carvey,” the sergeant said. “We don’t need any racist comments in here, understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He heard his colleagues’ chuckles as he left the Incident Room.

  Being aware that the door of the chief’s inner office would probably be wide open, Carvey adjusted his tie, passed his fingers through his hair and checked there was no speck of dust on his trousers, before he entered the anteroom.

  He knocked on the opened door. Sorenson didn’t lift his head, but said, “Come in, Officer Carvey. Close the door.”

  Carvey did as he was told and came to stand at attention in front of the chief’s desk.

  Still not looking up, Sorenson said, “Sit down, Carvey.”

  Carvey did, and waited.

  Finally, Sorenson raised his gaze to him. “Here is what I want you to do. Take this ticket.” He handed the officer the airline’s folder and a note with a name and address typed on it. “Get yourself down to Melbourne on the noon-flight and go to that address.” Carvey looked at the piece of paper and wondered what it all meant.

  Sorenson looked at his man while he opened an envelope and pulled out a recent photo of Talya. “I want you to interview Millicent Harsinai. I want to know what her connection to Samuel Meshullam is. Moreover, I want to know if she recognizes Ms Kartz from this photo” —he handed him the picture— “or if the name means anything to her.”

  “May I ask why we are doing this, sir? I thought we were done with this Mossad agent.”

  “Well, you thought wrong, Officer Carvey. Until I say the file is closed, it will remain very much opened. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir, perfectly clear. Thank you, sir.” At these words, Carvey got up, and took his leave.

  But before he reached the door, Sorenson called him back. “One more thing, Carvey...”

  Pivoting on his heels, Carvey retraced his steps to come to stand in front of the chief’s desk again. “Yes, sir.”

  “Take an overnight case with you. I may want you to stay in Melbourne for a couple of days, depending on the information you obtain from Mrs. Harsinai.”

  “Yes, sir, I’ll do that, sir.”

  “All right, on your way then.”

  As soon as Carvey had left his office, Sorenson called the sergeant again. “Would you send Officer Delgado to see me now?”

  “Yes, sir, right away, sir.” As the sergeant hung up, he saw Carvey come back. “What’s up?” Not waiting for an answer, he called out to Delgado. “You’re up next, Delgado.”

  “He’s calling me now…?”

  “Yes, Officer Delgado, get up there.”

  “All right, Sergeant.” As Carvey reached his desk, Delgado took the time to ask, “What did he say?”

  “I’m on the next flight to Melbourne.”

  “Bloody hell, what’s going on?” Delgado blurted in disbelief. “What will you be doing there?”

  “Interviewing a Millicent Harsinai.”

  “Really? Mama mia! You’ve pulled the right number there, mate.”

  “Why? Has she got good knockers?”

  After the laughter from their mates died down, Delgado said, “No, mate, she’s on the bestsellers list. She’s an author. Didn’t you know?”

  “What did you expect from Muscle Man?” a constable asked.

  “He knows nothing about poetry, mate. He hasn’t got your Italian blood,” another officer remarked from a neighbouring desk.

  “All right. No, I didn’t know she was a bloody author. All I know is that I’ve got an interview with her and…”

  “Alright, Delgado,” the Sergeant said. “Get going. Sorenson is probably having kittens by now.”

  When Delgado sat down opposite the chief, he had no idea what was expected of him. They had quite a few cases opened at the moment; any of them could be requiring particular attention.

  “Alright, Delgado, what I want you to do is rather simple. I need you to go to King Avenue, verify that Samuel has left the premises, ascertain when he left, and find his car at the airport.”

  Delgado’s eyes grew wide. “Sir…, do we know what sort of car he drove?”

  “Yes, we do. You will get the details from Sergeant Phillips.”

  “And what do I do with the car, once I find it?”

  Sorenson looked at the officer as if he were a child visiting the principal’s office for the first time.

  “You ring the SOCO team to have it towed away back to the lab and then you come back here.”

  “Is that it?”

  “Yes, that’s it, Officer Delgado, apart from writing a detailed report of your findings in King Avenue.”

  “May I ask why we’re doing this?”

  “Because I’m asking you to do it.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  “Close the door behind you,” Sorenson added when Delgado was about to leave.

  When he reached the Incident Room again, Delgado noticed Carvey was already gone. “He shoofed it off already?” He looked around him for anyone who cared to pay attention to him.

  A constable looked up. “What did you expect? You two are not attached at the hips, are you?”

  Delgado shrugged. He gathered his note pad, car keys and was about to make his way out of the Incident Room when the sergeant at the head of the row of desks called to him.

  “Yes, Sergeant?”

  “Here’s the information you needed about that car.” Sergeant Phillips handed Delgado a note with license plate number and description of Samuel’s Jaguar on it. “And when you get in Meshullam’s house, don’t touch anything. We’ll get the SOCO team on site as soon as you’ve determined the house hasn’t been occupied since the bloke left.”

  “Okay, mate. Thanks for that.”

  “Don’t mention it. We’ve lost a lot of time. We should have been on top of that bloke since we’ve had his warrant. Anyway, let’s get this thing settled properly now...”

  “Yes, Sergeant.”