NOW FOR THEN Chapter 13
“Boy, that’s quick.” Not fifteen minutes after Olivia called for room service, there was a knock on the door.
“Good morning, Detective.”
“What are you doing here, Agent Vaughn?” She opened the door.
"May I come in?" He walked pass her without waiting for her answer, and glanced at the laptop. “I see you found the new boyfriend’s name already.”
“Yeah?” Standing by the other side of the workstation, with her arms crossed, she challenged, “I wasn’t going to wait around for your enlightenment.”
“How?” He asked, burrowing his brows, seemingly concerned.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Olivia smirked. Two could play this game.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re wasting your time with him anyway, I just want you to know,” he said, and flopped down in the chair.
“I’ll decide how I want to spend my time, Agent Vaughn.” She walked around the desk and leaned against the edge. Looking down at him, she demanded, “Again, what are you doing here?”
The DSS agent sat back and smiled. "Thank you for a very informative call this morning, Detective."
“What are you…” Olivia began, and then realized, “You bugged Mrs. Cabot’s phone!”
“Yes.” He grinned with self-satisfaction. “We couldn’t have learned what we did without your help.”
**Fucking idiot,** she chastised herself. **Should have known… Damn!** On the surface, however, she was a picture of calm. “Good, then it saves me the trouble of having to tell you. So, I guess Mrs. Cabot is no longer a person of interest?”
“Quite the contrary, Detective,” Vaughn stated leisurely. “By the way, for your sake, and Mrs. Cabot’s I suppose, I’m glad we haven’t traveled back in time… Your conversation with your girl friend last night was extremely entertaining, to say the least.”
“I’m warning you, Vaughn,” she seethed, her temper barely under control. “I’m tired of your little head trips.”
"Who said anything about tripping?” He tapped his fingers on the desk. “And why are you so upset, Benson? It's not like we have Paris Hilton tapes of the two of you. She must be something else though."
If looks could kill, he would be pushing up daisies. “You bastard, you should be glad you’re federal agent and I’m a cop.”
“Now, now, let’s not resort to name calling. My parents are married, for your information,” he sneered. When he saw the controlled rage in her eyes, and the clenching and unclenching of her fists, the smirk died on his face. He adjusted his tie uncomfortably, and shrugged. “Look, I don’t care who or what you do. If you asked me, the Mayor’s right, and you people should be allowed to get married and be miserable like the rest of us.”
Olivia merely crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “For the third time, why are you here?”
“You know? Your partner’s good. Finding out about the General’s son the way he did. It’s amazing you have any criminals on the loose at all in the Big Apple.”
“Okay, so you dogged my every move, tapped my phone calls, traced my emails. Do you have a camera in the shower, too?” She shook her head doubtfully, and kicked her feet up to rest them casually on the arm of Vaughn’s chair. “Are you here just to show off the tricks you learned in spy school?"
“Would you believe it if I told you this was a courtesy call?”
“No. I didn’t grow up on fairy tales.”
“Actually, I have the forensic and phone records that I promised you,” he said, and pulled the papers out of his inside pocket.
“Do you have a secret decoder ring to go with that?”
“It should be simple enough even for you to read, Detective.”
Taking the reports and setting them aside, she stated flatly, “I’m assuming you didn’t find anything useful.”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“But you’re not looking at Goran Petrovic anymore.”
“Yes, until we establish his whereabouts and clear him of any involvement, he is still a suspect.” Vaughn confirmed, to all appearances quite sincere. “We’re still convinced that this is a political or intelligence motivated abduction. And I’d like to ask you a few questions about Mrs. Cabot.”
“You can’t possibly still think she’s a suspect after what you heard on the phone.” Olivia was stunned. **Are you really so stupid? Or just overzealous?** She thought to herself.
“She professed to helping Goran Petrovic. That’s aiding and abetting.”
“Excuse me?” She really couldn’t believe her ears. “That was before the immigration court’s decision and before the warrant for his arrest. Are you going to indict the General and the nuns at St. Dominic’s, too? Why aren’t you looking at other probable suspects? The new boyfriend, for instance.”
"Like I told you before, he’s not a suspect. Agent Akins talked to him already.”
“Just talking? Did you investigate him?” A part of her really wanted to strangle him. The other part, a part that she didn’t particularly care for, felt obligated to teach him.
"Yes, we looked into his family background. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother remarried, and she and her husband live in Malibu. They have a son who works for the federal government. His father died of prostate cancer two months ago.” Vaughn rattled off the information. “He doesn’t have any criminal records, or even prior arrests.”
“Did you talk to any members of his family?”
“Not to his mother and stepfather. His brother doesn’t think he has anything to do with the disappearances.”
“His brother the federal employee… Does everyone work for the government?” She asked rhetorically and shook her head. “So you know where he was during both abductions, and checked out his alibis?”
“Look, Detective, Robert Lee Miller, Jr. is a plain average Joe, an all around good guy.” Vaughn offered, his voice full of exasperation. “He did well in high school, excelled in track and field, went on a partial scholarship to the University of California. He was a good student. He kept his grades up and kept his nose clean. He got his credentials easily, and has been teaching Special Ed classes for quite some time now. It takes real dedication to do what he does.”
"Fine. He’s a great guy. Great guys still get mad at their girlfriends and do things they shouldn’t do. Perhaps they had recently fought? Or have they been on good terms? When was the last time he saw her? Did you check out anything along those lines?" She kept at the agent, trying to uncover everything she could.
"Agent Akins interviewed his principal, Whitney Dubois. All the other teachers have left for the holidays. Besides, like I said before, we don’t want everyone to know Destiny and her mother are missing. According to the principal, Robert Miller and Destiny get along like most couples do."
"Do you know if General Thomas approves of him?"
"We didn’t get a chance to talk to her, Detective. Or have you forgotten?” He jabbed. Not getting any response from Olivia, he continued. “I don’t see why she wouldn't. And I'm not sure the General would express an opinion, considering Destiny’s age."
"Agent Vaughn, let me assure you,” she smiled despite herself, “It doesn't matter how old a woman gets, if her mother has an opinion, it will be expressed."
"I'm sure you're correct, Detective.” He tried again to persuade her, "Like I said, Robert Miller is not a suspect. I don’t see why it’s necessary for me to waste any more time investigating him. You're welcome to pick up where we let off. But I can guarantee you, he’s not your guy."
“How can you be so sure?”
“He’s a nice guy. Maybe a little boring, but that’s all. I don’t think he’ll ever do anything to harm Destiny or General Thomas.”
“Yeah, well.”
“If you don’t believe me, go talk to him. Talk to him, and you’ll see how wrong you are. But it'll be a waste of your time.”
"Like you said, it's my time. You do your investigation, Agent Vaughn, and I'll do mine. Perhaps we can stay out of each other's way this time."
Just then, there was another knock. Olivia got up, motioning Vaughn to follow. Surprisingly, he did, and stood behind the door with his hand at his gun.
After room service left, the detective spoke. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
”Like what?” He asked, sniffing the orange juice, and lifting the lids to check out the food.
“Like what just happened, and what you’re doing right now?”
“Call it paranoia,” Vaughn shrugged, his hands back in his coat pockets. “Look, Detective, there’s really much more to worry about than the General and her daughter. We don't know what may or may not have been compromised."
"Has it ever occurred to you that they may both be dead somewhere and some perp is getting away with murder? Or worse, going on to kill someone else?" Olivia glared at him, expecting an answer.
"Considering the delicate nature of General Thomas's position, we are far more concerned with the danger it might present to national security, and to the agents in the field. Until we're sure the domestic and international situation is secured, that will remain our focus.” He continued with his explanation, looking sincerely for her understanding, “You must realize we have to take into account the greater good and the safety of millions. Of course, we will try to minimize the collateral damage as much as possible."
Olivia realized then that the DSS agent was truly convinced, that it wasn’t just a simple abduction of the General and Destiny, but a far bigger picture. She considered he might be correct, but she had to follow her hunch.
"Well, then Agent Vaughn, it seems like we have different priorities and duties.” She held the door open, “Let’s not waste any more of each other’s time.”
"Good luck, Detective," the agent offered.
"Good luck, Agent Vaughn."
Returning to the desk, Olivia checked on the status of the search. She quickly scanned through the list of Robert Millers and picked out Destiny’s current boyfriend. Besides the routine background information, only his filings with the State to obtain his teaching credentials came up.
Repeating the previous steps, the detective emailed herself a copy of the report. This time, she printed it out. When the printer stopped, she stuffed the pages into her shoulder bag, grabbed her coat, car keys and headed downstairs. While she was at the front desk to place the ‘do not disturb’ request, she contemplated changing rooms. Instead, she just asked the concierge for several restaurant recommendations. She needed breakfast, and she needed time to think.