Cold Case

18

A wild look passed between Walter and Daniel Callivant. But Nikki spoke first.

“Let them in, Marcus!”

The noise Walter Callivant made would have been more appropriate coming from an animal. “Marcus!” he shouted when he got control of himself.

But Nikki was already on her knees, tearing something loose from the wheelchair. Wordlessly she held up the transceiver speaker.

“You—!” The Senator sent his chair into a wild pivot, knocking Nikki to the floor.

Matt leaped forward, grabbing both of Walter Callivant’s wrists, keeping them from the wheelchair controls. “Try that again—” he threatened.

Behind him, he heard the door slam open and heavy footsteps coming their way.

Daniel Callivant stepped aside.

Walter Callivant wrenched himself loose, turning to the excited-looking young police officer who accompanied Marcus the gate guard.

“The intruder—” the Senator began.

“We’re after him!” the cop exclaimed. “He came barreling out in a car the second the gate opened! My partner’s in pursuit. I’m here to preserve the scene until the investigators come.”

His voice began to wind down as he looked around at the tableau in front of him. “Everything all right here?”

Nikki Callivant got up from the floor. “My great-grandfather had an accident,” she said. “My friend Matt went to help him.”

“But who drove out?” Walter Callivant suddenly sounded like the stereotype of the confused old man. He suddenly looked up at Daniel. “Walter!”

He means Walter G., Matt realized.

“My son,” the Senator clarified. “He’s been under some strain preparing his candidacy. Perhaps — ah, perhaps a mistake was made—”

Matt watched the man fumble desperately, trying to construct a story.

Walter G. called the cops and made sure that they would chase him. The question is, where does he intend to lead them?

“You’d better contact your superiors,” Daniel Callivant spoke up. “Tell them my father is in the car they’re after.”

It was neither a high-speed pursuit nor one of those notorious slow-speed chases. Walter G. Callivant left Haddington driving exactly at the speed limit. Local cops were joined by Delaware State Police, and then by Maryland troopers.

And, of course, a fleet of news choppers circled overhead. Matt, Nikki, and the other Callivants were able to follow developments on HoloNews.

The house was filled with various police representatives, legal advisers, and P.R. people. Somewhere along the line, Captain Winters showed up.

“Your parents got in touch with me,” he said. “And I got that delayed message you left. You might want to know that I’ve dispatched agents to keep an eye on Finch until he’s fit to take into custody. I assume you’ll be pressing charges? Then I scrambled a chopper — just in case it might be advisable to come by.”

He was talking with colleagues when the chase came to its climax. Walter G. Callivant drove his car through the gates of the Cowper’s Bluff Nature Preserve. He took an old path directly to the bluff and drove his car over the precipice and into the Chesapeake below.

“That’s where they must have hidden his real car,” Matt whispered to the weeping Nikki.

“And why they put it off-limits all these years,” she choked back.

“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Captain Winters told Daniel Callivant.

“My father must have been under more of a strain than we thought.” Nikki’s dad looked desperate to get out of the room. Maybe he was afraid there was a suicide note with dangerous confessions upstairs.

Winters maintained his grip on the man’s hand for an extra second, giving him an appraising look.

Sure, Matt thought. He’s got to be checking him out over that EMP gizmo.

Winters turned to Matt. “Can I give you a lift home?”

“I’ll drive him home.” Nikki Callivant wiped the tears from her delicate cheeks. “And I won’t be back, Father. Mom has some relatives in Washington. I’ll arrange to stay with them.”

She took a deep breath. “Remember how we were discussing whether I’d take my senior year abroad? I’m going. And when I come back, I’ll be of age to use the trust fund Uncle George left me. It’s not Callivant money.”

Nikki paused. “But then, I’m not a Callivant anymore.”

Daniel Callivant stared, stricken, as his daughter began leading Matt to the door. “Nikki! You can’t be serious! We have to talk—”

She looked over her shoulder. “Not now,” Nikki said. “Not ever.”

Captain Winters walked with them, sending a puzzled, suspicious glance Matt’s way. But if Nikki wasn’t going to say anything, neither was Matt.

He didn’t know if the truth behind Walter G. Callivant’s suicide would ever come out. He couldn’t even be sure the Senator and Daniel would receive just punishment. A lot of things happened behind the scenes in Washington — especially when national security was involved. He knew he and Winters would do their best to put those responsible for the sim deaths behind bars, but it wasn’t exactly a certainty that these powerful men would get what was coming to them. That all lay in the future.

Right now Matt wanted to get home. But before he did that, he had to make sure Nikki Callivant got safely to her car and away from the men who had almost killed her to further their own ambitions — her family.

Matt remembered an ending line from an old Lucullus Marten story — something that was pure Monty Newman.

Maybe what I did was more personal than professional. But when a girl has just disowned her family, she could use an arm around her shoulders.

That’s exactly what Matt gave her.