Page 38 of The Fourth Option
“I do.”
“They’re the local Bureau honchos.”
The wordlocalrankled Matheson, reminding him of the screwup with the media.
“The one with the white hair’s Augie Lloyd. He’s the SAC.”
“What’s that again?”
“The special agent in charge. The head FBI guy in town.”
Matheson surveyed the lawman.
“He looks a little old to still be in the job.”
“He looks even older than he is. Fifty-seven is mandatory retirement, but he’s asked for and been granted several extensions from headquarters.”
Lloyd sipped bourbon with a man who looked to be roughly his junior, a tall black man with a cropped haircut and classic horn-rimmed glasses. His jacket was buttoned like a military tunic.
“And the other?” Matheson asked.
“Jarrett Stanton,” Kimbel replied. “ASAC, assistant special agent in charge, New Orleans Field Office.”
“You call Lloyd the S-A-C but the A-S-A-C, A-sack?”
“Yeah. It’s a Bureau thing.”
As a young lawyer, Kimbel had battled the Bureau in court on occasion. The experience had made him valuable to Matheson when it came to fighting through government red tape.
“Why did Lloyd bring his number two?”
“Stanton runs the criminal branch and is also heading up national security. I hear he’s being groomed for the top spot.”
“Is he a problem for us?”
Kimbel grinned. “Not if he’s here.”
Matheson nodded, only mildly soothed, then noticed an impressive figure across the room, a black man, tall, broad-shouldered, his scalp not only shaved but polished. He was talking with a statuesque woman in emerald, Matheson’s ex-girlfriend Irene Isaacson, now the district attorney of Orleans Parish.
Kimbel saw his boss looking at the woman. “She’s talking with Cornelius Bates.”
“FBI?”
“New Orleans PD. Rising star. You watch, she’ll mention him from the dais tonight. Bates works out in the Ninth, a special division that does outreach. He wants to be chief. The most dangerous position in the cityis to stand between Bates and a TV camera. Do me a favor, don’t get near him. I’m meeting with him after the event tonight.”
Matheson turned slightly. “Noted.”
Kimbel knew how to stage-manage the boss. There could be myriad reasons why he did not want Matheson meeting with an NOPD police lieutenant.
“I’m pretty much going to steer clear of everyone,” Matheson said. “Not even sure it’s worth it to be here.”
“You had two solid interviews on the way in,” Kimbel said.
“Local TV. Not the best optic. I should go.”
“No, you shouldn’t. We need to stick around through Icy’s speech,” he said, using the district attorney’s nickname.
Isaacson was the keynote speaker. It would not be a good look to leave before she spoke.
