FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 78

Chapter 78

I set out for the Park. I figured that Powers had, at the very least, a fifteen-minute head start.

It was only a few minute’s walk to Glen Canyon Park.  I decided to zigzag in and out of shadows along the sidewalks. If Powers was as smart as I gave him credit for, he could be waiting for me along the way. Knowing, of course, the first place that I would search for him was inside the park. 

His options were limited. The Glen Park BART was shut down, but there would be cops stationed there, anyway. Same thing at the Mission Station, to the south, and the Daly City Station to the north.

Outside the Park, I stopped to check my phone screen. No call from Colin. Which made me wonder. The number I had dialed was for urgent calls. I decided to use my ace in the hole. I punched in Agent Margaret Thornhill’s phone number. A message came on, asking me to call the FBI field office in San Francisco.

It rang five times.

“Agent Warner.” An older man’s voice.

“I’m trying to reach Agent Thornhill.”

“She is not at this number.”

Shit.

“I know that,” I said. “Her voice mail directed me to call your number.”

That gave him pause. How would the caller have Thornhill’s number?

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Francis X Kelly, Private Investigator.”

God, I sound like a pompous ass!

“She and I have worked together before and—”

“I need your phone number.”

“It’s a burner. I’m working undercover and—”

“Let’s have it.”

I gave him the number.

“What is the purpose of your call?”

“She should know that the Number One Most Wanted is in the Glen Park area.” 

“Powers.”

“That’s right. And there’s a better than even chance—hell, a good chance that he’s hiding inside the Park.”

“Have you actually seen Powers?”

“Early this evening, inside his camp.”

“Uh-huh.” Dripping sarcasm. “I’ll give her your message.”

He disconnected.

He would do no such thing, I thought. 

Screw him. So much for trying to play it by the book.

I thought of calling 911. The emergency responders, if they believed me, would break into the house and find two bodies. Then what? 

I decided to call Colin one more time. 

“Get up and answer your goddamn phone!”

He did not.

I fished out Chief Howell’s business card and called the emergency number listed there. That got me to a desk sergeant at SFPD’s headquarters on Seventh Street.

To my utter amazement, he knew who I was. He listened as I gave him my information and promised to pass it on.

“Powers has a lot to answer for,” the sergeant added.

Duh.

He must have been waiting for my reply. When I didn’t respond, he said: “Don’t kill him.”

“I’m an unarmed civilian!” I lied. He didn’t need to know about the knife.

“I know that. And I know about you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll find a way to kill him. All I’m saying is ‘back off.’”

I shook my head.

“Sergeant, your supreme confidence in me is misplaced.”

He grunted.

“I don’t think so.”

He disconnected.

All right, you’ve done everything by the book, even it is your own damn book. Now it’s time to move in.