The Fix (2017) a Detective Novel by David Baldacci

“His memory had served him particularly well.” (p. 558)

Walter Dabney has shot a woman in the late morning. There is no record about the victim. But in fact, the victim, a substitute schoolteacher lives in a multimillion-dollar condo and owns an expensive car. Amos Decker and his team are led to an espionage. Mr. Baldacci is really master of the plot, he brings Melvin Mars into the tale. Mars, the wrongfully convicted in murder from the Last Mile runs a low-income housing and now he is in love with a new character Agent Harper Brown, a woman from DIA- Defense Intelligence Agency. The 588-page detective novel was published by Pan Books in 2017, and this book is really unpredictable one.

The Fix (2017) a Detective Novel by David Baldacci

The tall man was in his sixties, with thinning salt-and pepper hair parted on the side. Walter Dabney was in a coffee shop ordered some food, and now walking the rest of the way. His suit was expensive and fit his colorful pocket with the touch of a tailored hand. He wore a lanyard around his neck loaded with clearances sufficient to allow him access into the inner sanctums of the Hoover Building with an escort along for the ride.

A woman was coming from the opposite direction. She was in her late fifties, with gray hair cut in her parentheses around her long oval face. As she approached the Hoover Building she seemed to hesitate. There was no lanyard around her neck. The only ID she possessed was the driver’s license in her purse.

It was late morning and the streets were not as crowded as they would been earlier. About twenty yards behind Dabney, Amos Decker trudged along alone. He was six-five and built like the football player he had once been. Decker worked at FBI on a joint task force. He was in his way to a meeting at the Hoover Building.

Dabney reached for his weapon, and he was aiming a compact Beretta at the back of the woman’s head. Anne fell forward onto the pavement. His pistol out, Decker ran forward as others on the street creamed and ran away. Decker aimed his gun on him, but Dabney press the gun to the bottom of his chin and pulled the trigger.

Anne Berkshire lay on a metal table, there was no doubt whatsoever as to what had caused the women’s death. She was fifty-nine, unmarried, substitute schoolteacher at a Catholic school in Faifax County. She had no relatives came forward. There was no record about the victim, but she lived in a  multimillion-dollar apartment.

Alex Jamison and Ross Bogart, two of Decker’s colleagues on a joint task force composed of civilians and FB agents, were with Dabney at the hospital right now. Decker glanced over as Todd Milligan, the fourth member of the joint task force, entered the room. A fifth member Lisa Davenport, a psychologist by training.

The shooter, Dabney, was sixty-one, married, with four grown daughters. He had a successful government contracting business. Before that he worked at NSA for ten years. He lived in McLean in a big house. His children were spread all over the place. One lived in France.

Alex Jamison was in her late twenties, tall, slim, and pretty with long brunette hair. She sat on the right side of the hospital bed. Ross Bogart, an FBI special agent in his late forties, with a bit of gray the only thing marrying his perfectly combed dark hair, his fingers clutched the bed’s safety rail.

Dabney right eye was an empty crater, his facial stained purple by burst capillaries. He was dying. Mrs. Eleanor Dabney, better known as Ellie, had arrived thirty minutes after the FBI had told her what had happened. She was tall and broad-shouldered, with long legs and a slender waist and narrow hips. Her features was quite attractive. Her hair was long and she had let it go naturally silver. Now in her early sixties, the mother of four grown children with three grandchildren and one mortally wounded husband. She never heard Anne Berkshire in her life.

Joey Scott was only ten years old, but his short life was nearing its end. He was in process of being adopted out of foster care. When he got sick his adoptive parents pulled out. They wanted a healthy model. The boy had talked to Anne before she died.

Decker and Milligan were visiting Anne’s condo on the top floor of a luxury building directly across the street from the Reston Town Center. The apartment and the Mercedes SL600 were too luxurious for a substitute teacher. She lived in Atlanta for three years and had no an occupation. There was no address. She thought math for four years.

Walter Dabney and Associates was located off the Fairfax County in Reston Virginia. The area  was home to lots of government contractors. After showing their IDs, Decker and Jamison were escorted to a small room conference by a young woman. A minute later Faye Thompson appeared and she was a partner. She had been there fifteen years, made partner eight years ago. Most of projects they worked on were classified. He appeared the day before normally.

The Decker wanted a room, he was exhausted to commute every day. Milligan and Decker just found that Melvin Mars bought the building with some money from his settlement with the government. It was for low-income housing. Alex Jamison offered Decker to live together. They were roomates in Mars’s building. The building had been an old brick warehouse with huge windows, Jamison had informed him that it had been divided up into apartments. The rent on the place was well under the going rate. Everyone lived there had a job. Fifteen units were rented , two residents were single, and the rest were families.

Decker had lost his family, his job and his home. He had come a far distance from his former life in Burlington, Ohio.

To Jules Berkshire her father was great in his business and her mother was the perfect partner.  The blood drained from Samantha’ face when he found that her father was terminal brain tumor. Decker found Mrs. Berkshire consume the Zoloft for her depression.

Samantha was in her early thirties, with brown hair cut short, glasses, and the same tall, lean build as Jules. Jules was sent key to his father box at the bank. They stared at an empty deposit box. Five days ago Mr. Dabney came in and accessed his box. There was a woman with Dabney. It was not his wife. She was shorter and stout, with dark with. The woman was wearing the wig. The woman was carrying a small bag that clearly had something in it. They left the bank with a copy of the video.

Anne Berkshire

Decker and Jamison were the principal of the Catholic school where Berkshire had been a substitute teacher. Cole was in her fifties, and all about Anne was standard. She had a teacher’s certificate. The school had lucky to have her. She had graduated from college and had the requisite teaching experience. But the principal was shock to know Anne lived in a penthouse.

Cole only knew that Anne drove dark Honda Accord and the surveillances camera never caught a luxury car at the parking lot. Anne never talked about her family. Cole gave a name of the teacher who could tell Decker more. Anne bought a multi-million dollar condo and expensive car and worked at school, and volunteer at a hospice.

Decker at his new apartment and Tomas Amaya

Decker was sitting on the front steps of his apartment building his coffee when the door behind him opened. Tomas Amaya had on his work clothes, and his son Danny had on jeans with his school bag over his shoulder. The little boy jumped into the passenger seat while his father pulled out the keys. Two men climbed out, one large and one small. Pistols were in their waistband. Decker aimed his pistol to the two men. The two men ran for their car.

Harper Brown

She was about five-seven, lean, and fit, with blond hair down to her shoulders. Brown was in her late thirties, and worked at Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). She was raised in Alabama by God-fearing parents. Dabney had been involved in a lot of high-level government contracting work. She had a theory, Dabney was stealing secrets and he did it for gambling debts. The secrets that he stole compromise strategic assets of the country.

Tomas Amaya did not look happy to see Decker and Jamison in his doorway. Jamison introduced herself as the manager of the building. Amaya refused to say anything to the police. The two dead men had no Id, but one of the cops thought he recognized the AK shooter. The shooters were after Tomas, but Jamison and Decker were involved right now. When they reached apartment building, the crime scene was still being processed, but the bodies had been taken away. A trembling Danny was escorted to his apartment.

Decker had put aside the issue of the Amayas and come back to Dabney/Berkshire investigation. Anne’s car was purchased a year after she bought the condo. She lived in Atlanta previously. Harper Brown had told them that Dabney was selling secrets to cover the gambling debts. Natalie had landed from Paris, since they found her father was not a gambler. Brown believed it was Natalie’s husband. Natalie used a couple of words that triggered an NSA algorithm so it got recorded and dumped in a data box. The gambling and the Russian mob connection. It was ten million dollars.   

Decker and team studied the surveillance video for days. A clown was there. No circus or other show in town. There was no sign advertising an upcoming events. The clown obviously knew where the camera and the gaps were. According to Agent Brown, the gambling debts were paid off.

Four men appeared on the stairs. Tomas Amaya’s face was bruised and bloody. Two of the men had guns out. They were young and tough-looking. Decker was about to fire when the other man was hit so hard. Melvin Mars had saved Decker and Amaya. The guy Decker had shot was dead, and the other three, handled by Mars.

Brown’s BMW brought Decker to a street full of old high-dollar row houses that looked newly renovated. Her great-grandfather was one of the earliest investors in Hewlett-Packard. He set up a trust fund. She inherited the house and the money from him. Her father was military and a full colonel in Vietnam War. He was the reason she joined up. Technically Harper was in army, had two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was Explosive Ordinance specialist. She defused unexploded bombs. She rubbed her bare foot.

Brown found lately that Anne Berkshire had no past further back than ten years. But she had resume showing she graduated from Virginia Tech.

Nancy Billings was calling for Amos Decker or Alex Jamison. She was a teacher at school where Anne Berkshire worked as a substitute. She was in her late thirties, a carefree manner and a nose ring. Decker was just wondering a Catholic school teacher wore a nose ring. She said she just wore it in off hours. She was sick home, had attended some teacher training. She has to help her mother, her father had dementia. Anne was very good, stuck to the lesson plan. She had no idea about Anne’s luxurious life. She thought she was as poor as Nancy. Both of them taught math. Anne never spoke foreign language to her, but sometimes she could detect a little bit of an accent.

Decker and Brown had just entered Berkshire’s luxurious condo. They found old floppy disk, the 1980s KGB communication. Bogart found someone apparently created a database profile for Berkshire, complete with prints showing no criminal background. Her references looked legit but they were also fake. Based on what Brown found in that Russian communication, it seems that Berkshire was a Russian spy going way back.

Dabney’s House

The housekeeper was in her sixties, with gray hair. Cecilia Randal allowed them to kitchen. Decker just knew from her that Dabney was buying the house he was still working at NSA, and Mrs. Dabney came from money. Ellie Dabney was shocked to knowing her son in law’s gambling debt. The other Dabney’s daughter were shocked too. Jules, Amanda, and Samantha did not know their father stole government secret for paying for Natalie’s husband.

Melvin Mars was there when Decker and the team got back to the apartment. Brown preferred to identify him as the former football player than dude on Texas’s death row. Mars and Brown drove off in their cars, and Decker and Jamison going up to their apartment. The man had on a black hoodie tightly closed so Jamison could not see his face. He had a gun that was pointed at Decker’s chest. He led them to a sedan. He put Decker in passenger seat and handed Jamison the car keys. They drove off. Luis Alvarez, the construction supervisor at the building where Tomas Amaya had worked. Agent Bogart had been listening to everything they’ve been saying. The chip in his phone has led the fed right there. A shot rang out. Bogart sat down next to Jamison and Decker’s apartment.

Brown and Melvin fell into relationship. Melvin was Decker’s friend and he did not want to see him get hurt either. Jamison disagreed with that situation. Technically she worked for Melvin and she had a right to know everything about Melvin now. Brown and Melvin spent time together at Melvin’s hotel. 

Berkshire’ condo was empty. Her closet was pretty bare. No jewelry, no expensive bag. The clothes she had on when she died were from a discount store. Cecilia Randall called him about Natalie. The funeral was over, she was heading back to France. Bogart brought her back and investigated her on her husband. Decker pulled an electronic book that showed her on the floor a casino in Paris. A spoiled girl lied about everything and put her own daughter in danger because she could not stop rolling the dice.

Natalie described the guy who approached her. He sounded Russian to him. Ten million for the secrets that Dabney stole was probably sham transaction.

Visiting hours were over, the director, Sally Palmer, had gone home for night. She never met Anne Berkshire, though she heard the name. She only knew a few patients and Jenkins, the prisoner, might knew something.

Joey Scott had leukemia, and Anne read the book to him. Alvin Jenkins was nowhere to be found. He was probably got a half dozen passports. Alvin Jenkins was working for Anne Berkshire. Anne was reading a book to a dying boy just as a way to send stolen secrets. They were using the cover of a dying little boy to pass along stolen secrets. 

The house keeper, Cecilia Randall, was killed by a professional hit. Natalie had formally charged and was with FBI now. She was shock to heard the death of Cecilia.

Sally Palmer explained the disappearance of Alvin Jenkins, The man started working there only about two months ago. The three of them (Alvin, Joey, and Anne) were in hospice around the same time. Sally gave them the address of the man who sent Joey.

Alfred and Julia Gorski hosted a charity balls on hospital wings, throw great parties, one of which the head of his agency has attended. They were immigrants from Poland, and built a huge import-export company. The Gorskis have been rich for decades and have been spying the whole time. They had also moved into high circles and they came into contact with people  who do the secrets.

Special Agent Nathan Deel, a Secret Service, was led Decker and team to meet the President. They told everything about the Gorski to the President. The Gorski had financed a young boy at a hospice in Reston. A book being read to this young boy by Anne Berkshire, who was certainly a spy, continued coded classified information stolen from various agencies. The money had been traced and the payoff for the gambling debt that caused Walter Dabney to steal classified secrets related to the Russians.  

Dabney was working at NSA, Maryland, right out the college, Ellie worked as a waitress at a café near there. Ellie did not come from money. Dabney had used a doll to pass the secrets. A little girl with a doll of transporting the secret was just like the way Joey and the book. They brought all the doll from Dabney’s house and found Zoloft there. Ellie Dabney took those pills for the last three years of her life. Cecilia Randal as murdered. It was her daughter when Decker got Cecilia’s house. She was black, thin, and around forty. Rhonda Kaine, the only child of Cecilia, just came by to pick up something. Decker found a doll at the house, Rhonda’s doll. Cecilia’s daughter’s dolls were identical to those of the four Dabney’s doll.

Walter Dabney brought secrets home from work. Oral Turinabol was the steroid of choice for East Germans. It was a real turbocharger for athletic performance. Ellie was being groomed for the Olympics. Over the years she was given Oral Turinabol. They wanted to build something akin to Hitler’s perfect Aryan’s race. They taught her English until she could speak it fluently with no accent. She learned as if it was her own. She was from Oregon, her parents died in mudslide, and raised in orphanage. She became a waitress and targeted the young Dabney. He left NSA and started his own firm. She had ship the information out using the doll.

Oral Turinabol caused both liver and kidney disease, bone density loss, high cholesterol and asthma, all conditions which she have and for which she was currently taking medications. It also caused miscarriages, and birth defects, like the ones her daughters had. She also took Zoloft for depression. She knew Anne Berkshire when her name was Anna Seryyzamok. She was Ellie’s handler.

Anne was still working with the spies. She uses Dominion Hospice and her work with the Gorski and Alvin Jenkins. She made a comment to a teacher at the school where she volunteered. Everything was fine for long time and along came Natalie and her gambling problems. Natalie was her opportunity. Ten million dollars or her daughter and her family got slaughtered by the Russians. Berkshire was probably monitoring her family for any weakness to use against Ellie. She realized that Berkshire had deceived her. It was Ellen’s idea to kill Berkshire. Walters was terminal ill, he would never stand for trial. On that morning Ellie dressed as the clown gave the signal to her husband.  Before he killed Berkshire, the CCTV showed a woman was removing items from Walter’s safe deposit.

After her athletic hopes ended back in East German, Ellie was recruited by MfS - the East German Ministry for State Security. They worked closely with KGB. They had formed a joint intelligent program that would delivers agents into the States, not as foreigners but with the background to make them appeared to be citizens. It was also during that time she met Anna, but on the KGB side. Ellie was a spy and Anna was her handler. She told Walter that the money for the house and the car were from a trust fund set up for her by logging company that was at fault for the mudslide that killed her parents.

A van was waiting there. A man crouching there aiming a gun at him. He had on no mask. His captors marched him up to the front porch. He recognized the woman as the one in the bank video with Walter Dabney. Decker was saved by Bogart, but Alex was kidnapped. Some of the captors chattered in Arabic. Walter Dabney knew something and he was trying to send the terrorists a powerful message but wrong about the recipient. A message with no words. He committed an act of violence at the FBI headquarter. The woman kidnapped Alex told that the target was not just President and the two other leaders, but symbolic, the Hoover Building.

They worked their way down the tunnel, finally found a cylindrical metal device with wiring coming out of the top. The bomb was attached to the pipe. Brown was a bomb specialist in the Army. On the raised dais was a podium with a microphone. The President walked to the lectern and gave award to Major Harper Brown. She lost the wheelchair for good. They said she had some temporary weakness because of what happened with the gas. Ellie Dabney was going to do some serious prison time. Natalie might get off with some sort of probation. They could not prove she knew anything about the actual espionage. Decker did not even know if Jamison wanted to continue working with FBI. For all he knew Mars and Brown might get married. Bogart and Milligan might get transferred. Amos Decker was alone again. 

  

*****

May 3, 2018

Sekapur Sirih

Fiksi ini sangat tepat mengisi waktu dalam perjalanan, satu lagi karya Baldacci dengan plot kuat, kompleks dan sulit ditebak. Amos Decker masih bersama Alex Jamison dan Ross Bogart memecahkan sebuah kasus pembunuhan terhadap Anne Berkshire, seorang guru pengganti, pembunuhnya sangat jelas, lelaki tua bernama Walter Dabney, suami pengusaha sukses, pekerja keras dan setia, sosok ayah teladan bagi keempat putrinya yang kini sudah dewasa, dan kakek penyayang.

Dabney menembak mati Anne sesaat setelah meninggalkan sebuah kedai kopi, hanya beberapa meter dari kantor FBI, dan pak tua Dabney menarik pemicu pistol ke bawah dagunya, menghantarkan nyawanya ke koma hingga tewas. Peristiwa penembakan di tempat umum dan hanya sesaat menjelang siang hari.

Berkat ketekunan Amos Decker, tentu saja, bantuan tim termasuk rekannya Ross Bogart mampu menemukan motif dan sama sekali tidak terduga. Perjudian dan terlibat utang menjadi lokomotif dalam permainan mata-mata dan espionase. Kehadiran tokoh baru Harper Brown mencairkan suasana sebagai pasangan eks bintang NFL Melvin Mars (korban salah tangkap dari the Last Mile). Sebaiknya Anda membaca the Last Mile terlebih dahulu sebelum membaca fiksi ini. Namun jika memang tidak sempat membacanya, tidak perlu terlalu kuatir, penulis sering mengingatkan kisah masa lalu dan jati diri tokoh-tokohnya, dan kasus pembunuhan dalam fiksi ini independen.

Amos dengan gaji pas-pasan digambarkan realistis saat tinggal di gedung milik Melvin Mars. Bayangan kepedihan atas terbunuhnya istri dan putrinya masih menyeret pikirannya, namun ia selalu gigih dalam bekerja bahkan nyaris di ambang kematian.

Cerita detektif dan suspense yang menarik, penulis Baldacci benar-benar brillian dalam menciptakan tokoh-tokoh dan plot memilin. Ditorehkan dalam 588 halaman, terbitan Pan Books tahun 2017, sangat mudah dicerna tanpa menihilkan kekuatan bahasa, the Fix menarik untuk dimiliki.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, the Fix (2017), David Baldacci: ringkasan

Pria berpakaian bagus berumur enam puluhan menabak mati seoarang wanita di tempat umum. Kamera pemantau jelas memperlihatkan lelaki itu langsung mengarahkan pistolnya ke dagunya. Korban Anne Berkshire berumur lima puluhan adalah seorang guru pengganti di sebuah sekolah Katholik dan penembaknya adalah pengusaha sukses. Amos Decker berada tidak jauh dari kejadian, dia bahkan sempat mengarahkan senjatanya pada Walter Dabney. Baik Amos, Anne, maupun Walter terlihat hendak memasuki gedung FBI.

Terkuak kemudian, pelaku adalah pemilik perusahaan kontraktor untuk pemerintah, bahkan lelaki itu sempat bekerja pada NSA berdekade lalu. Yang menjadi pertanyaan besar bagi Amos Decker, Alex Jamison, dan Ross Bogart, dan Todd Milligan, apa pentingnya seorang pengusaha kaya seperti Dabney membunuh senekat itu di tempat umum.

Hasil otopsi mengejutkan keempat putri dan istrinya, Dabney mengidap tumor ganas di otaknya, dan peluang hidupnya sempit. Setelah melakukan penyelidikan terhadap korban fakta mengejutkan ditemukan: Anne memiliki apartemen mewah bernilai jutaan dolar dan mobil mewah, dia juga aktif sebagai sukarelawan di sebuah rumah hospis, rumah sakit khusus bagi mereka yang mengidap penyakit stadium parah. Kepala sekolah tidak tahu menahu asal-usul Anne sama sekali, namun dari arsip menunjukkan tidka ada yang ganjil bahkan kehormatan bagai sekolah tersebut memiliki Anne. Kepsek tentu saja terkaget dengan harta Anne, keseharian ia dikenal dengan sederhana Honda Accord-nya.

Keempat putri Dabney telah dewasa dan bahkan ia telah memiliki 3 cucu dan setia pada istriya yang tangguh. Hasil otopsi sangat mengagetkan kelima wanita itu. Tidak ada harapan lagi bagi Dabney, tumor otak yang dideritanya sudah sangat parah.

Agen Harper Brown, mantan militer yang sudah dua kali tur ke Afganistan dan Irak, sekarang bergabung dengan DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) di bawah FBI. Wanita yang berayahkan seorang kolonel dari perang Vietnam, dan kakek seorang ilmuwan pemilik hak paten mewariskan uang besar dan royalty. Ia hidup dalam kemewahan dan memutuskan diri menjadi ahli bom. Ketika pertama kali berjumpa dengan Mars, ia memiliki sudut pandang berbeda dengan pria itu. Sekarang Mars sering bersama Decker dan tidak terpungkiri ia diperkenalkan pada wanita tangguh itu.

Hasil penyidikan tim Brown dari FBI mendapati aliran dana mengarah ke seorang keluarga imigran dari Polandia mafia yang terhubung dengan orang Rusia. Hutang dari putri Dabney telah dibayarkan dengan perjanjian membocorkan rahasia pada pihak Rusia. Dabney menyadari umurnya yang tidak panjang lagi dan yakin tidak akan menghadapi tuntutan.

Decker dan tim bergeser ke rumah sakit, mendapati sebuah pola penyeludupan rahasia lewat buku bacaan anak. Anne Berkshire seorang donatur dan sukarelawan pada sebuah rumah sakit. Ia rutin membacakan buku untuk seorang anak sekarat, dan bergantian dengan seorang pria yang belakangan diketahui mantan napi, Alvin Jenkins. Kehadiran anak itu, Anne dan Alvin dalam waktu yang bisa dibilang bersamaan. Anak sakit itu telah dimanfaatkan sebagai sarana pertukaran rahasia.

Kembali ke masa muda Dabney, Decker menemukan pola yang sama yakni boneka. Dabney menggunakan boneka untuk menjual informasi. Boneka yang ditemukan di rumah pengasuh anaknya dan boneka putrinya dijadikan media pertukaran. Ketika keempat putrinya sudah besar, tentu saja kisah boneka juga berlalu. Penyidikan akhir yang sangat mengejutkan bahwa sebenarnya yang menjadi agen mata-mata dan agen rahasia adalah istri Dabney, Ellen. Pernyataan pembantunya yang mengatakan ia datang dari uang tidak sinkron dengan pernyataan putrinya dan fakta.

Ellen adalah anak yang dipilih dari panti asuhan, dididik dan dilatih menjadi mata-mata. Sama sekali tidak memiliki pohon keluarga. Pemeritah Jerman tengah mengadakan sebuah proyek percobaan untuk mendapatkan manusia unggul dan handal dengan menyuntikkan sebuah zat padanya sejak dini. Memang, Ellen tumbuh menjadi wanita cerdas, gesit, dan terlatih, dengan badan yang kokoh. Badan rahasia Jerman telah bekerja sama dengan Rusia untuk memata-matai Amerika. Secara praktek Ellen bekerjasama dengan agen- agen Rusia dan disusupkan di Amerika.

Ia telah dicuci-otak dan ditanam di sebuah keluarga, dan diciptakan cerita. Orang tuanya tewas dalam kecelakaan, dan pihak perusahaan yang menabrak memberikan uang santunan banyak untuk pendidikan dan hidupnya. Dabney bekerja pada NSA dan ia seorang pelayan pada kantin tidak jauh dari kantor Dabney memikat hatinya. Setelah keduanya menikah, Dabney pun akhirnya keluar dari pekerjaannya. Tidak berselang lama Ellen membeli rumah dan kendaraan mewah yang katanya berasal dari dana santunan kematian orang tuanya. 

Dabney pun memulai bisnis, namun diam-diam Ellen tetap menjadi mata-mata. Dabney adalah targetnya. Uang yang diklaim dana santunan adalah dari hasil mata-mata. Karena anaknya sudah besar dan ia tidak mungkin melakukannya sendiri, Anne Berkshire pun hadir, wanita yang bernama asli Anna Seryyzamok. Wanita itu menjadi penyambungnya.

Anne ingin menghancurkan Ellen, karena tidak mau menjadi pesuruh abadi, sebelumnya itu terjadi Ellen ingin membunuhnya terlebih dahulu. Rupanya Anne tidak sendiri, ia bekerjasama dengan kelompok Rusia, dan mereka pun sudah mempelajari perilaku anak-anak Ellen. Kebiasaan buruk dari putrinya Natalie yang gemar berjudi dijadikan perasan. Ellen dan Dabney lebih memilih nyawa cucu dan putrinya. Adalah ide Dabney sendiri yang akan membunuh Berkshire dan menyerahkan tebusan berupa dokumen rahasia kepada kelompok Rusia.

Ellen pun akhirnya masuk penjara, Natalie dibebaskan.  Hubungan Mars dan Harper semakin dalam dan akan segera menikah. Amos Decker sendiri kembali dalam kesendirian, pikirannya masih terjebak mengingat putri dan istrinya yang tewas dibunuh. 

*****

3 Mei 2018