Track 48

“Kiss Them For Me”

Earlier This Year

Nina paused outside Charlie Hobart’s office door. Through the glass, she watched the elderly man peck away at his keyboard.

The weight of the archive box Nina was carrying deadened her arms. She cringed, thinking of the mini-tantrum she threw when Ethan first asked her to help Carole digitize decades’ worth of documents for the firm. Sure, she’d hit a dead end in her Jane Flanagan book. She’d traveled to DC and back so many times she was on first-name terms with the crew of the Colorado Springs-to-Dulles route and their spouses. There were no more leads to follow, no more interviewees willing to talk to her, and she’d burned a few bridges. That didn’t mean she had time to do a job an intern could easily do.

But she resigned herself to the task. Out of boredom, she started reading those dusty government documents.

Dusty explosive government documents.

She peered through the office door. Sweet old Charlie. Was it really possible? Ethan’s own partner, a man they’d both known since college, had a link to Jane Flanagan’s disappearance? She had to find out for sure before acting on the information.

Nina cleared her throat. “Hi. Do you have a minute?”

Charlie looked up sharply as if startled. But he smiled as soon as he saw Nina’s face. “Of course, come in. How are things?”

Stepping inside and closing the door with her foot, Nina glanced down at the box. She dumped it on the floor. Decades of dust puffed out of the pages. It kind of represented how she felt until a few days ago. Exhausted. Old. Tired. Now, the fire within was back.

“What do you know about the Parallax Human Intervention Unit?”

Charlie stood, his face becoming even more wrinkled thanks to his deep frown. “Parallax? It no longer exists—”

“They had a file on Jane Flanagan,” she interrupted. She had no time to lose.

He blinked in confusion. “As far as I understand, there were many government agencies involved in the search for her.”

“According to this, Jane was found. At this unit.” Nina carefully pulled out a folder from the box, then leaned on the desk. He looked at the folder like he’d never seen it before. “Charlie, you knew all this time! Is it true? Is she still alive?”

“Nina, I didn’t know!” With a shaky hand, Charlie opened the file. His knees buckled, making him land hard in his chair. “Where did you get this?”

“It was with all the other boxes in your storage rooms.” Nina wanted to believe him. After all, Charlie was known for his commitment to the truth, to honesty, to justice. She stood over him, watching his jaw slacken as he read.

“I’ve never seen these files before.” Finally, he looked up at her with watery eyes. “Just let me make a phone call.”

Her voice sharp, she asked, “To Jane’s parents? The president? Because that would be the right thing to do.”

He hesitated, then picked up his desk phone. “No. To an old friend.”