SOMETHING WAS WRONG. Teddy could feel the tension coming off Cormorant before the Secret Service agent even spoke into his ear. “Excuse me, sir. Would you come with me, please? It’s kind of important.”
Maggie saw it too, and knew exactly how to respond. She smiled her best Big Party smile. “Don’t keep him long now, Dan, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Governor, hold that thought,” Teddy told his and Maggie’s guest. “I’ll be right back.”
Then, not knowing quite why, he leaned in and kissed his wife on the cheek. “I love you, darling,” he whispered, and she winked back.
Sweet Maggie. The world would probably never know how good this woman could be. Not that he really loved her, exactly, or could even tell himself what that was supposed to feel like. But it worked. They worked. However much about him she would never know, it couldn’t erase what was true between them. Sum of the parts and all that. Complicated, like all relationships.
He double-stepped to come alongside the agent as they moved across the foyer.
“What’s going on, Dan?”
“Sir, I need you to stay calm,” Cormorant said. “The FBI have a few questions for you. They’re waiting outside to follow us to the EEOB.”
Teddy stopped short. “Hang on a second. Are you trying—” He cocked his head to one side and smiled at a couple of passing gawkers. Then he turned his back to the room. “Are you trying to give me a fucking heart attack here?”
“Sir, I know what I’m doing. I really do. I need you to trust me.”
“Trust you? You’re walking me right into them!”
Cormorant shoved his radio hand into his pocket, and his voice dropped to a fierce whisper. “Haven’t I proven anything to you by now? For God’s sake, Teddy, get it together. They just want to ask you some questions.”
“Why don’t I believe that, Dan? This is bad. This is very bad, isn’t it?”
“Listen to me.” The agent’s eyes traveled to the farthest exit and back again. “The only viable way out of this is straight through those doors. We either keep moving or they’re coming in after you. There’s nowhere to run, Teddy. If they come in here, it will be an embarrassment for the president.”
He could see them now, a collection of dark suits out on the River Terrace—including that MPD detective who had been dogging him. Alex Cross. The one who should have been dead and disposed of a long time ago.
“Sir, we have to go.”
“Don’t rush me, goddamnit! Are you forgetting? I’m Teddy Vance.”
Teddy straightened his tie and took a fluted glass off a passing waiter’s tray. It was a struggle not to down it all at once. Just a swallow for now, and another casual smile for the room, while the blood pounded in his ears.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s do this. I can certainly answer a few of their questions.”