Lewis searched the length of the barn, looking over the doors of the empty box stalls, avoiding the one containing her horse. He flicked the lights on in the tack room briefly before satisfying himself they were alone. “Wait for me here,” he said. “Stay inside. No lights.”
“Is there something wrong in my house?”
“Two things: there could be a microphone in there. I’ll get someone to check that. But the real problem is that I’ve come here three times today which means if someone’s watching me, they’ll be curious. So stay away from the house. If anyone shows up to check it out, let them find it empty.” He noticed the dog had settled himself on a pile of hay nearby. “Will that dog even warn you?”
She stood up. “I don’t know. Nobody’s ever come here to hurt me.”
“Nobody until me.”
“You didn’t come here to hurt me.”
“Bringing me here was probably the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done. Someday I’ll explain that. For now, take this.” She took the gun obediently.
“Will you use it?” he asked urgently. “Will you stay here, inside, until I get back? And will you use the gun if anybody else shows up?”
“I don’t know,” she exhaled. “Maybe, if I have to.”
“Don’t wait,” he said. “Assume you have to. I’ll let you know it’s me when I come back so if you hear anybody else, assume they’re unfriendly. Stay inside, make them come to you, and go ahead and shoot anyone who does. If you have to leave, take the Jag and go to a hotel in the city.”
She set the gun on the bench. “Take me with you,” she said. “I won’t get in the way. I’m afraid you won’t come back.”
“An hour or two,” he said. “Three at the most. Stay here, keep quiet, no lights. You’ll be all right.”
He retrieved the gun and wrapped her fingers around the grip. She accepted it, steadied by his words and the sure strength of his hand. Then he was gone.
She listened to the silence for a moment before moving down the wide alley of the barn, past the fragrant bales of alfalfa and timothy stacked to the roof. Prince Valiant waited at the half door to his stall, ears tracking her approach. She rubbed his dished face and between his ears while he nuzzled her.
Suzanna slumped comfortably against the top of the half door with the gelding’s warm breath on her arm. She knew she should be careful. Surely, Lewis had been serious about the possibility of somebody dangerous coming to look around. She couldn’t quite believe in that threat in the safe, familiar barn with Val and Willie vying for her attention. Even the cold weight of the gun wasn’t convincing.
She yawned. What a day, what a night. Seeing him again, when she’d finally accepted she never would. And the things he’d told her, about his work, and despite his guarded answers, about himself.
She had never intended to want any man again. It cost too much — at least, Richard had. “Don’t think about Richard,” she whispered to Val. He rubbed his head against her fingers in vigorous agreement: you’ve already spent too much time thinking about Richard.
Besides, there could hardly be a man less like Richard. Whatever this was, it was nothing like what she had with Richard, who wanted nothing explained or even discussed, only to be listened to, admired, and agreed with.
* * * *
Lewis made his way along the outer border of the landscaped shrubbery, moving steadily toward the carport where he took her Volvo. The Jaguar was out of the question. It was too eye-catching, too fragile, too small. Anything could be waiting for him at the center. There was no point in burdening himself with a liability on his way to meet it.
He parked the Volvo a quarter mile from the Jeep and walked up to it. Everything appeared undisturbed, with MacIntyre’s body sitting as he’d left it. He jogged back to the car and drove past the Jeep and up to the center. He held his breath when he pressed his thumb against the security panel. To his relief the garage doors lifted smoothly. No alarms, no telltale hesitation as his prints were processed.
Then he was inside and breathing again. He killed the engine, took the keys, and used index and middle fingers on the glowing exit plate. He let out another slow breath when the back door swung open instantly, silently.
He had no idea of Lily’s room number so made no move toward the dormitories. He noted lights in some of the windows while he crossed the yard to the back door. He debated briefly before going downstairs to the computer operations center. He had hoped to find Robin in the shift manager’s office but it was Deece who greeted him.
“Sneed wants you,” Deece told him. “Broke off the data link at seven-thirty and he’s been calling every fifteen minutes since.”
Lewis checked the clock, surprised to find it was almost nine. “Right. How’d it go?”
“No problem.”
“What’re you still doing down here?”
“Waiting for you. Thought you might need something after you talk to Sneed.”
“All right, I’ll call him now and let you know.” Lewis had a bad feeling about Sneed. Apparently Deece shared it. Sneed never called with results before a deadline. If the fat man was calling, he had a problem. He’d have to take a number the way this was going.
“How’s everything else?” he asked casually, looking past Deece at the desks and monitors of the operations staff where all appeared busy and uninterested in his appearance. “MacIntyre around?”
“It’s quiet. Saw Mac in the cafeteria around six-thirty. He’s usually out with his security crew by this time. You want me to find him?”
“No, thanks. I’ve seen enough of him for one day.”
He took the stairs to Gerald’s office. He logged on to the terminal and checked for messages, hoping MacIntyre had left some hint. No messages in his inbox, no notes or memos on the desk. Damn. He went through into the apartment, undressing on the way. He changed into jeans and a black T-shirt, hiking boots, black technical jacket. Back in the office, he dialed Sneed while he laced up the boots.
“Your man there, he had me on a pass-through,” Sneed began. “I don’t work like that. I told you I needed a master. Either get me what I need or forget the job.”
“You have one hour, Delbert. You took my money, you got access, now analyze what you found and write me a report.”
“I didn’t get the access I need, that’s the point. There’s stuff running on that site I want to duplicate, exactly. How can I do that when you’ve got a governor on my link? You want me to do this right, I need free rein on your VPN, give me an admin account and TOR profile and get out of my way.”
“One hour, Delbert.” Lewis hung up. Then he called Deece and told him Sneed was finished with the link and to disconnect it before he left his office for the night. No point in taking chances. Not with somebody like Delbert.
* * * *
According to the dorm room assignments, Lily was in a middle room on the ground floor. Lewis listened outside her door but heard nothing. The window was dark. He let himself in, closed the door and waited while his eyes adjusted. She was in bed, but if she had been sleeping, she was fully awake when he reached the bed.
She shot upright. He heard the sharp intake of her breath, sensed the scream rising in her throat. He was reaching to cover her mouth when she hit him under the eye with an expertly timed, sharp-knuckled little fist. He deflected the blow and got a hand over her mouth before too much noise escaped but soon discovered she was too much to handle one-handed.
Lily was trained, fit, and experienced. He knew that but it wasn’t until she hit him again, in the throat this time, that he began to take her seriously. He was tempted to take his hand off her mouth but settled for squashing her flat against the bed with his body weight.
It took a few minutes for the lack of breathing room to impress her. When she was more or less out of oxygen, he identified himself and told her to be quiet. He lifted his hand experimentally.
She immediately filled her lungs to scream. He clamped his hand back down. Okay, so much for being reasonable. He raised himself on one knee, avoided a kick in the groin, gathered a handful of the hem of her T-shirt and yanked it down and planted a knee on it. One hand still covered her mouth.
“If I wanted you dead, it’d be over now,” he told her harshly. “Shut up and listen before somebody else gets in on the act.” He lifted his hand slightly. Felt her mouth open immediately, lungs lifting. He clamped his hand back down. “MacIntyre’s dead. I just found him. Do you want to be next?”
This time she was quiet when his hand lifted. He could see her face dimly in the filtered light through the window. Her eyes were enormous. “Who did it?” she asked immediately.
“If I knew that I wouldn’t need you.”
She stared up at him, apparently thinking about it and waiting for orders or information.
“I’m taking you out of here, before whoever got to MacIntyre finds you. Get dressed.” He swung himself off the bed in one motion, taking the big chance.
It worked. She rolled silently off after him and reached for her clothes. It was a small room. There was no way not to notice as she pulled on jeans and shrugged off the T-shirt and replaced it with something black and long sleeved. She had gone from sleep to full alert and she dressed efficiently, without apparent notice of his presence. He imagined having strangers look her over had gotten old long ago.
He checked the hall while she sat on the edge of the bed to lace her boots. They were tall boots and the task seemed to take much too long. Twice he stopped himself from snapping at her for more speed. She wasn’t stalling; she was using the smooth, repetitious motion of crossing and snugging the leather thongs to brace herself. He stifled his impatience.
They met no one in the hallway or outside crossing the courtyard to the garage. He had her drive. She backed the Volvo out and turned it neatly. Before the Jeep came in sight Lewis asked her when she’d seen MacIntyre last. She said she hadn’t seen him since her interview when he’d walked her back downstairs and out to the dorms.
He had her stop when MacIntyre’s Jeep appeared in their headlights. She stared out the windshield at the darkened grill of MacIntyre’s vehicle. “Will this car make it up to your trailer?” he asked her profile.
“No,” she said, “Not a chance. It’s steep and rough, all ruts and rocky and narrow.”
“Part way then? Far enough to be out of sight?”
“Yes, the first quarter mile.”
“Right. Wait here until I turn on the lights, then go ahead. I’ll follow you with the Jeep. And Lily, don’t even think about making a run for it. I’m not the worst thing that could happen to you tonight. If you want to stay alive do exactly what I tell you. There’s nowhere to run.”
“I know.”
From the open driver’s door of the Jeep he contemplated the problem of moving MacIntyre’s body. Big man; big body; big problem. Awkward as hell to maneuver him over the gear shift to the passenger seat, long way to carry him around the Jeep. Decided on the cross-seat move, circled around to the off side and jerk-lifted him into the passenger seat. It was an even meaner job than he’d thought and made his shoulder and chest scream. Back in the driver’s seat, he made a three point turn and followed the Volvo’s taillights while the pain across his chest gradually subsided. No sudden moves, no jerking, no lifting. Thanks Rick, real good advice.
Lily left the lane when the fence veered away from the roadbed. The new road was little more than a trail, winding between the saguaro and buckbrush. Lily parked the Volvo at the foot of the first rise. The lights died and she got out with the keys.
“Over here,” he said and stepped out. “Climb over my seat,” he instructed when she came around.
She recoiled at the sight of MacIntyre.
“Go,” he shoved her none too gently into the back. “You’ll have to navigate,” he told her over his shoulder. “Pay attention, I don’t want to roll this on the way.”
* * * *
Lily led the way up the steps and into her trailer. He stopped her before she flicked the light switch and had her get a flashlight instead to show him through the rooms. The fence monitor glowed steadily in the back room, its faint, electronic whine barely audible over the air conditioner on the roof. He took the light outside, circled the trailer to examine the skirting at the back.
He rejoined Lily at the kitchen table. She sat quietly, motionless, in a trance.
“Give me the layout,” he said, sitting down across from her. “Is there an approach from the back? What about the side over here?” He kept his voice matter-of-fact.
“The trail down the fence goes right past this side and around the back. That side,” she pointed across to the kitchen sink, “is blind. It’s solid brush.”
“All right.” He stood up. “Get me a sheet and a hammer if you have one and give me a hand.”
He pried two plywood panels off the skirting base under the kitchen window and checked under the trailer with the light. Lots of room and no snakes. Lily held the light while he centered MacIntyre’s body on the sheet and rolled him into it. He had her check for snakes again before he humped the body awkwardly into the crawl space under the trailer. The torch trembled while he nailed the panels back.
He checked the bedroom, satisfied that she had remade the bed. He had her return the hammer, took the flashlight from her and went back to search the Jeep. The interior light showed him the bloodstain on the back of the driver’s seat. He stared at the stain, undecided, while fatigue amplified the steady burn in his chest.
Lily surprised him at his elbow. “Let me do it,” she said, reaching behind the seat. She released the hooks on the seat cover and tugged it off. The vinyl seatback was bloodstained, too, below the jagged bullet hole.
“Don’t try to get rid of it, wash it,” he told her.
She took it inside while he liberated its mate from the passenger seat. “Wash this one, too,” he told her on his way through the kitchen. With a towel from the bathroom he scrubbed the stain out of the seatback while she worked soap into the covers in the kitchen sink. There was nothing he could do about the hole in the seat.
They replaced the covers on the opposite seats, which put the bullet hole on the passenger side. He enlarged it into a tear. All that remained of the stain was an indistinct outline that could have been sweat. Both the fabric covers and the seats were black so the tear while visible was not conspicuous. It would pass as a consequence of wear or rough use, as long as nobody pulled the covers off and lined it up with the hole in the driver’s seatback.
He searched the vehicle with the flashlight. The bullet was imbedded in the seat so the weapon had probably been small caliber, although he’d seen nine-millimeter slugs lodge in upholstery, even at close range. There were no spent casings rolling around and he’d found none on the road which suggested a revolver but a smart shooter picked up after himself so there was no way to guess the killer’s weapon.
Nothing more to be done up here. He turned to Lily, “Show me how he parked this thing. If I know anything about the man, he always did everything the same way.”
“Yes. Anybody would know he hadn’t parked the Jeep like that. Turn it around, facing out and back it in beside the steps.”
* * * *
The trail felt like three miles of hell in the dark. The clouds hid the moon, the drizzle greased the rocks and mud. He was sweating, lung burning after the first mile. Lily took the trail easily, striding smoothly either ahead or behind where the track was too rough for the two of them to walk abreast. An hour and twenty minutes after they’d left the center they were back at the Volvo.
He questioned her while he drove. It was useless. She was too shocked, too confused, too frightened to follow his questions. And, worse than that, too ignorant.
No, there was nothing between her and MacIntyre. No, she didn’t know anything about MacIntyre; not where he’d been before this assignment, not what he’d done. No, she didn’t know if he was tight with any of the other staff, she never saw any of the others. And no, she was positive Henry would not have killed him.
He drove back to the center and had Lily wait in the Volvo while he used his prints to open the garage and drive out in Gerald’s Mercedes. He pulled up beside the Volvo and told Lily to follow him. Then he took Flannagan Road downhill to the four-lane, turned away from the city. The lights of the Wagon Wheel were plainly visible a mile ahead. He pulled into the crowded parking lot of the noisy tavern, parked at the end of a row of pickups. Lily pulled the Volvo in beside him. He walked around to her window and motioned her out. In the brightness thrown by the quartz pole lights he could see her face clearly for the first time all night. “This isn’t the first body you’ve seen,” he said. “What’s the problem?”
“It’s the first time it was one of ours. Mac was, you know, tough, bullet proof. It’s hard.”
“All right, but you’re going to have to get past it. I need your brain working. Here’s what I know: MacIntyre was in the cafeteria at six-thirty. I found him, in the Jeep, dead, around eight. He never even nudged his weapon, it was still tight in the holster, no sign of a struggle. He’s sitting in his Jeep, parked out on the road, sometime between six-thirty and eight. He lowers his window to talk to somebody, and they shoot him. One shot, close range. Talk to me, Lily. Give me some possibilities — whatever comes to you.”
“What you’re talking about is somebody he trusted. I’m no good to you, I’m not on the inside. I never got to know anybody who worked inside the center, except Gerald and MacIntyre. I only met the outside security people once or twice. Nothing’s coming to me except I don’t think Mac would have met somebody out there like that. He did everything by the book.”
“How about a woman?”
“I don’t know. Like who?”
“Like you, for example. Did he fix it so you could sneak out and meet him?”
“Me? No way. He didn’t even like me, he called me ‘little girl’ all the time. If he had wanted to talk to me, he knew what room I was in. Anyone else, why not take them up to my trailer? Nobody would question him; he outranks everybody.”
“Not quite. Let’s say he’s involved with somebody and he’s worried she’s going to talk. He needs to talk to her but he’d be careful about getting caught with her now that I’m around.”
“MacIntyre? And a woman? That’s just not likely. He was old. But so what if he’s sleeping with someone? In the three years I’ve spent with you guys I’ve seen plenty of that. Where’s the motive? He wants to break it off and she shoots him?”
“Maybe they’re involved in other things. Maybe they’re selling information. Think about it — a woman inside the center and the head of security.”
“I don’t believe it. For one thing no woman who worked for Gerald would do that. I don’t believe there’s a woman alive who’d double cross Gerald. MacIntyre’s even less probable. He positively worshipped Gerald.”
“Don’t give me that crap. It was a woman who put Gerald in that chair. I hope to God he didn’t have another one like her to deal with. Still, I’ve had a look at most of the staff here. Nobody stands out. So maybe not inside the center, maybe some outside business.”
“I just don’t know. What business? What woman?”
“You. How about it, Lily? You and Bliss into something besides bed? Some lucrative little sideline you needed MacIntyre for. Were you keeping him happy and quiet? Making him forget about worshipping Gerald?”
“That’s crazy, Lewis. Do you think, knowing the things I know about the Group, I’d ever try something like that? And Henry, no matter what you think, isn’t remotely interested in the center. He’s interested in horses and as you already know he’s interested in me. That’s all. Where are you getting this idea about Mac and me?”
“I’ve interviewed most of the women on site. I asked every one if MacIntyre was friendly with someone special and they’ve all said no, not even interested. Know what I think? Everybody’s interested. And MacIntyre filed a protection order for you. Come on, Lily, the man could hardly stand for me to say your name. Didn’t he get started sleeping at your trailer while you were living up there?”
“No.”
“Think it over,” he warned. “You’re stuck with me so you might want to get yourself lined up where I can see you. I have every reason to protect you, you’re in the middle of this mess. Until I know more, I’m going to keep you under wraps. MacIntyre’s dying doesn’t change your situation. I don’t think you killed him yourself. I’ve met women who can kill and bluff it out but you’re not one of them. But if you know anything, and I mean any hunches, guesses, intuition, anything about the man, spit it out. Because I will find it somewhere and you don’t have any credibility with me. It would be smart for you to build up a little.”
She looked down, shook her head.
“I’m going to make some phone calls. I am aware that this is your boyfriend’s playground. Stay in the car. Just sit here, keep quiet and think of some information that might help me.”
He used the phone booth, keeping his back to the tavern and the highway. He watched the Volvo, although he couldn’t see much through the rain-streaked grime on the glass of the booth. He dialed HQ on a shielded non-emergency line, identified himself, and asked for Jamieson.
“Hello, Lewis,” Jamieson said, sounding wide-awake and cheerful for the hour in DC. “What’s up? You finish the audit early?”
Lewis ignored the jab. “I need a couple of things.”
“Shoot,” Jamieson said.
“MacIntyre’s history, old job reports, any reviews he’s been in. I need somebody to look up the details, I’m looking for something a little off.”
“What kind of something?”
“That’s what I need, Jamieson. I need to know what I’m looking for. I don’t want the director to know yet but he’s gone bush on me. He’s taken off, I don’t know where he is. He’s taken that guard, Lily, with him. I need some direction, need to know if he’s done this kind of thing before.”
“Now let me get this straight. You got MacIntyre to screw off voluntarily? And that bothers you? Terminate him. That’s what you wanted to do, anyway.”
“Damn right, Jamieson. By the book, signed papers, all the folders closed. He can’t just run out. And that guard’s a contractor, he’s got to bring her back. I’m not done questioning her.”
“You need this tonight?”
“You offering?”
“First thing tomorrow morning this conversation goes into my status report. Thought I heard you say something about you didn’t want the D to know about MacIntyre yet. Tonight’s all the unofficial time I can give you.”
“Right. Tonight. Next thing, the Oxenburg house. Check the active device log for surveillance on her house and her phones. Don’t bother with the authorization file, get it out of the system directly.”
“You thinking unauthorized?”
“I’m trying real hard not to think one way or the other. Just check the systems, both there and out here.”
“Why don’t you check them? You can do this faster than I can.”
“Because I’m not in the center right now. Because if it’s underground there’ll be a lockout on it for my username, and because I’m asking you to do it, Jamieson.”
“Where are you? Never mind, don’t tell me anything I might have to put in my status report. If you’re planning to get back into that house yourself, you watch your ass, Lewis. Nobody wants to evac you again.”
“I’ll call you back in fifteen, Jamieson. Have some answers for me and don’t strain yourself worrying about where I am.”
“Make it a half hour.”
* * * *
Lewis debated calling the center. There was no reason Deece had to know his whereabouts but if something came up and they called MacIntyre and couldn’t raise him, their next call would be to Lewis. If both he and MacIntyre were unreachable the next call would be to HQ and then all the emergency stops would come out and everybody who was anybody would know that the Arizona center, Gerald’s ten-year pet project, was jinxed.
This time he got Robin and told her he was staying in the city and would be in first thing. He didn’t name a hotel and diverted her attention before she could ask for it by having her transfer him to an outside line.
Then he called Sneed who told him grudgingly that he had found absolutely nothing.
So what was the problem?
That was the problem. Sneed was convinced his attempts to delve into the system had been thwarted by Deece’s expertise. “Look, Lewis,” he groused, “you don’t pay this kind of money unless you’re pretty sure there’s something there. I’ve been through it up one side and down the other and I’m telling you, I’ve got nothing.”
“Delbert,” Lewis said, “quit trying so hard to give me grief. This is my river you’re fishing in. If you’ve got nothing, there’s nothing to get. Submit your report tonight and I’ll review it in the morning. If it’s complete, I’ll messenger the rest of your money tomorrow.”
“In the morning? What the hell was the big deal with this midnight deadline?”
“Change in priorities, Delbert. You have something better to do tonight?”
“Well, if you don’t need this for a few hours I might as well keep working on it. Have you thought about somebody back loading through the physical firewall? What about lower level entry points?”
“Christ, we’ve got that locked down. Nobody in this business is that stupid. There are no low level ports. We may as well use airport Wi-Fi and cell phones.”
“I’m not saying you guys are amateurs, Lewis, give me some credit. But I figure you’ve got at least a few machines somewhere under glass. The internet is just too much of a candy store. I’m thinking, even if they’re not linked, it wouldn’t hurt for me to check every avenue. Might smell something.”
“Our traffic is private. Everything’s encrypted. Our machines are isolated.”
“Isolated boxes have a way of getting connected, sooner or later. You’re a good customer, I’m just trying to be thorough.”
“Then just write up what you’ve got. This audit is only for the Arizona facility. Do yourself a favor, Delbert, and don’t try hacking into anything else.”
“Oh, get stuffed, Lewis.” Sneed hung up.
* * * *
He did not get Christine or Tomas when he called his team. It was a very nervous rookie who had the phone duty. She had probably had fewer than a dozen conversations with him before and was extremely eager to wake Christine for him. She was quick to hand off the call and drop out when Christine’s voice came on the line. He told her he planned to be out of range until seven hundred hours, to call the director if anything came up she couldn’t decide herself. Otherwise, she had his full authority to run things until she heard from him.
“Got it,” she yawned. “I’ll be asleep until then, anyway.”
If he didn’t call her in the morning, he continued, her authority was good until he did. But she was not to call him at the Arizona center until she heard from him again. That woke her up.
“Things a little sticky out there?” she asked and then when he didn’t answer, “Don’t be out of touch too long, Lewis. Everybody’s getting stretched a little thin here. And watch your back.”
When he called Jamieson back, he remembered the name of the law firm Suzanna had called. “Get me some background on Hilton, Conwell and Smythe. Law firm here in Phoenix. I want to know the name of their malpractice insurance provider.”
“Okay,” Jamieson sighed, “In the morning.”
“Fine. And one more thing, have somebody take another look in the Sun West Life personnel files for a male executive type, first name Lloyd, white, about forty, forty-five. Get me the basics on any matches. Now, what’d you find on MacIntyre?”
“I think I’ve got something for you there. We had to evac him out of Manila in the nineties. He almost bled to death in the plane. He brought out some civilians with him, one in particular, a girl.”
“And?”
“She didn’t make it. She’d been shot, too and she did bleed to death. We had MacIntyre in rehab for eight months and most of his problem was in his head.”
“So? There’s something about Asian women, seems like every American wants to bring one home with him. That was a hell of a long time ago, not much to go on.”
“Her name was Lily.”
“Oh.”
“And she wasn’t his girlfriend. She was his daughter.”
“Son of a bitch,” Lewis whispered.
“You there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. What about the Oxenburg house?”
Jamieson told him the surveillance had been terminated on Suzanna’s house. He explained the steps he’d taken to verify it but Lewis barely heard him. He was fitting MacIntyre’s reactions when they’d discussed Lily into the mode of protective father figure. It felt right. He hung up when Jamieson shut up long enough for Lewis to thank him.
* * * *
He had Lily switch into the Mercedes. He waited at the driver’s window as she adjusted the seat and oriented herself to the controls. “Follow me,” he said. “I’ll park beside the Jag in the open garage. Park this right behind the Volvo. Then check the house and the perimeter. Come and find me in the barn when you’ve cleared everything.”
“Got it,” she said.
“Did you think of anything you’d like to tell me while you were sitting here?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Lily. “I got my weapon while you were outside at the trailer.” She nudged the little leather pouch she wore across her torso. “I’m not hiding it. I’m telling you now instead of waiting for you to notice it. I want to keep it. I have a feeling I may need it. I know how to use it, I can help you.”
“Why do you think you need it?”
“I don’t want to be defenseless. MacIntyre was nobody’s fool, Lewis. He didn’t have much personality but you can’t fault him on the job. You as much as told me, I’m next. You can’t expect me to just wait for it, unarmed. You’re not taking me back to the center, are you?”
“No. But if I was, do you think you’d be safe there?”
“Yes,” she said and sighed. “I don’t know but I think so, at least safe from whoever got Mac. I was in my room all night. If somebody inside killed Mac, they had hours to come for me before you did. I hope you’re wrong, Lewis. I don’t want to think it could be our own people, but until you figure it out, give me an assignment, and let me keep my gun. When this is over, let me resign. Deal?”
“I need your help with Bliss and a few other things. You won’t be going back to the center.”
“Okay. Understood.”
“Does the name Oxenburg mean anything to you?”
“No. Should it?”
“You’re sure? MacIntyre never mentioned it?”
“No, why?”
“It’s the name of the woman who picked me up after you got me shot. She’s civilian so watch what you say around her. We’re staying there so I can keep an eye on her. When I’m not there, you’ll be her security.”
“I’ve never been a bodyguard.”
“You know how it’s done. I checked your file.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * * *
He saw the outline of the dog’s ears first. Willie was standing in the alleyway, ears pricked, silently watching him approach. “Suzanna?” he said. “It’s Lewis.” He waited. In a moment there was movement and his eyes adjusted to the dimness enough to find her. She’d been sleeping on a mound of hay beside the dog. He helped her sit up.
“Lewis?” she said.
“Yes, it’s Lewis.”
“Oh good,” she said.
Her hair smelled like hay and the black sweater was bristling with scratchy particles. The dog continued to watch him without moving. Lewis watched him back. He doubted he’d ever be comfortable eye-to-eye with a dog that looked like this, even one as limp as this sorry specimen.
He straightened and she got up. “My gun?” he said. She pointed to the bench where she’d left it.
“Lewis?” Lily queried tentatively from the door.
“Here,” he said.
“The house is clear,” Lily said, “except there’s some glass and blood on the kitchen floor.”
“That was me,” Suzanna said quickly. “Minor accident. Hello, I’m Suzanna.”
“This is Lily,” Lewis said before Lily could respond. “She works for me. Another houseguest for you.”
“Let’s go up to the house,” Suzanna said, “if it’s okay now.”