Frank had his feet up on Ike’s desk and his chin on his chest. He’d been that way since he’d returned from his meeting. Billy asked him who he’d met and what had happened to Sam, but Frank had only mumbled something about new evidence and had stalked into the office. Billy followed him in and sat. Frank was his older brother and he could read his moods. Something important had happened in the last hour and Billy wanted to know what that was. He took a seat in the corner, fingered the brim of his Stetson, and waited.
“If you want to plant a bomb on a car, you have to have access to the car, right?” Frank said at last.
“Right.”
“Did you calculate the distance the car traveled before it blew and where it might have been if Ike had gone home instead of the other way?”
“Yeah, we did. It would have exploded on the Calland campus, blown out windows in several buildings, possibly one of the dormitories.”
“Or the president’s house?”
“Oh, yeah. That too, I guess. Hey, you don’t think—?”
“I don’t know what to think. Look, if we assume that having it go off on the campus or, more likely at the place where Ike lived, was a secondary objective, it means the bomb had to have been put in the car in the parking lot outside the restaurant. We have no evidence of that so it had to be someplace pretty close to it. The bomber could not have known where or how long Ike might drive in a given day, but he would figure that late at night, his next stop would be home. Sam looked at that surveillance tape a dozen times and if the device was placed on the car there, she would have spotted it. Whoever rigged it, couldn’t have known that Ike would make a stop on the way first, but it wouldn’t matter if home was the final destination. He had to rig it somewhere else, but not too far away.”
“Yeah, I never thought of that. Wait, there’s another thing. If you’re right, the bomb had to be linked to the odometer, not on a timer, otherwise it would have blown while he was meeting the NARC. That means it would have to be a pretty sophisticated device.”
“So, it had to be installed somewhere else. I’ll ask Sam to draw a circle with a twenty-mile radius with the restaurant at the center and then pull the surveillance tapes of every parking lot, gas station, and mall inside it.”
“We should ask Ruth if she knew where Ike went that night,” Billy said.
“Yeah, we should but I’m guessing she won’t know. Ike was careful about bringing work home, he said. “Ruth! Oh my God. Look, if that thing was set to go off at the university, it follows that whoever did this, wanted more than just Ike dead. He wanted to hurt Ruth as well, maybe even catch her in the blast.”
“Jesus, I hadn’t thought of that. You think?”
“If we’re right, they could be after her. We let her go off to the A-frame to have some time alone. If they’re keeping tabs on us, they know that. There’s nobody up there to protect her. Billy, grab a couple of deputies and get your butt up there. If she bitches, tell her what we figured out and bring her back here ASAP.”
“What if she won’t come?”
“Cuff her and drag her back.”
***
Ike put down his book. His attention span had run its course after two hours. Now he was having an inner debate whether he should disobey Ruth’s declaration to leave her body to the sun alone when he heard the blast. Ruth sat up and looked at him, then reached for her blouse.
“That came from up there, toward the A-frame.”
Ike leapt to his feet. “Get dressed and follow me.” He grabbed the remnants of their picnic and blankets and tossed them into the Jeep. “Hurry.”
Ruth pulled on her clothes and scurried to the Jeep. Ike attempted to fluff the grass crushed by her blanket and restore the site to some semblance of naturalness. He released the Jeep’s brake and pushed it toward a slope away from the area. He let it drift ten yards and into a thicket. Ruth had to duck to avoid being plucked out of her seat by a tree branch. Ike quickly arranged some scattered limbs around the rear of the Jeep. He put his finger to his lips and motioned to her to follow him. He led her deeper into the thicket and motioned her to squat down.
“Ike, what just happened?” She whispered.
“Shhh…someone is coming.”
Two men wearing pricey Pierre Cardin shirts and slacks worked their way down the path toward them. One had a rifle in the crook of his arm, the second a large nickel-plated automatic in his hand.
“Hunters?” Ruth whispered.
“In those clothes and wearing three hundred-dollar loafers? I don’t think so. Scrunch down, wait, and see.”
“Who then?”
“Shhhh…”
The man in front, tallish, pale blond hair and carrying the rifle, paused, bent over and studied the ground at his feet.
“These tracks look fresh.”
“According to the map, the state has an easement down through here. Besides, her car was still in the driveway.”
“Where is she then?”
The second man was short and heavy, the near opposite of his companion. Mutt and Jeff. “Probably out shopping with a friend or taking a walk. We can wait for her at the front of the driveway.”
“Why not at what’s left of the house?”
“Don’t be stupid, Hugo. She takes one look at that mess and she’s off to the cops in a New York minute. We’ll catch her on the way out or the way in. We got her either way.”
The men glared at the bushes and, satisfied no one was nearby, started back up the path. When they were well out of earshot, Ike sat back and turned to Ruth.
“You get that?”
“They were looking for me, and you don’t think they were here to help me because of something that happened at the A-frame?”
“Hang on.” Ike grabbed the burn phone from the Jeep and dialed 9-1-1. “There’s been an explosion, maybe a gas leak.” He gave the address of the A-frame and hung up. “That ought to get some people here and make those guys think twice about hanging around.”
“You’re saying they were not Good Samaritans?”
“The guns and the reference to the cops pretty much blew that theory, don’t you think?”
“Okay, I’ll buy that. Who wants me dead?”
“No idea. Maybe not dead, maybe just bad hurt. So, it’s not just me they are after, whoever they are. It’s us. Who hates us that much? Me, I understand. As a cop and former field agent for Spook Central, I made a lot of people unhappy. But you…? You didn’t kick out a student with ‘connections,’ did you?”
“You’re joking, right?”
“I am. Now it appears we both need to disappear. Any suggestions where we might go?”
“What happened to the house?”
“Judging by the sound, I think the A-frame will be mostly pick-up sticks and twisted plumbing. In a minute I will skulk back and see.”
“If you think I’m staying back here in the woods alone, you are nuts. You go, I go.”
“They said they would wait by the road for you. I better go alone. Two people are far easier to spot than one.”
“Nevertheless, I go. Hey, remember me? I’m your intrepid shooting partner from our fun-filled summer vacation on the island.”
“We are unarmed and your buttons are in the wrong holes.”
“It’s the latest from Elle—slovenly is the new chic. You have a revolver in the Jeep. I saw it.”
“Not much against a rifle with a scope.”
“You’re a crack shot. I saw you hit a tin can at twenty yards.”
“That was with me standing and using a finely calibrated pistol. The piece in the Jeep is a snub-nosed Police Special .38. You need to be within ten feet to do any damage with that.”
“Still, you’d be armed.”
“Ruth, right at the moment, the last thing I want to do is get in a fire fight with a pair of heavily armed goons. Even in the unlikely event I win it, we lose. If they don’t go back to their boss, he or she will get suspicious that old Ike ain’t dead after all.
“That’s bad.”
“Very. I need to talk to Charlie. This puts a new wrinkle on an already very creased plot, I think.” Ike stood and retrieved the pistol from the Jeep and handed her the phone. “You call.”
“What do I say?”
“You’ll think of something, you’re a university president.”
“Very funny.”
Ruth tapped in the number Charlie had given them earlier and waited. Charlie answered with a simple “Hello?” Ruth cleared her throat and asked if she was speaking to Mr. Garland.
Pause.
“Tell Ike I just heard about your house. My crew cleared the area and the car is on its way to Norfolk. Ruth, we need to get you into protective custody. Billy and two other deputies should be there in a half hour. Wait for them.”
“There are two men at the end of the driveway looking for me.”
“Roger that. Wait for a call.”
Ruth sat back and opened the hamper with their picnic. She handed Ike a sandwich and poured each of them a cup of wine.
“He said wait for the call. Eat up. Your deputies will deal with the bad guys at the end of the lane.”
“I’m going to check anyway.”
“What’s the matter with you, Ike? You missed one date with death this week already. Why do you want you to risk another? Okay, if I take my clothes off again, will you stay?”
“You’re bad.”