Mason held out his hand to Eve. “Shall we go up, my dear?”
“Certainly, Mason,” Eve said, smoothing the silk of her dress over her hip. Every man’s eyes followed that move.
Mason Lord turned at the doorway, slight bewilderment in his voice, “I have a judge and two FBI agents staying in my house. This isn’t what I’m used to.”
He left without another word. Ramsey would have laughed, but he felt too much tension. He rubbed his neck. Emma would have remarked that her granddaddy had made a joke. Mason Lord knew this Rule Shaker, or at least he knew of him. What did he really think of all this? He as well as all his staff had been politely unhelpful to the police. What would Mason do?
Savich stood and said to Ramsey, “You want to go work out? That is, if your back’s up to it?”
Sherlock said to Ramsey, “Working out is great for his stress. I usually work out with him. I used to let him throw me around, under the pretext of teaching me karate. He tromped me regularly until he found out that I was in this interesting condition, then he refused even to let me watch him. You two go; it’ll be good for both of you. I’m beat. Molly, I’ll head on upstairs with you.”
Molly gave Ramsey a worried look, but he just smiled, nodding at her. “I’ll be up later,” he said. “Tell Emma I’ll be in to kiss her good night.” He knew she was thinking about Emma, whose father had been blown up, and it had to be dealt with.
“Let’s do it,” Ramsey said. They didn’t have to leave the compound or even Mason Lord’s house. Gunther took them to the downstairs of the west wing to a state-of-the-art gym, actually more like a sports facility.
Ramsey said when they came out of the locker room, “Look at this. You think we’re in the wrong line of work, Savich?”
Savich fastened on a weight belt. “Nah, it doesn’t matter. Hey, the equipment might be the best, the mats might be the thickest, the bottled water might be from France, but the end result is still sweat. Let me help you tape your back up really well before we get the kinks out. I can even make you waterproof.”
After Savich taped him, they both stretched for five minutes, then, as if of one mind, they began circling each other, poised and focused. Ramsey made the first move, a high clean kick with his right foot. Savich stepped three inches to the left, grabbed the ankle with his right hand, and pushed. Ramsey went flying to the floor, only to roll to the side and be back in position in an instant. He felt a twinge in his back, and Savich noticed.
“You’re a bit faster than Sherlock, but not much, Ramsey. I don’t think your back’s ready for this. Why don’t we just spot each other on the equipment?”
After thirty minutes, they ended up on their backs on the mat, their arms flung out, sweating and feeling better. After twenty laps in the swimming pool, they felt even better.
“Not bad,” Ramsey said as he hauled himself out of the pool onto the cool pale blue tile apron. “I’d forgotten how busting my butt relieves the tension. My back doesn’t feel so bad either.”
“It’s always worked for me.”
Ramsey gave Savich a hand out of the pool. They sat in silence, soaking in the sweet still air in the huge enclosed pool room. “This place is something,” Savich said. “So much foliage, it looks like a rain forest.”
“As long as it doesn’t have any boa constrictors under those palm fronds.”
“Look,” Savich said quietly, nodding only slightly upward. “It’s a TV camera. Well, what did I expect-our host to give us a welcome kiss and let us roam at will? I’ll bet there are microphones as well.”
“Who cares? I’ll have to ask Miles to show me the equipment,” Ramsey said. “It looks like high-grade stuff from here.”
“Think he has any female security people?”
“No,” Ramsey said, “not Mason Lord. He’s not what you’d call a major employer of women. I’ve seen him look at his wife. There’s actually lust in his eyes and a sort of immense satisfaction that she’s his and no one else’s. I’m a bit surprised that he bothered to marry her, except that maybe he wants to get himself a son.” Ramsey shook his head. “Mason probably had to marry her just to get into her pants. Eve’s very smart.”