serving plate and doused them with olive oil and seasoning. Next he
prepared a salad and then slit a length of French bread, buttered it,
added garlic and placed it in the lower oven. He got out two plates,
silverware and cloth napkins he found in a drawer and set the table.
There were candles on the table, but lighting them seemed like a cheesy
idea. This wasn’t a honeymoon, and they still had that nationwide
manhunt thing to consider.
He opened a small, built-in wine cooler next to the fridge and selected
a chilled bottle of white. As he was pouring out two glasses of wine,
Faith came down the stairs. She wore an unbuttoned blue denim shirt
with a white T-shirt underneath, a pair of loose-fitting white slacks
and red sandals. He noted she still wore no makeup, at least that he
could detect. A silver bangle bracelet dangled at her wrist. She also
wore turquoise earrings done in a loopy southwestern design.
She looked surprised at the kitchen activity. “A man who can shoot a
gun, lose the Feds and cook too. You just never cease to amaze me.”
He handed her a wine glass. “A good meal, a quiet evening and then we
get down to serious business.”
She glanced coolly at him as he clinked his glass against hers. “You
clean up well,” she said.
“Another one of my talents.” He went to check the fish while Faith
went over to the wall of windows and stared out.
They ate quietly, both of them apparently feeling a little awkward now
that they had arrived at their destination. Getting here, ironically
enough, seemed to be the easy part.
Faith insisted on cleaning up the kitchen while Lee turned on the TV.
“Did we make the news?” Faith asked.
“Not that I can see. But there must have been reports of the FBI agent
being found. A murdered Fed is still pretty damn rare even in this day
and age, thank God. I’ll get a newspaper tomorrow.”
Faith finished cleaning up, poured herself another glass of wine and
joined him.
“Okay, our bellies are full, the booze has us about as mellow as were
going to get, so now’s the time to talk,” Lee said. “I need to hear
the whole story, Faith. As sweet and simple as that.”
“So you feed a girl a nice meal, fill her with wine and you think she’s
yours for the asking?” She smiled coyly.
He frowned. “I’m serious, Faith.”
Her smile disappeared, along with her coyness. “Let’s go for a walk on
the beach.”
Lee started to protest but then stopped. “Okay. It’s your turf, home
rules apply.” He headed up the stairs.
“Where are you going?”
“Be right back.”
When Lee came back down, he had on a windbreaker.
“You didn’t need a jacket, it’s still pretty warm.”
He spread open the front of the jacket, revealing the clip holster and
the Smith & Wesson in it. “Didn’t want to spook any sand crabs we come
across.”
“Guns frighten me to death.”
“Guns also prevent death, when properly used. Usually sudden, violent
death.”
“No one could have followed us. No one knows were here.” His reply
chilled her to the bone.
“I hope to God you’re right.”
CHAPTER 30
REYNOLDS DIDN’T USE HER BUBBLE LIGHT but would have if a patrol car had
tried to pull her over, as she was exceeding the speed limit by more
than twenty miles per hour on the few open stretches of the Beltway
before having to slow down in a sea of red brake lights. She checked
her watch: seven-thirty. When wasn’t there a rush hour in this damn
area? People got up earlier and earlier to go to work, or stayed later
and later before going home to avoid the traffic. Pretty soon the two
groups would smack right into each other and the twenty-four-hour-a-day
highway parking lot would officially begin. Luckily Anne Newman’s
house was only a few exits down from hers.
As she drove, Reynolds thought about her visit to Adams’s apartment
building. Reynolds had thought she had seen and heard everything by
now, but Angie Carter’s statement about the FBI had stunned her, and