your principal handler?”
“I don’t know his name,” Faith said coldly.
“Do you have a phone number?”
“It wouldn’t do any good. I doubt he’d be able to take the call
now.”
Lee eyed her dubiously. “Are you telling me the dead guy back there is
your only contact?”
“That’s it.” Faith told this lie with a completely straight face.
“The guy was your handler and he never bothered to tell you his name?
That’s not exactly textbook FBI.”
“Sorry, that’s all I know.”
“Is that right? Well, let me tell you what I know. I saw you at that
cottage three other times with a woman. A tall brunette. What, did
you sit around calling her Agent X?” He leaned right into her face.
“Bullshit Rule Number One: Make damn sure the person you’re lying to
can’t prove same.” He hooked an arm around hers. “Let’s go.”
“You know, Mr. Adams, you have a problem you may not have thought
about.”
“Is that right? Care to share it?”
“What exactly are you going to tell the FBI when you bring me in?”
“I don’t know, how about the truth?”
“Okay. Let’s look at the truth. You were following me because someone
you don’t know and can’t identify instructed you to. Which means we
only have your word for that. You were able to follow me even though
the FBI assured me no one could. You were in that house tonight. Your
face is on the tape. An FBI agent is dead. You fired your gun. You
say you shot the other man, but you have no way to prove another man
was even there. So the proven facts are we have you at the house and
me at the house. You fired your gun and an FBI agent is dead.”
“The ammo that killed that guy is not something my pistol happens to
chamber,” he said angrily, releasing her arm.
“So you threw the other gun away.”
“Why would I snatch you from the place, then? If I was the shooter,
why wouldn’t I have killed you back there?”
“I’m not saying what I think, Mr. Adams. I’m just suggesting to you
that the FBI might suspect you. I suppose if there’s nothing in your
past to make them suspicious, the FBI might believe you.” She added
offhandedly, “They’ll probably just investigate you for a year and then
drop it if nothing turns up.”
Lee scowled at her. His recent past was squeaky clean. Going back a
little further, the waters got a little murkier. When he was first
starting out as a PI, he had done some things he would never even
consider doing now. Not illegal, but still hard to explain to
straightlaced federal agents.
And then there was the restraining order his ex had gotten right before
Lucky Eddie had struck patent gold. Claimed Lee was stalking her, was
perhaps violent. Lee would have become violent if he had gotten hold
of the little shit. Every time Lee thought about the bruises on his
daughter’s arms and cheek when he had made an unexpected visit to their
rat-trap apartment he almost had a stroke. Trish claimed Renee had
fallen down the stairs. Stood there and lied to his face, when Lee
could see the imprint of what he knew was a knuckle against his
daughter’s soft skin. He had taken a crowbar to Eddie’s car and
would’ve taken one to Eddie if the guy hadn’t locked himself in the
bathroom and called the cops.
So did he really want the FBI snooping around his life for the next
twelve months? On the other hand, if he let the woman walk away and
the Feds tracked him down, then where would he be? Everywhere he
turned, he ran into a nest of snakes.
Faith spoke in a pleasant tone. “Do you want to drop me at the
Washington Field Office? They’re at Fourth and F Streets.”
“Okay, okay, you’ve made your point,” Lee said hotly. “But I didn’t
ask for this crap to be dropped in my lap.”
“And I didn’t ask for you to become involved in this either. But ..
“But what?”
“But if you weren’t there tonight, I wouldn’t be alive right now. I’m