“You can’t prove it was me who did that.”
“Oh, we will prove it. But there’s a more important bit of information for you to go away with this day.” I leaned closer. I could smell her coffee breath.
“You took advantage of my niece’s feelings for you. You took advantage of her youth and naivete and decency.”
I leaned so close I was in her face.
“Don’t you ever come near Lucy again. Don’t you ever speak to her. Don’t you ever call her again. Don’t you ever think about her. ” My hand in my coat pocket gripped my. 38. 1 almost wanted her to make me use it.
“And if I find out you were the one who ran her off the road,” I went on in a quiet voice that rang like cold surgical steel, “I will personally track you down. You will be haunted by me the rest of your wretched life. I will always be there when you come up for parole. I will tell parole board after parole board and governor after governor that you are a character disorder who is a menace to society. Do you understand?”
“Go to hell,” she said.
“I will never go to hell,” I said. “But you are already there.”
She abruptly got up, and her angry strides carried her back into the spy shop. I watched a man follow her in and begin to speak to her as I sat on the bench, my heart beating hard. I did not know why he made me pause. There was something about the sharpness of his profile at a glance, the V-shape of his lean, strong back, and the unnatural blackness of his slicked hair. Dressed in a splendid midnight-blue silk suit, he carried what looked like an alligator skin briefcase. I was about to walk away when he turned toward me, and for an electric instance our eyes met. His were piercing blue.
I did not run. I was like a squirrel in the middle of a road that starts to dash this way and that only to end up where it began. I began walking as fast as I could, then began to run, and the sound of water falling was like feet falling as I imagined him in pursuit. I did not go to a pay phone because I was afraid to stop. I thought my heart would burst as it hammered harder and harder.
I sprinted through the parking lot, my hands shaking as I unlocked my car. I did not reach for the phone until I was moving fast and did not see him.
“Benton! Oh my God!”
“Kay? Jesus, what is it?” His alarmed voice crackled horribly over the phone, for northern Virginia is notorious for too much cellular traffic.
“Gault!” I breathlessly exclaimed as I slammed on my brakes just before rear-ending a Toyota.
“I saw Gault!”
“You saw Gault? Where?”
“In Eye Spy.”
“In what? What did you say?”
“The shop Carrie Grethen works in. The one she’s been connected to. He was there, Benton! I saw him walk in as I was leaving, and he started talking to her, and then he saw me and I ran.”
“Slow down, Kay!” Wesley’s voice was tense. I couldn’t recall him ever sounding this tense.
“Where are you now?”
“I’m on 1-95 South. I’m fine.”
“Just keep driving, for God’s sake. Don’t stop for anything. Do you think he saw you get into your car?”
“I don’t think so. Shit, I don’t know!”
“Kay,” he said with authority.
“Calm down.” He spoke slowly.
“I want you to calm down. I don’t want you getting into an accident. I’m going to make calls. We’ll find him.” But I knew we wouldn’t. I knew by the time the first agent or cop got the first call, Gault would be gone. He had recognized me. I had seen it in his cold blue stare. He would know exactly what I would do the minute I could, and he would disappear again.
“I thought you said he was in England,” I stupidly said.
“I said we believe he was,” Wesley said.
“Don’t you see, Benton?” I went on because my mind would not stop. Connections were being made left and right.