'Why?'
'Homeless women don't use apricot-scented shampoo. That's why I watched you instead of Ed.'
'I appreciate that, hon,' McCaskey said. He looked back toward the street. The plainclothesman was escorting the man with the laptop toward the sedan. The man was complaining loudly. March was walking toward the lawn. When he arrived, McCaskey handed him the passports and knife. March called his dispatcher and asked for emergency medical technicians to care for the woman.
'These are impressive,' the postal officer said. 'Thanks. Both of you.'
'Glad we could help. What have you got on him?' McCaskey asked, nodding toward the man with the laptop.
'He didn't stop when we asked him to,' March said.
'Is that a crime?' Maria asked.
'No. I've got a feeling he's hiding something,' March said. 'I want to have a look at the computer.'
'You are permitted to look at his computer files because of a feeling?'
Maria asked.
'No,' March said. 'We are permitted access to his computer under Section 217 of the USA Patriot Act. Suspected computer transgression, possible web cam surveillance of federal officers near a national monument is a crime. No court order required to investigate.'
'He may not have known you people were federal officers,' McCaskey pointed out.
'Perhaps,' March said. 'But we have reasonable cause for suspicion. He handled the parcel from the embassy, and he did not stop when we asked him to, repeatedly. If he's innocent, it's a minor inconvenience, and we'll apologize. If he's guilty, we may save lives.'
McCaskey made a face as the security officers from the Memorial arrived. March showed them his badge, then asked them to watch the woman. He said an ambulance would be arriving in just a few minutes.
'Look, I've got to put this baby to bed,' March said. He offered his hand to McCaskey and Maria in turn. 'I can't thank you enough. If you ever need anything, just shout.'
'I will,' McCaskey said.
Op-Center's top cop felt as though he should say something more on the man's behalf but decided against it. Ed March had a point. He also had the law on his side. McCaskey himself had thought the man might be involved in this. That, too, had been a feeling. Sometimes, lawmen had to act on that.
McCaskey had parked on C Street. He walked back with Maria. His wife was scowling and complained that this was what Spain was like under Franco.
'If everyone El Caudillo arrested had actually been guilty of crimes, Spain would have been a nation of felons,' she said.
'The situations are not the same,' McCaskey said. 'Franco was a tyrant. Ed is a good officer trying to protect American lives.'
'This is how good officers become tyrants,' she replied.
'Not always,' he said with more hope than conviction.
The American system was not perfect, but as they drove to Op-Center, McCaskey took comfort in a slogan that had been written on the blackboard of a Community Outreach Theory class he once took at the FBI Academy in Quantico It was a reassuring quote from Jefferson: 'The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.'
SIX
Washington, D.C. Monday, 9:02 a.m.
Mike Rodgers pulled into the Op-Center parking lot moments after Darrell McCaskey arrived. Their reserved parking spots were side by side, and McCaskey waited while Rodgers got out. The spots were numbered rather than named. If security were ever compromised and someone rigged a car to explode, the assassin would have to
