'What about your shooter?'
'Mitch? You tell me, partner. You're the ones who vetted him.'
'How is he in the field, Denny?' Zachary pressed.
'Exactly the ringer I thought he'd be. As far as he's concerned, this is the Mitch and Denny Show, nothing else. I've got him completely under control.'
'Yes, well, all the same, we'd like to take some further precautions.'
He gave Denny two folded sheets from his inside breast pocket. Each one had a simple map printed on it, with a handwritten name and address beneath, and a single color photograph paper-clipped to the front.
'Hang on,' Denny said once he'd seen them. 'We never discussed anything like this.'
'We never set any parameters at all,' Zachary said. 'Isn't that the whole point? I hope you're not going to start quibbling now.'
'That's not what I said,' Denny replied. 'I just don't like surprises, that's all.'
Zachary's laugh was less than convincing. 'Oh, come on, 'Denny.' You're the king of surprises, aren't you? You've got all of Washington on tenterhooks.'
Zachary reached over the front seat and took a canvas pouch from the driver, then laid it on the padded armrest between them. This was a pay-as-you-go contract, and Denny's price, as always, had been nonnegotiable.
Inside the pouch were six unnumbered ten-ounce gold ingots, each with a minimum millesimal fineness of 999. Nothing was more portable, and the fact that the gold was hard to come by only helped Denny weed out the wrong kind of client.
Denny took a few minutes to memorize the next assignment. Then he handed the sheets back to Zachary and picked up the pouch. Once he'd wrapped the goods in an old Safeway bag from his jacket pocket, he opened the car door to go.
'One other thing,' Zachary told him as he started to get out. 'It's a little close in here. You might think about a shower next time.'
Denny closed the door behind him and walked away, back into the night.
I clean up just fine, he said to himself, but you'll always be a lackey asshole.
Chapter 47
THE DOORBELL RANG in the middle of our dinner the next day. Usually it was the phone, and was almost always one of Jannie's girlfriends. And she wondered why I didn't want to get her a cell phone.
'I'll get it!' she chirped, and jumped right up from the table.
'Five dollars says it's Terry Ann,' I said.
Bree put her money down on the table. 'I'm going with Alexis.'
Whoever it was had obviously been cleared by Rakeem.
But almost right away, Jannie was back. Her face looked totally blank, almost shell-shocked.
And then Christine Johnson walked into my kitchen.
'Mommy!' Ali knocked over his chair getting out of it. Then he ran over to be scooped up in his mother's arms.
'Look at you! Look at you!'
Christine hugged him tight and smiled at the rest of us over his shoulder – that brilliant smile I remembered so well, the one that said all was right with the world, even when it wasn't even close to that.
'My God,' she said as her eyes went around the table. 'You all look like you've seen a ghost!'
In a way, that's how I felt. A few years ago, at Christine's request, we'd signed a stipulation reversing legal custody of Ali to me. She saw him at her home in Seattle for thirty days every summer and fifteen days during the school year. My only condition had been that we stick to the agreement, for everyone's sake. So far, that's what we'd done… until tonight anyway.
'I can't believe this boy!' She set Ali down and looked him over again. Her eyes were glassy with tears. 'How did you get so much bigger since the last time I saw you?'
'I don't know!' Ali squealed, and looked over at us.
I smiled for his sake. 'Look who it is, bud! Can you believe it?' I stared at Christine. 'What a surprise.'
'Guilty,' she said, still smiling. 'Hello, Regina.'
'Christine.' Nana's voice was tight and controlled. It sounded like a slow boil to me.
'And you must be Bree. I'm so glad to finally meet you. I'm Christine.'
Bree was fantastic, no surprise. She got right up, walked over to Christine, and gave her a hug. 'You've got an amazing son,' she said. Typical Bree – she can always find a way to speak the truth in any situation, even one as uncomfortable as this.
'Mommy, you want to see my room?' Ali was already tugging on her hand, leading her toward the hall and stairs.
'I sure do,' she said, and looked back at me – for permission, I think. In fact, everyone was staring at me now.
'How about we all three go?' I said, and got up to follow them out of the kitchen.
At the bottom of the stairs, Christine stopped and turned to me. Ali ran up ahead of us.
'I know what you're thinking,' she said.
'Do you?'
'Honestly, it's nothing more than it seems, Alex. Just a surprise visit. I've got a conference in DC this week – and I couldn't stay away from Ali.'
I didn't know whether to believe her or not. Christine had shown herself to be a very changeable person over the years, including the way she fought for custody so hard and then gave it up just as quickly.
'You could have called first,' I said. 'You should have called, Christine.'
Ali practically screamed from the top of the stairs, he was so excited. 'Come on, you guys!'
'Here we come, little man!' I called to him. As we started up, I spoke low to Christine. 'This is going to be a onetime thing. Nothing more than that. Okay?'
'Absolutely,' she said, and reached back to give my arm a squeeze. 'Cross my heart and hope to die.'
Chapter 48
THE NEXT DAY was jam-packed for me, and I honestly didn't give Christine much thought as my morning and most of my afternoon slipped away.
I saw both Bronson and Rebecca at their respective hospitals, performed some follow-up interviews in Woodley Park, did a consultation with the DA's office on a separate case, and, finally, took some much-needed desk time to try and chip away at my stack of overdue reports.
Then, around three, I was picking up a late sandwich at the Firehook near the Daly Building – and I got a call from Ali's school.
'Dr. Cross? It's Mindy Templeton at Sojourner Truth.' Mindy was a school secretary and had been there for years, including during Christine's tenure as principal.
'I feel a little awkward about this, but Christine Johnson's here to pick up Alexander, and she's not on his caregiver list. I just wanted to get your permission before we let him go.'
'What?'
I didn't mean to raise my voice so loud, but suddenly everyone in the coffee shop was turning to look at me. A second later, I was out on the sidewalk, still talking on my cell. 'Mindy, the answer is no. Christine may not take Ali, do you understand?'
'Yes, of course.'
'I don't mean to alarm you,' I said more evenly. 'If you could just please ask Christine to wait, I'll be there as
