she refused to allow him to officially check her out. The hospital would insist on a wheelchair-standard policy-and a front-door exit. Instead they took the stairs and slipped out the delivery entrance.
She waited while he brought the car around. Once they were both buckled in, he looked at her. “What’s the plan?”
“We find Harry.”
He smiled at her. “Good plan. How do y-”
The faint sound of a digitized version of the song “Brown-Eyed Girl” interrupted him.
Her cell phone’s ring tone.
“It’s in your purse,” he said. “I locked it in the-”
“Trunk.”
He shifted into park, threw open his car door and climbed out. A moment later he returned with her purse, cell clipped to it, message light blinking frantically.
A number she didn’t recognize-perhaps her father had bought a prepaid for security. She quickly scrolled through a half-dozen missed calls and one text message waiting. All from Harry.
She returned the last call first, and it was answered on the first ring. “Dad, it’s me. Thank God! I was so worried.”
“Charlotte! Where are you?”
“Jack and I-”
She bit the words back, realization crashing in on her. Not her father. Her father hadn’t called her Charlotte since the second grade.”
“Charlotte? Sweetheart, are you-”
With a sound of distress, she hung up. “Drive, Jack. Now.”
He did as she instructed. “What happened?”
“Someone pretended to be Harry. They wanted to know where I was.”
“Check your messages.”
She did. At the sound of her father’s voice relief flooded her.
“Charley, I’ve been delayed. I hope to still make a late dinner. Love you.”
She frowned at the second message. “Charley, there’s a situation here. I’ll explain everything when I get there. Look… Be careful. Stay with Jack. Don’t trust anyone you don’t know. My flight’s due into Dulles at 7:10 p.m.”
By the third and last message there was no denying the panic in his voice. “Where are you? I’m boarding the Paris flight. When you get this, dial back so I’ll know you’re okay.”
She checked the text message next.
GREEN LANTERN EVAC SCOTLAND
She stared at those four little words, feeling as if all the air had suddenly been sucked out of the car’s interior.
“What’s wrong?”
“Change in plans. We’re going to Capitol Hill. The Scotland-The St. Regis.”
While he drove, she explained about the code. When she finished, he glanced at her. “This is a gag?”
“Hardly. Harry would never have sent that text message unless it was for real.”
“Maybe he didn’t send it?”
The thought chilled her, but only for a moment. “No, no one else would know our code. Even mother only knew part of it. Harry sent it.”
“This makes no sense. It’s like some cloak-and-dagger parlor game. Only you’re telling me it’s real.” Perez pulled up in front of the hotel. “What is your dad, some kind of a spy?”
She flung open the car door. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Moments later, she greeted the guest services agent. She dug a photo of Harry out of her wallet; the guy at the desk squinted at it, then nodded.
“He was here. Looking for some woman. You, I suppose. Went to the bar to wait.”
She thanked him and hurried to the lounge. She saw right away that he wasn’t there.
She crossed to the bar. The bartender was busy with another patron, a stunning redhead. While she waited for him to finish, her attention was drawn to the television behind the bar, the news story being broadcast. A shooting at Dulles. A police officer down. The grainy image of the suspect.
Harry. It couldn’t be true.
“What can I get you?”
She looked at the bartender. She had the photo of her father out, ready to ask if the man had seen him, if he knew where he’d gone. Instead, she shook her head and slipped the photo back into her pocket. She couldn’t chance him recognizing Harry and sounding the alarm.
“Nothing. I just remembered… Sorry.”
She turned and quickly left, aware of the bartender’s gaze on her. As she strode past the desk again, she glanced the attendant’s way. He was on the phone; when he saw her looking his way, he quickly averted his eyes.
If those goons had what they wanted, they wouldn’t have paid her the little visit in the hospital. That was the good news.
The bad news. Harry was wanted in connection with the murder of a cop. That part of the “agent’s” story had been legitimate.
By now, the police knew who he was, where he worked and lived. Where she lived. They were amassing the names of friends and coworkers. He wouldn’t be able to use his credit cards or cell phone. His car would be off- limits, as would his home.
He had two groups after him-the fake police and the real ones.
Her husband was waiting for her at the hotel entrance, expression tight. “Any luck?”
“He was here. He’s not now.”
“Look, I was listening to the news and-”
“I know,” she said, cutting him off. “I saw it on the TV. In the bar.”
They hurried up the block to their BMW and slid inside. “Maybe those guys were real agents?”
“No way,” she replied. “Mother lives close by. Maybe she’s heard from him.”
“Sylvia and your father hate each other.”
Hate was a strong word, but she certainly wouldn’t call them friends. A more mismatched union she couldn’t imagine. Plus, her mother had never forgiven Harry for Charlotte liking him more than her. And for turning her only child into what she called a “do-gooder, spy-in-training.”
The marriage’s final straw had been the brief affair he’d had with one of his fellow Volunteers-Leonora Tesla.
“Let’s try there anyway. At the very least, I can borrow a change of clothes.”
Her mother would ask about the baby. They’d have to explain. She brought a hand to her empty belly. She didn’t want to talk about it. She couldn’t.
Falling apart was a luxury she couldn’t afford right now.
They made her mother’s upscale Georgetown neighborhood in less than 20 minutes. Easing to a stop in front of the two-story colonial, they climbed out of the car and hurried up the walk.
Her mother’s Mercedes sedan was parked in the drive. The porch was dark, though light glowed in several of the windows.
Charley rang the bell. From inside came the frenzied yapping of Bella, her mother’s Pomeranian.
“Mother!” she called, ringing again. “It’s me!”
Maybe she’d gone out with a friend who had picked her up. Or she was on a date.
No. This wasn’t right. She felt it in her gut.
Beside her, Perez dialed his mother-in-law’s number. It rang twice, four times, six times.
Heart thundering, she dug in her purse for her key ring. She kept one of her mother’s spares in case of emergency. She found it, fitted the key in the lock and eased the door open.
