“Do you know her?”
The man’s face remained expressionless.
“Do I know who?”
“Holly or whatever her name is. I saw her for a second this afternoon before the Marshals took her away. She told me her family is in danger.”
Again, Erik thought he saw something pass across the man’s face.
“She said the lawyer who came to see her today wasn’t even a real lawyer. And then it turned out—”
Erik paused, realizing maybe his life was in danger after all, that these two men might have visited the real lawyer earlier in the day.
The SEAL tilted his head.
“And then it turned out what?”
Erik wet his lips again.
“Did you kill her?”
“Did we kill who?”
“The lawyer.”
The SEAL traded a glance with the other man and frowned down at Erik.
“Chief, I can’t speak for my associate over there, but I certainly didn’t kill anybody today. Care to start making some sense?”
Erik had the feeling the man honestly didn’t know what he was talking about, and decided to push on.
“It turns out the real lawyer was murdered this morning, and another woman had come to the station impersonating her.”
The man glanced at his associate again, and there was something severe in the look, something that told Erik there was a lot more going on than he had first thought.
The man said, “Any idea who this woman was who impersonated the lawyer?”
“None.”
“Did Holly tell you anything else?”
The man said the name so easily, so naturally, Erik realized that was in fact her real name.
“She gave me a phone number to call. She said it was to some dry cleaners only it wasn’t really to a dry cleaners. Said to call and leave a message saying that her family is in danger. I figured she was bullshitting me, so I—”
He stopped when he noted the expression on the man’s face. This clearly meant something significant to him.
“She wasn’t bullshitting me, was she?”
The man said, “Who are you?”
“What do you mean? You read my background.”
“No, I mean what are you to her—a one-night stand or something more serious?”
Erik thought about it for a moment.
“Something more serious. Why?”
“Because it’s clear she trusted you. She wouldn’t have given you the number otherwise. Are you positive she said her family is in danger?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“All right. So what’s going to happen now is my associate and I are going to leave, and you’re going to stay here and act like we never had this conversation.”
Erik started to stand up, saw the gun still aimed at him, and stayed where he was with his back against the wall.
“Where are you going?”
“That’s no concern of yours.”
“If you’re”—he paused, not sure how to say the rest but then decided just to go with it—“if you’re going to try to save her family, I want to help.”
“Fat chance, Romeo. You’re staying here.”
“Please”—there was a hint of desperation in his voice, something he couldn’t hide—“I need to help.”
The man studied his face.
“Why?”
“I just … I can’t sit by and do nothing.”
The thin man tapped his foot on the floor, and when he had the SEAL’s attention, he tossed him the cell phone.
The SEAL scanned the screen again, and shook his head.
“No fucking way.”
The thin man nodded, his expression serious.
The SEAL said, “Fine, then I’ll call him and see what he says.”
He held the phone to his ear and listened for a moment, then said, “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” and listened some more and then said, “We don’t know anything about him,” and listened some more before he finally said, “Okay, fine,” and then disconnected the call and tossed the phone back to the thin man.
The SEAL leveled his gaze on Erik.
“You want to help?”
Erik nodded.
“Yes, of course.”
“Then you’re going to do everything I tell you to do.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“For starters, I need you to shut the fuck up and listen. You were suspended and are currently under investigation. Do you understand how it’s going to look if you all of a sudden disappear?”
Erik nodded—it wouldn’t look good at all—and the man continued.
“Holly’s family lives out near Washington, D.C. That’s where James and I are headed next. We didn’t manage to find any clues here about where Holly may have ended up. It’s like she disappeared into thin air. So the only lead we have—if you are to be believed—is that her family is in danger. There’s a private jet waiting for us at an airfield sixty miles away from here. If you want to go with us to D.C., you’re welcome, but again, you need to do everything I say. Got it?”
Erik looked back and forth between the thin man and the SEAL, expecting this to be some cruel joke, like the man might put a bullet in his head anyway.
“Yes.”
“For the record, I think this a terrible idea. But Holly clearly trusted you, so you have that going for you. Plus, Holly’s family consists of her mother and her sister’s family. Which means if they are being watched, we could use as many eyes as possible. Understood?”
“Yes.”
The man holstered the gun and held out his hand to help Erik up.
“The name’s Nova. That’s James.”
The man’s grip was strong. Erik got to his feet and nodded at the thin man named James before he turned his attention back to the man named Nova.
“Her name’s Holly?”
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
“We can discuss that later.”
Erik looked around the dark apartment, suddenly lost.
“I get going to D.C. if that’s where her family is, but shouldn’t we be trying to find out what happened to her?”
“Atticus is working on it right now.”
“Who’s Atticus?”
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is we need to leave.”
Erik nodded, but still felt lost.
“Holly must be in danger.”
Nova said, “That’s right, she is. But she should be okay.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Trust me, chief. Holly knows how to take care of herself.”
Twenty-Six
A low, distant buzzing, like a pulsing swarm of bees.
A quiet buzz buzz buzz that increases
