“Jameson, I feel that I should remind you…”
The growl in Jameson’s throat turned to apurr of triumph when Claire Manning was escorted through the narrowdoor. She looked tired, as if she hadn’t slept. A quick look at theclock showed it to be seven in the morning, which might explainmany things or nothing at all.
“Mrs. Manning, come in. Have a seat.”
Jameson leaned against the desk, blockingNichols’s view and sipping lukewarm coffee from a paper cup as hesavored his moment of triumph.
“Do you have any more of that?”
Jameson looked up to find the woman staringpointedly at his cup. “Of course. Where are my manners?”
“That is the million-dollar question, isn’tit?”
Gritting his teeth, he stood and moved tothe door. “Cream? Sugar?”
“Both.”
Cracking the door, Jameson shouted forMarshall and put in a request for more coffee for both of them andwaited, studying his elusive prey with all the pride of a huntertaking down his first big buck. For all her visible fatigue, ClaireManning was a lovely woman of slender build and vivid coloring. Shewould be eye-catching to any red-blooded man. Perhaps that was whythe anomaly had latched on to her after seeing her in Fielding’slab.
Marshall returned with the coffee, andJameson shooed him away once more before handing one of the cups toClaire. Leaning his hips against the desk, Jameson sipped from hiscup, contemplating the best way to force the truth from her. Hedoubted Nichols would be game for anything more forceful than amoderately raised voice.
“Nice RV, Phil. Can I call you Phil?” sheasked, looking around the small space as she sipped her coffee. “Ihave to say I’m surprised to find you here. I mean, if I had knownyou were looking for me, I might have come sooner.”
Jameson gnashed his teeth, not believing aword of her innocent prattle. “I did mention in Spokane that Iwould have more questions for you, didn’t I?”
The woman had the gall to wave her handdismissively. “I thought that was something you said to everyone.When Dr. Crandel called to confirm the lab closure, he didn’tmention anything about staying, so I leapt at the chance to getaway.”
“And where did you get away to?” he asked asevenly as possible. “The lab reopened at the beginning of the week,and yet you did not report for work.”
“Oh, well, that’s your fault, really,” shesaid, surprising him into silence with her words. His fault? Theonly blame he was due would be in hunting her to the point that shedidn’t feel safe to return.
“How is that?”
“What you said before when you were at myhouse? Do you remember? You were right. You were absolutely right.What an epiphany! But I suppose I should thank you. You made me seewhat a mistake I was making, so I’ve been trying to figure out whatto do with my life.”
Jameson tried to remember what he had saidthat would have garnered such a reaction. Something about tradingone job for the next? Was that it? “You’re going to try to tell methat the reason you’ve been missing for the past two weeks wasbecause I said something that made you rethink your life?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’mquitting my job at Mark-Davis because of you.”
Nichols choked with laughter behind him, andJameson frowned more deeply.
“If you’ve got nothing to hide then why haveyou been evading my agents?” he wanted to know.
“How could I evade them when I didn’t knowyou were looking for me?”
“Still, you didn’t cooperate when they camefor you. Why?”
“Well, a girl can never be too sure thatID’s like that are real, you know? I wasn’t going to hang aroundonly to find out they were serial killers or something,” she said.“Like I said, I wasn’t expecting you.”
That had to be a lie. There was no otherpossibility.
“They didn’t identify themselves to theother man?” Nichols asked, and the woman leaned to the side to seehim better.
“Actually, no, they didn’t,” she answeredwith a ring of truth. “That guy thought they were trying to kidnapme. Nice to know that there are still good people in the world whowould stop to help a woman in need, huh?”
That inanity was so trite, Jameson couldonly snort humorlessly.
“He took out two of my most formidableagents.”
“If you say so.”
My God, Jameson thought. Did she reallythink this was funny? “And the man you were seen with at Pike’sMarket?”
“My brother.”
“You have an answer for everything, don’tyou?” Jameson shoved a hand through his thinning hair with barelycontained frustration. “If you didn’t know that I was looking foryou, then what are you doing here?”
“I came because they won’t let me have mycar back until I do,” the woman said with a serene smile. “So can Igo now?”
“No,” Jameson ground out. “I want to knowwhere you’ve been for the last ten days. You haven’t been to yourparents’ house or returned to your own. Where were you? On thisisland?”
“I came over to walk on the beach andreflect on life,” Claire said, draining the last of her smallStyrofoam cup of coffee and tossing it into a waste bin next to thedesk. “As for the rest of it, I’d say it’s none of yourbusiness.”
“I say it is.”
‘Then I say show me your warrant, Phil,”Claire said pleasantly, hazarding a guess, and was rewarded byJameson’s glower and a chuckle from the man behind him. “But youcan’t, because you don’t have one, do you? Tell me, does BigBrother even know you’re here? Whatever you’ve been after, you’vebeen barking up the wrong tree.”
“I told you,” the other man said, and Claireleaned to the side to get a better view of the man at the desk. Hewas a pleasant-looking man in his mid-fifties or so who managed tosomehow look both amused and completely bored with the entiresituation.
“Who are you?”
“Jim Nichols with INSCOM, Mrs. Manning,” hesaid pleasantly. “It’s nice to meet you at last.”
“Nice to meet you,” she answered slowly,weighing his importance in comparison to Jameson’s with the NSA.Given his relaxed posture behind the desk, Nichols must not be fardown from Jameson, and he looked far more unconcerned with herpresence than the NSA agent did. Was it her
