us down in Pittsburgh.’
‘I know. You gave it to me when the police arrived.’
‘Did you look at it?’
She shook her head. ‘There wasn’t time. I stuffed it in my shirt like you told me to, and I gave it back to you once we’d left the building. Why? Did I damage it? If I did, I’m sorry. I kind
Payne interrupted her. ‘Megan, relax. You didn’t damage the letter. Then again, even if you had destroyed it, we wouldn’t have the right to complain.’
She looked confused. ‘Why not?’
Jones handed the envelope to her. ‘Because it was addressed to you.’
Megan blinked a few times, then focused on the centre of the manila envelope. Shockingly, she saw her name and mailing address, penned in fancy calligraphy. ‘Is this a joke?’
Payne stared at her from across the desk. ‘Do we look like we’re joking?’
‘No, but…’
‘But, what?’ Jones demanded. ‘Isn’t that the envelope I gave you?’
‘I think so, but I can’t explain this.’
Jones grunted. ‘That’s too bad because we can’t explain it, either.’
A few days earlier, Payne would have considered himself a great judge of character, but after the whole ordeal with Ashley, he was slightly less confident in his ability to detect a con artist. However, based on the bewilderment on Megan’s face, he was pretty damn certain she was being honest with them. She
‘Let me ask you something else,’ Payne said. ‘When you first knocked on Ashley’s door, you said you were expecting some kind of package. What were you expecting?’
‘I wasn’t expecting anything.’
Payne leaned back in his chair, annoyed. ‘See, I find that hard to believe. You asked me about the package several times. It had to be important to you.’
She shook her head. ‘I asked because I was curious. Not because it was important.’
‘What’s
Megan pulled out her cell phone. ‘May I show you something?’
Payne and Jones nodded their heads.
She touched a button and started scrolling through her messages. ‘When I was in New Orleans, I worked from sunup to sundown, so my phone was never with me. But on one of the nights — Wednesday, I think — I got a strange text message. Here, take a look at this.’
She handed the phone to Jones, who studied the screen, trying to make sense of the cryptic message. Unlike the mysterious letter, the entire text had been written in English.
Protect it with your life.
Death shall visit those untrue.
Blood of his first wife.
44
‘I consider myself an educated man,’ he said to Megan, ‘so when I read poetry I tend to ask myself certain things. For instance, what was the central theme of the piece? Why did the writer choose this particular rhyming scheme? Occasionally, I even like to speculate on which schools of thought influenced the poet’s word choice.’
Payne glanced at Jones, trying to figure out where he was going with his line of questioning. He knew damn well that Jones didn’t read poetry — apart from the lyrics of his favourite rap songs.
‘That being said,’ Jones continued, ‘do you know what question popped into my mind while I read your text message?’
He leaned closer. ‘Why the fuck didn’t you show us this last night?’
‘Excuse me?’ she blurted.
Payne cleared his throat. ‘Language.’
Jones raised his hands defensively. ‘Sorry for being so crass, but vulgarity isn’t nearly as offensive as gunfire. I mean, curse words sting and all, but bullets freakin’ kill!’
Payne cleared his throat even louder.
‘What?’ Jones snapped. ‘I said
‘I know you did, but calm down.’
‘Calm down? Why should I calm down? Personally I think
‘And what good would that do?’
‘What good?’ Jones asked incredulously. ‘Maybe it would help her understand that she shouldn’t keep intelligence from us. That keeping us in the dark is a good way to get us killed.’
Megan had heard enough. She wasn’t the type of person who was going to let two people argue about her while she was in the room — especially since she didn’t feel she had done anything wrong. ‘Wait a second! Do you mean like
Jones glared at her for a few uncomfortable seconds. As much as he hated to admit it, she had a valid point. They had been keeping things from her. Important things. Of course, that’s the way it had been for them during their military careers. Information was compartmentalized. Everything was on a need-to-know basis. And since Payne and Jones were at the top of the MANIAC pyramid, they got to pick and choose when intelligence was passed to their men. Unfortunately, now that they were in the real world, they occasionally struggled with the concept of give and take. Sometimes information had to be shared for trust to be earned.
‘Listen,’ Jones said, suddenly not as loud or angry as a moment before, ‘I can understand your point of view, but you have to understand mine. When it comes to safety, there are no secrets. If you get a text message or a phone call that mentions death or threatens anyone in any way, you tell us ASAP. In return, we’ll do our best to keep everyone safe.’
Megan nodded in agreement. That sounded like a fair deal to her. ‘In hindsight, you’re right. I
‘Well, now you know.’
She nodded and stuck out her hand towards Jones. ‘Still friends?’
He smiled and gave her a fist bump. ‘Still friends.’
For Payne, it was a major struggle not to tease Jones. He had never seen one of his rants cut so short. Normally, Jones spouted on and on until he eventually ran out of steam, but she had managed to disarm him with a well-timed rebuttal and a few kind words. To Payne, it was like watching a woman use the Jedi mind trick. Only better. Because this wasn’t fiction.
‘Hey, DJ,’ Payne said, ‘do you feel like working your magic?’
‘With what?’
Payne handed Megan’s phone to Jones. ‘The message was sent to her on Wednesday night from a restricted number. Can you access her account and find out who sent it?’
‘I can, but I’ll have to do it in the other room.
Payne nodded. ‘That’s fine. I think I can handle things from here.’
‘Scream if you need me,’ Jones said as he walked through the door.
Megan glanced over her shoulder to make sure he couldn’t hear what she was about to say. ‘Well, that was interesting.’
Payne leaned back in his chair, impressed. ‘I have to admit, you showed a lot of moxie. Not only did you stand
