'I don't know what you mean,' she said hesitantly.
'Sure you do. You have a fling with Tuck. Dawson has his ear to the ground and finds out, or maybe he put you up to it, who knows. But now he has the proof to take to DHS. Banging the president's brother-in-law. They find out, Dawson wins the contract and you get a backdoor payoff. Maybe part of it was in that envelope he gave you today.' He held up the camera. 'Only now I have the proof about you and Greggie to give to DHS and crater your dream. Interesting development, wouldn't you say? And why a cash payoff?'
'Greg said they can track any funds these days. Electronic, Swiss bank accounts, anything. The cash was sort of a down payment.'
'Okay.'
'Look, maybe we can cut some kind of deal.'
'I'm not looking for cash in an envelope.'
'Deals don't have to always be about money.' She glanced at him anxiously. 'I know you think I'm probably a slut, but I'm really not. We could have a lot of fun together. I mean a lot.'
'Thanks, but I'm not really into women who show their ass to every delivery guy who knocks on their door. And not to be too blunt but when was the last time you were checked for an STD?'
She moved to slap him but he caught her by the wrist.
'You can't sleep your way out of this one, lady. This is not about some lousy government contract and screwing your way to the nice condo life on the water. Unless you cooperate with me you're looking at being a clear accessory on a murder-kidnapping charge. In Virginia, where it took place, that's a capital offense. And death by lethal injection may be painless but you still end up really dead.'
The tears started to flow now from Cassandra. 'I had nothing to do with any of that, I swear to God.'
Sean pulled out a digital recorder and set it on the coffee table.
'Sit.'
She sat.
'Here's the deal. Unless you tell me the absolute truth, and I know enough about it that if you try to screw with me even a little, this all gets turned over to the Feds ASAP, got it?'
She nodded, brushing tears from her eyes.
'Great.' Sean turned on the device and said, 'On the day before his wife was killed, Tuck was here with you. He stayed at your condo, is that correct?'
She nodded.
'I need to hear you.'
'Yes, he was here.'
'He'd spent the night before, hadn't he?'
'Yes.'
'And you two were having an affair?'
'Yes.'
'Did his wife know?'
'I don't know. Tuck didn't seem to think so.'
'Tuck hired you because of your former job at DHS. He thought that would give him an inside track on winning a big contract from Homeland Security, correct?'
'Yes.'
'And you're now double-crossing him with Greg Dawson and Science Matters?'
Cassandra hesitated. Sean reached for the recorder. 'Okay, have it your way.'
'Wait. Yes. I'm working with Greg Dawson behind Tuck's back. He was having us followed. He found out about the affair. He came to me and offered a better deal. I took it.'
'Tuck Dutton was supposed to come back to Virginia on the day after his family was attacked. But he came back early. Do you know why?'
'We… we had a disagreement.'
'About what?'
'I… I think he suspected something was going on.'
'With Dawson and you?'
She looked surprised. 'No. It was the opposite of that.'
Sean looked puzzled. 'The opposite?'
'He thought his wife was having an affair. I told him I thought he was being stupid. I said what were the odds that he and his wife would be screwing around at the same time? I guess that was sort of tactless, but men are such little boys when it comes to adultery. Okay, so you messed around. It's not that big of a deal. So get over it.'
'But he didn't get over it.'
'No. I actually thought he was going to hit me. He said he loved his wife. And here we're sitting naked on my bed after screwing each other's brains out. And I said something dumb like, 'Well, you have a funny way of showing it.' Then he yelled at me, grabbed his stuff, and left.'
'Did he say why he thought his wife was having an affair?'
'He mentioned something about some phone calls he'd overheard. And he said one time that he followed Pam and she had coffee with some man he didn't know.'
Sean sat back against the cushions. That was one angle he'd never considered. 'Did he describe what the guy looked like?'
'No. He never did.'
'There was about an hour unaccounted for between the time Tuck should've been home and when he actually got there. I'm talking around 9:30 to about 11:00 that night. Did he call you during that time?'
'No, I haven't heard a word from him since he bolted out of here.'
Sean looked skeptically at her. 'I need the absolute truth, Cassandra.'
'I swear. Check my phone records. I went to bed and didn't talk to anybody.'
Sean switched off the recorder. 'If I need to talk to you again, I better be able to find you.'
'Are you going to let this all come out?'
'No. At least not yet. But piece of advice. Tell Greggie to back off the contract.'
'He's going to be really upset. He's already paid me a lot of money.'
'That's your problem. Why don't you try the old bend and hold, since Greg just doesn't seem to be a foot-in- the-crotch kind of guy.'
Sean was on a flight back to D.C. that night. He'd discovered a lot. The only trouble was he now had more questions than before.
CHAPTER 30
WILLA STAYED CLOSE to the rock wall as she flitted along the corridor, her fingers scraping over the uneven surface. She listened for any sound, watching for any glow of light. She had her own lantern turned down so low that she could barely see. It was cold, and mists of her breath trailed the young girl down the dark path. She turned a corner and stopped.
Was that someone coming? She turned off the light and flattened herself against the rock. Five minutes later she started moving again. This time she kept the light off. Her hand grazed across wood and then hit the metal. She halted, turned the light on to its lowest level. It revealed the metal lock.
Just like the one on my door.
She found enough courage to lift her hand and tap lightly on the wood. No answer. She tapped again, a bit harder.
'Who is it?' a quavering voice said from the other side.
Willa looked around and then placed her face against the door and whispered, 'Are you locked in?'
She heard footsteps and then the voice said, 'Who are you?'
'My name is Willa. I was locked in too but got out. I think I can get you out too. What's your name?'
