He got out his cigarettes. "She might've had the book in the knapsack. And she might've made a copy of it when she copied the letters. All I know is she left me the one I handed over to you whenever it was."
"Yesterday," I said.
"Yeah, man. Yesterday." Shutting his eyes, he started slapping the edge of the table again.
"Thank you, PJ," I said.
He didn't pay any attention as we left, pushing our way out of the bar to escape into the fresh night air.
"That's what's known as an exercise in futility," Mark said as we began walking back to the hotel.
"I don't know," I answered. "But it makes sense to me that Beryl would have copied the manuscript when she copied the letters. I can't imagine her leaving her book with PJ unless she had a copy."
"After having met him, I can't imagine her doing so, either. PJ's not exactly what I'd call a reliable custodian."
"Actually he is, Mark. He's just a little carried away tonight."
"Fried is the word."
"Maybe that's what my appearance did to him."
"If Beryl copied her manuscript and carried it back to Richmond with her," Mark continued, "then whoever killed her must have stolen it."
"Frankie," I said.
"Which may explain why he next went after Gary Harper. Our friend Frankie got jealous, the thought of Harper in Beryl's bedroom driving him crazy-crazier. Harper's habit of going to Culpeper's every afternoon is in Beryl's book."
"I know."
"Frankie could have read about that, known how to find him, figured it was the best time to catch him by surprise."
"What better time than when you're half crocked and getting out of your car on a dark driveway in the middle of nowhere?" I said.
"Just surprises me he didn't go after Sterling Harper, too."
"Maybe he would have."
"You're right. He never had the chance," Mark said. "She spared him the trouble."
Reaching for each other's hands, we fell silent, our shoes quietly scuffing along the sidewalk as the breeze stirred the trees. I wanted the moment to go on forever. I dreaded the truths we had to face. It wasn't until Mark and I were in our room, drinking wine together, that I asked the question.
"What next, Mark?"
"Washington," he said, turning away to look out the window. "In fact, tomorrow. I'll be debriefed, repro-grammed."
He took a deep breath. "Hell, I don't know what I'll do after that."
"What do you want to do after that?" I asked.
"I don't know, Kay. Who knows where they'll send me?"
He continued staring out at the night. "And I know you're not going to leave Richmond."
"No, I can't leave Richmond. Not now. My work is my life, Mark."
"It's always been your life," he said. "My work is my life, too. That leaves very little room for diplomacy."
His words, his face were breaking my heart. I knew he was right. When I tried to speak again, the tears came.
We held each other tightly until he fell asleep in my arms. Gently disengaging myself, I got up and returned to the window, where I sat smoking, my mind obsessively turning over many things until dawn began to pink the sky.
I took a long shower. The hot water soothed me and reinforced my resolve. Refreshed and robed, I left the humid bathroom to find Mark up and ordering breakfast.
"I'm returning to Richmond," I announced firmly, sitting next to him on the bed.
He frowned. "Not a good idea, Kay."
"I've found the manuscript, you're leaving, and I don't want to wait here alone expecting Frankie, Scott Partin, or even Sparacino himself to show up," I explained.
"They haven't found Frankie. It's too risky. I'll arrange for your protection here," he protested. "Or in Miami. That's probably better. You could stay with your family for a while."
"No."
"Kay-"
"Mark, Frankie may already have left Richmond. They may not find him for weeks. They may never find him. What am I supposed to do, hide in Florida forever?"
Leaning back into the pillows, he didn't respond.
I reached for his hand. "I won't allow my life, my career to be disrupted like this, and I refuse to be intimidated any longer. I'll call Marino and arrange for him to meet me at the airport."
He wrapped both of his hands around mine. Looking into my eyes, he said, "Come back with me to D.C. Or you can stay at Quantico for a while."
I shook my head. "Nothing's going to happen to me, Mark."
He pulled me close. "I can't stop thinking about what happened to Beryl."
Neither could I.
We kissed good-bye at the Miami airport, and I walked quickly away from him and did not look back. I was awake only during the interval when I changed planes in Atlanta. The rest of the time I slept in my seat, physically and emotionally drained.
Marino met me at the gate. For once he seemed to sense my mood and followed me patiently and in silence through the terminal. The Christmas decorations and merchandise in the airport's shop windows only fed my depression. I wasn't looking forward to the holidays. I wasn't sure how or when Mark and I would see each other again. To make matters worse, when Marino and I got to the baggage area we spent an hour watching luggage make its lazy rounds on a carousel. It gave Marino an opportunity to debrief me while I got increasingly out of sorts. Finally, I reported my suitcase missing. After the tedium of filling out a detailed multiple-part form, I retrieved my car and, with Marino once again tailing me, drove home. The dark, rainy night blessedly obscured the damage to the front yard as we parked in my driveway. Marino had reminded me earlier that they'd had no luck locating Frankie while I was away. He wasn't taking any chances.
After shining his flashlight over my property in search of broken windows or anything else hinting of an intruder, he took me through my house, turning on lights in each room, checking closets and even looking under the beds.
We were heading to the kitchen and thinking about coffee when we both recognized the code blaring out of his portable radio.
"Two-fifteen, ten-thirty-three-"
"Shit!" Marino exclaimed, snatching the radio out of his jacket pocket.
Ten-thirty-three was the code for "Mayday."
Radio broadcasts were ricocheting like bullets through the air. Patrol cars were responding like jets taking off. An officer was down at a convenience store not far from where I lived. Apparently he had been shot.
"Seven-oh-seven, ten-thirty-three," Marino barked to the dispatcher that he was responding as he hurried to my front door.
"Goddamm it! Walters! He's just a fuckin' kid!"
He ran out cursing into the rain, calling back to me, "Lock up tight, Doc. I'll have a couple uniform men over here right away!"
I paced the kitchen, finally sitting at the table nursing straight Scotch while a hard rain drummed the roof and beat against windowpanes. My suitcase was lost and my.38 was inside it. It was a detail I had neglected to mention to Marino, my mind dulled by exhaustion. Too jittery to go to bed, I flipped through Beryl's manuscript, which I had been wise enough to hand-carry on the plane, and sipped my drink waiting for the police to arrive.
Just before midnight my doorbell rang, startling me out of my chair.
Looking through my front door peephole and expecting the officers Marino had promised, I saw a pale young man wearing a dark slicker and some sort of uniform cap. He looked cold and wet as he hunched against the blowing rain, a clipboard held against his chest.
"Who is it?" I called out.
"Omega Courier Service from Byrd Airport," he answered. "I've got your suitcase, ma'am."
"Thank God," I said with feeling, deactivating the alarm and unlocking the door.
Incapacitating terror seized me as he put down my suitcase inside the foyer and I suddenly remembered. I had written my office address on the lost baggage claim I had filled out at the airport, not my home address!
17