Not entirely true, because Carpenter’s cronies were still out there. Some day.
Mel said to Rogers, “So, Patti — where’s this guy of yours?”
“He’s just a friend.”
“Sure he is,” Amy said with a wicked little smile.
“Anyway, he marches to his own drummer.”
Reeder said, “Even when a free meal is in the offing?”
Rogers, looking behind her, said, “Here he is...”
A slender, dark-haired, very handsome guy in his early thirties — his suit a sharp gray number over a blue dress shirt, open at the neck — stood poised at the door between the bar area and the dining room.
Rogers waved him their way. He came over and stood shyly behind the empty chair beside her and she smiled up at him, squeezing his elbow.
“Everybody, this is Kevin Lockwood. Kevin...”
And she made the rest of the introductions.
Frowning in confusion as he shook hands with Kevin, Reeder asked, “Haven’t we met?”
Rogers glanced at Reeder with an impish smile. “Joe,” she said, “it’ll come to you.”
State of thanks
The following books were of help in the creation of this noveclass="underline" The Definitive Book of Body Language (2006), Allan and Barbara Pease; Images of America: Arlington National Cemetery (2006), George W. Dodge; Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior — Anytime, Anyplace (1998), Jo-Ellen Dimitrius and Mark Mazzarella.
Thank you to Eleanor Cawood Jones and Aimee and Eric Hix for helping make Matt’s research trip to Washington, DC, so productive.
As usual, thanks to Chris Kauffman, Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office (ret.), and Paul Van Steenhuyse for their expertise with weapons and computers, respectively.
We wish to thank our in-house editors, Barbara Collins and Pam Clemens, for improving our work with patience and skill.
Thanks also to our agent, Dominick Abel, and everyone at Thomas & Mercer, with special nods to Jacque Ben-Zekry, Kjersti Egerdahl, and Alan Turkus.