Gerry laughed as he picked v oblong box from the pocket.
"A lock-picking kit?" Even better." He opened up his jacket and pulled an _ the box and showed her . , something that looked like a miniature cordless screwdriver. "A battery-operated lock pick. " "Really? I didn't even know there was such a thing."
"They've been around for a while. This one's the E.P.GElectropick.
It'll open just about any pin-and-disk tumbler qlinder lock in under a minute." -"What about picking locks the old-fashioned way? " "Let's hope that won't be necessary, " Gerry said. "I never learned how.
Lock picking isn't a skill required by the Bureau.
"Then why this electro-thing? " "For when we're in a big hurry and we can't get a locksmith right away." He tried a number of little black metal instruments in the keyhole until he found one that fit, then he fixed that into the end of the Electropick and began adjusting a thumbscrew atop the device.
"Once we find the right-sized raking tool, we adjust the up-and-down motion, a narrow range for a small lock like this, put it into the lock, and turn her on. ' Gin watched the metal tool begin moving rapidly up and down inside the lock. Gerry moved the Electropick in and out a few times, then removed it.
"Okay. All the pins are in position. Now I just insert this tension bar", he slipped a fine, L-shaped metal rod into the keyhole, "and twist.
" She heard a click. He removed the tension bar and gestured toward the drawer.
"Okay. Give her a tug." The cabinet drawer easily pulled open. She kissed him.
"My hero! A man of many talents." He held up the Electropick. "Just me and my handy E.P.G- I .
'"Wait a minute. ' She rummaged in the bottom of the cabinet drawer.
"Here's the spare."
"Great place for it>" Gerry said with a wry smile. "How about sticking it xnder the cabinet for safekeeping? " "Good idea. But first . .
.
" She stuck the key in the slot and relocked the drawer. Then she held out her hand for the Electropick.
's Let me try." Gerry was hesitant, but then showed her how to use it.
Under his guidance she unlocked and relocked the cabinet three times.
Gin knew then that she had to have an Electropick.
"Where can I get one of these things? " '"Not at Wal-Mart, that's for sure. They cost a couple of hundred bucks, but if you really want one I can give you the address of a mail-order place."
"That's okay, " she said, disappointed. No time for mail order. "I mean, how many times would I need something like that? " And then it was time for dinner. They went out to a Thai place in the neighborhood where she couldn't talk Gerry into trying fish stomachs in peanut sauce. Then they caught the new Kevin Costner flick. She could tell Gerry wasn't crazy about it, and she might not have liked it either if Kevin Costner hadn't been the star. Just watching him move and listening to his voice made up for a multitude of shortcomings in the rest of the film.
And finally it was back to the apartment for more lovemaking. Slow and deliberately languorous this time
"Strange, isn't it? " Gin said as they lay together at the end. She was thinking how she might want to be with Gerry forever. "So much has happened to each of us since we went to high school. We hardly knew each other when we spent most of the day in the same building. And now after all those years and miles we run into each other in a city of millions and wind up like this. I don't believe in fate, but you've got to admit . . . " "Fate, " he said sofddy. "That has a nice ring to it." Gerry left about I , 00 A. M. Without the Electropick.
Desperate, Gin had removed it before llanding him his jacket. She felt like a creep, but consoled herself with the thought that she was only borrowing it.
Gin was warm and contented as she dozed off, vowing to spend most of Sunday morning becoming an expert with the Electropick, then tackling Duncan's drawer in the afternoon.
Only a nagging apprehension about what she'd find there disturbed her repose.
THE WEEK OF OCTOBER GINA r IT WAS TUESDAY AFTERNOON BEPORE GINA GOT A chance to use the Electropick on Duncan's drawer.
I should have been done with this days ago, she thought as she stood inside the door to the basement stairs. She was waiting for Barbara to leave her desk on one of her frequent trips to the copier or the printer, both of which were downstairs, or to the patient education room across the hall from her desk.
Sunday would have been perfect. Gin had practiced all morning with the Electropick and had become fairly adept. She'd used it on every cylinder lock in her apartment, even on her car.
Gerry had called Sunday afternoon, and they'd talked about how wonderful the night before had been. Finally he asked about the Electropick. He couldn't find it. Had he left it there? Gin told him he had and joked about it, telling him he didn't need to pull that old stunt of leaving something behind just so he could have an excuse to come back. When he mentioned stopping by later to pick it up, she begged offsaying she had a million errands to run before pulling a shift at the hospital. Which was sort of true. Luckily, Gerry didn't seem to be in a big rush to get it back. They had a number of the things at the Bureau.
More practice, and by midafternoon Gin felt ready. But when she arrived at the office she found a dark blue Buick Park Avenue parked in the lot. Oliver's car. What was he doing back? And on a Sunday when he should have been home watching football? Except Oliver wouldn't know a Redskin from a Mighty Duck. All he cared about were his lab and his implants.
So Gin drove off and returned in two hours. The Buick was still there.
Two hours after that it was gone but night was falling and the cleaning service had arrived. She had to call it quits. She was due at the hospital.
Monday offered no chance. Duncan stayed uncharacteristically late and Gin couldn't hang around because she had a meeting with the other legislative aides in Senator Marsden's office.
But today Duncan had stayed true to form, finishing his surgery and making a beeline for his club, so he said.
That was another thing that bothered her. Where did he really go? And who was the mysterious Dr. V. he'd been meeting with? Secrets and more secrets. How could she help but be suspicious?
She heard footsteps approaching. High heels. Only one person here wore heels. Casually, Gin stepped out into the hall.
"Hi, Barbara, " she said.
The blonde started, then smiled. "Jesus God, you scared me. I thought you were gone." I will be in about two minutes. ' Gin hurried down the hall and ducked into Duncan's office. Plenty of light from the afternoon sky filtering through the rock garden. Perfect lock-picking conditions.
"I've got to be crazy, " she muttered. Tension was a cold hand tightening on the nape of her neck. She tried to shake it off.
Do it. Now.
She knew if she hesitated, if she gave herself time to think, - she might allow a spasm of sanity to change her mind. She if pulled the Electropick from her lab-coat pocket and knelt before the drawer. On the remote chance that it might be unlocked, she tugged on the pull.
No such luck.
Okay. Electropick, do your thing.
She probed the keyhole with one of the raking tools but it wwldn't fit.
She needed a smaller one. No problem. She'd spent much of Sunday switching rakes. A lot like switching drill bits, only easier. She inserted the next smaller size, adjusted the thumbscrew, then tried again. This time it slipped in easily. Half a minute later she had the tension bat in the keyhole and was slowly twisting it. She heard a click as the little bok slipped back inside the lock.
"Yes! " she whispered.
She exttacted the tension bar and pulled open the drawer.