By mid-afternoon Tyler had told the detectives all he could, and he was released. The police seemed content to chalk this up to a strange robbery gone awry, and with both assailants dead, they considered the danger over.
The policeman who escorted Tyler out told him that someone would be coming by shortly to return the Audi using the keys Grant had given them. Tyler met Grant at the front of the station. When they saw the mass of news media outside, they took a seat in the waiting area.
“Well, this has been fun,” Tyler said. “Where’s Fay?”
“The cops interviewed her before they got to us,” Grant said. “They told me she left two hours ago to check out what’s left of her house.”
“I hope she’s able to salvage something.”
“At least she’s alive.”
Tyler couldn’t disagree, but the attitude that it could have been worse was small consolation for someone who just lost everything they owned.
Grant patted his stomach. “I’m as hungry as a vegan at a pig roast. As soon as we get the car back, we’re heading to that pizza place and I’m ordering an extra-large pepperoni. Then you’re going to tell me all about Jess.”
Tyler rolled his eyes. He should have known that would be Grant’s first topic of conversation.
“I’ll tell you now, because there’s nothing to it. She and I went out for a year at MIT. It didn’t work out and we broke up. End of story.”
“Uh huh. And how come I never heard about her before?”
“Do I know about all your old girlfriends?”
Grant smiled. “Good point. But now that she got us into a shootout in the middle of a foreign nation, maybe it’s time you spilled it.”
Tyler sighed. “All right. I was a junior and she was a freshman in a history elective I was taking. She sat next to me one day, and we started talking. I thought she was cute, and after about a week, I asked her to go to a party with me. One thing led to another, and we were a couple.”
“You thought she was cute? When she was a college freshman, did she look anything like she does now? ’Cause I got a look at her down at the dock. She’s not cute. She’s smokin’.”
“I noticed her. Everyone noticed her. A girl at MIT who looks like that had her choice of guys.”
“And she sat next to you? What was wrong with her?”
“Maybe she liked a man in uniform,” Tyler said with a shrug. “I was wearing my ROTC class A’s that day.”
Grant nodded knowingly. “That’s why I wear mine whenever I go to a wedding. Never fails. So why’d you break up?”
“Pretty simple. I wanted a long-term relationship. She was new to college and didn’t want to settle down just yet. So that was it. Three months later I met Karen.”
But in fact their relationship had been far more serious than he was letting on to Grant. The eight months he’d dated her had been intense, but that was a lifetime ago. Jess was the first girl he’d ever fallen in love with, and she’d broken his heart. But he harbored no ill will toward her because if he hadn’t broken up with Jess, he would never have gone out with Karen, his wife and the love of his life. In a way, he owed Jess for giving him the best years he’d ever had.
Grant had been great friends with Karen, though she had teased him mercilessly about his serial love life. Grant had been the only reason Tyler had lived through the terrible year after she was senselessly taken from him in a car accident.
A policeman came in through the front door, and the sounds of shouting reporters briefly invaded the station. He spotted Tyler and Grant.
“Dr. Locke and Mr. Westfield, your car is waiting.”
“They brought the car here?” Grant said. “That’s service for you.”
They walked outside and were immediately surrounded by the growing crowd of news people and cameras. Tyler saw the Audi and silently pushed his way through the cacophony of shouted questions.
He stopped when he saw Jess driving and Fay in the passenger seat.
Fay waved from her open window. “Get in!”
Not wanting to get into a discussion in front of the media, he and Grant crammed into the back seat. Jess hit the accelerator and zoomed down Camp Street.
“What are you doing here?” Tyler said.
“Didn’t you want your car back?” Jess said.
“Yes, but where are we going?”
“Back to my house.”
“Your house?”
“Well, we can’t go back to my house,” Fay said with a mixture of anger and sadness. “It burned to the ground before the fire brigade could get there.” A sob caught in her throat.
“I’m sorry, Fay,” Tyler said.
“I wish we could have done more,” Grant added.
“You boys did all you could. I would have gone up in smoke, too, if you hadn’t shown up when you did.”
“They couldn’t save anything?” Tyler said.
“All that’s left is what I have with me.”
There was silence for a moment until Grant opened his mouth.
“So, Jess, how do you know Tyler?”
Tyler had to stifle a groan.
“Tyler didn’t tell you about our hot love affair?”
“I heard it was quite passionate,” Fay said.
“Good God,” Tyler said. He didn’t think the day could have gotten worse.
“Why did you break up with my granddaughter?”
“Do you think this is really the best time to talk about our dating history?” Tyler said.
“It’s okay, Nana,” Jess said. “He’s always been a little touchy about sharing his feelings.”
“College was a long time ago,” Tyler said.
“Yeah,” Grant said. “Tyler now regularly gets choked up by greeting card commercials.”
“You are not helping.”
“What? This is fun.”
“Can we please get back to the issue at hand?” Tyler said. “Which is that two men burned your house down and tried to kill you this morning for something you supposedly found after the Roswell incident. Do you know why?”
“That’s why I wanted to consult with you,” Fay said. “Jess said you were the best forensic airplane crash analyst in the world.”
“Jess told you to hire me?”
“Not in so many words,” Jess said. “That’s why I was surprised to see you earlier. When Nana said she was looking for someone to look at her piece of wreckage, I must have off-handedly mentioned you worked for Gordian.”
“It wasn’t off-handed,” Fay said.
“Nana!”
“She was reluctant to call you. She had no idea I asked you to consult with me.”
Jess glanced in the mirror at Tyler, then looked at Fay. “Wait a minute. Is this why you asked me over to lunch today and wouldn’t tell me why?”
“I thought it might be nice for you two to get reacquainted.”
“Why are you even here?” Tyler asked Jess.
“In the car or in New Zealand?”
“In Queenstown.”
“I live here now. Moved here three years ago after a stint doing encryption analysis for a global private security firm in Auckland.”
“I thought you were going to be an economist.”
“Oh, right, I was still an economics major then. No, I switched to mathematics. I thought I was going to work for Wall Street, but the thought of spending every day dressed in a suit made me want to throw up, so I went into codebreaking. It paid almost as well, and I could come to work in sweats if I wanted to.”
“What are you doing here?”
“After my parents died, they left me some money, and I wanted to be closer to Nana. Since I have dual citizenship with the US and New Zealand, it was easy to buy a part ownership in a business here.”