‘DEA and ATF?’
‘Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.’
‘You Yanks do love your acronyms,’ I said with a laugh.
‘Be grateful you don’t work for the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine. Its official acronym is BUMED.’
‘You’re kidding me.’
‘I’m not. Its headquarters building is on Arlington Boulevard. I pass it every day on my way into work.’
‘In Washington?’ I asked.
‘Across the Potomac in Virginia. We’re in Arlington, near National Airport. Real estate in DC has now gotten too expensive for the government. Even the FBI is currently looking to move out.’
Did I fancy some time in Virginia during the spring? I’d heard of the Washington Cherry Blossom Festival. I wondered if it would still be out.
‘OK,’ I said. ‘Tell me what you want me to do.’
Leg 1:
The Kentucky Derby
‘The Run for the Roses’
A mile and a quarter
Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky
First Saturday in May
Run every year since 1875
3
‘America?’
‘Yes.’
I was on the telephone to Faye, my sister. Her with the cancer.
‘How long for?’
‘I don’t really know,’ I said. ‘But not for too long, I hope.’
For as long as it takes, Tony had said.
‘On holiday?’
‘No. I’m going to be on attachment to the American anti-corruption agency. It’s like an exchange. Their Deputy Director has been here with us at the BHA for three weeks and I’ll be doing the same over there.’
‘When do you go?’ she asked.
‘I’m already at Heathrow. My flight leaves in an hour.’
‘That was rather sudden.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I only knew about it myself two days ago. I should have called but, you know how it is, I’ve been busy getting everything done ready to leave.’
‘Is Henrietta with you?’
‘No,’ I said.
There was a silence from the other end of the line as Faye waited for me to expand my answer. I didn’t.
‘It is over then?’ she asked finally.
‘Pretty much,’ I said. ‘We live in different worlds.’
Henrietta had been my girlfriend for the past few months. An initial whirlwind romance that had cooled almost as quickly as it had started. Such was life.
‘Does she know you’re going away?’ Faye asked.
‘I told her last night,’ I said. ‘I think she was relieved.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Yes, so was I. But it was no good trying to go on if it didn’t work.
‘You’ll also miss Quentin’s birthday.’
Quentin was Faye’s husband, my brother-in-law, and missing his birthday was not something I would be losing any sleep over, unlike Henrietta.
‘When is it?’
‘Next weekend,’ Faye said. ‘I was going to ask you over.’
‘I’ll send him a card.’
‘Right.’
She seemed distant, as if thinking of something else.
‘Is everything OK?’ I asked.
‘Absolutely.’
There was something about the way she said it that convinced me that things were absolutely not OK.
‘Are you well?’ I asked.
A simple question with so many unspoken nuances.
There was another silence from her end.
‘Faye, what’s wrong?’ I asked earnestly.
‘I’m told it’s nothing to worry about.’
‘What is nothing to worry about?’ I asked, with dread in my heart.
‘I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather recently.’ She forced a laugh. ‘Not that that’s been unusual these past few years. So I went to see my oncologist and he did some tests and a scan. I received the results yesterday.’
She paused.
‘And?’
‘There’s another spot on my liver.’
Oh dear God, I thought, will this bloody disease never leave her alone?
‘What precisely did the doctor say?’ I asked.
‘He told me it was nothing to worry about but, naturally, I do. I’ve got to have another round of chemo and maybe some radiotherapy. I can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to it.’
‘My dear Faye, I’m so sorry. Perhaps I shouldn’t be going.’
‘Nonsense. Of course you must go. The chemo won’t start for at least another week anyway as I have a touch of flu and they want me to recover from that first. It seems the damn chemo drugs also reduce my white-cell count and I need those to fight the infection. You’ll be back before things get really bad. I’ll be fine. I promise.’
Was she trying to convince me or herself?
‘I can always fly home if you need me. You only have to call.’
‘Thank you, but I’m sure I won’t need you. I’m a big girl and I can look after myself. You go and enjoy yourself.’
I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be a fun trip, but I didn’t say so.
‘I’ll call you as soon as I know where I’m staying. The agency’s head office is in Virginia, near Washington, DC.’
‘Say hi to the President for me.’ Faye laughed again, this time with a little more genuine amusement.
‘Sure will.’
My flight landed at Dulles Airport at a quarter past two, Washington time, on Saturday afternoon.
I had looked up the climate for Virginia on an American weather website. The temperature averaged from sixty-two degrees Fahrenheit at the beginning of the month to seventy-two at the end. But it regularly varied from below fifty to almost ninety.
I’d decided I would have to take everything from shorts and T-shirts to a scarf and gloves, in fact the whole shebang other than my skiwear. I had also packed my collection of disguises. You never knew when they might be useful. Fortunately the luggage allowance in business class was fairly generous.
Tony had worked miracles at the US Embassy in London and had fixed within twenty-four hours both a letter of introduction and the required non-immigrant work visa. Consequently, apart from the usual lengthy queue, I had no difficulty in clearing US Immigration and Customs.
There was even a driver waiting for me in the arrivals hall with HINKLEY written in large letters on an iPad screen.
‘That’s me,’ I said, going up to him.
‘Welcome to America,’ he said, taking my luggage trolley. ‘I’m parked across the road in the lot.’
I followed him out of the terminal into bright sunshine.
Today must be one of the nearly-90-degree days, I thought, as I rapidly started to perspire under the intense rays. It is easy to forget how much further south Washington, DC is compared to London. Apart from Alaska, not a single part of the United States is as far north as any part of the United Kingdom, with Washington at the same latitude as Lisbon in Portugal. Perhaps I wouldn’t need my scarf and gloves after all.
Thankfully, the car was air-conditioned and the driver also knew where we were going, which is more than I did. He took me to a hotel in Arlington where the reception staff were expecting me.
‘Someone called Mr Andretti made the reservation this morning,’ said the young woman behind the desk. ‘He didn’t say when you were leaving.’ She raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner.
‘That’s right,’ I said. ‘I don’t yet know.’
My accommodation was more of an apartment than a regular hotel room, with a small kitchen plus sitting room as well as bedroom and bathroom. It overlooked the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and the Potomac River, with the Lincoln Memorial and the rest of Washington’s iconic buildings clearly visible in the distance.