The words, “well, of course, you’re a woman,” were on the tip of Ted’s tongue but he managed to keep them in check. Instead, he twisted in his seat a moment while he thought of another retort. “My desk is functional,” he mumbled.

“Ha!” Ellen exclaimed. “So is a toxic waste site.”

Finding himself becoming agitated by his partner’s attitude, Ted was about to give her a good “what for” when Ellen sat upright. “Our man is on the move,” she snapped as she watched Garvey walk out of the house and head for his well-used blue pickup.

Ted looked at his watch. “Where do you think he’s headed? He’s not due in at work for another two hours.”

“Could be he was called by the school about one of his children,” Ellen ventured.

Shaking his head, Ted watched their suspect slide in behind the wheel. “No. We would have been alerted by the boys monitoring his phone.” When Garvey pulled away from the curb, Ted started his own car, checked the rearview mirrors, and started to follow, making sure that his departure was smooth and easy, so as not to arouse too much suspicion. “Give the office a call,” he ordered. “Let them know we’re on the move and alert the backup team.”

Though she was already on the phone Ellen replied with a crisp, “I’m on it.”

For a while the two special agents followed the blue pickup as it made its way along Broadway into Boise. As each of his normal stops slipped away into the rear view mirror, both Ellen French and Ted Lahowitz perked up. “Give a call and have them double check his calls,” Ted ordered as they made their way along.

Ellen shook her head. “The monitoring team has already confirmed that the last time he was on the phone was last night, when he signed on to the Internet. Maybe this trip was triggered by an e-mail.”

Now it was Ted’s turn to shake his head. “Yeah, well, you’re probably right. Whatever got him going, let’s hope he’s finally leading us to someone that really matters. I’m getting tired of watching him.”

“Oh boy,” Ellen exclaimed mockingly. “Then we can go back and join the rest of the boys and girls from the office sitting outside the governor’s mansion as he and the media make fun of our surveillance there.”

Ted looked at Ellen and chuckled. “Well, at least they eat better out there. I hear tell that after July Fourth the quality of the food GO’s staff brought out to our people actually improved.”

Ellen smiled as she poked her finger into the soft layer of flab that protruded over Lahowitz’s belt. “Maybe that’s why you were assigned to the night watch.”