“I’m sorry, Ed, but maybe doesn’t cut it. I need some answers.”

“All right,” Ed said, “I’ve answered your questions, now it’s my turn.”

“Okay, shoot—but I don’t mean that literally.”

“What the fuck are you doing here, Stone?”

“I live here, sometimes.”

“Why this time?”

“Because I need to know what you left with Joe.”

“I left a case with him.”

“I know that already. What was in the case?”

“How the hell do you know that?”

“You just told me.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Stone. What do you know?”

“Not as much as I want to know. What was in the case?”

“Among other things, a manuscript.”

“Fiction or nonfiction?”

“Reality. Every word of it true.”

“Anything in it that would cause somebody to send a pair of hit men to see you?”

“I think you can assume that.”

“Who’s involved in this?”

“People in high places, with a great deal to lose.”

“Are you talking about a conspiracy theory?”

“I’m talking about a conspiracy—no theory involved.”

“Does this have some effect on Kate’s reelection campaign?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“But it could?”

“Only if I’m dead. Not even then.”

“Well, Joe gave it to me.”

Rawls stared at him, agape.

12

RAWLS CLOSED HIS MOUTH. “I don’t fucking believe you.”

Stone shrugged. “It’s an Agency strong case, thick and heavy.”

“It’s heavy because it’s wrapped in lead sheeting inside, so it can’t be X-rayed. You’d never get it through airport security.”

“I brought it in my airplane. You don’t get X-rayed in an FBO.”

“Why did Joe give it to you?”

“I think because he’s known since he first got sick that he’s fading. Sue may have had something to do with his decision, too. Will asked me to go and get it from him and hang on to it.”

“Where is it now?”

“Locked in a safe at my house.”

“Have you looked at what’s inside?”

“Joe didn’t give me the key. I suppose you have it.”

Rawls didn’t answer that.

“Come on, Ed,” Holly said. “There will only be two keys, and normally the Agency would have one.”

“This ain’t normal times,” Ed said.

“All right,” Stone said, “suppose you get visited again, and your luck doesn’t hold. Who gets the case then?”

Rawls looked away. “I guess you’re as good a bet as anybody, if Will wants you to have it.”

“He gave me the key to the handcuff, but not the case.”

“Then ask him for the other key.”

“He doesn’t want to be contacted, unless it’s absolutely necessary. He has to go through third parties, and I think that makes him uncomfortable.”

“He’s right to be uncomfortable,” Rawls said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Do I have to draw you a picture?”