He called the phone company on his cell and asked them to reinstate his old number, and an hour later it was working. He was reading the Washington Post when the doorbell rang. He got up, took his pistol from its hiding place, and tucked it into his waistband at the back, pulling his sweater over it. When he opened the door a man in white coveralls stood there.

“Good morning,” Ed said.

“Good morning,” the man replied with a ready smile. “We’re doing some window-washing in the neighborhood, and I wondered if you’d like us to do yours. I’d be happy to look around and give you a price, inside and out.”

“Thanks, but I have a contract with a local firm that takes care of the place, including the windows.”

“I see.”

“Apparently not. If you’d seen, you’d know the windows are clean.”

“Oh, yeah, right. May I ask your name?”

“No, you may not. Good day.” Ed closed the door and watched through the sidelight as the man walked away. Ed noted that he was wearing well-polished wingtips, instead of the rubber boots a window washer would more likely wear. Well, he thought, I’ve now announced my presence here, let’s see what they do about it. He went back into his study and picked up his book, Conrad Black’s biography of Franklin Roosevelt, which he thought was pretty damned good.

He had been reading for nearly two hours when his phone rang, nearly lifting him out of his seat; he had forgotten that it had been reconnected. He picked it up. “Hello?”

“Mr. Rawls, I’m glad to catch you,” a man’s voice said.

“Who is this?”

“My name is Erik Macher. I operate a security service out of Washington, D.C.”

“I’ve already got an alarm system and a monitor,” Rawls replied.

“No, I’m not calling about that.”

“Then tell me why you’re calling, and stop wasting my time.”

“I wish to make you an offer for the strong case.”

“What strong case?”

“The one you have hidden in your house. I have a client who is willing to pay you half a million dollars for the case and its key.”

“Then your client is a goddamned fool,” Rawls replied, “and you can tell him I said so.”

“That’s very foolish of you,” Macher said.

“I’m old enough to figure out for myself whether or not I’m a fool,” Rawls said, “and I find myself of sound mind and superior judgment. What was your name again?”

“Erik with a k, Macher, spelled the German way.”

“I’ll make a note of that so I can hang up on you immediately if you should call back,” Ed said. “And if you send your fucking window washer around here again, I’ll shoot the son of a bitch on sight.”

“That would be unwise.”