Mahant saw me polish off a Fiji water and just now set the empty bottle on the floor like a litterbug. He looks at me constantly when he should keep his eyes on the road. I don’t like it when he and Benton talk to each other in low quiet tones. It reminds me that my husband is part of a collective, a group, a tribe. I’m careful and observant as I sit quietly in back, out of my element and not in charge. The ride is a favor I didn’t want but couldn’t refuse, and any second they’re going to pick my brain. They’ll get every drop out of me before they finish what I’ve started—or they think they will.

In the few short minutes I’ve been inside the Tahoe I haven’t asked questions. But I’ve gathered that the man in the backseat with me is from Washington, D.C., or that area. He might be from Quantico or Langley. I don’t know what he does but it seems it was fortuitous that he was in Boston this week. I also don’t know his name. He may have told it to me when I first climbed in but I don’t think he did. I’m almost certain he didn’t say a word as I buckled up.

The inside of the SUV smells like french fries, and the radio is on just loud enough for me to recognize Howard Stern bantering with his cohost Robin Quivers. I can’t tell which taped segment it is. But I didn’t realize Mahant is a fan of the show, and wouldn’t have expected it. I almost like him better. But I don’t. Even if I could it wouldn’t be smart.

Don’t let your guard down.

In his fifties, bald with thick-framed glasses, he has one hand on the wheel, and in the other he holds a Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee he sips quietly, politely, through a straw. He’s cordial enough whenever I’ve been around him, usually at professional receptions, holiday gatherings, that sort of thing. But we don’t socialize. I try not to with the FBI.

Briggs warned me from day one not to trust the Feds. I always found that amusing since he is the Feds—or he was.

Work and play with them but never show your underbelly, he would say. And for God’s sake keep your knickers on, Kay, or you’ll find out the hard way it’s a man’s world.