“Hardly,” she said with an eyeroll. “I haven’t seen him since then . . . which is fine, I guess. I just wish I knew where he was running off to all the time.”

“You and me both,” Rachel said, taking a sip of her coffee.

“You mean David really doesn’t read you in on what’s going on? You don’t have to pretend ignorance on my account. I’d never expect you to tell me anything if he did.”

Rachel pursed her lips for a split second and said, “I know you wouldn’t. But here’s the thing: he really doesn’t tell me anything. A part of me admires and respects him for that, but another part of me wants to smack him. I know he thinks he’s protecting me by keeping me ignorant, but I don’t see it that way.”

“I totally get it, and I’d feel the same way. You’re not a mushroom to be kept in the dark. Not some gossiping, social-climber housewife who can’t be trusted. You’re a valuable part of the team.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“And you’re on lockdown like everyone else here.”

“It’s so annoying . . . not being able to go outside.”

Maria’s heart rate picked up. She was so close now . . . if she played the innuendo card just right. “I know. Jed made me meet him at some random Starbucks in the lobby of a hotel. C’mon—is that really necessary?”

“I can’t imagine how horrible it was to see it in person like Jed did. David saw the pictures and said they were horrifying, but I still think it’s overkill. If they’re going to vaporize me, they’re not going to do it when I’m walking to the mailbox. It’s going to be where people can see it. I mean, that’s how these people operate . . .”

Maria nodded and maintained eye contact while Rachel was talking, but her mind went back to the Dark Horizon warehouse, remembering the refrigerator-size machine she’d seen on a wooden pallet. It really was an energy weapon . . . Victor actually built a death ray. So was that the plan . . . to vaporize Sarah Beth and the other Watcher children?

Rachel’s expression abruptly changed, and for a split second she looked upset.

“What’s wrong?” Maria said, her attention fully back.

“Oh, I just had a . . . a flare of heartburn.” The other woman tapped the center of her chest with a closed fist. “Sometimes coffee does that to me.”

“Yeah, me too, sometimes,” Maria said, but the detective in her knew a lie when she heard it . . . Except why lie? She was the one who was talking.

I didn’t say a thing, she thought.

“Hey, I have an idea,” Rachel said, eyes bright and smiling broadly. “Let’s sit outside on the back deck. It’s too beautiful of a day to spend it inside.”

“But what about the lockdown?”