“Shit, I hate thinking this way,” Addis said to himself. Then he realized he had said it aloud.

Lancette was sitting at his desk when Addis returned. She held up a memo.

“A reminder that you can be called in for a random drug test at any time.”

“In the home of the free.”

She put the memo down.

“What did you tell them?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“And did they tell you anything?”

“Nothing we don’t already know. Your friend Grayton was there. Not too eager to dump the Bureau on top of the D.C. cops.”

“And what would that mean?”

“I don’t know. That he’s hoping the police will do their usual job.”

“And what do we do?” Lancette asked.

“I don’t know.”

She picked up the framed cartoon in which Hanover’s predecessor was denigrating the names of famous Americans with foreign-sounding names, the cartoon signed by Hanover.

“You were pretty close to him, weren’t you?” Lancette asked.

“I thought so.”

“Thought so?”

“I don’t know what else there is to do tonight. Maybe we should get some sleep. See how Clarence is doing in the morning. Maybe we can talk to him then. If not, make some decisions of our own.”

“You want to go back to your house? I’m not ashamed to say I’m a little bit spooked.”

He thought of the black van. How often had it driven past?

“No. Clarence would bite our heads off for doing that. The White House always has rooms reserved at the Mayflower.”

“You and me?”

“Afraid of getting your name in the papers?”

“No. Doesn’t everyone in the White House know about these rooms?”

“Yes.”

“And isn’t that where they found … ?”

Allison Meade and Brady Sandlin, he thought.

“You mind a professional’s opinion?” she asked. “It’s not very secure.”

“Okay,” he said. “Another idea.”

They left his office and took the stairs to the ground floor. In the hallway outside the press office, they saw Grayton.

“Shit,” Lancette muttered.

He trotted up to them.

“Julia, you get around,” Grayton said.

“We’re old friends,” she said, nodding toward Addis. “We were having dinner when we heard about Clar … Mr. Dunne.”

“That’s odd,” Grayton said. “Clarence happens to be on the parkway when you’re run off the road. Then you happen to be with Nick when Clarence is shot.”

“Almost unbelievable,” Addis said.

“I had an instructor at the Academy,” Grayton replied. “He said a coincidence is what happens when there’s not enough room in the world for all of us to move around.”

Addis and Lancette didn’t say anything in response.

“Anyway,” Grayton went on, “I’m sure Nick’s been keeping you informed of what we know about Clarence.”

“He has,” Lancette said. “Now he’s going to see me home.”