“Six, seven hundred feet in this heat and humidity with what I’m sure is a heavy payload?” Lucy hasn’t taken her eyes off the helicopter now hovering low over the woods next to the house. “Let me guess. At least six people in back. Probably muscle-head guys with a lot of gear. But I wouldn’t be hanging out in the dead man’s curve if I were Big John. Good luck auto-rotating in an emergency. And if I were him I’d already be back on the ground with this weather rolling in. You might want to radio Big John and tell him that and also remind him he’s got maybe thirty minutes of decent viz left before it rapidly deteriorates to special VFR on its way to nothing. He might want to get the hell back to Hanscom while the getting’s good and tuck your expensive custom bird into its custom hangar because there’s a chance of hail.”

“You’ve not changed. You’re the same arrogant …” Erin starts to say something vulgar and stops herself.

“Arrogant what?” Lucy meets her eyes.

“You’re the same as you always were.” Erin glares at her and then says to me, “Your niece and I were at Quantico at the same time.”

“Funny I don’t remember you,” Lucy lies easily, convincingly. “Maybe you can show me an old class photo, point yourself out.”

“You remember me well enough.”

“I don’t.” Lucy looks innocent.

“You do. And I remember you.”

“And from that I’m supposed to assume you know me?”

“I know enough.” Erin says it to her while she looks at me.

“The fact is you don’t know me,” Lucy says. “You don’t know shit about me.”

Now isn’t the time for me to give Lucy a lecture. But if I could I’d tell her how unsafe it is to talk this way. Her anger has blown her cover. Her anger has asserted itself and given the FBI further incentive to clip her wings or cage her.

“I’d like to see the warrant,” I say to Erin.

“This isn’t your property.”

“Some of my personal possessions including possible case-related materials are inside this house. You might want to be careful about compromising something that could cause you a problem.”

“Start with this. You’re only here because I’m allowing it.” Erin has decided to turn this into a competition. “Because I’m being friendly and inclusive.”

I dig inside my shoulder bag and pull out a pen and legal pad. “I’m just doing the same thing you are. Making notes.”

“I’m not writing anything.” She holds up her empty hands.