“So let’s talk about it.”

“I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“I don’t want that either.”

“Yeah, but can you guarantee it?”

“If you’ve done nothing wrong, I can. And even if you have screwed up, depending on what you tell me, you might very well get a walk.”

Annabelle started twisting her fingers. “It’s complicated.”

“Trust me, my job never involves anything remotely simple.”

“What exactly is your job?” she said bluntly.

He pulled over and parked on the street and turned off the truck. “Let’s get one thing straight. This is not an information exchange. You talk, I listen. If it’s good, I help you. If you’re screwing me over, well, just don’t.”

She drew a long breath and plunged in. “Oliver was very secretive. Nobody really knew anything concrete about his past. But we could all tell he was special, different. You probably saw the books in his cottage. He spoke different languages. He just carried himself in a different way.”

“His past I’m reasonably well-informed on. It’s his current location that I’m most interested in.”

“I don’t know that.”

“So why’d you call me?”

“Oliver had some information on Carter Gray. That was why Gray resigned when he did.”

“What kind of information?”

Annabelle shook her head. “He never said, but he visited Gray and the next day Gray resigned, so it must’ve been pretty incriminating.”

“But then Gray got his old position back.”

“That’s because he got the evidence that Oliver had back.”

“The Capitol Visitor Center?” Knox said sharply.

“I think so. It wasn’t like I was there. It’s just something Oliver said right before he vanished.”

“What else did he say?”

“That it’s better no one ever finds out the real truth. That it could hurt this country and he would never want that.”

Knox smiled. “You’d make a great witness for the defense.”

“Do you know about his military service?”

“Guy was a helluva soldier. So what about Senator Simpson? What’s the connection there?”

“Oliver said he worked for the CIA before he got into politics.”

“That’s right, he did. So Oliver knew him back then?”

“I guess. If he did work for the CIA, I mean. I have no proof that Oliver ever did.”

“Let me worry about the proof. Does the term Triple Six mean anything to you?”

“I heard Oliver mention it once, but he never explained what it was.”

“I bet he didn’t.”

“He was a good man. He helped break up a spy ring. He got a commendation letter from the FBI director.”

“Good for him. So why do you think he killed Gray and Simpson?”

“I have no reason to believe that he did.”