Smith regarded Stone evenly. “Let’s just say that Henry Lee and I were the closest of friends, as close as brothers, as close as I was to my sister, Grace.”

“Then you’re aware of where in the government they both worked.”

“I am, I . . . Did you say ‘both worked’?”

“I did.”

“Now that, I did not know. I thought Grace was a housewife.”

“No. Do you know the nature of the work Henry Lee and Grace did?”

“Not specifically. He gave me to understand that it was confidential.”

“Do you know how much money Henry Lee earned?”

“Not exactly.”

“Did you believe him to have the means to pay three and a half million dollars for a house?”

“I believe he had private means beyond a government salary.”

“What reason do you have to believe that?”

“That’s what he told me, when I asked him that question. I wanted to help, if I could, but he told me that would be unnecessary. Please tell me what you’re getting at, Stone, and where you’re getting your information.”

“The Jacksons never owned this house. They were decoys, set up there by a certain government agency as a last job before retirement.”

“I don’t understand.”

Stone handed him his Agency business card. “I’m in a position to get a lot of information about a lot of people,” he said. “You, for instance.”

“What do you know about me?”

“Just about everything,” Stone said. “And what I don’t know, I can pretty accurately guess.”

Smith sat back in his chair and gazed at Stone. “Go ahead, tell me what you want to know, and I’ll help, if I can.”

“I know about your military record and your shooting skills, and I can guess how you want to employ those skills. Do you think you’re up to that?”

“I do. I think that, if you know so much about me, you must know that I shot and killed seventy-one men and three women when I was in the military.”

“I do. Do you consider that you murdered them?”

“Certainly not. I killed them in the line of duty.”

“Do you know the difference between line of duty and murder?”

“Murder is an illegal act, and an immoral one.”

“Very good distinction.”

“Are you a priest or clergyman of some sort?”

“Hardly. I’m an attorney and a former police officer. And I’m here to try and help you understand that murder, in addition to being illegal and immoral, is a very dangerous act—to the murderer. I don’t suppose that during your training, anyone explained that to you.”

“It wasn’t necessary. I knew that I could be killed.”

“But you didn’t fear arrest, trial, conviction, or punishment.”

“Of course not.”

“Those are the things you have to fear now. You have a great deal to lose, not excepting your life.”