‘She was already in the process of getting hired by the Bureau,’ Lucy answered. ‘She encouraged me to try to get an internship here.’

My silence was heavy.

‘Look,’ she demanded. ‘How could I have known?’

‘I guess you couldn’t have,’ I said. ‘But she set you up, Lucy. She wanted you here. This was planned long before she met you through Prodigy. She probably had already met Gault in that northern Virginia spy shop, then they decided she should meet you.’

She angrily stared off.

‘God,‘1 said with a loud sigh. ‘You were lured right into it.’ I stared off, almost sick. ‘It’s not just because of how good you are at what you do. It’s also because of me.’

‘Don’t try to turn this into your fault. I hate it when you do that.’

‘You are my niece. Gault has probably known that for a while.’

‘I am also well known in the computer world.’ She looked defiantly at me. ‘Other people in the computer world have heard of me. Everything doesn’t have to be because of you.’

‘Does Benton know how you met Carrie?’

‘I told him a long time ago.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I didn’t want to. I feel bad enough. It’s personal.’ She wouldn’t look at me. ‘It was between Mr. Wesley and me. And more to the point, I didn’t do anything wrong.’

‘Are you telling me that this large manilla envelope was missing after the break-in?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why would someone want it?’

‘She would,’ she said bitterly. ‘It had things in it that she’d written to me.’

‘Has she tried to contact you since then?’

‘No,’ she said as if she hated Carrie Grethen.

‘Come on,‘1 said in the firm tone of a mother. ‘Let’s go find Marino.’

He was in the Boardroom, where I tried a Zima and he ordered another beer. Lucy was off to find Janet, and this gave Marino and me a few minutes to talk.

‘I don’t know how you stand that stuff,’ he said, disdainfully eyeing my drink.

‘I don’t know how I’ll stand it either since I’ve never had one before.’ I took a sip. It was actually quite good, and I said so.

‘Maybe you should try something before you judge it,’ I added.

‘I don’t drink queer beer. And I don’t have to try a lot of things to know they ain’t for me.’

‘I guess one of the major differences between us, Marino, is I am not constantly worried about whether people think I’m gay.’

‘Some people think you are,’ he said.

I was amused. ‘Well, rest assured nobody thinks you are,’ I said. ‘The only thing most people assume about you is that you are a bigot.’