No business card. Kim doubted she would find a Norman Shank in any listing of area lawyers.

“Go on,” she said.

“My instructions were to contact you precisely in the manner I am doing. Regrettably, I am afraid that something terrible has befallen Edwin.”

“Edwin?”

“Edwin Chester, the son of William Chester of Chester Enterprises.”

“The seed giant?”

“Yes,” Shank said. “He is also the man you know as Double M.”

“Can we go somewhere and talk?” Kim asked, glancing around for anyone who seemed interested in them.

“According to my understanding, everything that Edwin has to say is contained in here.” Shank handed over a large sealed manila envelope. “You see, for some time now, Edwin has instructed me to phone him every day at three o’clock in the afternoon, sharp. If he failed to answer my phone call, I was to send him a text message. Difficult thing, teaching an old man like me how to text. In any event, if Edwin failed to respond to my text within an hour, I was to assume that he was either dead or incapacitated. In that event, I was to contact you via Doug, here at Bar None, and hand-deliver this envelope.”

“Double M is dead?” Kim asked, struggling to remain composed.

The lawyer smiled sadly. “The likelihood is that the most dire misfortune has, in fact, befallen him. Once I have done as he requested here, I will set about to learn what has happened, but we must think the worst.”

Kim clutched the envelope. “Thank you.”

Her thoughts swirled through the implications of Double M’s death—either murder or suicide, it seemed.

Shank bowed his head slightly. “I must be going now. Please do not try to contact me. Those are Edwin’s wishes. If I learn anything you need to know, I will get back to you.” He turned and shambled from the restaurant.

Kim, never losing contact with the envelope, drank half her Amstel in two gulps and again scanned the patrons for anyone paying too much attention to her. The game had changed to serious hardball. Fifteen minutes later, she was considering another beer when her cell phone rang.

“I’m parked right outside,” Darlene said.

Chapter 48

CHAPTER 48

Kim paid her tab, left a twenty under the coaster, and hurried to Darlene’s limo. She was surprised when another agent, not Victor, opened the door for her. Darlene instructed the man and the agent with him to get onto the Capital Beltway and drive until she asked them to return to the White House. As they pulled away, she requested that the privacy window behind the front seat be closed. Then she settled back next to her friend.

“Where’s Victor?” Kim asked as soon as they were moving.

“I told him to take a few days off for his own good. Martin wants to fire him for taking us to Philadelphia.” Her hands were tightly clenched.