“Fair question, good question. We’re prepared to help because you now have information that could cause us a hell of a lot of trouble. You’re privy to the unthinkable.”

I said nothing. I thought I knew what he was alluding to, though.

“You’ve discovered a fantasy game called the Four Horsemen. There are four players, including Shafer. We know you’ve already contacted Oliver Highsmith. What you probably don’t know yet, but will find out eventually, is that all the players are former or current agents. That is to say, Geoffrey Shafer might be just the beginning of our problems.”

“All four of them are murderers?” I asked.

Andrew Jones didn’t answer; he didn’t have to.

Chapter 89

“WE THINK that the ‘game’ originated in Bangkok, where three of the four players were posted in ’ninety-one. The fourth, Highsmith, was a mentor to George Bayer, who is Famine in the Four Horsemen. Highsmith has always worked out of London.”

“Tell me about Highsmith,” I said.

“As I said, he’s always been in the main office, London. He was a high-level analyst, then he actually ran several agents. He’s a very bright chap, well thought of.”

“He claimed that the Four Horsemen was just a harmless fantasy game.”

“It may be for him, Alex. He may be telling the truth. He’s been in a wheelchair since ’eighty-five. Automobile accident. His wife had just left him, and he cracked. He’s an enormous fellow, about three hundred pounds. I doubt that he’s getting about and murdering young women in the scuffier neighborhoods of London. That’s what you believe Shafer was doing here in Washington? The Jane Doe murders?”

Jones was right, and I didn’t deny it. “We know he was involved in several murders, and I think we were close to catching him. He was picking up his victims in a gypsy taxicab. We found the cab. Yes, we knew about him, Andrew.”

Jones tented his thick fingers, pursed his lips. “You think Shafer knew how close you and Detective Hampton were getting?”

“He may have known, but there was also a lot of pressure on him. He made some mistakes that led us to an apartment he rented.”

Jones nodded. He seemed to know a great deal about Shafer, which told me he’d been watching him, too. Had he been watching me as well?

“How do you think the other game players might react to Shafer’s being so out of control?” I asked.