She sat quietly again, watching him.

"That's not bad, far as it goes," Ricci said. "But there's also what you left out."

"I didn't want to sit here giving a recitation," she said. "It might be better to hear the rest from you. If you care to tell it."

Ricci nodded. "Sure," he said. "In the interest of good public relations."

She waited without comment.

"The murdering little prince's father was a Beacon Hill millionaire," he said. "I learned during the trial that the judge belonged to the same A-list country club as Dad, which in my opinion ought to have been enough to have him removed from the case. Prosecution could've taken it up in district court, but didn't, and since it's their call I couldn't let myself worry about it. After the trial's over, though, I hear from a couple of staffers at the club that there were three separate meetings between Dad, the judge, and the oak wainscoting while the jury was in deliberation. One of them's the manager, a solid guy who's been working there forty years and has no reason to be spinning tall tales. Came forward out of feeling guilty, like the other two." He shrugged. "They denied it later on, when I went public."

"Somebody cured their guilt," Megan said. "Money and power being the prescribed remedy. If I'm to believe your version."

Dead silence. Ricci looked hard at her, the fire tossing shadows across his angular features.

"What is it exactly that bothers you about me?" he said at last.

His blue eyes level and probing.

She opened her mouth as if to reply, closed it, and merely stared back at him without saying anything.

"I believe it," Nimec said, breaking into the silence. "His account, that is."

Ricci turned to Nimec, leaving Megan surprised by her own relief at being out from under his steady gaze.

"I don't need an advocate," Ricci said.

"Your credibility shouldn't be at issue here."

Ricci's features beamed with sudden intensity. "I told you I don't need to be defended. Not by you or anybody else."

Megan raised her hand in a curtailing gesture.

"Wait," she said. "I'm not trying to be antagonistic, and apologize if that's how I came across. It's been a wearing day."

Ricci looked at her in silence, those penetrating eyes back on her face.

"I think we should take a step back," she said. "Concentrate on your feelings about the job with UpLink."

Ricci looked at her a while longer. At last he exhaled audibly.

"I don't know," he said. "To be straight, I'm not sure it's something I'd want any part of, or even that I've got the background for. This is big stuff. Seems to me you ought to be looking at heavy artillery, not a Police Special."

Nimec leaned forward, his hands clasped on his lap.

"Except that the background you're so quick to dismiss includes four years with SEAL Team Six, an elite within an elite created for antiterrorist operations," he said. "And that's just for openers."