“Right,” Jessie chimed in. “And after a day of constant movement, I’d go back to the safe house, more confident in my security and actually feeling like I made a difference that day.”

“And no one would even know when that would happen,” Dolan piggybacked. “When we part ways tonight, I won’t know where she’s going. I assume you don’t know the location of the safe house other than that it’s in Palms, Captain?”

Decker shook his head. Dolan turned to Jessie at that point.

“By the way,” he added snarkily, “maybe don’t go announcing the neighborhood of your safe house to anyone who’s not supposed to know it. Just a security tip.”

Jessie felt the urge to punch him square in the nose, but forced it down. After all, he was the main reason she might actually not be politely imprisoned in the next hour.

“Thanks, Agent,” she said saccharinely before turning to Captain Decker. “So what do you think?”

Decker, in turn, looked at Murph, who she now knew was professionally called Marshal Murphy.

“I’m still opposed,” he said, though not as adamantly as she had expected. “It’s against procedure and it puts the protectee at unnecessary risk.”

She noted that he didn’t officially shut down the idea, however. Maybe he didn’t have the authority to overrule her superior officer.

Decker leaned forward, his arms resting on the conference table, lost in thought. No one spoke. Finally, after what had to be at least twenty seconds, he lifted his head.

*

They turned the conference room into a makeshift office.

Phones were brought in so they could make calls. Each of them was issued a clean laptop for temporary use. Murph reluctantly brought in a third chair now that it was clear they wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. Poor Toomey was left to sit in his car in the garage.

The third marshal, a smallish forty-something guy named Collica with the sinewy build of an ultra-marathoner, was assigned to sit in the precinct waiting room and eyeball everyone who entered. The fourth member of her protective detail, a tall, barrel-chested, buzzcut-blond named Emerson, circled the block, parking intermittently. Occasionally he and Collica switched positions.

In the brief window while their equipment was being set up, Jessie asked Dolan to join her alone in the hallway. But Murph stopped them, saying he’d go outside instead. As soon as the door closed behind him, Jessie asked the question on her mind.

“Why did you back me up in there?”

“You didn’t want me to?” he asked. “I figured you’d be happy I did. You were seconds from being shut down.”

“I am happy,” she said, noting that he’d completely avoided the question. “But I want to know why. A few hours ago, you were ready to be done with this case and with me. You could have been back at your office by now. I seriously doubt you fought for this because of your deep respect for me. So why?”