Oddly, she wanted to meet with him outdoors. Visitors swarmed the public gardens surrounding the White House, so she guided him to a cramped area near the service entrance that was screened from public view by a boxwood hedge. This was a part of the building few people saw, and it showed the age and genteel dilapidation of the White House. The cobblestones were buckled, and the loading area seemed too small for the traffic it received.

“There is a new security team in the White House,” Caroline said. “The head of security is determined to make my life miserable, so it’s easier to meet out here.”

Gray and Caroline sat on a low hip wall beside the open service doors where a wagon carrying crates of oranges had just arrived. The workers paid them no attention as they offloaded the produce. Gray kept his voice low as he filled Caroline in on details of his visit to Luke, but throughout it all, she kept shaking her head.

“This doesn’t sound like Luke,” she insisted. “We both know he’s always been the first man to dive into mischief, so it’s possible he’s been up to no good, but I don’t believe he would give up. Something doesn’t smell right.”

Gray understood, for he’d wanted to deny his brother’s guilt all the way up until he saw the utter hopelessness on Luke’s face. An innocent man wouldn’t be so resigned.

“He’s admitted his guilt. We need to accept that.”

She still didn’t look convinced. “But how did they find him out?”

“They found his code book with the list of his contacts in Cuba. He said he kept it in the raccoon shed out at Windover Landing.”

Caroline’s expression was grim as she watched the deliverymen close the wagon bed and prepare to leave. The corners of her mouth turned down, and her eyes darkened. “And how did they know about the raccoon shed?”

He’d already asked himself that a dozen times and come up empty. “I don’t know.”

She looked sick as she turned to him. “Otis.”

The possibility hit him like a slap in the face. Otis rarely went out to Windover Landing, but when Gray was overseas, he had no idea what Otis got up to. Otis knew Morse code. Otis spoke Spanish and had contacts everywhere. And as a black man, Otis had plenty of reason to resent the government.

“Could Otis and Luke have been in this together?” he asked Caroline. “If Luke is covering for him, it would explain why he isn’t fighting too hard.”

Caroline shook her head. “I think Otis turned him in. He’s the only one with the means and the motive. And he would have been well paid for that sort of information.”