difficult.
Tossing the folder in the back, she frowned at me. “You okay?”
I realized I was still staring at her. Trying to keep my voice casual, I said, “Sure. Why?”
Something in my voice must have given me away. Her sudden pitying expression suggested she knew what I was thinking. She abruptly turned and gazed out the window.
I felt embarrassed. Several cars were approaching behind us, so we had to sit in an uncomfortable silence, waiting for them to pass. I decided I had two choices. Either I could pretend nothing happened, or—
“Look, Amanda, I’d like to explain—”
“It’s not necessary.” She turned toward me, her eyes soft and sympathetic. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy.”
“No…”
“I never intended to hurt you. I want you to know that.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
She gave me a smile. It was a nice smile. “If it helps, this is also hard on me. I still sometimes wonder if I’m doing the right thing.”
My heart thumped hard. Could she be giving me an opening? It almost sounded as if she wanted me to ask her not to—
“Coast is clear, Marty.”
Amanda was looking back at the last car as it went by. When she faced front, her expression was all business and I realized the opportunity was gone.
If it had ever existed in the first place.
As we zigzagged our way around to the north side of the Pentagon, Amanda summed up the results of her search of the offices of Colonel Kelly and Major Talbot.
“Nothing,” she said. “Chief Tisdale and I went through their file cabinets and desks and didn’t find anything that came close to giving us a motive. The chief’s waiting for the SAs, so he can access their computers.”
Each Pentagon office had a security administrator who troubleshot computer problems, and handled the passwords. Sometimes the SAs were contract civilians but more often than not, they were junior officers who got stuck with the job as an additional duty.
I said, “Colonel Kelly’s computer shouldn’t take long. He can’t have much on it. He’s only been in town for a month.”
She shrugged. “Either way, it’ll be a waste of time. If Colonel Kelly is the killer, he’s too smart to keep an incriminating email. Same thing with Talbot. Why would the killer send a threatening email that could be traced?”
I reminded her of Kelly’s phone message.
“I’m still trying to figure that one out.” She glanced over. “It seems to me there are three possible answers. One, Kelly is innocent like you and Simon seem to think, but has terrible timing…”
I was nodding. When I’d phoned, I’d told her about my interview with Colonel Kelly and my conversation with Simon.
“Or two, Kelly was so drunk, he completely forgot about making the call until after the killing.”
I gave her a look.
“Easy, Tiger. I’m not buying that one either. The third possibility is that when Kelly made the call, he never intended to kill Talbot. But something happened and he changed his mind.”
“And left the message on the machine for us to find?”
“Kelly would have to assume that Talbot would tell someone about the threatening call. He couldn’t delete the message without appearing more guilty.”
Thin, but Amanda realized this. She was only brainstorming, considering all possibilities, no matter how unlikely.
“So,” she said, watching me, “you going to tell me how you figured out Kelly was going to be at Quigley’s?”
“Brilliant detective work and insightful mind.”
“Brother. It’s getting deep.” But there were the beginnings of another smile.
As we worked our way around the edge of the parking area, she brought up the tapes that Simon wanted us to see.
“Let me get this straight,” she said. “These are from a new surveillance camera….”
“Yes.”
“And Simon never said what was on them, but you’re pretty sure that whatever it is, it clears Colonel Kelly?”
“Apparently.”
She tapped her tooth with a nail,
Tossing the folder in the back, she frowned at me. “You okay?”
I realized I was still staring at her. Trying to keep my voice casual, I said, “Sure. Why?”
Something in my voice must have given me away. Her sudden pitying expression suggested she knew what I was thinking. She abruptly turned and gazed out the window.
I felt embarrassed. Several cars were approaching behind us, so we had to sit in an uncomfortable silence, waiting for them to pass. I decided I had two choices. Either I could pretend nothing happened, or—
“Look, Amanda, I’d like to explain—”
“It’s not necessary.” She turned toward me, her eyes soft and sympathetic. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy.”
“No…”
“I never intended to hurt you. I want you to know that.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
She gave me a smile. It was a nice smile. “If it helps, this is also hard on me. I still sometimes wonder if I’m doing the right thing.”
My heart thumped hard. Could she be giving me an opening? It almost sounded as if she wanted me to ask her not to—
“Coast is clear, Marty.”
Amanda was looking back at the last car as it went by. When she faced front, her expression was all business and I realized the opportunity was gone.
If it had ever existed in the first place.
As we zigzagged our way around to the north side of the Pentagon, Amanda summed up the results of her search of the offices of Colonel Kelly and Major Talbot.
“Nothing,” she said. “Chief Tisdale and I went through their file cabinets and desks and didn’t find anything that came close to giving us a motive. The chief’s waiting for the SAs, so he can access their computers.”
Each Pentagon office had a security administrator who troubleshot computer problems, and handled the passwords. Sometimes the SAs were contract civilians but more often than not, they were junior officers who got stuck with the job as an additional duty.
I said, “Colonel Kelly’s computer shouldn’t take long. He can’t have much on it. He’s only been in town for a month.”
She shrugged. “Either way, it’ll be a waste of time. If Colonel Kelly is the killer, he’s too smart to keep an incriminating email. Same thing with Talbot. Why would the killer send a threatening email that could be traced?”
I reminded her of Kelly’s phone message.
“I’m still trying to figure that one out.” She glanced over. “It seems to me there are three possible answers. One, Kelly is innocent like you and Simon seem to think, but has terrible timing…”
I was nodding. When I’d phoned, I’d told her about my interview with Colonel Kelly and my conversation with Simon.
“Or two, Kelly was so drunk, he completely forgot about making the call until after the killing.”
I gave her a look.
“Easy, Tiger. I’m not buying that one either. The third possibility is that when Kelly made the call, he never intended to kill Talbot. But something happened and he changed his mind.”
“And left the message on the machine for us to find?”
“Kelly would have to assume that Talbot would tell someone about the threatening call. He couldn’t delete the message without appearing more guilty.”
Thin, but Amanda realized this. She was only brainstorming, considering all possibilities, no matter how unlikely.
“So,” she said, watching me, “you going to tell me how you figured out Kelly was going to be at Quigley’s?”
“Brilliant detective work and insightful mind.”
“Brother. It’s getting deep.” But there were the beginnings of another smile.
As we worked our way around the edge of the parking area, she brought up the tapes that Simon wanted us to see.
“Let me get this straight,” she said. “These are from a new surveillance camera….”
“Yes.”
“And Simon never said what was on them, but you’re pretty sure that whatever it is, it clears Colonel Kelly?”
“Apparently.”
She tapped her tooth with a nail,
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