Scope said, "So tell me this good news, Hoyt. I'm all atwitter."
Hoyt cleared his throat. "First of all, you have to understand. I never meant to harm you. In fact, I went to great lengths to make sure nothing incriminating ever got out. But I also needed to save my daughter. You can understand that, can't you?"
A shadow flickered across Scope's face. "Do I understand the desire to protect a child?" he asked, his voice a quiet rumble. "Yes, Hoyt, I think I do."
A horse neighed in the distance. All else was silence. Hoyt licked his lips and held up the manila envelope.
"What's that, Hoyt?"
"Everything," he replied. "Photographs, statements, tapes. Everything that my daughter and Stephen Beck had on your son."
"Are there copies?"
"Only one," Hoyt said.
"Where?"
"In a safe place. An attorney has it. If I don't call him in an hour and give him the code, he releases them. I don't mean this as a threat, Mr. Scope. I would never reveal what I know. I have as much to lose as anyone."
"Yes," Scope said. "You do at that."
"But now you can leave us alone. You have it all. I'll send the rest. There is no need to hurt me or my family."
Griffin Scope looked at Larry Gandle, then at Eric Wu. The two perimeter men with the weapons seemed to tense. "What about my son, Hoyt? Someone shot him down like a dog. Do you expect me to just let that go?"
"That's just it," Hoyt said. "Elizabeth didn't do it."
Scope narrowed his eyes in what was supposed to be profound interest, but I thought I saw something else there, something akin to bemusement. "Pray tell," he said. "Then who did?"
I heard Hoyt swallow hard. He turned and looked at me. "David Beck."
I wasn't surprised. I wasn't angry either.
"He killed your son," he continued quickly. "He found out what was going on and he took vengeance."
Scope made a production of gasping and putting his hand on his chest. Then he finally looked at me. Wu and Gandle turned my way too. Scope met my eyes and said, "What do you have to say in your defense, Dr. Beck?"
I thought about it. "Would it do any good to tell you he's lying?"
Scope didn't reply to me directly. He turned to Wu and said, "Please bring me that envelope."
Wu had the walk of a panther. He headed toward us, smiling at me, and I felt a few of my muscles contract instinctively. He stopped in front of Hoyt and put out his hand. Hoyt handed him the envelope. Wu took the envelope with one hand. With the other - I've never seen anyone move so fast - he snatched away Hoyt's gun as though from a child, and tossed it behind him.
Hoyt said, "What the-?"
Wu punched him deep in the solar plexus. Hoyt fell to his knees. We all stood and watched as he dropped to all fours, retching. Wu circled, took his time, and placed his kick squarely on Hoyt's rib cage. I heard something snap. Hoyt rolled onto his back, blinking, his arms and legs splayed.
Griffin Scope approached, smiling down at my father-in-law. Then he held up something in the air. I squinted. It was small and black.
Hoyt looked up, spitting out blood. "I don't understand," he managed.
I could see what was in Scope's hand now. It was a microcassette player. Scope pressed the play button. I heard first my own voice, then Hoyt's:
"Elizabeth didn't kill Brandon Scope."
"I know. I did."
Scope snapped off the tape recorder. Nobody spoke. Scope glared down at my father-in-law. As he did, I realized a number of things. I realized that if Hoyt Parker knew that his house was bugged, he'd also know that it was more than likely that the same would be true of his car. That was why he left the house when he spotted us in the backyard. That was why he waited for me in the car. That was why he interrupted me when I said that Elizabeth didn't kill Brandon Scope. That was why he confessed to the murder in a place where he knew they'd be listening. I realized that when he patted me down, he did indeed feel the wire that Carlson had put on my chest, that he wanted to make sure that the feds, too, would hear everything and that Scope wouldn't bother frisking me. I realized that Hoyt Parker was taking the fall, that while he had done many terrible