him.”
As Jamie went out, she thought about Forrest Knox. The man was obviously making an all-out effort to destroy his superior and consolidate his own power. And that would put him in the best possible position to help the Double Eagles survive the attack by Penn and Sheriff Dennis—not to mention protect himself from Mackiever or the FBI. Pushing these thoughts from her mind, she put down the cordless phone, took her Treo from her pocket, and called Gary Valentine.
“Hello?” she said, after the door had closed. “Gary?”
“Thank God,” said the tech’s excited voice. “I think I hit pay dirt.”
“What do you mean?”
“I followed one of the people you asked me to watch. She just went into a place that my gut tells me is what you’re looking for.”
Melba must have gone to Tom again. . . . “Where is she?”
“I probably shouldn’t say on the phone, right?”
Damn, Caitlin thought, realizing she must not be fully awake. “I think this line is safe, but can you give me a clue nobody else could decipher?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. She’s at a private residence. It’s a house that belongs to somebody I’m pretty sure you know. Here’s the clue: the owner’s initials are the same as those of the first two words of the TV show that Gabriel Vance used to rave about.”
Gabriel Vance was a gay reporter who’d worked at the Examiner until he moved to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He’d done heroic coverage of Hurricane Katrina, but what popped into Caitlin’s mind almost without thought was Gabe’s favorite cable show: Queer as Folk.
“Have you got it?’” Gary asked.
Caitlin almost said “Q-A” aloud, but checked herself. Despite her exhaustion, it had taken her less than five seconds to arrive at Quentin Avery. “I think I have it,” she said. “I’ve never been there, though. Are you looking at it now?”
“You can’t see it from the road. I figured out the owner using Google. You ought to check Google Earth.”
Caitlin glanced at her watch, calculating how long it would take her to reach Quentin’s wooded compound in Jefferson County. Twenty minutes, minimum, and at least twice that to be sure she had no tail.
“I’ll be there in an hour. Forty minutes if I’m clean when I leave here.”
“I’ll be cruising up and down the nearest main road.”
“Thanks, Gary. And don’t tell a soul. Not Jamie, not anybody.”
“I know, boss.”
“Thanks.”
Caitlin hung up and opened the purse on her desk. The .38 Tom had given her years ago was inside it. For a few seconds she considered calling Penn, but in truth her decision was a foregone conclusion. Like Drew and Melba, she would not betray Tom’s location without his permission—not even to his son. Not until she’d heard what he had to say, anyway. Pulling on her jacket, she slung her purse over her shoulder and opened her door.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she found Jordan Glass standing less than a foot away from her.
“Hey, hey!” Jordan said, catching hold of her arm. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No, no,” Caitlin said, flustered. “I just wasn’t expecting anybody.”
“Obviously. Looks like you’re headed out, huh?”
Caitlin forced a smile and tried to think of a credible lie. Glass was wearing a black down jacket over a white Synchronicity tour T-shirt splashed with red, blue, and yellow—a relic of the mid-1980s. “I’m just headed home to get a shower,” Caitlin said lamely. “This is the first time things have slowed down at all.”
Jordan’s understanding smile both noted and forgave the lie. “I came by to talk to you,” she said. “Have you got a minute?”
Caitlin didn’t, but she backed up and motioned for Glass to enter her office.
Jordan shook her head, then pulled her close. “Not in there,” she whispered. “Let’s go to the ladies’ room.”
It took Caitlin only seconds to realize what was worrying Jordan. Nodding once, she followed the photographer down the hall and into the female employees’ restroom. It held two stalls, two sinks, a tampon machine, and nothing else.
“Is my office bugged?” Caitlin asked.
“I don’t know. It could be.”
“FBI?”
“I really don’t know.”
“But you’re obviously worried.”
Jordan anxiously ran her hands through her hair. She was clearly conflicted about something, and Caitlin guessed it had to do with her husband.
“Last night I asked if you ever hold things back from John. You said you did.”
Glass nodded. “Of course. And he does the same. More than I suspected, I’m afraid.”
Caitlin saw pain in the older woman’s face. “Can you be more