that both of us would see the end of my little visit. It made me sad and grumpy.
"Maybe I just want to know what name to put on the tombstone," I said.
He laughed. "Confidence is a fine trait. Over-confidence isn't." The laughter faded and left his face around the glasses cool and unreadable. I didn't have to see his eyes to know they were cold and distant as winter skies.
I pushed away from the car, hands empty at my sides. "Look, Edward, Ted, whatever the hell you call yourself, I don't like being invited here to play monster bait, and find you dating the new age mom of the year. It's thrown me, and I don't like that either. We have a truce until the case is solved, then what?"
"Then we'll see," he said.
"You couldn't just agree to stop being engaged to Donna?"
"No." His voice was small, careful.
"Why not?" I asked.
"I'd need to give her a good enough reason to break her heart and the kids'. Remember, I've been spending a lot of time with the kids. How would it look to just vanish on them?"
"I think her son wouldn't mind. Peter, wasn't it? I think he'd love it if Ted would vanish."
Edward turned his head to one side. "Yeah, Peter would love it, but what about Becca? I've been in her life for over two years and she's only six. Donna trusts me to pick her up after school. I drive her once a week to dance lessons so Donna doesn't have to close the shop early." His voice and face never changed as he spoke, as if it was just facts and meant nothing.
Anger tightened my shoulders and traveled down my arms. I put my hands in fists just to have something to do with my body. "You bastard."
"Maybe," he said, "but be careful what you ask me to do, Anita. Just walking out could do more damage than the truth."
I stared at him, trying to see behind that blank face. "Have you thought about telling Donna the truth?"
"No."
"Damn you."
"Do you really think she could handle the truth, the entire truth, about me?" he asked.
I thought about that for nearly a full minute while we stood in the heat-soaked parking lot. Finally, I said, "No." I didn't like saying it, but truth was truth.
"You're sure she couldn't play wife to an assassin? I mean you've only met her for half an hour. How can you be so sure?"
"Now you're teasing me," I said.
His lips twitched almost a smile. "I think you are exactly right. I don't think Donna could handle the truth."
4
THE CAR BELONGED to Ted, even though Edward was driving it. It was a square and big something between a Jeep, a truck, and an ugly car. It was covered in red clay mud as if he'd been driving through ditches. The windshield was so dirty only two fans of clear space remained where the windshield wipers had washed away the mud. Everything else had dried to a reddish-brown patina of dirt.
"Gee, Edward," I said, as he opened the back hatch, "what have you been doing to this poor whatever it is. I've never seen a car so dirty."
"This is a Hummer, and cost more than most people's houses." He raised the hatch and started putting my bags inside. I offered him my carry-on, and when I was close could smell that new car smell, which explained why the carpeting in back was still nearly pristine.
"If it costs that much, then why doesn't it rate better care?" I asked.
He took the carry-on and put it on the new carpet. "I bought it because it could go over almost any terrain in almost any weather. If I didn't want it to get dirty, I'd have bought something else." He slammed the hatch shut.
"How can Ted afford something like this?"
"Actually, Ted makes a fine living off varmint hunting."
"Not this good," I said, "not off of bounty hunting."
"How do you know what a bounty hunter makes?" he asked, peering around the filthy car at me.
He had a point. "I guess I don't."
"Most people don't know what a bounty hunter makes so I can get away with some purchases that might be out of Ted's price range." He walked around the car toward the driver's side, only the top of his white hat showing above the mud-caked roof.
I tried the passenger side door, and it opened. It took a little bit of work to climb into the seat, and I was