the house again…and out the back door. He’d walked through the houses behind his. Sammy had been waiting on the next street in a standard gray car that looked like every other make and model of standard gray car.
“Motor was running,” Drex told Gif. “Mike got in. They were off.”
“I wonder how long it took before those agents realized he’d split?”
“I don’t know, but whenever Rudkowski learned about it, he would’ve combusted.”
“I get the feeling that this escape plan wasn’t hatched by Mike.”
Drex snuffled. “I know you advised me to stop pricking with Rudkowski, but—”
“But you can’t resist a chance to get his goat.”
“The important thing is, Mike is out from under his thumb.”
“What if they canvass the neighborhood? Somebody could have noticed Sammy and remember the car.”
“We took that into account. Sammy drove Mike to a picnic area a few miles outside of town where he’d left another car. Mike preferred the gray sedan, but Sammy argued that it might not be as standard as it looked.”
“Hot?”
“Mike didn’t ask. Anyway, he’s Atlanta bound in a midnight blue minivan.”
The summary had taken longer than was necessary to relay the facts. They were dancing around the subject that overrode all others. Gif seemed as reluctant to bring it up as Drex was to address it.
Gif gave in first. “Have you seen them stirring this morning?”
“No.” Since Gif had asked about “them,” collectively, it wasn’t exactly a lie of omission that Drex didn’t tell him about his dawn encounter with Talia. “But I listened in on their breakfast. Jasper told her he was going to let his meal settle and then go to the club for a swim. She asked if he was packed. He said he would pack when he got back from the club, leading me to think they’re not leaving until this afternoon.”
“Could be they’re going to drive.”
“No, they agreed they could get by without checking luggage. Delta has direct flights at three forty-six and five-nineteen. I’m thinking they’ll be on one of those, but we won’t know which until they leave the house. Any time past two o’clock would put them in a tight squeeze to make the three forty-six.”
“Are they driving themselves?”
“They didn’t say, but I’ll call you as they’re leaving. Be ready to move. I want you stationed at the airport, near security to confirm that they go through.”
“Without her seeing me.”
“Without her seeing you.”
“And you?”
“I’ll follow them in my car as far as the airport to make sure that’s where they’re headed. If they take another direction, I’ll continue following until you can catch up with me. If they do go to the airport, I’ll let you know to watch for them, then I’ll circle around, come back here, and—”
“Break and enter.”
“With any luck I won’t have to break anything.” Gif didn’t respond to the quip. Drex sighed. “Don’t start again.”
“It’s risky, Drex. Why take such a chance?”
“Because we’ve established that legal channels are closed, and I don’t know any other way.”
“Okay. But you don’t have to go it alone. After I see them off, why don’t I join the search? Another pair of eyes and hands would halve the time it will take.”
“Nope. It’s my plan, so my neck is the only one on the block. Besides, if I’m caught, I’ll need you to rush in waving your badge and getting me out of hock with the local cops.”
“I’d rather you not get caught.”
“Goes without saying.”
“What are you doing now?”
He was doing what he’d been doing since his exchange with Talia at dawn: wishing that Jasper had rushed up the stairs and kicked in his door. He wished Jasper had tried tearing him limb from limb. He would have demonstrated to him and his lying wife what animal impulses unleashed looked like.
But to Gif he said, “Killing time till they leave.”
He paced. He sat. He eavesdropped on the Fords’ intermittent conversations as they came and went from the kitchen, but nothing substantive had come from those exchanges. If Talia had told Jasper about seeing him that morning, and what had been said, she’d done so outside his hearing. The climate between the two of them seemed to have warmed from what it had been the night before.
It gave Drex no pleasure to speculate on what had brought that about.
At 10:05, Jasper left the house alone. He returned at 12:36.
Knowing that they could be leaving at any time soon after that, Drex posted himself at the window and began an uninterrupted vigil. At 2:07, his