your home address. Lecter gave the bastard your home address. Wait , Will. Sheriff's department has two cars on the way to Sugarloaf right now. Customs launchfromMarathonis taking the ocean side. The Tooth Fairy couldn't have done anything in this short time. Hold on. You can move faster with me helping you. Now, listen to this.
"The deputies aren't going to scare Molly. The sheriff's cars are just closing the road to the house. Two deputies will move up close enough to watch the house. You can call her when she wakes up. I'll pick you up in half an hour."
"I won't be here."
"The next plane in that direction doesn't go until eight. It'll be quicker to bring them up here. My brother's house on theChesapeakeis available to them. I've got a good plan, Will, wait and hear it. If you don't like it I'll put you on the plane myself."
"I need some things from the armory.
"We'll get it soon as I pick you up."
* * *
Molly and Willy were among the first off the plane atNationalAirportinWashington. She spotted Graham in the crowd, did not smile, but turned to Willy and said something as they walked swiftly ahead of the stream of tourists returning fromFlorida.
She looked Graham up and down and came to him with a light kiss. Her brown fingers were cold on his cheek.
Graham felt the boy watching. Willy shook hands from a full arm's length away.
Graham made a joke about the weight of Molly's suitcase as they walked to the car.
"I'll carry it," Willy said.
A brown Chevrolet withMarylandplates moved in behind them as they pulled out of the parking lot.
Graham crossed the bridge at Mington and pointed out the LincoIn and Jefferson memorials and theWashingtonMonumentbefore heading east toward theChesapeake Bay. Ten miles outsideWashingtonthe brown Chevrolet pulled up beside them in the inside lane. The driver looked across with his hand to his mouth and a voice from nowhere crackled in the car.
"Fox Edward, you're clean as a whistle. Have a nice trip."
Graham reached under the dash for the concealed microphone. "Roger, Bobby. Much obliged."
The Chevrolet dropped behind them and its turn signal came on. "Just making sure no press cars or anything were following," Graham said.
"I see," Molly said.
They stopped in the late afternoon and ate crabs at a roadside restaurant. Willy went to look at the lobster tank.
"I hate it, Molly. I'm sorry," Graham said.
"Is he after you now?"
"We've had no reason to think so. Lecter just suggested it to him, urged him to do it."
"It's a clammy, sick feeling."
"I know it is. You and Willy are safe at Crawford's brother's house. Nobody in the world knows you're there but me and Crawford."
"I'd just as soon not talk about Crawford."
"It's a nice place, you'll see."
She took a deep breath and when she let it out the anger seemed to go with it, leaving her tired and calm. She gave him a crooked smile. "Hell, I just got mad there for a while. Do we have to put up with any Crawfords?"
"Nope." He moved the cracker basket to take her hand. "How much does Willy know?"
"Plenty. His buddy Tommy's mother had a trash newspaper from the supermarket at their house. Tommy showed it to Willy. It had a lot of stuff about you, apparently pretty distorted. AboutHobbs, the place you were after that, Lecter, everything. It upset him. I asked him if he wanted to talk about it. He just asked me if I knew it all along. I said yes, that you and I talked about it once, that you told me everything before we got married. I asked him if he wanted me to tell him about it, the way it really was. He said he'd ask you to your face."
"Damn good. Good for him. What was it, the Tattler ?"
"I don't know, I think so."
"Thanks a lot, Freddy." A swell of anger at Freddy Lounds lifted him from his seat. He washed his face with cold water in the rest room.
* * *
Sarah was saying good night to Crawford in the office when the telephone rang. She put down her purse and umbrella to answer it.
"Special Agent Crawford's office... No, Mr. Graham is not in the office, but let me . . . Wait, I'll be glad to... Yes, he'll be in tomorrow afternoon, but let me. . ."
The tone of her voice brought Crawford around his desk.
She held the receiver as though it had died in her hand. "He asked for Will and said