Part 5 (1/2)
”No, let's get back to D.C. I need to check in with the agency and let them know what happened. I want you to tell me about this Henderson guy.”
Sarah started the car and eased into the flow of traffic. She recounted the meeting with Henderson, word for word as closely as she could remember. Daniel did not interrupt her until she was finished.
”What did he look like?”
”Handsome, very athletic and trim. Neatly dressed and groomed. A lot like you,” she said.
”Meaning, all agents look alike?”
She could hear the tiniest edge of sarcasm in his voice. ”Same clothes, same shoes, same manner. But he was blond.” She grinned. ”Well, I don't know a blond Agent Henderson and I never went through training with anyone like him.”
”Then who was he?”
”I wish I knew the answer to that question.”
A long stream of oncoming headlights took all of Sarah's concentration, and she waited for Daniel to continue. ”Did anything happen at the Bingingtons'?” he finally asked.
”Everything went like clockwork. No troubles at all. I didn't know you were gone until that Henderson fellow came by. What did happen to you, Daniel?”
”Someone knocked me out and put me in Governor Peebles's trunk. I came to and knew we were on the road. When the governor pulled into that service station for gas, I clipped the lock from the inside and got out and slipped over to the Waffle House.”
”Didn't you tell him?”
He gave her a look. ”He might have been involved. I wanted to get away.”
”And why did you call me?” This was something that had troubled her all during the drive to Falls Church. Why hadn't he called someone from the agency to help him?
”This is going to sound very strange.” He looked out the window and then back at her. ”This entire a.s.signment has been... unusual. The FBI was invited to join the investigation by the Secret Service. That's unusual. Then I get the job-to investigate a chef.” He shook his head. ”It just didn't ring true.”
”And... ?” she prompted.
”I called you because I didn't want to call anyone at the agency. I may have been set up.”
”I could have set you up,” she observed.
”That's true. But if that was the case, you never would have shown up.” He looked at her in the dim lighting of the car's dashboard. ”Someone else would have, and I probably wouldn't be alive.”
Sarah tightened her grip on the wheel. ”What's going on here?”
”I don't know, Sarah, but I promise you one thing, I'm going to find out.” He straightened his shoulders. ”Would you mind taking me to my apartment? I want to pick up a few things.” His hand traced his left side where his weapon should have been.
”No problem,” Sarah said. What was she going to do, let him off at a street corner? ”What about keys?”
”I have those.” He pulled them from his pocket. ”They took my gun and my identification.”
Sarah didn't comment. When her father was sheriff, a lawman who lost his weapon lost face, if nothing else. She could see that Daniel was smarting over the situation, and there wasn't anything she could say that would make it any easier. She felt a growing knot of guilt. Daniel would never have been at the Bingington house if she hadn't called him about the pepper. She had some responsibility for what had befallen him.
”What about the pepper report?” she asked, hoping for a topic that would take his mind off his own troubles.
”Needless to say, I haven't gotten the report, but I will, as soon as I get home. I can call the lab and see what they turned up.”
”Daniel, everything at the luncheon went perfectly.” The impulse to twist a strand of hair was strong, but she kept both hands on the wheel. ”Maybe there won't be anything in the pepper.”
”Maybe there won't. But once we have the report, at least we'll know for certain.”
”Those men who broke into the Bingingtons'...” She took the exit that he directed. ”Well, there was something I didn't tell you.” She didn't see what possible difference it could make, the conversation about her father, but after everything that had happened to Daniel, she felt she owed it to him to be completely honest.
Tension knotted his shoulders. Sarah had lied to him- and that lie could have cost him his life. ”What exactly didn't you tell me?”
The harsh tone in his voice made her wish she'd never started this. ”It's personal.”
”How personal?”
”Gee, you won't give me a break, will you?” Her temper flared. She was trying to do the right thing, and he was acting like he had her in an interrogation room for bank robbery.
He heard the concern in her voice, and the pain. His head throbbed and his body felt as if he'd been beaten with a bat, but he forced himself to relax, just a little. He'd gotten off on the wrong foot with Sarah because of his impatience. Now she was trying to help. ”I'm sorry. Tell me what you left out.” That was as non-accusatory as he knew how to phrase it.
”They said something about my father.” The sting of shame made Sarah stop. Even after all these years, she couldn't discuss what had happened to her father without reliving all of the horrible lies.
”Your father?” Daniel waited. Nothing was clear yet, but it had been Cal Covington's past that had interested Paul Gottard, his boss, in Sarah in the first place.
”I don't remember exactly what was said now.” Sarah had to force herself to continue. She felt the tears welling in her eyes and knew them for what they were-a sign of deep-seated anger at what had happened to her family. But she couldn't allow herself to cry.
”Try to remember. Just do the best you can. This may be important.”
Sarah took a ragged breath. ”They said something about how my father had messed up the job where the gambling was concerned.” She had to bite her bottom lip for a moment to halt the tears. ”And then they said that it was ironic that I was involved in what my father had started.”
”What could that mean?”
”I don't know.” Sarah's grip on the wheel loosened slightly as she made another right-hand turn at Daniel's direction. ”I will tell you, though, that my father was an honest man. He was never involved in anything illegal.”
”That's not the way the FBI saw it.”
Daniel's words were gentle, but it was more than Sarah could take, especially from him. She slammed on the brakes, pulling the car over to the side of the road. ”Get out!” She reached across him and opened the door. ”Get out and get home the best way you can.”
”Sarah, I was only trying-”
”You're like all the others. You decide a man is guilty and then you set out to prove it. The FBI ruined my father's life. And my mother's. And now you're trying to ruin mine. I must have been crazy to talk to you. How many times do I have to learn a hard lesson?” She pushed at his shoulder. ”Get out of my car or I'll drive to the police station and file charges against you.”
Daniel slowly unbuckled his seat belt. His own anger had been caught off guard and he had no defenses for the raw pain he heard in Sarah's voice and saw in her face. ”I didn't mean-”
”Get out.” She panted with anger and with the effort to control her tears.
He eased out of the seat. Traffic whizzed by them, but he knew he was actually within walking distance of his apartment. He was going to be fine, but it was Sarah he was concerned about. He'd not only struck a nerve, he'd trounced up and down on it.
”Sarah, please let me explain-”
”Tell it to your superiors. Put it in my file. Stick it-” She pressed hard on the gas, and the car screeched back into the flow of traffic, the pa.s.senger door closing under the force of the takeoff.
Standing on the side of the road, Daniel watched her taillights blend into the steady flow of traffic. He'd learned a couple of valuable lessons in the past twelve hours. First of all, he should have checked the parking lot before he bent over that trunk. Second, where Sarah's father was concerned, she harbored a lot of anger and pain. The question that danced in his mind was whether it was out of guilt or frustration.