Dance smiled.
Simesky looked toward the motel's bar. "How 'bout a glass of wine?"
She hesitated.
"This won't take long. It's important."
Dance remembered his look her way at Kayleigh's house and his slightly overlong handshake. Was she the object of a stalker herself? She said, "Just to set the record straight, I'm seeing somebody."
He gave a wistful, embarrassed smile. "You caught that, hm?"
"I do this for a living."
"I've heard about you." A grin. "I better watch my body language.... Well, Agent Dance--"
"Kathryn."
"Yeah, I was flirting a bit--then and just a few seconds ago. And I'm disappointed to hear about your friend. Never hurts to ask."
"Never does." Edwin Sharp should take some lessons from Peter Simesky.
"But there was another point to this too. Completely innocent."
"Okay, let's get that wine."
In the dim, tacky bar she ordered a Merlot and Simesky a Chardonnay. "What a case you've got yourself, that stalker," he said.
"He's persistent and smart. And obsessed. The most dangerous kind of perp."
"But you were saying you're not sure it's him."
"We're never sure until we get a confession or the evidence proves the case."
"I guess not. I'm a lawyer but I never did criminal work. Well, now, my agenda."
The wine arrived and they sipped without tapping glasses.
"About Kayleigh Towne?"
"No, it's about you."
"Me?"
"Bill Davis likes you. Oh, wait ... not that way," the aide added quickly. "The only person he's ever flirted with since college is his wife. They've been together twenty-eight years. No, this is a professional interest. Do you follow politics much?"
"Some. I try to keep informed. Davis is somebody I'd vote for if I was in his district."
Simesky seemed to take this as very good news. He continued, "He's pretty liberal then, you know. And some people in the party are afraid that as a presidential candidate he's going to be perceived as soft on law and order. It'd go a long way if--yes, you can see this coming--a long way if somebody like you were aligned with him. You're smart, attractive--sorry, can't help myself--and have a great record with the CBI."
"And I'm a woman."
"That doesn't count the way it used to."
"What does 'aligned' mean?"
"What he'd like, if you were interested, is to discuss a Justice Department appointment. Something pretty senior. We'd just like to broach it at this point. No commitments on anybody's side."
Dance had to laugh. "Washington?"