“And is it okay if I call you Viggie or would you prefer Miss Turing?”
Viggie shook her head. “Viggie,” she whispered.
“Viggie it is. That’s a cool name. I’ve met lots of Michelles but I’ve never met a Viggie before. That means you must be really special.”
Viggie nodded, as though in agreement, but her grip tightened on Michelle’s fingers. “Mick,” she said again.
“We’re friends now. Okay?”
Viggie slowly nodded, her eyes searching Michelle’s as though for any
hint of doubt, or worse, untruth.
When Sean returned he had Alicia in tow. Michelle looked up and noted the woman’s sleepy features and then, visible at the bottom of her calf-length pajama pants, the artificial leg. Sean made quick introductions.
“I didn’t know she had come downstairs,” Alicia said. She focused on Sean with an angry look. “We waited for you until it was very late.”
“I’m sorry, Alicia, I got hung up on something else.”
“Maybe we should just rethink the arrangement then.”
“I’m here,” Michelle said, rising from the floor, but still holding on to Viggie’s hand. “I’m Michelle Maxwell, Sean’s partner. Between the two of us we’ll be able to handle things now.”
Alicia stared at Sean for a long moment and then nodded her head at Michelle. “I see that you and Viggie have already made friends.”
Michelle smiled at the girl. “I think Viggie and I will be great friends.”
Viggie jumped up and raced to the piano in the other room. From the darkness they heard the song she was playing.
Michelle turned to Sean. “Wow, that’s amazing.”
“It’s Viggie’s way of showing that she likes you,” Alicia explained.
“Why was she so upset?” Sean asked.
She said in a low voice, “That damn FBI agent, Ventris, came by earlier tonight. He started going into Monk’s death. And Viggie overheard him.”
“Oh, hell!” Sean exclaimed.
“You should’ve seen Viggie a few hours ago. She was inconsolable. I had to tell her the truth. I couldn’t lie to her, not when she was like that. I finally had the staff doctor prescribe a sedative for her. She was asleep when I finally went to bed, but I guess the meds wore off.”
Sean said, “What the hell was Ventris doing here talking to you?”
“He wanted to question Viggie at first, but I put my foot down. I don’t think he meant for her to overhear him, but he didn’t stick around to help with her either.”
“What did he want to know?” Michelle asked.
“If I had any idea why Monk Turing would have gone to Camp Peary. Or if he’d mentioned going there before.”
Sean and Michelle exchanged quizzical expressions. Sean said, “I was told that officially the Bureau thinks Monk killed himself.”
Alicia coaxed Viggie off the piano, but the little girl refused to go to sleep until Michelle took her hand, led her up the stairs and put her to bed.
After they said good night to Alicia, Sean and Michelle settled into their bedrooms. Sean came in and sat on Michelle’s bed while she was still unpacking.
“Don’t worry, it won’t take you long to mess up this place,” he commented.
“What a comedian you are. So what happened to Alicia’s leg?”