“I’m not horny, okay? I’m talking about something else. It’s important.”
He sighed, walked over and slumped down next to her. “What is it?”
She told him about Viggie’s visit and showed him the items.
All weariness was now gone from Sean’s features. He studied the letter and then the photo.
“Where did Viggie get these?”
“They had to come from her father. Wouldn’t they?”
“So Viggie gave them to you; the music and now this. Why?”
“She likes me. I saved her life. She trusts me.”
Sean looked at her curiously. “I think you hit it on the head, Michelle. She trusts you.” He put the items back in the manila envelope. “You need to go and talk to Viggie, right now. This letter mentions something else, another piece of information, that we need to make sense of all this. She gave you this much, she should give you the rest.”
“I’ll try.”
Michelle returned to her room, put on a bathrobe and went to Viggie’s room. Ten minutes later she returned to Sean’s room looking disappointed. “Not only would she not tell me anything else, she wouldn’t even acknowledge what she had given me.”
They spent the next hour trying to make sense of the letter and the photo. Finally Sean said, “Okay, not that I mind having a nearly naked woman in my bed, but you need to get dressed.”
“What?” Michelle said, startled.
“You woke me up, now we’re going to wake Horatio up. I want his opinion on something.”
As she rose and left the room, Sean looked down at the envelope. Maybe this was finally the key they needed. He desperately hoped so, because they were running out of options. And he didn’t want their only remaining option to be going over the fence at Camp Peary.
CHAPTER
71
THE SUN WAS STARTING TO RISE as Sean and Michelle walked over to see Horatio in his room at the mansion. They checked in with the dour guard at the front security desk and then headed upstairs.
Sean had called ahead and Horatio opened the door immediately. The psychologist was fully dres
sed although he hadn’t bothered to put his hair in its customary ponytail with the result that it was curled upward like a wave about to crash on the beach.
He started to say something.
“Not here,” Sean said. “Let’s take a ride.”
Twenty minutes later they were standing next to Michelle’s truck where it was parked under some trees near the banks of the York. The sunlight crept across the surface of the water as Sean and Michelle watched Horatio study the letter and the photo.
“Okay, the return address on the letter is Wiesbaden, Germany. Thankfully it’s in English although the physical writing is that of a very old person whose first language is not English. And it’s addressed to Monk Turing from…” Horatio squinted at the signature and adjusted the reading glasses he was wearing.
“Henry Fox,” Michelle said helpfully.
Sean explained, “Basically Fox is thanking Monk for helping him get back home to Germany.”
Horatio looked at the top of the letter. “Dated nearly a year ago. So before Monk went to England and Germany.”
“At least the last time he went. Now check out the last two lines of the letter,” Sean said.
Horatio read, “ ‘Now that you’ve helped me, I will, as agreed, return the favor. I have it. And it is yours when you come for a visit.’ ” Horatio looked up. “So Fox had something he wanted to give to Monk Turing in return for him helping Fox get back home?”
“Looks that way,” Michelle said. “And Monk went to Germany to get it. And on the same trip he went for a jaunt through his family history with Alan Turing in England.”