King and Maxwell (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 6)

MICHELLE MET SEAN LATER THAT EVENING at a bar in Georgetown. They sat at a table near the window and over beers tried to reconcile what they each had learned about the Wingo case.

“Any blowback from the Pentagon?” asked Michelle.

“Nothing like you got,” he answered. “But that’s not to say tomorrow won’t bring something. Suffice it to say I don’t think any of my other contacts there will be returning my calls anytime soon.”

Michelle took a sip of her beer and leaned back in her chair. The snow had stopped falling and the temperature had risen to a level sufficient to melt what had already accumulated. “So if we can’t go to see Tyler or his stepmother and the Pentagon is a stone wall, that leaves

the dad’s employer, DTI. You said you were going to do a web search on them.”

“I did. They’re a government contractor.”

“Every other company located here is a government contractor. What sector are they in?”

“Providing translator services for the military.”

“I hear that’s pretty lucrative.”

“It certainly can be. But it only goes as far as our engagement over there. They specialize in the Middle East, so if the military pulls out they might be hurting.”

“And was Wingo a salesman, like Tyler said?”

“I never got a chance to actually ask a human being that question.” He drank some of his beer. “I think we’ve hit a dead end, Michelle.”

She inserted her finger in the long neck of her beer and swung it back and forth over the table. “I don’t like to admit defeat.”

“And you think I do?”

“You’re a miracle worker, Sean. You know everybody. Are you telling me you can’t think of some other angle to hit this with?”

“I’m actually trying to decide whether this is worth it or not.”

“I thought we were past that analysis?”

“Maybe you were.”

“I might have an in through his friend Kathy Burnett. I laid the groundwork with her already.”

“And you don’t feel bad involving an innocent young girl in all this?”

“If I knew what ‘all this’ was, maybe I would feel bad. Chicken and the egg.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“I didn’t ask her to spy on Tyler, Sean. I just asked her to contact me if she thought she had any information that might help him.”

“I’m not sure she’s in the best position to make that decision.”

“Then I can tell her to stand down, if it’ll make you happy.”

The two sat there staring stonily across at each other.

Sean said, “Look, I’m not wussing out. I’m just not sure what we can accomplish.”

“Well, considering we’ve accomplished nothing so far it wouldn’t take much to move the bar up.”

“I can see we’re not going to reach common ground on this.”

“I’m being as reasonable as I possibly can be.”