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“What?” he asked, thinking hopefully, Screw ourselves blind?

That wasn’t at all what she suggested.

* * *

Barrie knew of the area. It was a well-kept Washington secret because a number of prominent people lived on these twisting, heavily wooded streets near Embassy Row. They were in shouting distance of the well-traveled Massachusetts Avenue, but unless you were looking for them specifically, you would miss them. They weren’t on many maps.

The houses were set well away from the street, screened by tall hedges or brick walls. Many had electric gates for additional security. Barrie was jittery when Gray pulled the car to a stop in the driveway of an estate that was for sale.

“We could get shot,” she said.

“We could.”

“What do you think she’ll do when we come traipsing through her backyard?”

“We won’t know until we do it.”

This had been Barrie’s idea. Last night, it had seemed like a good one. Now, she was less sure. “You say you’ve met her before?”

“A couple of times, at official functions. But we’ve never engaged in any private conversation. She may not even remember me.”

“I doubt that.” They shared a taut look for several moments, then she added softly, “You do make an impression on people, Mr. Bondurant.”

“Yeah. Take for instance the impression I’ve made on you.”

Barrie looked down at her clasped hands. “I’m sorry about that. Last night, I mean. I never really believed that you could…” She bit down on her lower lip. “I was upset. And frightened.”

“Forget it.” He opened the car door.

“No, please.” She laid a restraining hand on his arm. “I don’t want this to fester.”

“Okay. Say whatever is on your mind.”

“I thought about it all night and tried to look at it from every angle. If Spence did escape and return to Washington, if he somehow tracked down Howie and discerned that he was feeding us information, and if he did get to Howie’s apartment minutes before we did and killed him, why did he plant a clue that would divert the investigation away from us?

“Spence could have made it look like we killed Howie, say out of spite for getting me fired. Safely behind bars and trying to prove our innocence, we’d be out of his and Merritt’s hair. So why would he purposely get us off the hook with local police?”

Without having to think it over, Gray replied, “Because he has something larger in store for us.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know yet. That’s why we must tread very carefully.” He looked past the vacant colonial mansion to the woods behind it. “Let’s go.”

Although she was even more shaken now than before their conversation, Barrie got out of the car. She’d been careful to bring with them the newspaper ad for the sale of the estate. The ad might provide a plausible excuse if anyone stopped and asked them why they were snooping around.

She followed Gray’s lead as he moved along the high iron picket fence that demarcated the property. It took them five minutes to reach the rear boundary. “That’s theirs,” he said, pointing ahead.

On the far side of the greenbelt between the two properties, she saw the roof of the house. “Lead on.”

The leaves on the hardwoods were just beginning to turn, providing a colorful palette of contrast to the evergreens. Fallen leaves crunched underfoot as they picked their way through the woods. At any other time, under any other circumstances, this would have been a pleasant outing.

They held back when they reached the wide, carefully tended lawn fanning out behind the red brick Georgian house. Bright chrysanthemums bloomed in the gardens. The hedges were as perfectly manicured as a debutante on the night of her coming-out ball.

“Since I met you, Bondurant, I’ve seen a lot of backyards. This is by far the prettiest.”

He came close to smiling, but it never fully developed because just then a woman came out the back door. She was carryi

ng an armful of what appeared to be rolled-up posters secured with rubber bands.