Early Saturday morning, Theo, his roommates, and forty other students got off the bus near the Mall and headed toward the Washington Monument. As they got closer to it, Mr. Mount began a walking tour. He explained that the monument, built of course to honor our first president, is a true obelisk and is constructed of marble and granite. At 555 feet in height it is still the world’s tallest all-stone obelisk. When it was completed in 1884, it was the tallest structure in the world, a record it held until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was finished in Paris. Construction was started in 1848, and it took six years to build the first 150 feet. Then, for a number of reasons, including a shortage of money and the Civil War, work on the monument was halted for twenty-three years.
Theo wasn’t sure about the other students, but after two days of nonstop history lessons, the dates and numbers were beginning to run together.
They gathered at the base of the monument, waited in line for almost an hour, then entered the ground floor lobby. A friendly park ranger guided them to an elevator and locked the door. Seventy seconds later, they stepped out and onto an observation deck five hundred feet above the ground. The views were stunning. To the west were the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial. To the north were The Ellipse and the White House. To the east was the magnificent US Capitol. To the southeast were the Smithsonian and rows of government buildings. Below the observation deck was a museum filled with even more history.
After two long hours, the students were ready to move on. They descended in the elevator and left the lobby.
At eleven forty-six, Theo got a text from Ike: No sign of Duffy. Must have different routine for Sat. At airport, headed home. C U there.
Chapter 5
Mrs. Boone picked Theo up at the school Monday afternoon. During the ten-minute drive home, she wanted to know every detail about the trip and Washington. Theo was tired—he had slept little Sunday night because Woody and Aaron played a stupid game to see which one could stay awake until morning, and he hadn’t slept on the bus because there had been a lot of punching, slapping, loud music, laughing, and, of course, passing of gas—so he had little to say to his mother. He promised her he would give her a full report after a nap. At home, she fixed him a grilled cheese sandwich and asked him when was the last time he took a shower. He thought it was either Friday or Saturday, and she instructed him to take one right then, after lunch. When Theo was in the shower, she went back to the office.
Theo Boone did not take naps. Even though he was dead tired, he had somewhere to go. It was, after all, Monday afternoon and he was required to visit Ike. He did not always look forward to these visits, but today was different. They had important business.
Ike had been able to run a number of photos of Pete Duffy through FuzziFace, and Theo was eager to know what he had found.
It was the old Ike—no dark suit, no white shirt and tie, no shiny leather loafers. Instead, he was wearing his standard office attire of faded jeans, faded T-shirt, and sandals. Bob Dylan was singing softly on the stereo when Theo and Judge bounded up the stairs to his messy office. Ike was excited and spent fifteen minutes showing Theo the various images of Pete Duffy on his laptop. The FuzziFace software analyzed every inch of Duffy’s face from the old photos Ike had found, and compared those to a still shot from Theo’s video. The bottom line: There was an 85 percent chance it was Duffy.
Theo and Ike were convinced beyond a doubt.
“Now what?” Theo asked.
“Have you told your parents?”
“No, but we should. I don’t like keeping secrets from them, especially something as big as this. They might even be ticked off when we tell them everything we’ve already done.”
“Okay, I agree. When do you want to tell them?”
“How about now? They’re both in the office. It’s Monday, so we’ll go to Robilio’s for dinner, as always. Let’s catch them in about half an hour. Will you come with me?”
It was a complicated question because Ike avoided the law offices of Boone & Boone. He had once worked there; in fact, he and Theo’s father had started the first Boone law firm in the same building many years earlier. Then something bad happened. Ike got into trouble, left the firm on bad terms, lost his license to practice law, went to prison, and now generally avoided anything to do with his old firm. But, thanks to Theo, the difficult relationship between Ike and Woods Boone was showing signs of improving. During the first Duffy trial, Ike showed up at the office one night when Judge Gantry stopped by for an important conversation with the entire family.
Ike would do almost anything for his nephew. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s go.”
“Great. I’ll see you there.” Theo and Judge left in a hurry. After four days in the big city, Theo was thrilled to be back on his bike and darting along the streets of Strattenburg. These were his streets and he knew every one of them, and every alley and shortcut. He could not imagine being a kid in a big city where the streets were clogged with cars and the sidewalks were packed with pedestrians.
Theo took the long way back to the office, stalling until five thirty when Elsa Miller would close up her desk, lock the front door, and go home. Elsa was the firm’s receptionist and head secretary, and a very important person in the lives of the Boones. She w
as like a grandmother to Theo, and at that moment she would pounce on him with amazing energy, even more amazing when you considered that she was seventy years old, and hit him with a hundred questions about his trip to Washington. Theo just wasn’t in the mood, so he did a few laps around the block, with Judge close behind. He hid behind a tree down the street—a favorite hiding place—until he saw Elsa’s car leave. He entered the building through a rear door and went straight to his mother’s office. As usual, she was on the phone. Judge parked himself on a dog bed by Elsa’s desk, one of three such beds at the office, while Theo went up the stairs to check on his father.
Woods Boone was smoking his pipe and reading a document. His desk was stacked with papers and files, many of them untouched for months, maybe even years. He smiled when he saw Theo and said, “Well, well, how was the big trip?”
“It was great, Dad. I’ll tell you all about it over dinner. Right now there’s something we need to talk about, something really important.”
“What have you done?” Mr. Boone asked, suddenly frowning.
“Nothing, Dad. Well, not much anyway. But, look, Ike is on his way over and we need to have a family meeting.”
“Ike? A family meeting? Why am I nervous?”
“Can we just meet with Mom in the conference room and talk about it?”
“Sure,” Mr. Boone said, putting away his pipe and getting to his feet. He followed Theo downstairs. Ike was knocking on the front door and Theo unlocked it. Mrs. Boone emerged from her office and asked, “What’s going on here?”
“We need to talk,” Theo said. Mrs. Boone gave Ike a quick hug, the kind you’re expected to give but don’t really want to. She gave her husband a curious look, like “What’s he done now?”
When they were situated around the conference table, Theo told the story: Last Thursday in DC, leaving Ford’s Theatre, on the crowded subway, the man who looks like Pete Duffy, the secret video made by Theo, the call to Ike, Ike’s quick trip to DC, the second spotting of Duffy, the trailing of Duffy to his run-down apartment building, the FuzziFace software and examination of the photos, and, most importantly, their belief that the man is Pete Duffy.
Mr. and Mrs. Boone were speechless.
Ike had his laptop, and it took Theo only a few seconds to wire it to a big screen on a wall at the end of the conference table. “Here it is,” Theo said, and the video began in slow motion. Theo froze it and said, “This is the best shot right here.” It was an image of the left side of the man’s face just as he dipped his newspaper.
Ike pecked on his keyboard and the screen split between that image and one of Pete Duffy taken from an old newspaper photo. Side by side, the men looked somewhat similar.
Mrs. Boone finally said, “Well, I suppose it sort of looks like the same man.”
Mr. Boone, always the skeptic, said, “I’m not so sure.”
“Oh, it’s him,” Ike said with little doubt.
“He even walks like Pete Duffy,” Theo added.
“And when did you see Mr. Duffy walk?” his father asked.
“During his trial. We walked behind him and his lawyers during the first day of the trial. I remember it clearly.”
“Have you been reading spy novels again?” Mrs. Boone asked. She and Mr. Boone were still staring at the images on the screen. Theo did not answer.
“What do you have in mind?” Mr. Boone asked Ike.
“Well, we have to go to the police, show them the video, show them these images, and tell them everything we know. At that point, it’s up to them.”
The four pondered this for a moment, then Ike continued, “But that, of course, might present another problem. We have a good police department, but Pete Duffy has a lot of friends. There could be leaks. A stray word here or there, then a quick phone call, and Duffy could disappear into thin air.”
“Are you suggesting Duffy might have a mole inside our police department?” Mrs. Boone asked, her eyebrows arched with skepticism.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Ike replied.
“Me neither,” added Mr. Boone.
Theo was shocked by the suggestion. If you can’t trust the police, who can you trust?
Another long pause as the four stared at the screen and considered the situation. “What are you thinking, Ike?” Mrs. Boone finally asked.
“He’s a fugitive, currently number seven on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, right? So we go to the FBI and keep it away from the Strattenburg Police.”
“Well, whatever we do, we’re keeping Theo out of it,” Mr. Boone said.
That was perfectly fine with Theo. The deeper he sank into the Duffy matter, the more worried he became. However, it was exciting to think about working with real FBI agents.
“Of course we are,” Ike said. “But I suppose they’ll want to meet with him and get his version of events. We can keep that all nice and secret.”
“And when do you think we should meet with the FBI?” Mr. Boone asked.
“As soon as possible. I’ll call them first thing in the morning and arrange a meeting. I’ll suggest that we meet right here if that’s okay.”
“Guess I’ll have to miss school tomorrow,” Theo said.
“You will not,” his mother said sharply. “You were out of class Thursday, Friday, and today. You will not miss tomorrow. If we meet, we’ll do it after school. Okay, Ike?”
“Sure.”