Iron Orchid (Holly Barker 5)

“Great! It would be wonderful to see you, I can put you up, you know.”

“Nah, suggest a good hotel. I told you why.”

“There are two good ones in the neighborhood, though, the Lowell, on Sixty-third and the Plaza Athenee, on Sixty-fourth. They’ll both have thick walls.”

“Okay, I’ll book us in.”

“When you coming?

“Tomorrow okay?”

“Sure. I’ll see if I can get some time off, and if you’ll give me your flight information, I’ll have a car meet you.”

“I’ll e-mail it to you. Bye.” He hung up. Ham had never been one for long telephone conversations.

Holly got Daisy’s leash and left the building, headed for the park. She tried not to be self-conscious, tried not to look over her shoulder, but the thought that maybe Teddy might be following her never left her mind. They entered the park at 64th Street, walked past the zoo and headed north at a fast walk for Holly and a slow one for Daisy, but since she had a lot of sniffing and inspecting to do, the pace was good for both of them.

At the Bethesda Fountain Holly looked around for a cop and, seeing none, unclipped Daisy and let her range around the open area, while Holly sat on the fountain’s edge and kept an eye out for the law. It was a one-hundred-dollar fine to have your dog off the leash in the park after nine a.m.

Immediately, Holly saw two men who could be Teddy Fay: one older looking, in a long topcoat with a short, gray beard, and another in a sheepskin coat and a tweed cap, with a big yellow muffler that partly covered his face. She looked away from both of them, then glanced back when she could. She made sure her cell phone earpiece was firmly in her ear, then she reached into a pocket and pressed the single key that connected her to the team leader,

“I’m here,” he said.

“I’ve got two candidates,” she replied without moving her lips. “Old man in topcoat with beard, younger man in sheepskin coat and tweed cap. Can’t be sure about either.”

“We’re on it.” He rang off.

Holly gave them another ample of minutes to identify the two men, then she called Daisy and headed back toward 64th Street, still walking quickly. She made the last few blocks in record time, and as soon as she was inside she called Lance.

“Yes?”

“I identified two prospects to the team,” she said.

“I know; they’re tracking both. The older man with the beard has been eliminated-he’s really old-but they’re still on the sheepskin coat. Come on back to work.”

Holly left some fresh water for Daisy, told her to guard the apartment with her life, and got

a cab back to the office. She went immediately to Lance’s office.

“What’s going on?”

Lance was watching a jerky television image on a monitor next to his desk. “There’s the sheepskin coat,” he said. “He’s leading them on an erratic walk, and they’re having trouble keeping him in sight without losing him or blowing the tail. I’ve dispatched another team to help. You think it could really be him?”

“Well, it could be Larry David, I suppose.”

“I’m never going to be able to watch his show again without thinking about this,” Lance said, laughing. He picked up his phone and pressed a button. “I want one team member to get close; Holly’s here, and I want her to have a good look. Have someone approach and pass him from in front.”

Holly watched the screen, and a moment later the perspective changed: the camera was a block away, and the man in the sheepskin coat was walking toward it. The man and his pursuer stopped on opposite sides of the street for a traffic light.

“Zoom in as close as possible,” Lance said into the phone.

The camera began a slow zoom, and as it framed the man more tightly, he took off his tweed cap and wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. Holly got a good look at his face; he couldn’t have been older than forty-five. “Not him,” she said. “Too young.”

Lance spoke into the phone again. “He’s not our man,” he said. “Break it off; everybody back to the Barn.” He hung up the phone.

“I’m sorry, Lance, I thought he might be Teddy.”

“Don’t worry about it; the exercise was good practice for the team.”