Exit Strategy (Nadia Stafford 1)

"Didn't argue," Jack said.

"You gave Baron the benefit of the doubt."

"Nothing wrong with that. Want me to log on?"

"You don't know my password."

"Yeah?"

They locked gazes, but Evelyn only shook her head, refusing to be distracted.

"You have a sentimental streak, Jack."

"An optimistic streak. And it's not fatal. Dee doesn't need to hear this shit. You want me to say it? You were right. Now log on or--"

She stood. "Get away from my keyboard before you break something."

Baron's number didn't lead anywhere. Not immediately at least. Evelyn put in a few cybercalls for more information, both to trace the phone number and to track Baron through the criminal network.

"But that won't bear fruit today, so you can go and c

heck that cartel lead while Dee and I check out Kozlov and research the insurance theory."

"You don't need her."

"Neither do you. There's no need to take her along, especially on something like that."

"Evelyn's right," I said. "I can't help you shake down a drug cartel source, and probably shouldn't--especially after how Saul reacted. I'd rather stay, search for insurance links and help Evelyn with the Kozlov lead."

His back to Evelyn, Jack looked at me and gave a small shake of his head. I knew what he meant. Evelyn didn't need my help. It was only an excuse to get me alone, away from him.

Jack left before dawn. So I was alone with Evelyn, doing research. In school, I'd always been a struggling B student. As a cop, I'd never aspired to detective-hood, if only because of the sheer amount of desk work involved. Now, in my thirties, I had returned to academia, taking college courses, but only because my days were spent outdoors and active, and I could spare some time to develop my brain.

Yet when it came to solving this case, I had minimal interest in poring over Internet printouts and visiting a retired hitwoman's old pals. Another victim's life was expiring, and I wanted to be with Jack, interviewing--or interrogating--a source.

As for whether I trusted Evelyn enough to stay with her, the answer was no. I didn't see Evelyn as a threat--not at her age--but neither did I know her. Still, I was okay with that. In my years as a cop, I'd had a couple of partners I hadn't trusted even after that initial discomfort of working with someone new had passed. I'd spent almost a year partnered with a dirty cop--someone I suspected was more likely to shoot my back than protect it. I'd learned to deal with that, and never gave him any cause to think I didn't trust him. More than once I'd heard him snicker with his buddies about how naive I was. But when he'd tried to pin something on me, I'd seen it coming and turned the tables so deftly he'd never figured out what had gone wrong. If I'd worked with him and emerged unscathed, I could do the same with Evelyn.

So, first, we researched the insurance claim theory. There were legitimate ways to get that information, but legitimate means slow, and always leaves a trail. Evelyn knew shortcuts through the dark alleys of the information highway.

By breakfast time we had our list of victims, insurance claims and beneficiaries. None screamed "murder for money." Carson Morrow's wife would collect his, but it was only fifty thousand, not nearly enough when you had two kids and he was the family breadwinner. Mary Lee's family would collect a quarter of a million. A tidy sum...if it wasn't to be divided among five children and eleven grandchildren. Leon Kozlov's ten-thousand-dollar policy would cover burial costs, with little left over.

So far, the cases didn't seem to support an insurance-based theory. Maybe Morrow's wife had other reasons to kill him, and the insurance money would just be a bonus. Maybe multiple members of Lee's family had conspired to have her murdered. Maybe Kozlov had a richer policy elsewhere.

Then there was Alicia Sanchez, whose coverage did raise red flags. I wasn't certain, but I suspected that insurance on an unmarried college student was relatively rare. And a quarter of a million dollars went way beyond burial costs. I couldn't imagine any parent killing his child for insurance money. But Sanchez did have two brothers, one with a criminal record. One way to get a "loan" from Mom and Dad would be to make sure they had the money to lend. And after grieving for one child, they'd be reluctant to refuse to help another. Not a perfect theory, but something worth further investigation.

Midmorning, we left to visit Evelyn's Nikolaev family contact. She pulled into the driveway of a town house complex, less than an hour from her place.

"That was quick."

"At your age, you want to keep lots of distance between you and your colleagues, so no one makes the connection. By our age, no one cares anymore, and it's a hell of a lot easier to get together for coffee when you don't live five states apart."

She turned from one short, narrow road onto another, heading for the rear of the complex.

"Maggie and Frances are a couple girls I know from way back. Not girls anymore, mind you. They're more retired than I am, but they still dip their hands in when the rocking-chair life gets dull. Not hitwomen, of course--there were never more than a few of us around. Maggie and Frances used to--" A smile played at her lips. "I'll let them tell you. They'll like that."

I scanned the town houses. The sign out front said they were condos, but the units had that run-down "don't-give-a-shit" look that I always associate with temporary residents. The one Evelyn pulled up in front of, though, shone with pride of ownership. The shoe-box-size front lawn had been replaced with a perennial garden, English-cottage style. There were cobblestones instead of crumbling walk-ways. A well-maintained, ten-year-old Honda sat under the carport, atop a cracked, but recently resealed, driveway.

"So they both live here?"