The Interior (Red Princess 2)

“How? What for?”

“I have a job. I’m moving to Beijing.”

She heard static on the line; then she asked with deliberation, “Is this the truth?”

He laughed. “Yes! Yes!”

“Oh, David. I can’t believe it.” Then she asked again, “How?”

He started four days back with Keith’s horrible death and what that meant about the triads and the FBI surveillance. He confided in her his concerns about Keith and what he’d read in the paper. Then he told her about going back to his office the day after the funeral….

He’d picked up his voice-mail messages, including one from Keith’s sister. “I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said. “We’re going home today, but I’d like to talk to you about Keith when you have a chance.” She left her home number in Russell, Kansas, then closed with, “I hope you’ll call.”

At the time he’d had no desire to hear more of her recriminations, so he’d written the number down and put it in his briefcase.

A few minutes later he’d walked down the hall to U.S. Attorney Madeleine Prentice’s office. She was blonde, beautiful, smart, and politically astute. Rob Butler, the chief of the Criminal Division, was also there. David had known Rob since law school. They’d played tennis together for years. Like Madeleine, he was a brilliant lawyer. David needed to clear up one aspect of Keith’s death before he made any other decisions and hoped now to confirm what Miles had told him after the funeral.

“What can you tell me about the Keith Baxter investigation?” he asked.

“There isn’t one,” Madeleine responded.

“It was in the paper yesterday,” he said.

“Don’t believe everything you read in the papers,” Rob said. “Haven’t you learned that yet?”

David ignored the barb. “He was accused of doing something in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”

“Bribery?” Madeleine asked.

“I assumed so, but I don’t know.”

“Well, it’s not in our office,” Madeleine said. “We haven’t had a single Foreign Corrupt Practices case since the statute was written.”

“Maybe his name has come up in another matter,” Rob suggested.

“But we don’t have any bribery cases right now,” Madeleine said.

“What about in the Washington office?” David asked.

“Your friend lived in L.A., right? If he was up to something, don’t you think Washington would tell us?”

David still didn’t know what was bothering Keith, but if Miles said there was nothing to worry about, and Madeleine and Rob verified that, then he could move on—emotionally and perhaps professionally. Except…

“Can I ask something else? Do you think Keith could have been the target the other night and not me? I mean, the Rising Phoenix has had lots of other opportunities. So why now? Could there be some connection between Keith and the triads? He was doing work in China…”

Madeleine sighed. “David, you know what happened that night. Accept it, then put it behind you.”

David looked at Rob, who said, “She’s right.”

David considered, then announced, “Miles Stout has asked me to set up an office in Beijing.”

Without hesitation Madeleine asked, “How soon?”

“I’d leave in a couple of days.”

“A week or two’s notice would have been nice, but it wouldn’t be the first time an assistant left on the spur of the moment,” Madeleine said. Then eerily echoing Phil Collingsworth, she added, “When it’s time, it’s time.”

David laughed and shook his head. “What’s this? Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?”