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Even when they aren’t lovable, Barrie thought. “Who raised you after they died?”

“Alternately, both sets of grandparents. T

hey were good people. They’re all dead now.”

“Siblings?” she asked.

“A sister. Still lives in Grady. Mother of four, married to a CPA who’s president of the school board and a deacon in the Baptist church.”

“That must be nice for you, having nieces and nephews to spoil.”

“I don’t see them.”

“How come?”

“My brother-in-law thinks I’m dangerous.”

“Are you?”

He turned his head. Laser-beam eyes seemed to spear straight through her. “Haven’t you figured that out by now?”

“Yes.” She lowered her gaze. “I think you might be very dangerous.”

Staring through the windshield, she realized that without her noticing, dusk had deepened into full-blown night. The woods on both sides of the two-lane highway were dark. After several moments, she said, “That call I received before we left Daily’s house was from my source in Justice.”

“You have a source in the Justice Department?”

“Is that so surprising?”

“Who? Which division? How senior?”

“You know I can’t tell you that.”

“Well then, I guess we’ll just have to hope he’s not one of Spence’s moles.”

Ignoring the barb, Barrie said, “My source told me that you and Merritt were in a closed-door meeting today.”

“That’s right.”

“Funny you didn’t mention it to Daily or me.”

“There was nothing to it.”

“You had fifteen minutes alone with the President of the United States and there was nothing to it?”

“I just dropped in—”

“Dropped in? I could drop in, but David Merritt would never give me a private audience.”

“I’ve got friends in the Secret Service. I showed up unannounced so I could gauge his reaction to seeing me.”

“Which was?”

“He almost crapped in his shorts.”

He recapped for her their conversation, then added, “I let him know that Spence had failed to carry out his last mission.”

“And that’s all there was to it?”