“I see. In other words, you want us to work today.”

“Yeah. Besides, I need to talk to you, and you need to tell me what happened over at the house when Cliff and the guys got there.”

“Oh, now you’re interested. Last night you just wanted to leave me there in the dark, while you went off with your pet assassin.”

“I told you yesterday, she’s not my pet anything, and I swear if you call her an assassin again, I’ll let her shoot you next time.”

Alex covered her eyes with her hands, realizing what she’d just said. It was enough to tell David that something was definitely going on.

“Alex, are you okay?” David’s voice was soft and concerned. For a minute Alex wanted to tell him everything that had happened the night before. But she realized she really couldn’t do so over the phone.

“Yes, Dave. But I really need to talk. Plus, we need to go to the office and look at some records. Can you pick me up?”

“When?”

“When can you get here?”

“I’m on my way.”

“Please let Miri know I’m sorry. I really didn’t intend to interrupt any family plans.”

“It’s okay, Alex, I knew we’d probably be working. Miri knew it, too. Don’t worry, she’s not going to ground you from playing with Arlea or anything.”

“That’s good to know. I’d miss the little punk.”

“Yeah, and she’d miss you. I’ll pick you up as soon as I can.”

“Give the girls a hug and kiss from me.”

“Sending my wife kisses, Alex?”

“No, dummy. The hug is for Miri, the kiss is for Arlea.”

“You just want me to get slobbered on.”

“Yep.”

“Creep.”

*******************************************************

David showed up half an hour later, and Alex met him at the curb. She’d been waiting on the porch for several minutes.

“Hey, partner, what are you hanging around in the cold for?”

“I don’t know, just didn’t want to sit inside anymore. Guess I’m a little eager to get to work.”

David pulled the car away from the curb. “Okay, you want to fill me in on what tall dark and dangerous told you?”

“You can’t pass it on, Dave, and I can’t tell you everything. But I got the name of the guy that was with Mather in Europe.”

“Yeah?”

“His name is John Treville. He works at East Penn Telecom.”

“That’s where Brogan works.”

“Right.” Alex pulled out her pad of notes. “He’s also a friend of Martin Richmond’s. He serves on the board for the Christian Men’s Front.”

“Damn. I guess you’re telling me you do think Richmond is involved.”

“I think it’s more than likely.”

Dave nodded. “Okay, what else?”

“We need to go back into the records on the shareholders of Kittredge. Treville should be listed. We need to find the paperwork to trace him, because we can’t let anyone know Teren told us.”

“Come on, Alex, what if the trail isn’t there? How are we gonna connect him without her statement?”

“We won’t. I’m not going to argue this with you, David. She told me the story in strictest confidence, and I won’t break her faith in me.”

David drove quietly for several minutes, concentrating on the roads though the capitol.

He knew there was something Alex wasn’t telling him, but he also knew if he pushed, she would probably not tell him anything at all.

“You like her, don’t you, Alex.”

Alex sighed. She knew what David was asking.

“Yeah. I think I do.”

David shook his head. “Why are things always complicated with you, Alex? Why can’t you ever like someone normal? What about that woman you had dinner with the other night, the one you met at Sarah and Maggie’s?”

Alex looked at him. “Dave, that was Teren.”

David paused. “Oh, yeah.”

Alex just laughed.

They pulled into the underground parking lot, and David turned the motor off. He started to open the door, but Alex stopped him with a hand to his arm.

“Okay, what else do you need to tell me, Alex?”

She pulled the key from her pocket and handed it to him.“That look like a safety deposit box key to you?”

David looked at it closely. “Yes. Where’d you get this?”

She looked at the floor a little guiltily.

“You took it from the house last night?”

“Accidentally. What Teren was looking for last night was something that got left behind when her partner was killed. It meant a lot to her, and she found it inside the box of money. She asked me to let her take this little leather bag. She swore it had nothing whatsoever to do with the case. I figured we owed her one, so I let her take it. After dinner, when she was dropping me off, I asked her to show it to me, just so I could know for sure.”

“And it was this key.”

“No. It was a pocket watch that Mather had taken from her partner’s body. Teren said she didn’t know if Mather’d had it with him when he got blown up, but she hoped he’d left it at home. It’s a beautiful watch, David, very old, over a century. I was glad to let her have it.”

David nodded. “Okay. The key?”

“When she showed me the watch, I opened it. The key was wedged on the inside of the case. I took the key, and Teren took the watch.”

Her partner nodded again. “So. How do we explain how the key got here?”

“Well, Teren and I came up with a plan, but I ‘d rather tell Cliff the truth. He’s the one who told me I should try to work with her, and offer to share resources.”

He looked sideways at her. “Do you think she has any other resources to share?”

“She’s willing to help. She said she’d try her own contacts in the agency to find all the links. The way she put it was, ‘I’ll give you the names, you guys get the evidence.’”

“Well, good. Maybe it will start a new era in cooperation between the Bureau and the CIA.”

“I doubt it. Teren’s not really CIA anymore.”

“I doubt it, too. Anyway, Cliff is supposed to be here today. He said last night that he’d be in around ten.”

Alex looked at her watch. It was nine-thirty. “Well, you want to be there when I tell him the story?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be there. Don’t want him going ballistic without me around. Besides, Teren saved my life last night, even if she did want to kill me later. I wouldn’t begrudge her the opportunity to get her partner’s watch back from that slimebag.”

“Thanks, David. Now, if we can just find the box this key fits.”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? We found a slip for a bank downtown, right here in DC. It was for the rental of a safety deposit box.”

Alex just stared at her partner. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. But now we have the number, and the key. We shouldn’t have any problem getting into it this morning.”

“Want to go there now?”

“Uh, let’s talk to Cliff first. “

“Gotcha.”

*******************************************************

Cliff was indeed in his office. He listened as Alex told him the story of her evening with Teren. She glossed over most of the details, explaining only that Teren had finally given her the name of John Treville. When she told him about letting Teren take the pouch, his eyebrows shot up, but he remained silent until she finished.

Cliff stood up and walked over to the window. He had to admit he was a little disturbed that Alex, one of his top agents, had allowed evidence to be taken from the house. He couldn’t really blame her, though, since he was the one who encouraged her to foster a working relationship with the former spy. He wondered now if that had been the right move.

He turned back to his two investigators.

“I don’t like it. Not even a little bit. Alex, consider yourself written up for this. I won’t actually do it, because it wouldn’t do any good. I don’t believe any harm will come of it, so I’m not reporting it. But I won’t put up with this again.”

Alex opened her mouth, intending to defend herself, but shut it again when Cliff raised his hand.

“I understand you were trying to keep Teren happy. But she has to understand that the FBI runs under different rules. I’m willing to have her on this team, but only if she understands, and follows, the rules. Is that clear?”