“No, they agreed they could get by without checking luggage. Delta has direct flights at three forty-six and five-nineteen. I’m thinking they’ll be on one of those, but we won’t know which until they leave the house. Any time past two o’clock would put them in a tight squeeze to make the three forty-six.”

“Are they driving themselves?”

“They didn’t say, but I’ll call you as they’re leaving. Be ready to move. I want you stationed at the airport, near security to confirm that they go through.”

“Without her seeing me.”

“Without her seeing you.”

“And you?”

“I’ll follow them in my car as far as the airport to make sure that’s where they’re headed. If they take another direction, I’ll continue following until you can catch up with me. If they do go to the airport, I’ll let you know to watch for them, then I’ll circle around, come back here, and—”

“Break and enter.”

“With any luck I won’t have to break anything.” Gif didn’t respond to the quip. Drex sighed. “Don’t start again.”

“It’s risky, Drex. Why take such a chance?”

“Because we’ve established that legal channels are closed, and I don’t know any other way.”

“Okay. But you don’t have to go it alone. After I see them off, why don’t I join the search? Another pair of eyes and hands would halve the time it will take.”

“Nope. It’s my plan, so my neck is the only one on the block. Besides, if I’m caught, I’ll need you to rush in waving your badge and getting me out of hock with the local cops.”

“I’d rather you not get caught.”

“Goes without saying.”

“What are you doing now?”

He was doing what he’d been doing since his exchange with Talia at dawn: wishing that Jasper had rushed up the stairs and kicked in his door. He wished Jasper had tried tearing him limb from limb. He would have demonstrated to him and his lying wife what animal impulses unleashed looked like.

But to Gif he said, “Killing time till they leave.”

He paced. He sat. He eavesdropped on the Fords’ intermittent conversations as they came and went from the kitchen, but nothing substantive had come from those exchanges. If Talia had told Jasper about seeing him that morning, and what had been said, she’d done so outside his hearing. The climate between the two of them seemed to have warmed from what it had been the night before.

It gave Drex no pleasure to speculate on what had brought that about.

At 10:05, Jasper left the house alone. He returned at 12:36.

Knowing that they could be leaving at any time soon after that, Drex posted himself at the window and began an uninterrupted vigil. At 2:07, his phone buzzed. He answered. Gif said, “The five nineteen flight?”

“Looks like. Stand by.”

Three o’clock rolled around. Three fifteen arrived, and still there was no sign of them. By 3:22, with Drex on the verge of imploding, Jasper’s car backed out of the garage.

Drex called Gif. “They’re rolling.”

“Car service?”

“He’s driving.”

“On it.”

They clicked off. Drex watched to see which way the car turned out of the driveway, then waited at the door and counted slowly to fifty before bounding down the stairs.

He didn’t pick up their tail until he reached a major thoroughfare and saw their car stopped at a traffic light. Several cars were between them. He slowed down to let more pass him to create a safer barrier without blocking them from sight. He followed them across the bridge into Charleston, then north on the freeway toward the airport.

Jasper stayed within the speed limit and stuck to the outside lane, making him easy to follow. When Jasper signaled to take the airport exit off the freeway, Drex called Gif. “Looks like it’s a go. You in place?”

“Trying not to make myself conspicuous to ATF.”

“We’re here. Hang on.” Staying a discreet distance behind Jasper, Drex followed him toward the parking garages and reported to Gif when Jasper entered the short-term one directly across the street from the terminal. “They should be coming your way in a matter of minutes.”

“Roger that. Eyes peeled.”

“I’m on my way back to the house.”

He decided to go in through the screened porch, the obvious reason being that it couldn’t be seen from the street. But, also, that was the area of the house with which he was most familiar.

The latch on the screen door didn’t present a challenge. He pulled on a pair of latex gloves and had the flimsy lock busted within seconds. The lock on the solid back door took longer to pick, but he managed it easily enough. Then, with Mike’s foreboding about booby traps in mind, he held his breath and pushed open the door. The alarm began to beep. He punched in the new code as he’d heard Talia recite it the night before.

The beeping ceased.

He closed the door. Moving from window to window in the kitchen, he scanned various sections of the property, looking for a sign that he’d been spotted. But there was no movement except for rainwater dripping from the eaves and causing ripples in the puddles beneath.

Satisfied that he’d gotten inside without detection, he let out his breath, and that exhalation was the only sound in the house. The silence was absolute. No ticking clock or hum of an electrical appliance, no gentle whirring of air passing through a vent. Nothing.

Adding to the eeriness of the silence was the gloom. Blinds and shutters had been left open, but the dreary day had created a premature dusk. The light that did leak into the house was so feeble, Drex had to give his eyes time to adjust to the dimness.

When Mike had recovered the real estate listing for the house, he’d printed out the included floor plan. Drex had familiarized himself with it so, even though he’d only been in a few of the downstair rooms, he knew the layout of the house. He made his way from the kitchen, through the formal dining room, and into the two-story foyer where the main staircase curved gracefully upward to the second floor.

He had decided to begin upstairs, do a general walk-through to see what each room consisted of and determine what it might yield, then search the spaces one by one in order of priority.

He climbed the stairs to the landing. Extending from it was a wide hallway, and midway down it, a set of double doors. He pushed them open and stepped into the master suite. Moving his gaze from left to right, he took in the entire room, mentally cataloguing the furnishings. The bed was positioned even with the double doorway and directly in front of him. He walked over and stood at the foot of it.

They’d left it made, decorative throw pillows attractively placed. Identical night tables bracketed the upholstered headboard. The items on them indicated who slept on which side of the bed. On Jasper’s were a lamp and alarm clock only. On Talia’s were a matching lamp and alarm clock, but also a crystal tray holding several pieces of jewelry, which she must have removed just before climbing into bed. Drex recognized the bracelet and a pair of gold hoop earrings that she’d worn to dinner on Thursday night.

A crystal pump bottle contained what appeared to be hand lotion. He told himself not to, but he rounded the end of the bed, leaned down, and sniffed. It was her fragrance, and it caused a twinge of longing. He cursed himself for being a damn fool.