When they arrived at the police department, Locke parked in a designated slot. They reunited with Talia and Menundez at an entrance for personnel. Before they went in, Locke turned to Drex. “You carrying?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not planning to shoot him, are you?”

“Rudkowski? Hadn’t planned to.”

“That’s too bad. But I can’t let you go inside with a weapon. Give it to Menundez.”

Knowing it would be pointless to argue, Drex passed the detective his pistol, saying, “Escort Talia to Rudkowski. Keep him occupied long enough for me to view that video.”

Locke intervened. “You know, typically, the apprehended don’t give the orders.”

”You agreed to give me fifteen minutes,” Drex said.

“I didn’t agree to anything.”

“I need to see that video before I see Rudkowski.”

“You’re not going to talk him out of the arrest.”

“Don’t underestimate my powers of persuasion.”

Locke remained dubious, but he said to Menundez, “Text me which room you’re in. Fifteen minutes or less, we’ll be up.”

Before they separated, Drex reached for Talia’s hand and squeezed it. “Give him hell.” She smiled and squeezed back.

Locke led Drex into a room that had a modicum of privacy. He accessed an available computer and downloaded the security camera video. Drex had noted earlier the time burn-in on the freeze-frame. He fast-forwarded to it, then backed up three minutes from there and started playing. To Drex’s disappointment, the images were no more distinct on this larger monitor than they had been on Locke’s laptop.

“Warned you it was lousy,” Locke remarked as he watched over Drex’s shoulder.

It was. Drex paused and restarted it frequently, zoomed in on still frames, zoomed out, fast-forwarded and rewound so often that Locke said, “I’m getting motion sick.”

“Me too. I could do with a Coke. Got one around here?”

“Forget it. I’m not leaving you alone.”

“I wouldn’t cut out on you. Scout’s honor.”

“You’ve got ten more minutes. I’ve got calls to return.”

Locke walked a short distance away, but still in sight, and got on his phone. Drex paused the video at a certain point and leaned in closer to the monitor to study one of the frozen images. He backed it up, saw the same individual. He fast-forwarded, but slowly, watching even more closely.

Locke returned. “Time,” he said.

Drex pushed back his chair and stood up. “Thanks.”

“Hold it. Did you catch something I should see?”

“Rudkowski’s waiting.”

“Look,” Locke said with irritation, “you can continue bullshitting, or you can clue me to your plan.”

“Plan?”

Locke gave a sigh of exasperation. “Easton, I admire you more than I like you. I think you’re smart, and I think you’re earnest. Menundez has a man crush on you. You appeal to his cowboy-cop ideal. When Rudkowski told us about you, the things you’ve done in the name of ‘duty,’ I thought at first that he had to be lying.”

“All this to say…?”

“I would rather have you at my back, even without a badge, than that guy with one. But I’ve got to know the plan you’re hatching.”

Drex thought too much of Locke’s integrity to continue pretending. “In your situation I would feel the same frustration. But I’m reluctant to discuss a plan that isn’t even close to hatching. It’s still embryonic.”

“I could help, field ideas.”

“When the time is right.”

Still looking vexed, Locke said, “Have you ever met the SAC in Columbia? The one Rudkowski is reporting to?”

“No.”

“Doesn’t matter. Jump the chain. Call him directly. Explain this grudge match between you and Rudkowski.”

“Who has painted me to be a nut case. Even if I could get through to the SAC, by the time I convinced him that I wasn’t delusional and paranoid it could be too late.”

“All right, how about this? I’ll take you in to see our chief. He’s a reasonable man, and he’s had two women murdered in the past two nights. He wants the culprit. Bounce your idea…Why not?” he asked when Drex began shaking is head.

“Because, as reasonable as he may be, he’ll toe the line. While he’s trying to figure out what to do with me, time is running out.”

“Maybe it already has. By now, Jasper Ford may be long gone.”

“Do you honestly think that? If you do, say so.”

“No. I think he’s alive and unraveling just like you say.”

“Okay then. This is the game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer, and I don’t need my own damn team trying to block it.”

“That’s my point, we’re not a team.”

“We are,” Drex said. “I swear.”

Uncertainty in his eyes, the detective asked quietly, “Can you make the shot?”

“I don’t know. I hope so, but I’m nursing no illusions. If I fail, it’ll be spectacular. But it will be my own throat I’ve cut. Only mine.”

“That’s just it,” Locke said. “If you’re put out of commission for good, it’ll be a hell of a waste of talent and guts. I want you to win. I just wish you would play by the rule book.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because he doesn’t.”

“Don’t play dumb, Mrs. Ford. Don’t act like you didn’t know that I wanted to talk to you. You are a material witness in a felony case involving the kidnap and murder of Elaine Conner, as well as the unexplained disappearance of your husband.”

Talia’s only previous exposure to Special Agent Rudkowksi had been the dialogue she’d overheard while hiding in the safe room with Drex. Her opinion hadn’t improved upon meeting him. Since he’d entered the interrogation room where Menundez had ensconced her, Rudkowski had been railing at her, virtually without taking a breath.

As he continued to rant, she kept her expression as aloof as possible, her gaze steady on him. She wasn’t accustomed to the cops-and-robbers environment, much less to being shouted at. Her failure to react with fear and trembling had roused him to become increasingly loud.

Menundez said now, “Ease up, Rudkowski. She’s not a suspect.”

“I’ll determine that.”

Talia seized her first opportunity to get a word in edgewise. “Agent Rudkowski, I’m well aware of the seriousness of the crimes.”

“Are you? Then why have you hampered the investigation by avoiding this interview? You also tampered with evidence.”

“I did no such thing. When I left my house before you served the search warrant, I took nothing from it except a couple of changes of clothing and some toiletries.”

“Your husband’s cookbooks. Menundez here says they filled that shelf above the stove. That shelf was conspicuously empty.”

“I didn’t take the cookbooks.”

“Then it was Easton.”