"No, we're in luck," Laura said. "That's the way I drink my coffee too. Mac?"

"Don't pour me any yet, Laura," I called from the cottage door. "I want to see what Savich is up to."

"Put on some shoes before you head out," Sherlock said, absorbed with putting another sunflower seed in Nolan's mouth.

When I walked outside, I was surprised to see a beautiful clear morning, the sky as blue as Jilly's eyes, with just a light breeze. I turned south to see Savich striding toward me. He saw me and waved.

Like his wife, when he reached me he studied me closely. "You okay?" Thank God he didn't feel it necessary to feel me up.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about. Did you see anything? Sherlock's already inside drinking coffee. Come on in. I'm surely pleased to see both of you."

"I didn't see any signs of anyone out here. The ground's still soft from all the rain. There would have been footprints if anyone had come close. But you've already checked out here, haven't you?"

"Not this morning."

"Now you don't have to. Sounds like you guys are in deep shit. I'm glad you called us. But it's going to be sticky, Mac. We're both really sorry about Jilly and any involvement she may have in all this. I want you to know, too, that we talked it over on the way here, and for Jilly's sake, we're with you for a day or two. I agree with you we should be safe enough for that long. Someone would have to be crazy to come after four federal agents when everyone knows why we're here.

"I said as little as possible to Jimmy Maitland. For the moment, at least, since you're on leave and have already talked to your boss, Carl Bardolino, he's going to let us go with this. As I said, Sherlock and I discussed this situation thoroughly on the flight to Portland. We've got more questions. Then we can discuss strategy." He paused a moment and gripped my shoulder. "I'm very sorry about Jilly, Mac. No word about where she is?"

"No. I'm sorry about your having to leave Scan."

"He'll do just fine. Sherlock says he's too young to be ruined just yet, so it doesn't matter how often my mom tickles his stomach and tells him he's the prince of the world. I sure hope she's right."

It sounded so normal, so very unlike the past four days of my life. I sighed. "Come meet Laura Scott."

Chapter Sixteen

After we'd each drunk a cup of coffee strong enough to cut through sludge, I said, "There's a whole lot we need to do today. Since we don't know how long we can count on staying here, we've got to make good use of every minute."

I looked over at Savich, who was staring into his nearly empty coffee cup. He looked every inch a mean son of a bitch, big and muscled, wearing jeans and a dark blue turtleneck sweater, short boots. You could count on him to cover your back. "It's fifteen minutes after eight o'clock in the morning, Mac. I ain't going nowhere until I get food in this empty belly."

Sherlock said, "Before we do anything, you guys need to go shower. A shave for you, Mac. Your hair's standing on end. Actually, both of you could use some more sleep. But it's odd. You both look real relaxed." She raised her eyebrow, blinked twice, and walked quickly into the kitchen.

"She knows," Laura said to me.

"I hope she approves of you."

Laura and I didn't share the shower, but it was a temptation. We brushed our teeth together. When we returned, I inhaled the smell of bacon and eggs and nearly cried. I saw that Nolan was riding around on Savich's shoulder. Grubster was sitting on Sherlock's lap.

"Quite a menagerie you've got," Savich said, and lightly stroked his fingertip down Nolan's breast.

"Squawk."

The table was set. We all sat down like grown-ups. Savich brought out the plates of food he'd kept warm in the oven. "Eat up." Savich ate for five minutes, then said, "Mac, you mentioned this old fellow, Charlie Duck, who was murdered. What about him? How does he fit into all of this?"

"All we have is his dying words to Doc Lambert: 'a big wallop, too much, then they got me.' He knew something about Laura's drug case, no question at all in my mind about that. But what?"

Laura said, "There hasn't been a whole lot of time to think since I met Mac, but I agree with him. Charlie found out something he shouldn't have and that's why they killed him."

I said, "After breakfast I want to call the M.E. in Portland and see what he has to say. I want to speak to Maggie Sheffield, the sheriff, and see if she's learned anything. I'd assume that she would have called here if she'd gotten any leads on Jilly."