Simple Genius

Michelle, always a light sleeper, slid her hand under her pillow and gripped her pistol as the door to her room slowly opened. Michelle eased her eyes to slit-wide until she could make out the person coming at her. Viggie was in a long T-shirt that hung past her knees. She was holding something in her hands.

She stood next to the bed for a moment and then slowly placed the item she was carrying on top of the bedspread. A few seconds later Michelle heard the door close. Moments after that Michelle heard Viggie’s door close.

She immediately sat up in bed and turned on the light on the nightstand. Grabbing up the item Viggie had left for her she saw that it was a large manila envelope. In it were two articles: a letter in a regular envelope and a photograph. She was so excited that she slipped out into the hall still wearing only what’d she’d been sleeping in, panties and a short tank top. She quietly knocked on Sean’s bedroom door. There was no answer. She rapped again, a little harder.

She pressed her lips against the door. “Sean? Sean?”

Finally she heard a grumble, some muttering followed by the squeak of a mattress. Then a light was switched on, footsteps came her way, and the door opened.

He was sleepy-eyed and wearing striped pajamas.

“What is it?” he demanded.

A smile twitched across her lips. “You wear pajamas to bed?” she said, staring at him. “For real?”

He said nothing for a moment as his eyes cleared and he focused on her half-naked body. “And you wear nearly nothing when you go to bed? For real?”

She appeared startled, looked down at herself and quickly put a hand across her chest, holding the manila envelope in front of her even more private areas.

Now Sean was smiling. He said, “No, really, Mick, not on my account. Having been woken out of a dead sleep, it’s hard for me to focus on things like breasts and…” He glanced down at the manila envelope. “Well, you get the picture.” When she didn’t say anything, and just stood there looking awkward, he added, “Is there something you wanted, other than to ridicule my choice of sleeping apparel?”

Michelle slipped past him and into his room, sat on the bed and motioned him to join her there. “Hurry up. I’ve got something to show you.”

“I can see that!”

“I’m not horny, okay? I’m talking about something else. It’s important.”

He sighed, walked over and slumped down next to her. “What is it?”

She told him about Viggie’s visit and showed him the items.

All weariness was now gone from Sean’s features. He studied the letter and then the photo.

“Where did Viggie get these?”

“They had to come from her father. Wouldn’t they?”

“So Viggie gave them to you; the music and now this. Why?”

“She likes me. I saved her life. She trusts me.”

Sean looked at her curiously. “I think you hit it on the head, Michelle. She trusts you.” He put the items back in the manila envelope. “You need to go and talk to Viggie, right now. This letter mentions something else, another piece of information, that we need to make sense of all this. She gave you this much, she should give you the rest.”

“I’ll try.”

Michelle returned to her room, put on a bathrobe and went to Viggie’s room. Ten minutes later she returned to Sean’s room looking disappointed. “Not only would she not tell me anything else, she wouldn’t even acknowledge what she had given me.”

They spent the next hour trying to make sense of the letter and the photo.

Finally Sean said, “Okay, not that I mind having a nearly naked woman in my bed, but you need to get dressed.”

“What?” Michelle said, startled.

“You woke me up, now we’re going to wake Horatio up. I want his opinion on something.”

As she rose and left the room, Sean looked down at the envelope. Maybe this was finally the key they needed. He desperately hoped so, because they were running out of options. And he didn’t want their only remaining option to be going over the fence at Camp Peary.

CHAPTER 71

THE SUN WAS STARTING TO RISE as Sean and Michelle walked over to see Horatio in his room at the mansion. They checked in with the dour guard at the front security desk and then headed upstairs.

Sean had called ahead and Horatio opened the door immediately. The psychologist was fully dressed although he hadn’t bothered to put his hair in its customary ponytail with the result that it was curled upward like a wave about to crash on the beach.

He started to say something.

“Not here,” Sean said. “Let’s take a ride.”

Twenty minutes later they were standing next to Michelle’s truck where it was parked under some trees near the banks of the York. The sunlight crept across the surface of the water as Sean and Michelle watched Horatio study the letter and the photo.

“Okay, the return address on the letter is Wiesbaden, Germany. Thankfully it’s in English although the physical writing is that of a very old person whose first language is not English. And it’s addressed to Monk Turing from…” Horatio squinted at the signature and adjusted the reading glasses he was wearing.