We Know

Starting early the next morning, I sat with my back to the wall, knees drawn to my chest, watching the front door. I was waiting for a knock, the delivery of another transparent cell phone. But it kept not coming. I walked around my place, peering yet again through the blinds down at the morning-bright street. Finally I left a handful of messages, pushing back my upcoming appointments-a job interview, a teeth cleaning, a get-together at Maloney's to watch the Dodgers-Giants game. I reached the dean at the Pepperdine MBA/Public Policy program and apologized for missing our meeting. Reacquainting myself, even briefly, with my normal life only underscored how far off the tracks the last few days had sent me.

By 11:30A.M., I had a pretty good case of cabin fever and was glad to head out to meet Induma at Starbucks. I got there a bit early and made my way through the rush to the pay phone in the back. Customers were cycling past the counter rapidly, on their morning schedules, ordering in abbreviations and using the proper, ridiculous terminology. Shouldered to the wall near the bathroom, pressing the receiver to my face, I felt more out of place than usual. Maybe I was having another hiccup of envy for the liber-adjusted, with their BlackBerries and leather folios and buckets of caffeine. I tugged the well-traveled paper slip out of my pocket and dialed the pager number Kim Kendall had given me.

The first ring cut short. "This number is no longer in service. If you believe you have reached this recording in error- "

Hanging up, I noticed Induma pushing through the crowd, holding her laptop down against her thigh. She wore a cashmere sweater, hooded and blood orange, that brought out the hidden hues of her caramel skin. Using a napkin, she wiped down a table, bused the empty cups, then sat. As I approached, she kept her eyes on the screen. Her slender fingers flying across the keyboard, she kicked out a chair that rocketed into my hands. "Sit down. Is this him?"

On the laptop screen was a picture of Charlie, a match of the one Wydell had flashed in my face after they'd raided my place. Loose scowl, blue blazer, slicked-back hair. A training-school head shot, archived on a state employee pension site that Induma had somehow accessed. Special Agent Charlie Jackman. California State Police.

Confronted, at last, with proof, with a name.

"That's him," I finally managed. "That's him. He was real. He was there."

She studied me with her large brown eyes. "I never doubted it."

"What the hell is the California State Police?"

"What the hell was the CSP. They were merged into CHP in '95. And guess what fell under their jurisdiction?" Induma's gaze was steady across the top of the computer. "Protecting high-ranking state officials." She took in my stunned reaction, nodding. "That's right. They were a security police agency. Seventeen years ago Charlie Jackman was a dignitary-protection officer who worked close-in detail for-"

"Governor Andrew Bilton," I said. "Holy shit.

Charlie didn't have dirt on Caruthers-"

"He had it on Bilton."

The Voice in the Dark's words, considered from this angle, made as much sense. Charlie had a lot of respect for Caruthers. He was going to try to help him. He told me he had something Caruthers needed for his election bid.

For the first time in days, I felt hopeful. The further this stayed from Caruthers, the further it stayed from Frank. I thought about how Bilton had tried to reel me in early, arranging to talk to me after I'd regained consciousness in that hospital room. How his self-assured voice had sounded later on the phone, the threats he'd buried beneath that superficial charm: If you mess around on certain stages, the spotlight finds you eventually. How his links to the Secret Service were now vastly stronger than Caruthers's. How the message divulged by Kim Kendall pointing to Caruthers- Godfather's with Firebird-had smelled like disinformation.

"Charlie brought the dirt on Bilton to Frank," I said, "thinking Frank would broker a deal for the Caruthers camp to buy it. As Caruthers's guy, Frank would've had to bring any intel to him. But for whatever reason, Caruthers didn't bite-maybe it was too hot, maybe he didn't want to stoop to dirty politics. When Bilton's guys caught wind and came looking, Charlie hung the blame on Frank."

"That's certainly," Induma said, "one possibility."

"And?"

"The other, just as obvious, is Charlie brought it to Frank because he needed an outside man to blackmail Bilton. Working for Bilton, he couldn't do it himself."

A new dark cloud. Another array of considerations. I sagged back in my chair.

"There are two choices here," Induma said quietly. "Frank either brought it to Caruthers for the right reasons or to Bilton for the wrong ones." She watched me consider this for a moment, then directed her frown back at the computer screen. "Why did your mom say Charlie worked for the Service?"

"Because it seemed like he did. He was another dark-suit earpiece guy when she met him."