Page 57 of Trust No One

Mel took Caroline’s hands. “The car that hit him was an Oldsmobile?”

“Yeah. An older model. White. Hit and run. He took off in a hurry after he hit Simon’s car.”

“Could Simon see who was driving?” Dev asked

Caroline shook her head. “It happened too fast. He thought it was a man because he was wearing a man’s hat. Shaded his face so it was hard to identify him.”

Mel exchanged a look with Dev. His teeth were clenched, and he nodded. “Tell her.”

“Let’s sit down,” Mel told Caroline.

When they were sitting in the two visitor’s chairs, Mel said, “The car that the Marine captain was driving was a white Oldsmobile. An older model. It was still in the parking area when Dev and I left the park. We assumed that Kingsley would come back later and remove it and Larrimore’s body.”

“And then Kingsley used it to try and kill my husband.” Caroline clenched her jaw. She swiveled in her chair and studied Simon for a long moment. Then she took his hand and curled her fingers around it.

Simon’s eyes fluttered open, and he gave his wife a weak smile. “Hey, babe,” he said. “You’re here.”

“I’ve been here for a while, but they’d already given you a sedative so they could set your arm.” She leaned closer to her husband and swiped a kiss across his mouth. “Good to see you awake. How do you feel?” She smoothed her fingers over his cheek, then touched his cast.

“Feel pretty good right now,” Simon said. “But I’m guessing it’s going to be hell when the drugs wear off.”

“I’ll make sure they give you the good drugs before we leave,” Caroline assured her husband.

Mel leaned forward so Simon could see her. “Simon, I’m so sorry we got you involved in this. I never should have asked you to meet with us. Never should have had you go to The Anchor last night. It put a target squarely on your back and probably resulted in this.” She waved her hand at him, including his bruised face and the cast on his lower arm.

One side of Simon’s mouth curled up. “Caroline and I discussed this before we met with you,” he said. “We both knew the risks, but decided we needed to do it anyway. If someone doesn’t stop Kingsley, how many more people is he gonna kill?”

“You looked at the flash drive last night?” Dev asked, leaning forward in the chair he’d dragged to the side of the bed.

“Yeah, we did,” Simon said. “As soon as we got home.” His mouth tightened. “Awful. Horrifying to see someone murdered in cold blood.”

“Yeah, it was,” Mel said. “Worse for Larrimore than for us, though.”

“I gave the flash drive to Caroline. She was going into work later than me, so she said she’d drop it off in the safe deposit box,” Simon said. He reached for his wife’s hand and held it tightly. “First thing she told me when she got here was that the flash drive was safe in the box at the bank.”

Mel leaned toward Simon. “Did it look like the person who hit you was going to get out of his car and search you?”Or make sure you were dead?Mel didn’t say it, but it was pretty clear that had been Kingsley’s intention when he tried to t-bone Simon.

Simon shook his head. Winced. “No. He took off immediately. There was some traffic, though, so that might have stopped him.” His mouth pinched. “Or maybe he was going to finish the job. No idea. But he took off, tires squealing.”

“There’s something Dev and I want to discuss with you guys,” Mel said. “I know you’re in a CIA safe house. How secure do you feel there?”

“Not secure at all,” Simon said immediately. “Kingsley must have known where we were, because he hit me just a few blocks from the house. And my impression was that he’d been waiting for me.”

“Dev offered to check with the FBI and find another safe house for you. I think that would be a good idea now.”

Caroline and Simon locked gazes, communicating without speaking. Finally Simon sighed. “You’re right. I don’t want to put my trust in an agency where I don’t know anyone, but I don’t think it’s safe to stay in any CIA safe houses now. If Kingsley found us once, he can find us again.”

“I agree,” Dev said. He glanced at Mel. “Our colleague is arriving today. He was an FBI agent before he joined our company, and he still knows people there. I’m sure Gideon could arrange something for you.”

“I’d rather leave Washington and disappear somewhere,” Simon said. “But wherever we go, we’ll always be looking over our shoulder until Kingsley is in custody.”

“Yeah,” Dev said. “I hear you. And you’re right. I don’t think you’ll be safe no matter where you go. At least, with an FBI safe house, you could be a little more confident.”

“I’ll make sure Gideon talks only to the FBI director,” Mel said. “We had some concerns a couple of years ago that there were Russian assets in the Bureau. And Gideon, our operative, thought so, too. It’s a long story, but we need to consider the possibility, because Larrimore was involved with the Russians in Afghanistan. We caught one high-level guy in the Bureau and he gave up another one, but where there’s two, there’re probably more.”

Simon’s eyes fluttered closed for a long moment, then he opened them slowly. “Can you deal with it?” he said. “We’re safe here – we’ve got the guard outside the door. But neither of us has the bandwidth to engage with the FBI right now.”

“Yeah,” Mel said. “I’ll take care of it. I’ll call you on the burner phone when I have information.” She looked at Caroline. “How long is he going to be here?”

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