Page 206 of Whisper
A part of him didn’t ever want to see Dawood again. A growing part of him nurtured a searing resentment, a shadow cradling a ball of ice in the depths of his soul. Hatred didn’t burn. Hatred was cold, a frozen heart, a frozen soul. He felt it forming slowly, felt his darkness cradling it close.
Did you ever think you’d hate the man you married, the man you loved with all your heart and soul? Did you ever, ever think he’d do this?
Three beeps sounded at the door. Someone badging in. Kris mustered the energy to glance up.
George strode in. Kris tried to get a read on him. Who had walked in: former friend or the deputy director?
He stared at Kris, his hands on his hips, and sighed, slowly.
“He’s all yours,” Ryan grumbled. He pushed past George and ducked out of the interrogation room. George did a double take at his split lip, but said nothing.
“Hello Kris,” George finally said. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
Kris’s eyes narrowed. “You know what office I’m in. You could have dropped by anytime.”
George looked down. “Kris, did you know Haddad was alive?”
“Howcan you ask me that?”
“Answer the question, Kris.”
“Youhonestlythink I knew he was alive, and I, what, lived like I wanted to die for ten years, lived without him… just because?”
“Answer the question. This is an official inquiry. You might spend tonight in jail. Or you might go home. It all depends on your answers.”
“Home towhat?” Kris cried. “My apartment is acrime scene! My dead husbandabandonedme—”
“Caldera!”
“No!” he bellowed. “I did not fucking know he was alive! If I did, I would have gone and rescued him! I would have found him! I would have crawled through the fucking earth to get back to him!”
Dan looked down, stared at the cheap carpet as George closed his eyes. Exhaled.
“Have you helped Haddad in any way? Have you given him any CIA material?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Did you give him your laptop?”
“Ofcoursenot.”
“Why did you conceal your contact with Haddad for thirty-six hours? Why did you not report your initial contact with Haddad immediately?”
Kris shook his head, snorting. “I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know if I was crazy or not. If he was really there. Or if I’d finally lost it.”
“Have you seen things that aren’t there before?”
“Yes, George,” Kris snapped. “I regularly hold seances with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. We talk to the ghost of Saddam Hussein all the time.”
Dan choked back a half laugh. George tilted his head from one side to the other, glaring.
“No!” Kris snapped. “I’m fucking sane. I don’t see any ghosts or little green men or think black helicopters are following me. I don’t think my microwave is trying to send me hidden messages.”
“After he approached you in the bar… That’s why you went to the archives, isn’t it?” Dan, finally, asked a question. It wasn’t part of the polygraph, though.
Kris swallowed. Nodded. “I had to know. I had to know if we missed anything.”
“Did you find something? Some clue that we overlooked?” George looked like he dreaded the answer. “Did we leave a man behind?”
