Page 29 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“Then can’t you call them instead?”

“They don’t release the information. National security and all that.”

“There must be a way. Right? Don’t you have sources?”

“Not many in Washington. Embassies take their security very seriously, and they don’t like answering questions.”

“Can’t you narrow it down? How many embassies are there?”

“Narrowing it down is easy. See the letters at the beginning?”

“DWZ?”

“The D stands for diplomat. The two letters after it is the country code for the embassy.”

“Then which one is it? Wait. Let me guess…” Maria had mentioned Tim’s British accent. “The United Kingdom?”

“You should be a detective.”

If his comment was supposed to lighten the moment, it didn’t work. I still couldn’t get over the fact that I’d been kidnapped by a damn diplomat.

“How do we find out who drives the car? How many diplomats are there?”

“The number at the end is one-nine-six. That means at least a hundred and ninety-six plates have been issued to the British embassy. Probably more.”

“They must have a list.”

“It’ll be almost impossible to get hold of.”

“Almostimpossible. Notabsolutelyimpossible?”

I realised what she was getting at. “Honestly? I wouldn’t recommend continuing with this. I’ve only spent nine and a half hours so far, and expenses have been minimal, so you’ll be due a refund.”

“We can’t give up. Not when we’re so close.”

“Miss Jennings, we’re not close. Finding the embassy connection is only the beginning. Even if we managed to get photos of all their staff and asked your friend to pick one out of a line-up, the most he’d get is a slap on the wrist from the Brits. US law enforcement is prohibited from touching him, and we can’t even prove you were drugged.”

“Sergeant Banks mentioned a more accurate test. He promised to keep the sample.”

“And say it showed something—how would you prove who slipped it into your drink?”

Why did Cullen have to be so negative? We’d narrowed down the suspects to people who worked in one freaking building. All we had to do was watch who went in and out, surely?

“We need to find him.”

“Do you understand how diplomatic immunity works? Tim can’t be arrested or charged with anything.”

“So he’s untouchable? What if he went around murdering people?”

The way he already had.

“If the British chose to, they could recall him. Or possibly revoke his immunity, but don’t count on that. It rarely happens. And with the way our president’s been sniping at the British prime minister lately, not to mention the other world leaders, nobody’s gonna go out of their way to do him any favours. Our ‘special relationship’ isn’t all that special anymore.”

“Letting someone get away with murder? That would be crazy.”

“You want crazy? In 1979, the Burmese ambassador to Sri Lanka allegedly had an argument with his wife and shot her dead. Then he burned her body on a damn funeral pyre in his backyard, and the cops could only watch because the property was designated as Burmese territory.”

“He got away with it?”

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