"You didn't call."
"I had nothing to report. I have nothing to report now, so, if you will excuse me, Jack, I will return to my breakfast. The eggs are getting cold."
"The Ollwood woman called the Reynolds woman twice last night. Called herself 'Mary-Ellen Porter.' Called at six fifty-five and again at eleven thirty-two."
"If she called herself 'Mary-Ellen Porter,' how do you know it was the Ollwood woman?"
"We ran a voiceprint, of course," Matthews said, just a trifle condescendingly.
"Excuse me," Matt said. "I should have known. A voiceprint."
"And she called the Reynolds woman at her office yesterday morning. At 9:44."
"You've got a tap on the Reynolds woman's office phone?"
"Well, sort of."
"What exactly does 'sort of' mean?"
"We have an agent in her office. Not on this, something else. But she's an agent-"
"She's an agent?" Matt interrupted.
"I'm not supposed to bring you in on any of this, Matt."
"What the hell, I'm only a lousy local cop, right? Tell me as little as possible?"
"There's a lot of fraud in the welfare system. Including some people in the Department of Social Services on the take. The programs are federally assisted, so that makes it fraud against the government. So we have somebody in there. What's she's done is rig a simple tap, a small recorder. "
"Has the amateur wiretapper got a name?"
"That, I'm not going to tell you. Sorry, Matt, that's none of your business."
"Good-bye, Jack."
"Shit!" Matthews said. "Don't hang up!"
"What's her name, Jack?"
"Veronica Haynes," Matthews said.
Susan exhaled audibly. Matt put his hand on her shoulder, and somehow Susan wound up lying beside him, with her face in his neck.
"Well, maybe this is your business after all," Matthews said. "What happens is the Ollwood woman calls the Reynolds woman, who gives her a number. Almost certainly of a phone booth. Always a different one-you'd be surprised how many phone booths there are within a five-minute walk of the Department of Social Services Building. She uses some kind of code for the number, so we never can find it until too late. Anyway, once she gives her the number, the Reynolds woman goes to the phone booth, and the Ollwood woman calls her there."
"So you can't get a tap on the phone booth?"
"No. I told you. We never can locate it until too late."
"So you don't have a tape recording of what they talk about?"
"Obviously not."
"They could be talking about anything? Something innocent? Like babies, for example?"
"Where are you going? We know goddamn well what they're talking about. Setting up a meeting."
"What I'm driving at is that you have nothing incriminating in these telephone calls, right?"
"I guess you're right," Matthews said after a moment's hesitation. "So what? It's not as if we need it."
"What exactly have you got to tie the Reynolds woman to the bombing?"
"Accessory after the fact. You know that."
"Did she have anything to do with the bombing itself?"
"She doesn't have to. If she willingly aided the bombers, same thing. Why are you asking?"
"Maybe she could be reasoned with," Matt began.
"Forget it. (a) They're determined to try all of these people. And (b) you're not authorized to make any kind of a deal."
"Right. All I am is the local cop who does only what he's told to do, right?"
"That's it, Matt. You understood that going in."
"So what did the Ollwood woman say on the phone, if anything?"
"Nothing worth anything. What we think is significant is that she's called so often. Twice last night. What you have to do is alert us when you think she's going to meet these people. We'll take it from there."
"Put a tail on her? Like those two clowns who tailed me?"
"What the hell is the matter with you? Why are you so belligerent?"
"Nothing personal, Jack. I guess I just don't like the Imperial FBI telling me only those things you decide the dumb local cop can handle."
"It's not that way, Matt, and you should know it."
"That's what it feels like. Now, unless there's something else, can I finish my breakfast?"
"You will call me if you learn anything, right?"
"Yeah, but don't hold your breath. I'm not getting close."
"All you have to do is stick as close to her as possible, and call me when you even suspect she's going to meet with Chenowith."
"Yeah, that I remember."
"Are you going to see her today?"
"Probably."
"Try."
"Yes, sir."
"Watch yourself, buddy. Behind that innocent face and those magnificent teats is a really dangerous bitch."
"Good-bye, Jack."
Matt pushed himself up far enough so that he could hang up the telephone, then lay back down again. Through the entire process, Susan didn't move her face from his neck.
" 'Magnificent teats'?" Susan quoted Jack Matthews. She seemed close to tears.
"Like I said, fair maiden," Matt said, gently, "the cops are onto you."
"You sounded like you and that man are friends," Susan said.
"We are. Jack's a good guy."
"They have the telephones in my house tapped?"
"Yes, they do. And the local cops are watching your place in the Poconos. I didn't know about the tap on your office phone, or that they had an agent in your office. It's lucky I didn't call over there and say something indiscreet. "
"Do you think I am, Matt, 'a really dangerous bitch'?"
"You can't blame Jack for that, honey," Matt replied. "He knows you're helping these people. And he knows they're dangerous. And he hasn't, the FBI hasn't, been able to lay a hand on you so far. In his mind, you're dangerous."
"You have any second thoughts last night, Matt?"
"About us?"
"Yes."
"Not last night. I woke up wondering whether you would be in the office when I called there this morning, or on a plane to San Josй, Costa Rica."
"San Josй, Costa Rica?"
"Foreign country of choice for fleeing felons," Matt said. "They don't believe much in extradition."
"And what are you thinking now?"
"That we don't have much time. We have to get that bank money out of your safe-deposit box right away. Do you talk to this FBI woman? Is she curious about where you go, and why?"
"Until three minutes ago, I thought it was simple feminine curiosity. Why?"
"Tell her you're going to have lunch with me. I'm sure those bastards told her about me. If not vice versa. Then come to the bank, get the money out of the box, and give it to me. I don't think, if they're onto you having the money in the bank, that they will think you'd try to move it when you were going to be with me."
"What are you going to do with it?"
"I haven't figured that out yet. One thing at a time. I'll buy a briefcase before I go to the bank. They gave me an office to use, and we can move it from your purse to my briefcase in there. That way, you won't have the money if they should grab you as you leave the bank. I don't think that's likely, but I wouldn't be surprised if that lady agent coincidentally had to cash a check about the time you'd be here."
Susan nodded, almost absently, her acceptance of that.
"If I tell you where you can find Bryan, will you help Jennifer get away?"
"No," Matt said. "I can't do that, honey."
"You said Costa Rica doesn't believe in extradition?"
"I won't let you let yourself in for another aiding-and-abetting charge," Matt said. "For one thing, it would tie you closer to the bombing and the bank robberies, and there's a chance-not much of a chance, but a chance-that maybe we can do something about that. And if you helped her in getting out of the country, they'd learn about it, and really go after you. I can't let you do anything like that."