Walter remembered the one time he’d been here before. How could he forget? Michael DelGrazo had greeted him. Michael DelGrazo, The Cowboy . It was of course, Leonard Martin, pretending to be the slow-witted Michael. “Can I use your restroom?” Walter had asked him. That always worked, always got him inside. After Michael DelGrazo let him in, he walked back to the small bathroom, opened its window and peered out, looking for something, anything, a sign to tell him Leonard Martin had been there. All the while, he was right there, sitting on the couch in the living room near the front door. He flushed the toilet even though he hadn’t used it and on his way back to the front room, Walter took a good look into the cabin’s only bedroom. He saw nothing remarkable except for the fact there was no bed, only a bedroll stacked against the far wall. No bed, just a closet and a small, three-drawer dresser. Back in the living room, Michael talked about “Mr. Marteenez.” His boss, he said he was. Marteenez. Shit! It was Leonard Martin all along. It still pissed Walter off. He had missed him, missed him completely. He spent more time looking at the cabin than at the man. He’d been made the fool. He stood in front of the warm fire with Harry Levine, thinking, unable to drive the past from his mind. “Now look at me,” he said, half out loud. The cat had become the mouse.
“What?” asked Harry.
“Nothing. Nothing.”
This was the perfect place to put Harry. No doubt about it. Leonard Martin had hidden here for two years. The whole country-Jesus, the whole world-searched for him. Walter was the only one who had found him. And when he did, he didn’t know it. He fell for the Michael DelGrazo act and drove off that day thinking he had not yet seen Leonard Martin. Now, he struggled to keep his attention on the matter at hand. He knew it was a personal risk coming here. He’d replay it all. He was afraid of that. But this was the best place he had ever seen to hide out. This was the place where Harry Levine would be safe. Walter was sure nobody would discover him here.
It wasn’t just Leonard, of course. He couldn’t think of him and not think of Isobel. Isobel was part of it then and part of it now too. He checked before leaving for Europe. Through her organization, The Center for Consumer Concerns, she had handled all the expenses since Leonard left. She paid the taxes, the electricity, the water, everything, and why had she done that? Was it sentimentality? He didn’t know. Somewhere in the back of his mind, behind those heavy metal doors, he wondered if Isobel thought someday Leonard might need to come back. Was that possible? Was he only dreaming? He didn’t know. And what would Leonard say if he could see Walter now, if he could see he had come here, again, this time not to find, but to hide? Where was Leonard Martin? Alive, or dead? Did Isobel know? What Walter didn’t know-couldn’t know-was that Leonard’s last instructions for Isobel told her to pay the bills, keep the place. She did not know why and Leonard didn’t say. What Walter did know, however, was that Leonard Martin had never returned to New Mexico. Not after the day Walter drove up and drove off. Walk on the other side, Conchita Crystal had asked him. What side was more other than Leonard Martin’s?
After dinner Walter and Harry sat outside on the front porch. It was freezing, but they wore the heavy, down-lined jackets they bought back in Santa Fe and they were bundled up against the night air. The cold wind on their faces was compromised by the hot tea they held in their gloved hands. The steam warmed their cheeks. Neither man had seen a sky like this one before. Pitch-black, deep and wide beyond measure, tipping their sense of perspective, forcing them to look upward. With no nearby lights illuminating the horizon, nothing masked the stars. In the distance, only the abrupt absence of a million sparkling lights indicated the demarcation line separating land and sky, planet and space. All those bright shining spots in the highest regions of the night sky-the sheer number of stars they could plainly see-was enough to make both men gawk like teenage boys at the sight of their very first naked girl.
“Harry, I need you to do something while you’re here.”
“You don’t get to see this, do you?-not in a city anyway.”
“The stars?” said Walter. “No. You’re right.”
“Can you just imagine life before electricity? Everyone, everywhere on the Earth saw-this-every day, every time the sun set. It’s no wonder we’re a spiritual species.”
“I need for you to read the document you have, carefully. And I need for you to figure out who would kill to keep it secret. I don’t mean, who wants to keep it quiet. That’s not enough. I mean who would kill for it. That’s a decision you’ll have to make. Maybe it’s a list. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just one.”
“The Kennedys?”
“No,” said Walter. “Not the Kennedys. They sent Sean Dooley. I’m not making a judgment about how much the Kennedy family might want to keep this confession from ever reaching the public. I suppose they have a strong desire. But they sent Dooley and he’s no killer.”
“That’s why you let him go?”
“He wanted the document, and he might have pushed somebody around if he needed to. But he was unarmed and not skilled or experienced enough to beat anyone to death.”
“You know that? How?”
“His hands. Did you see them? No marks. No scars. His fingers were never broken. Same for his face. He’s no fighter. Bust and grab, break and enter maybe. But no fighter.”
“Still, the Kennedys…”
“No, Harry. Sending Sean Dooley, when they were absolutely sure the document would be there, makes no sense, no sense that is if they killed Sir Anthony and McHenry Brown trying to find it. You don’t send a killer to find something and a civilian to get it. Forget the Kennedys. Find me somebody else.”
“Well, so far anyway, I haven’t read about any other world leader Frederick Lacey assassinated.”
“Don’t be a smart ass, Harry.”
“How did Dooley know where we were staying?”
“I don’t know, yet. I have a few ideas. Your list might help me. Harry, let me ask you a question.”
“Shoot.”
“Why didn’t you go to Scotland Yard or the Police? Why didn’t you just walk into the American Embassy and give yourself up? You could have. You hadn’t committed a crime of any kind. Screw Lacey’s confession. Hand it over. Wash your hands of the whole mess. Why not?”
“I did what Devereaux told me to do.”
“And you never thought about what I just asked? Never occurred to you?”
“I suppose not. The President of the United States told me to listen to Devereaux. I suppose I never thought of doing anything different. Should I have?”
“Not for me to say,” Walter said. “Not for anyone to say, except you. Anyway, we should look ahead of us, not behind.”
“What about you?” Harry asked. “What are you going to do while I try to make a definitive list of the people who want to kill me?”
“Kill us, you mean.”
“Us? Why us?”
“Recall what happened to McHenry Brown’s companion?”
“Oh, I forgot. Sorry about that. You’re right. I really am sorry. I know you’re in danger just being around me. However, I’ll ask you again, Walter, what do we do next?”
“I don’t know yet,” Walter answered. “You’re safe here and,” he added, “for now that’s good enough. I can’t stay here with you. You know that?”
“I guessed as much.”
“I have work to do, Harry. People to see and places to go. But you’re safe here.”