Fiona let out a muttered oath. “I guess we’d better tell Agent Tawney, just in case. What did you say to her?”
“I told her to go away, and when she didn’t, I just closed the door.”
“Smarter than I was.”
“Well, I considered giving her a quote, but I thought ‘Fuck you, bitch’ didn’t have any real creative zing. And it was all I could think of. If you’re going into brood mode, it’s going to piss me off.”
“I’m not going into brood mode. I’m going into neener-neener mode by calling the FBI and the sheriff’s office and tattling on her. And I’m asking for a restraining order after all, just for the fun of it.”
He reached out, smoothed a hand over her hair. “I like that mode better.”
“Me too. Then what do you say we flip to see who cooks dinner?”
“Buzzing up sissy frozen dinners isn’t worthy of a flip.”
“I was thinking of the steaks we have in the meat drawer of the fridge.”
“We have steaks?” The day got brighter. “We have a meat drawer?” She smiled and got to her feet. “Yes, we do.”
“Okay, the meat drawer probably came with the fridge. How did we get steaks? Do you have a magic cow somewhere?”
“No, I have a fairy stepmother, who delivers. I asked Syl if she’d pick us up a couple steaks, Idahos, some staples I needed. She dropped them off today, including a bunch of fresh vegetables and fruit because she thinks we need those, too. That’s why there are fresh vegetables in the crisper. And yes, we have a crisper.”
He decided there was no point in telling her he’d looked in the fridge and seen none of those things. There’d just be some variation of his mother’s standard crack about Male Refrigerator Blindness Syndrome.
“You make the calls. I’ll start the grill.”
“Works for me. You do know you’re only wearing your underwear.”
“I’ll put on the pants you’ve already picked up and folded on the bed you’ve already made. But that means if we have to have any of those vegetables, you’re dealing with them. I’ll take the steaks.”
“That’s a fair trade. I’ll make the calls downstairs.”
When she went down, he put on the neatly folded work pants she’d laid on the bed.
Before he went downstairs, he stepped into his makeshift gym.
Okay, maybe, like the rest of the house, the room smelled like a lemon drop. But his handprint was still on the window.
It was, he supposed, a strange kind of compromise.
He started down, cursed, walked back up and yanked open a drawer. He pulled on a fresh shirt.
She’d gotten the steaks, he reminded himself.
Steaks, fresh shirt. It was just another kind of compromise.
Twenty-Six
Tawney studied Perry on the monitor. He sat at the steel table, shackled, his eyes closed, the smallest of smiles on his face—as a man might when listening to pleasant music.
His prison-pale face, doughier than it had been seven years before, expressed quiet contemplation. Lines carved brackets around his mouth, more spiderwebbed from the corners of his eyes, only enhancing the appearance of an ordinary, harmless man who’d use his senior discount for the Early Bird Special at his local Denny’s.
The indulgent uncle, the quiet next-door neighbor who tended his roses and clipped his lawn meticulously. The simple Everyman people passed on the street without a second glance or particular interest.
“He used that the way Bundy used his charming looks and fake arm cast,” Tawney murmured.
“Used what?”
“His I’m-somebody’s-grandfather mask. He’s still using it.”
“Maybe. But he’s talking to us without his lawyer, and that has to be another device.” Mantz shook her head. “What’s he up to? What’s he thinking? Nobody knows him better than you, Tawney.”
“Nobody knows him.”
He kept his eyes on Perry’s face and thought, He knows we’re watching him. He’s enjoying it.
“He’s good at making you think you do, saying what you want to hear, or expect to hear. It’s the layers that trip you up with him. The ones he has already, the ones he adds on to suit the circumstance. You’ve read the files, Erin. You know it was mostly just his bad luck and the heroism of a canine cop that we caught him.”
“You don’t give yourself or the investigative team enough credit. You’d have bagged him.”
“He stayed in the wind nearly a year, a year after we had his face, his name. Fiona gave him to us, and still, it took months and the murder of a police officer before we took him down.”
And for that he’d never completely forgive himself.
“Look at him,” Tawney added. “A paunchy man past middle age, chained, caged, and still he finds a way. He found Eckle and lit the fuse.”
“You’re not getting enough sleep.”
“I bet that bastard’s sleeping like a baby. Every night, with that goddamn smile on his face just like he has on now. He’s got an agenda. He’s always got an agenda, a purpose to everything he does. He doesn’t need the lawyer to talk to us because he’s only going to tell us what he’s already decided to tell us.”
“He doesn’t know we’ve got a line on Eckle.”
“I wonder.”
“How could he? And telling him what we want to tell him is our leverage. Eckle’s screwing up the plan, and that’s going to piss him off.”
“Well. Let’s find out.”
When they entered, Tawney nodded to the guard on the door. Perry remained still, eyes closed, the little smile in place as Tawney read the names, date and time into the record. “You’ve waived your right to counsel during this interview?”
Perry opened his eyes. “Hello, Agent Tawney. Yes, no need for lawyers between old acquaintances. Agent Mantz, you’re looking lovely today. It’s so nice to have visitors to break up the monotony of the day. We’re chatting so often these days. I look forward to it.”
“Is that what this is about?” Tawney demanded. “The attention, the break in the monotony?”
“It’s certainly a nice benefit. How goes the hunt? I’m hungry for news. The powers that be have narrowed my access to the outside. Understandable, of course, but unfortunate.”
“You get your ‘news,’ Perry. I don’t doubt your abilities.”
Perry folded his hands, leaned forward a little. “I’ll say that before my current situation, I enjoyed the article that bright young woman wrote. Kati Starr? I suspect that’s a nom de plume, or a clever gift from fate. Either way, I enjoyed her slant, we’ll say, and was delighted to catch up a little with Fiona. You’ll have to tell her I’m thinking about her.”
“I bet you are. It’s hard to forget a woman who kicked your ass.”
“My face, actually.”
“She’ll do the same to your apprentice,” Mantz put in. “If he’s stupid enough to try for her.”
“You give me too much credit.” Perry’s chains rattled as he waved the comment away. “I’m hardly in any position to train anyone, even if I were inclined. Which I’m not. We’ve talked about this before, and as I said then, you can clearly see from my record in this institution, I’ve accepted the punishment the courts, and society, meted out. I obey the rules here. Rather than look for trouble, I avoid it. My life on the outside being what it was, I don’t have many visitors. My sainted sister, of course. Or maybe you think she’s taken up where I left off.”
Saying nothing, Tawney opened a file, took out a photo. He tossed it on the table.
“May I?” Perry picked up Eckle’s photo, examined it. “Now, he looks very familiar. Give me a minute. I never forget a face. Yes, yes, of course. He came to teach here, several times. Literature and writing. You know how interested I am in books—and I do miss my work in our library. I took his courses. I hope to take more. Incarceration shouldn’t preclude education.
“I found him an average teacher. No spark, really. But beggars can’t be choosers, can we?”