Brazen Virtue

you got him?”
    “Maybe, just maybe. A little click, a little surge. Watch the needle. Yeah, yeah, he’s on there.” Billings flipped switches and cackled. “Got ourself a ménage à trois.”
    “Can you trace it?”
    “Does the pope wear a beanie? Shit, he’s clever. A clever sonofabitch. Got himself a scrambler. Goddamn.”
    “What?”

    “She hung up. I guess the guy’s three minutes were up.”
    “Did you trace it, Billings?”
    “I need more than thirty seconds, for Christ’s sake. We’ll wait and see if he comes back.” Billings dug into the peanuts again. “You know, Paris, if this guy’s doing what you think he’s doing, he’s not stupid. No, baby, he’s sharp, real sharp. Chances are he’s got himself some top of the line equipment and he knows how to use it. He’s going to cover his trail.”
    “Are you telling me you’re not going to be able to nail him?”
    “No, I’m telling you he’s good. Real good. But I’m better. There’s the phone.”
    J ERALD COULDN’T BELIEVE IT . His palms were sweating. It was a miracle, and he’d made it happen. He’d never stopped thinking about her, wanting her. Now she’d come back, just for him. Desiree was back. And she was waiting for him.
    Giddy, he put his headphones on again and tuned back in.
    That voice. Desiree’s voice. Just hearing it made him edgy, sweaty, desperate. She was the only one who could really do it for him. Take him to the brink. The power was in her just the way it was in him. Closing his eyes, he let it flow over him. He let it take him up and over. She was back. She’d come back for him because he was the best.
    God, it was all coming together. He’d been right to drop the mask and show those pussies at school what he was made of. Desiree was back. She wanted him, wanted him inside her, wanted him to give her that ultimate thrill.

    He could almost feel her under him, bucking and screaming, begging him to do it. She’d come back to show him he not only had the power over life, but the power over death. He’d brought her back. When he went to her this time, it would be even better. The best.
    The others had only been a test. He understood that now. The others had only happened to show him how much he and Desiree belonged together. Now she was talking to him, promising herself to him, eternally.
    He’d have to go to her, but not tonight. He had to prepare first.
    H E PULLED OFF.” BILLINGS swore and punched buttons. “The little bastard pulled off. Come on back, come back, I’ve almost got you.”
    “Give me what you’ve got, Billings.”
    Still swearing, Billings pulled out a map. Keeping his headphones in place, he drew four lines, connecting them into a rectangle over six blocks. “He’s in there. Until I get him back that’s the best I can do. Jesus, no wonder he pulled out, this other guy’s bawling like a baby.”
    “Just keep at it.” Ben tucked the map into his pocket and jumped out of the van. It wasn’t enough, but it was more than they’d had an hour before. He knocked on the front door, then strode in when Ed opened it. “We’ve got it down to a quadrant of about six square blocks.” After glancing upstairs, Ben walked into the living room to spread the map on the coffee table.
    Keeping on the edge of the couch, Ed leaned over it. “Upscale neighborhood.”
    “Yeah. Tess’s grandfather lives here.” Ben tapped a forefinger on the map just outside the quadrant. “And Congressman Morgan’s Washington address is here.” His finger moved inside the red lines.
    “Maybe it wasn’t just a coincidence that Morgan’s credit card was used for the flowers,” Ed murmured. “Maybe our boy knows him, or his kids.”

    “Morgan’s son’s the right age.” Ben picked up a watered-down glass of Pepsi.
    “His alibi’s solid, and the description’s off.”
    “Yeah, but I wonder what he’d have to say if we had him take a good hard look at the sketch.”
    “That school the Morgan kid goes to. St James’s, right?”
    “Prep school. Upper-crust and conservative.”
    Ed remembered the haircut in the sketch. He took out his notebook as he rose. “I’ll call.”
    Ben paced to the window. Through it he could see the van. Inside, Billings was gnawing peanuts and maybe, just maybe, narrowing down the possibilities. There wasn’t much time. He could feel it. Something was going to break, and soon. If things didn’t go right, Grace was going to be squeezed from both sides.
    He glanced