Five Days in Summer

smile. “I’ve had good jobs for decades, bestselling books, consulting fees. There’s more than I’ll ever need in my retirement fund. I’ve been alone all my life and it gives me pleasure to do this, John. You’re my closest friend, and you owe me one. Take it.”
    But Geary couldn’t. He’d worked all his life for the little he had; this would be like winning the lottery off your friend’s ticket. “I haven’t been the best friend to you.”
    “You looked at the facts,” Bell said. “I’d do the same.”
    “So you could be convinced I’m a sociopathic killer?”
    “Absolutely.” Bell dropped the key into Geary’s pants pocket. “It’s paid for in full, by the way.”
    Geary felt the key rattling in his pocket like a hot rock; he didn’t want it there but was afraid to touch it. Friendship came with obligations and if it meant that much to Roger, Geary would have to take the car. But he needed to get off the subject or he’d get maudlin and that wasn’t his style.
    “So, Roger, do you figure Snow saw you at the conventionwith the car? It was a sly move, working that into his story.”
    “Saw me? I gave him a ride, just this morning. He loved the car. He was like a child on a pony, I remember thinking he must have been a poor detective and certainly a foolish man.” Roger shook his head. “I suppose he was thinking the same thing about me.”
    “He bought himself a little time, watched us spin our wheels,” Geary said. “Turned us all into fools.”
    “So, John, after all these years, what do you think? Are psychotic sociopaths born to us, or do we breed them?”
    “Wish I knew. I’d patent the gene and invest in the antidote.”
    “You’d become a wealthy man.”
    “He wore a white wig, you know,” Geary said.
    “Mr. Snow?”
    “Cardoza found it in his house this afternoon.”
    “I’d have thought she’d be in the hospital.”
    “They brought her in unconscious, but the minute she woke up it was over for those doctors. She wanted to get out of there. What could they do, arrest her?” Geary chuckled. “She went straight from the hospital and joined the team at Snow’s house. I drove her over there, stuck around for a little while.”
    “Looking for evidence after the fact?”
    Geary shook his head. “Just answers. Looks like Snow had Bobby Robertson staked out, knew he’d be there every Monday like clockwork. Used the wig as cover when he drove the old Ford out of the lot. Called it in himself, the anonymous witness. I’d guess Emily Parker was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” An osprey glided over the bog. Geary watched the bird vanish into the tall grasses of Fullers Marsh. “Cardoza’s back at the station now, finishing her report. Girl’s got potential.”
    Bell’s eyebrow arched sharply at the sound of that single word, girl . Geary took the cue like one of Pavlov’s dogs and turned down memory lane under the long shadow of guilt. His whole life had nearly crumbled with that sexual harassment lawsuit; even now it gave him a jolt when he thought of it.
    After all these years, he could still see Penny Aiken walking away. How could a girl look so good in a pair of those blue trousers Quantico issued to every trainee, male or female?
    “It’s Agent Aiken, sir,” she told him, “not Penny.”
    He grinned. “Agent Aiken, interested in playing a little game?”
    Her young face mustered up some respect. “What game, sir?”
    “I’ll tell you all about it later. We’ll have a few drinks, talk about school.”
    “If I need to talk to you about school, sir, I’ll come to your office.” She stepped back at that point, and he stepped forward. That had been a mistake. Almost as bad as what he said next.
    “I just thought it might be a little more comfortable away from campus, if you know what I mean.”
    He reached out and just managed to touch the blunt cut of her reddish hair as she turned around like a good junior agent and avoided the danger zone. He enjoyed watching her walk away, even thought it was a good sign she hadn’t slapped his face. But he was dead wrong when he thought her cool walk meant she’d forget the proposition from the director of the BSU, her teacher, the program’s founder and everyone’s mentor. It took her twenty-four hours to file her complaint. It took him two years to fight it.
    In the end, his biggest mistake in the whole mess was never coming clean with Ruth. He’d stuck hard to his story that Agent Aiken