The Witness

conduit.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Someone to speak for you, to make contact and open the door to negotiations.”
    “You can’t—”
    “No,” he agreed, before she’d finished. “I can’t. I’m too close to you, emotionally and geographically. They’ll check out the conduit. But they’d have no reason to connect me—or you—to my former captain on the Little Rock PD.”
    “I don’t know him.”
    “I do. Just hear me out. Captain Joseph Anson. You can research him. He’s a solid cop, decorated, a twenty-five-year man. He’s got a wife—first and only—two kids. He’s a good boss, a smart cop. By the book, but not so much that he can’t skip a page if it’s the right thing to do. He’s trusted and respected in the department because he’s trustworthy and respectable. And he’s got balls.”
    She got up, walked to the window to think it through. A conduit made good sense, would lay a reasonable buffer down. But …
    “Why would he believe me?”
    “He’ll believe me.”
    “Even if he did, why would Special Agent Garrison believe him?”
    “Because of his record, his service, because he’s clean. Because he’d have no reason to lie. He’s a handful of years away from his thirty, away from retirement. Why would he risk that by lying to the feds?”
    She nodded, seeing the logic. “But why would he risk that by involving himself in this?”
    “Because he’s a good man, and a good cop.” Now Brooks rose, went to her. “Because he’s raised two daughters, and if he doesn’t imagine them in your place, I’ll put them there in his head.”
    “You’re asking me to trust a man I don’t know, have never met.”
    “I know it, and don’t think for a minute I don’t know how much that asks. If you can’t do it, we’ll find another way.”
    She turned to the window again. Her gardens were doing so well. Her life had been so smooth, really, for the last year. And yet nothing had really grown until she’d opened the door to Brooks.
    “Would you trust him with your life?”
    “I would be. You’re my life now.”
    “Oh, God, you say that and I feel I’d wither away if I lost what I’ve found with you. You make me want to risk the quiet, Brooks, and I thought the quiet was all I ever wanted.”
    “You can’t keep running, Abigail.” Taking her shoulders, he turned her around to face him. “You can’t keep shutting yourself up, shutting yourself down.”
    “I thought I could, but no, I can’t. Not now. How would you do it?”
    “Drive to Little Rock. We couldn’t risk a phone call or an e-mail. It has to be face-to-face, not only so we don’t leave a trail but because Anson’s a face-to-face type. I could be there in under two hours, get this started, be back before morning.”
    “Tonight?”
    “What’s the point in putting it off? There’s a PI I guarantee is workingon his laptop right now, scratching at that surface. We’ve got the advantage, why waste it?” He got to his feet. “You take your laptop or that iPad of yours. Do your research on the captain on the way. If you’re not satisfied, we turn around, come back.”
    “You want me to go with you?”
    “Always. But in this case I want him to see you, hear you. I want you to tell him the way you told me. You’re scared. I don’t blame you.” He took her arms. “You want to take more time, to analyze, to calculate, work out details. But that’s not what you did when you got out of that safe house. It’s not what you did in New York when they chased after you. You went with instinct, and you beat them.”
    “I’m going to take my alternate identification, and cash. My go bag. If this goes wrong, I can’t come back here.”
    “If it goes wrong, I’ll go with you.”
    “I know you mean that now—”
    “Now’s where we are. You take whatever you think you need.”
    “I want to take Bert.”
    Now he smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
    H E DROVE HER CAR . Neighbors wouldn’t think much about an SUV in Anson’s driveway, but they’d remember a Bickford police cruiser if a badge asked somewhere down the line.
    While he drove, Bert did what dogs did in cars, hung his head out the back window with a dopey grin on his face, and Abigail worked on her laptop.
    “Your Captain Anson has an excellent record.”
    “He’s a good cop.”
    Advantage or disadvantage? Abigail wondered.
    “If he agrees to help, will you know if he’s telling the truth?”
    “Yes. Trust