The Innocent

“Great minds think alike, in fact.”

She reached over and clinked his beer with hers. “To great minds.”

“To great minds,” he agreed with a grin.

“So is this officially our first date?”

“Technically I wouldn’t think so,” replied Robie. “It was more spontaneous. But we can make it anything we want. It’s a free country.”

“I really enjoyed drinks at the W.”

“First time I’ve done something like that in a while.”

“Me too.”

“At your age you should be out a lot.”

“Maybe I’m older than I look,” she teased.

“I doubt that.”

“I like you, Will. I like you a lot.”

“You don’t really know me yet.”

“I’m a good and quick judge of people. Always have been.” She paused, took a swig of beer. “You make me feel, I don’t know, good about myself.”

“You have a lot of reasons independent of me to feel good about yourself, Annie.”

She set her beer down. “Sometimes I get depressed.”

“Hell, we all do.”

She rose and sat down next to him. She touched Robie’s hand with hers. “I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with guys.”

“I promise you won’t have one with me.” Robie had no way to guarantee this, but as he said it he believed it to be the truth.

At the same moment they each leaned toward the other. Their lips touched gently. Then they drew apart,

When Lambert opened her eyes he was looking at her.

“Did you not like that?” she asked.

“No, I liked it a lot, actually.”

They kissed again.

“I’m a lot older than you,” he said as they pulled apart once more.

“You don’t seem a lot older.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

“Maybe we should do exactly what we both obviously want to do,” she murmured in his ear. They kissed once more. Not gently this time, but hungrily, both breathing hard.

Robie’s hand slipped to her thigh and he caressed it. She edged her arms around his back and squeezed. Her mouth touched his ear.

“The bedroom might be more comfortable.”

He rose, lifting her into the air as he did, and carried her to the bedroom door. She hit the door lever with her foot and pushed it open. Robie kicked the door shut behind them. They took their time disrobing each other.

She looked at his tats and scars and the wound on his arm. She lightly touched it. “Does it hurt?”

“Not anymore.”

“How did you do it?”

“It was just something stupid.” He pulled her to him.

A minute later they slid between the sheets, their clothes in a commingled pile on the floor.

CHAPTER 71

It was six in the morning and Robie was on the move again. His rental glided down the dark street.

As soon as he left Annie Lambert still lying in her bed, he had regretted sleeping with her. The sex was wonderful. It had left him shaky and warm and completely out of sorts. It had been a liberating feeling.

And yet it still had been a mistake.

He had essentially left a man dead on the National Mall to go and screw a White House staffer. He hadn’t been thinking about the case while in bed with her. Well, that would change right now.

He called Vance. Despite the early hour she picked up on the second ring.

“I’m in the office,” she answered. “Actually I never left the office. Where are you?”

“Driving.”

“Driving where?”

“Not sure.”

“What happened to you last night? You just sort of disappeared after we got Julie squared away.”

He didn’t answer.

“Robie?”

“I just had to step back for a bit, get my head straight.”

“Is it straight now? Because we have a case to work.”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t have dinner. And I haven’t had breakfast. There’s a twenty-four-hour place around the corner from WFO. You know it?”

“I’ll meet you there in ten minutes,” said Robie.

He beat her there and had already ordered them both mugs of coffee when she walked in.

“I thought you said you hadn’t been home. You’re wearing fresh clothes,” he said.

“I keep a set at the office,” she replied as she sat down and picked up her coffee and took a sip. “You don’t look good,” she said.

“Should I look good?” he shot back. He wondered for a moment if she could tell he had been with another woman.

They sat in awkward silence drinking their coffees until Robie said, “How’s Julie?”

“Fidgety, depressed. I think she believes you’ve abandoned her.”

“How did you explain things to your boss about all this?”

“I skirted the line. Told him some things, didn’t tell him others.”

The waitress came over and they ordered. After she had refilled their coffees she left.

Robie studied Vance. “I’m not looking to derail your career over this, Vance.”

“You know, you can call me Nikki, if you want.”

This offer seemed to deepen Robie’s guilt. “Okay, Nikki, at the end of the day you need to be able to walk away from this with everything in your life intact.”

“I don’t think that’s possible, Robie.”

“My point is you don’t have to cover for me. It was unfair to ask it of you.”

“And my point is if I don’t cover for you the FBI will come down like a ton of bricks. Too many questions, not enough answers.”

“I’ve got some professional cover.”