The Traitor Beside Her by Mary Anna Evans

Author:Mary Anna Evans [Evans, Mary Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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The National Mall was the perfect place for a beginning spy to hone her surveillance skills. No matter where Georgette stood in the grass surrounding the reflecting pool, she could see the entire open area, and she could see Justine’s white-blond hair.

Georgette’s “borrowed” red coat made her stand out in a very thin crowd. It was just too cold and too late in the day for people to be enthusiastic about walking around outside.

Rather than being a lone woman in red who never moved from one spot on the Lincoln Memorial stairs, she thought she’d be less noticeable if she moved around. She drifted from the stairs to the oval pool near the Washington Monument. There, she pulled a stick of gum out of her pocket, just for an excuse to trudge over to a garbage can to throw away the wrapper. Pausing there, she wondered what else she could do to pass the time without being conspicuous. After a while, she withdrew to an unobtrusive spot under one of the elm trees that surrounded the grassy strip.

Foot traffic around the reflecting pool, never heavy, ebbed as time went by. Once, twice, three times, Georgette watched Justine and Ike walk slowly around the pool. By the time they passed her the third time, the early wintertime sunset was approaching, and nobody else was in sight. Georgette felt the need to be invisible growing, so she put her scarf in the pocket of the crimson coat and stripped it off. Turning the coat wrong-side out to reveal a plain black lining, she threw it into the shadow of an elm. She was cold in just her dark pants and sweater, but now she could fade into the shadows.

Georgette guessed that each lap around the reflecting pool was about a mile long. Ordinarily, she would guess that two people circling it three times were a couple trying to begin a romance, looking for a way to get to know each other that didn’t force them to be alone in the dark before they were ready. Justine had not shown a flicker of interest in Ike, and Georgette had never known her to be overly interested in exercise for exercise’s sake, either. Ike might be trying to romance her, but Justine would only be trudging around in the deepening cold if she thought he might say something useful.

Maybe he already had. If so, Justine would be extricating herself soon. Feeling antsy about the situation, Georgette hoped her friend would hurry up.

She looked over her shoulder to keep her face out of sight as they strolled past her yet again. Ike and Justine were just two people taking a walk. They were doing nothing worrisome. Nevertheless, Georgette was worried.

After they passed, she raised her eyes and scanned the area. She saw no one looking at Ike and Justine, nor at her, but she was pretty sure that someone was out there watching.

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