The Winner - v4 by David Baldacci

Author:David Baldacci [Baldacci, David]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-07-02T17:40:53.906000+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY

“You invited him for lunch?” Charlie stared at LuAnn with a mixture of anger and frustration on his grizzled face. “Would you mind telling me why you did that? And would you mind telling me why the hell you went there in the first place?”

They were in Charlie’s office. LuAnn stood next to the bulky desk while Charlie sat in front of it. He had unwrapped a thick cigar and was about to light it when LuAnn had delivered the news of her excursion that morning.

Defiance was all over LuAnn’s features as she scowled back at him. “I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.”

“I told you I was going to handle it. What, you don’t trust my judgment anymore?”

“Of course I do, Charlie, it’s not that.” LuAnn dropped her defiant stance, perched on the edge of his chair and ran her fingers through his thinning hair. “I figured if I could get to Riggs before he had a chance to do anything, apologize and then get him to drop it, we’d be free and clear.”

Charlie shook his head, wincing as a small pain worked at his left temple. He took a deep breath and put an arm around her waist. “LuAnn, I had a very informative conversation with John Pemberton this morning.”

“Who?”

“Real estate agent. Guy who sold us the house. That’s not important. What is relevant is the fact that Pemberton knows everybody and everything that goes on in this town. He’s trying to track down the guy in the Honda for us right now.”

LuAnn jerked back. “You didn’t tell him—”

“I concocted a cover story and fed it to him. He slurped it up like it was the sweetest ice cream in the world. We both have gotten real good with making up stuff over the years, haven’t we?”

“Sometimes too good,” LuAnn said gloomily. “It’s getting harder and harder to remember what’s true and what’s not.”

“I also talked to Pemberton about Riggs. Trying to get some of the guy’s history out, to try and get a feel for the guy.”

“He’s not a cop. I asked him and he said he wasn’t. You said he was.”

“I know, a screw-up on my part, but Riggs led me to believe he was.”

“So what the heck was he? And why all the secrecy?”

“A funny question coming from you.” LuAnn jabbed an elbow playfully into Charlie’s side. Her smile disappeared with Charlie’s next words. “Pemberton thinks Riggs was a government spy.”

“A spy? Like the CIA?”

“Who the hell knows. It’s not like the guy’s gonna advertise what outfit he was with. Nobody really knows for sure. His background is kind of a blur as far as Pemberton can tell.”

LuAnn shuddered, remembering the info Riggs had gathered on her so quickly. Now it perhaps made sense. But she was still unconvinced. “And now he builds fences in rural Virginia. I didn’t think they ever let spies retire.”

“You’ve been watching too many mob movies. Even spies change jobs or retire, especially with the Cold War ending. And there are a lot of specialties in intelligence gathering.

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