"Your polygraph equipment."
He chuckled. "You thought I was going to hook you up to all that mechanical stuff?"
"Yeah. I don't know of any other way to give someone a lie-detector test."
"I do." Something in his response had chilled her. He turned and went to one of the two chairs behind him. "Sit down, Kira, and face me."
Slowly, Andie came forward. Only when she sat did she notice that her chair was a few inches higher than his, leaving them exactly at the same eye level. Blechman stared into her eyes. Andie blinked.
"Don't look away from me," he said.
Andie met his stare. It was a penetrating gaze, as though he were looking inside her.
He extended his arms toward her. "Grab my wrists."
She reached forward, and their hands interlocked. Each of them had the other by the pulse, right hand to left wrist, left hand to right wrist. Still, Andie was more aware of her own racing heartbeat than his.
"Now just relax," he said.
She took a deep breath. It was okay that she was shaking. Kira would be shaking.
"Do I frighten you, Kira?"
"Yes." "why?"
"I don't know."
"Are you afraid of what I might ask you?"
"No"
His grip tightened around her pulse. "You're lying." "I'm just . . . nervous."
"How old are you, Kira?"
"Twenty-seven."
"Where were you born?"
"Seattle."
"Tell me about your parents."
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
Andie concentrated. It was crucial to recite her phony background accurately. Should Blechman check, she wanted to make sure she checked out.
"My mother taught high school for over thirty years. She's retired now. My dad worked at Boeing most of his life,, till he died six years ago."
"What kind of relationship do you have with your mother?"
"Normal."
"Do you have your own apartment?"
"No"
You think it's normal for a twenty-seven-year-old woman to live with her mother?"
"So long as you're a little embarrassed by it, I guess it is."
He He didn't crack a smile. "Where does your mother live?"
"Tacoma."
He asked a series of questions about her mother's background and lifestyle. It would all check out. The FBI had enlisted a retired agent to pose as Kira's mother.
"Do you love her?"
"Yes. Of course."
"Did you love your father?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever loved anyone outside your immediate family?"
They were outside the phony FBI background now. Andie thought of her ex-fiance. "I would say no."
He smirked. "I would say yes."
Andie flinched. Blechman bore down. "You've recently ended a relationship, haven't you?"
"I've never been married, if that's what you mean." "A broken engagement?"
She squirmed, amazed he had figured that out.
Blechman said, "You don't want to talk about it, do you?"
"There's not much to talk about."
"Let's go back where you feel safe, then. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
She hesitated for an instant. Again, the real world was closing in around her. Truthfully, she didn't know. She gave the FBI's answer. "No."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. I would know if I had brothers or sisters."
"Were you adopted, Kira?"
The insight floored her. He continued, "Do you sometimes wonder about your real parents?"
"I don't know what you mean."
His stare tightened. "The green eyes are a nice cover." "They're not a cover. They're mine."
"How does an Indian girl get green eyes?"
"What?"
You are part Indian, aren't you? I can see it."
Not everyone could, not even some Native Americans. But if he was on to it, there was no sense denying it. "Part, yes."
"Which part? Body or spirit?"
"I don't know how to answer that."
"What tribe are your ancestors from?"
"I don't know."
"You were adopted, weren't you?"
She suddenly regretted the I don't know. She should have just picked Cherokee or some other tribe that didn't have good recordkeeping, one that Blechman could never have verified. Not knowing your tribe was a red flag for adoption. "Yes, I was adopted."
He seemed to smile faintly, confident he was getting somewhere. "If I were to guess, I would say you're Yakama."
"Why?"
"The word Yakama means runaway. Are you a runaway?"
"No"
"You're running from something, Kira. Tell me what it is."
"I really don't know what you mean."
."Are you running from something you've hidden in your past? Or are you running from the fact that you don't know your past?"
"The past is just the past."
"No, Kira. Until you've transcended the human level, you are defined by the past. It's who you are."
He looked deeply into her eyes. "Who are you, Kira?" "What--what do you mean?"
"You're not who you say you are. Tell me who you are. Who you really are."
Her fear soared to another level. Either he knew she was a phony, or he was on verge of figuring it out. She broke from his grip and sprang from her chair, ready to run for her life.
"Stop!" he shouted.
Andie wheeled, ready to defend herself.