“But how?”
He thought about that. He thought about Grassley, who was probably in the basement beneath 850 Bryant Street by now. Grassley hadn’t liked to be alone down there, but he would be tonight, until Dr. Levy’s assistants came in and moved him to the steel table. On the ride from the city, Nagata had called to update them on Chun’s status. She was out of surgery, but her brain was swelling. She’d been hit in the head with something. A hammer, a bat. The butt of her own gun, after it had been taken from her. They still didn’t know, and Chun was in no position to tell them. The last Nagata had heard, the doctors were debating whether or not to induce a coma.
Cain had only just been getting to know both of them, was just figuring out what each of them had to offer. And he’d overlooked so much, even though it had been right there for him to see. He’d ascribed no significance to the way Grassley always waited for Chun, walked alongside her. It had been right there for him to pick up, but that was true for everything. All of the evidence was sitting in plain sight, waiting to be recognized.
“Gavin?” Lucy said. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
There was a tap on the door. A pause, then two more taps.
Cain got off the bed and walked to the door, then bent down to look through the peephole—Fischer. He let her in, then sat down on the bed again, gesturing for her to take the chair at the built-in desk.
“I’ll knock tomorrow morning,” she said. “Six thirty. They’re bringing my car over, so we’ll use that.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll do this, Cain.”
“Okay.”
“Every day, we get a little closer. Tomorrow, even more.”
“What about Lucy?” Cain asked. “She’ll need to eat, and there’s nothing here.”
There was no kitchenette in the room, not even a mini fridge or a plastic cup in the bathroom. If she wanted water, she’d have to drink straight from the tap.
“Downstairs, on the other side of the quad, there’s a cafeteria. There are signs pointing the way.”
“It’ll be open?”
“They do coffee and sandwiches all night—for dispatch, for the fast boat crews,” Fischer said. “Breakfast starts at seven.”
“She can walk the grounds and no one will bother her?”
“There’s no place safer.”
“You’ve stayed here before.”
“Twice,” she said. She looked at Lucy. “It’s not bad. If you go in the cafeteria, you’ll find people to talk to, if you want. But if you’d rather be left alone, they’ll do that.”
“They know why I’m here?”
“Yes.”
“That’s all they know about me?”
“That’s it.”
“Okay.”
He swung his feet to the floor and sat looking around the unfamiliar room in the dark.
It was only when he stood up and walked to the window, feeling the pilled carpet underfoot, that he remembered what this place was and why they were here. His skin was still damp with sweat from the dream that had woken him. He pulled back the curtains and let in the little bit of light that came across from Oakland. Then he turned around and looked at the room again. He saw the rising curve of Lucy’s hip, saw the way her hair spilled across the one pillow. There was a thin bar of greenish light coming from beneath the door, and he could hear the mercury-vapor lamp buzzing in the outdoor hallway.
It was just after three in the morning.
Of course there was no safe in this room. Before going to bed, he’d pulled the magazine from his gun and left the two pieces in separate desk drawers. He checked it now, his fingers on the cold metal in the dark. Then he stood close to the glass, inside the space of chilled air that had built up between the curtains and the pane. He told himself that when he stopped sweating, he’d go back to bed.
“Gavin?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You were dreaming,” she said. “You can’t help that.”
He got in next to her.
“I thought you slept through them.”
“Not always.” She put her arm across his chest. “You’ve only got a few hours. Three and a half. Not much time.”
“So what are you saying?”
“Use it wisely.”
She went back to sleep and he lay awake under the heat of her arm. She didn’t wear a watch, and there was no clock in the room. If she knew how much time was left until Fischer knocked, it was because her brain’s metronome went on clicking, even as she slept.
He woke with just enough time to take a shower and dress before Fischer arrived. He was standing in front of the mirror, fixing the knot in his tie, when he heard Fischer in the walkway outside. He turned off the bathroom light, collected his gun, and went outside quietly so that Lucy could go on sleeping.
The morning sky was purple and black. He thought it had been chilly inside the little Coast Guard apartment, but it was cold enough out here to see Fischer’s breath when she spoke.
“We’ll check out the cafeteria, get some coffee. Then you’ll see it and know she’ll be okay here.”