“Goddamn it!” Byrd cursed, jerking his pistol out of his belt. “Get on the floor! Get down, I said!”
Penn didn’t move. Caitlin had no idea what to do. Her own pistol was in her purse, back in the car. She was about to ask Penn to do as Byrd had ordered when tires screeched in front of the house. She looked down and saw Shad Johnson leap from his black BMW and run to the foot of the nearest staircase.
“Hurry!” Caitlin shouted, amazed to find herself relieved to see a man she despised.
The DA froze when he reached the top of the steps. “Why is your gun out, Billy?” he asked.
“Cage is packing!” Byrd snapped. “I told him to get on the floor.”
Shadrach Johnson held up his hands as though to calm both men, but it was Penn’s unnatural calmness that was actually driving the crisis.
“Put your gun away, Billy,” Shad said. “Right now. Put it away and go back down to your car.”
“The hell I will! You don’t give me orders.”
“I’m the district attorney of Adams County, Sheriff. And I’m telling you to go back to your car.”
“I take orders from the governor, not you.”
“Tonight you take them from me,” Shad said, with surprising steel in his voice. “Move your ass, goddamn it.”
Shaking his head as though the world had turned upside down, Billy Byrd stumped over to the stairs and, after one last look at Penn, marched back down to ground level.
Still keeping his hands up, Shad took two steps toward Penn and said, “What’s going on, Penn? Are you okay?”
Penn shrugged. “I’m fine.”
“Is your father in this house?”
“No.”
Shad turned to Caitlin. “Is he?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then what the hell is this about? Why wouldn’t Penn let him in?”
“Penn bought me this house as a wedding present. It was a secret. He was showing it to me for the first time, as a surprise. Suddenly Billy Byrd showed up and started acting like Dirty Harry. That’s all I know.”
Shad studied Penn with apparent concern. Unlike Billy Byrd, he was perceptive enough to see that all was not right with the mayor.
“I tell you what,” Shad said. “I’m going to send Billy back to his office, and I’m going to go back to mine. You two take a few minutes together, and then one of you call me and let me know everything’s all right. Okay?”
Caitlin nodded quickly, thankful for the DA’s restraint.
A deep voice shouted, “What the hell’s going on up there? Make him let you in!”
Shad turned and yelled over the gallery rail at Lincoln Turner: “If you don’t get out of here right now, I’m ordering your arrest.”
Caitlin expected Turner to stand his ground, but he apparently heard the same resolve in Shad’s voice that she had. After a few seconds, Lincoln turned and walked back to his truck, then started the engine and drove away.
“Okay,” Shad said. “I’m going now. Call me and let me know everything’s okay.”
“I will,” Caitlin promised.
“Dr. Cage isn’t in there, right?”
“No,” said Penn. “I don’t know where he is.”
“That’s cool. Okay.”
With that the DA turned and retreated down the stairs.
Caitlin rushed to Penn and hugged him, then reached behind him to open the door. His body felt unnaturally stiff, and the door was locked. She rattled the knob hard, her whole body shaking.
“Take it easy,” Penn said, taking his keys from his pocket.
“Take it easy? What was that? Huh? What the fuck was that?”
Penn shrugged again. “I’d just had all of that son of a bitch I’m willing to take.”
“Oh, really? Well, that stupid redneck could have shot you. He would have! Are you really carrying your gun?”
Penn lifted his right leg and placed her hand on his ankle, where the bulge of a heavy revolver suddenly became obvious. This hard proof of what had nearly happened made her dizzy.
“Why?” she asked. “Why would you do that?”
“I told you.”
“Oh, come on. Has something happened that you haven’t told me about?”
“No.” Penn’s eyes didn’t waver.
“Did Dwight tell you something upsetting about Tom?”
Penn shook his head.
Caitlin hugged him again, but as she laid her face against his chest, she wondered if she could continue to keep Tom’s location from him. If Tom being missing had made Penn this irrational, then shouldn’t she do what she could to defuse that tension? Yet almost as soon as she had this thought, another more insidious connection closed in her brain. If she did tell Penn where Tom was, then father and son would be joined within an hour. And if that happened—against Tom’s will—there would be two men trying to persuade her to give up her coverage of the Double Eagle murders while Tom tried to cut a deal with Forrest Knox. Last night Penn had proved that he was willing to try to bargain with the devil to save his family, and his effort had nearly killed them. Now Tom wanted to go down the same road, one that almost certainly led to death. She could not let Penn join him on that journey.
“Why don’t you show me the house?” she said, not knowing what else to say. “I do want to see what you’ve done to it.”
“I thought you didn’t want to jinx it.”
“Oh, I was just being stupid. You’re right, we need to be reminded of normal.”