“No, ma’am. It’s a spur-of-the-moment visit.”

“You’re the bodyguard from Yorkville, aren’t you?”

Huck gave her his most charming smile. “That’s me. Mind if I go on up to see her?”

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I do.” Thelma reached for her phone, then glanced back at him, a slight catch in her voice. “How do you know her office is upstairs?”

“I figure it wouldn’t be down here with you and the stuffed birds.”

“Ha-ha,” she said, rallying as she lifted the old-fashioned phone, pressing two buttons. “Quinn? Huck Boone is here to see you. Shall I send him up?” She frowned into the receiver. “Quinn?”

“Just shocked the hell out of her, I’ll bet,” Huck said.

Cradling the phone, Thelma turned her frown on him. “Quinn will be right with you.”

“Mind if I look around?” He showed her the bottom of his shoes. “I haven’t stepped in dog poop or anything.”

“Just take a seat, Mr. Boone.”

She pointed at an ornate wooden chair against the wall across from her desk. “I feel like I need a crown to sit in that thing. Mind if I use your phone to make a call? It’s local.”

“Please, make yourself welcome.” Her gracious words didn’t match her frosty tone. “Dial 9 for an outside line.”

Huck ignored her hostility and stepped over to the front of her desk, turning the heavy old phone to him. At least it was Touch-Tone. He dialed 9, then one of a handful of Washington numbers he’d committed to memory. He didn’t want any of them showing up on his cell phone, in case Vern and the guys got hold of it.

Nate Winter answered. Huck quickly interrupted. “I’m in D.C. at the American Society for Plants and Animals. I can’t talk right now. Something’s up. Everything okay there?”

“Everything’s fine.” Winter sounded tight and impatient, but he always did.

“Here, too. I’ll talk to you soon.”

When Huck hung up and turned around, Quinn Harlowe was there, apparently having slipped down the thickly carpeted stairs without him noticing. In her slim skirt and stretchy top, she looked smart and professional and even prettier than she had in Yorkville. Her black hair was pulled back, so that all the angles of her face stood out, and her eyes shone brighter, more intense.

“It’s the American Society for the Study of Plants and Animals,” Quinn said, cool, obviously suspicious.

“Isn’t that what I said?”

“You left off ‘the study of.’”

“Oh.”

“It changes the meaning entirely. Who were you talking to?”

“Dry cleaners.”

Thelma returned to her oak swivel chair behind her desk. “I can hit redial and find out.”

Nate would know what to do. Huck shrugged. “Go ahead.”

“It’s okay, Thelma,” Quinn said, giving the older woman an affectionate smile. “Thank you. I’ll take Huck upstairs-”

He remembered his orders from Lubec. Take her for a walk. He could think of worse tasks. “It’s Friday. It’s beautiful outside. Let’s get out of here for a little while.” To drive home his point, he touched a fingertip to her pale cheek. “You’ve been sitting up in your garret all morning, haven’t you?”

“I naturally don’t have a lot of color in my face. But you’re right, it is a beautiful day, and I’d love to take a walk. Thelma, I have my cell phone if you need to reach me.”

This was another way of telling Thelma to stick close to her phone, in case Quinn needed her. Considering how they’d met and the dubious circumstances under which he was in Washington, Huck thought she was being smart.

She’d have been even smarter, though, to have shown him the door.

Thelma clearly didn’t like the idea of Quinn going off with him, but she kept quiet. Huck decided not to worry about her. They weren’t leaving Thelma alone-the building was full of Society staff. As he headed for the front door, however, he couldn’t dispel his sense of uneasiness. He would have preferred knowing where Travis and Company had gone.

Quinn trotted down the steps ahead of him. “Where do you want to go?”

“We could have coffee somewhere.”

“Sure. I can show you where I was when Alicia found me. That’s why you want to go for coffee, isn’t it?” Without waiting for him to answer, she breezed down the shaded sidewalk. She looked back at him. “Coming?”

Something about her was off, Huck thought. Or not off so much as ramped up. As if, on some level, she’d been expecting him and had her own agenda for when he showed up on her doorstep.

He fell in beside her. “We don’t have to do coffee. We can take a walk.”

“Coffee’s fine.” She glanced over at him, her eyes still cool. “Who sent you here?”

“Ah. I can see you distrust my motives.”

“I don’t know what your motives are. I can speculate, but I’m not sure that would do any good. In my work, I try to avoid speculation.”

“There’s a difference between speculation and analysis?”

“Big difference.”

“Travis Lubec sent me. He’s a senior security-”

“He’s Oliver Crawford’s chief bodyguard. He might have a fancier title, but that’s what he is. Yes, I know his name.” She picked up her pace. “He was a key player in the rescue of his boss.”

“You’ve been doing your homework.”

“It was in the papers.”

“Not Lubec’s name,” Huck said.

“No?” She didn’t act as if he’d caught her in a deception. “Someone must have told me.”

“When?”

“Recently.”

Now she was being openly deceptive, making him wonder what all she’d been up to in the days since she’d found her friend and her red kayak in the marsh. Lubec could have had good reason to send Huck in to talk to her. He kept up with her quick pace. “Ever think Crawford and his people are a little jumpy these days and might not want someone asking questions about them?”

“You mean me, because of Alicia, because she wasn’t herself and she showed up at their front gate early one morning when they all were in bed.” Quinn shifted to him, still moving at a fast clip, her eyes bright, shining with energy, a touch of indignation. “What, do they think Alicia and I conspired to make Oliver Crawford and his people uncomfortable?”

“Quinn-”

“The Kayak Caper.”

Huck sighed. “Having fun?”

“Not really. If I worried every time I asked a question someone didn’t want me to ask, I couldn’t do my job. I have to put that kind of resistance aside and focus on what I’m supposed to do. I try to keep an open mind and not let outside forces influence my conclusions.”

“That’s why you’re good, but it’s not your job to investigate what happened to your friend last week-”

“How would you know I’m good? Have you been researching me? Why is that okay but it’s not okay for me to research you all?” She was on a roll now. “Maybe I should be taking you for a walk and picking your brain.”

Huck decided to keep silent.

“That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it? Picking my brain-finding out what I’ve been up to since I left Yorkville?”

“It was a good excuse to get to see you.”

She obviously didn’t believe him.

“Quinn-”

“I’ve only reached a few conclusions about Oliver Crawford and you Breakwater Security guys.” She eased her pace slightly and gave him a sideways glance, the coolness suddenly back. “For instance, I don’t believe Huck Boone is your real name.”

“No, huh?”

“I told Special Agent Kowalski. And this Venezuela rescue of yours-” She shook her head. “I did a little investigating. Something doesn’t pass the smell test there, either.”

Huck was thinking about shoving her into a cab, taking her to Nate Winter and having him put Quinn Harlowe under lock and key. “Vern and I did a good deed. We worked under the radar, and the U.S. government might not approve-”

“I checked with a law enforcement source I have in Venezuela. Very reliable. She says that the kidnap victim you rescued wasn’t a particularly good guy. He was involved in Colombian emerald smuggling. He disappeared after you freed him.”