As Tolkan settled himself behind his desk, Oscar arrived with a tray filled with mugs and a carafe of coffee. Oscar slid it onto the low table in front of the sofa and left, closing the door behind him.

"Help yourselves." When neither Jack nor Nina made a move to the tray, Tolkan said, "I'm curious. What does the Department of Homeland Security want with me?"

"Were you a member of FASR?" Jack said.

"So far as I know that's not a crime."

"You dropped out three and a half months ago," Nina said.

"Again, not a crime." Tolkan laced his fingers together. "Where, may I ask, is this going?"

Jack walked slowly around the room, studying everything. "E-Two."

Tolkan blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"You can," Jack said, turning to him, "but it won't do any good."

Tolkan spread his hands. "What's an E-Two?"

"Doesn't read the paper, apparently." Nina, perched on the arm of the sofa, took a tiny bite of her chocolate-chip cookie. "My, this is good."

"Listen." Jack advanced toward the desk. "We're not in the mood for lies."

Tolkan shook his head. "Lies about what?"

Was it Jack's imagination, or was Joachim Tolkan becoming more and more like his late father, Cyril? He found the thought intolerable. He was just about to lunge at Tolkan when, entirely without warning, Nina skimmed her cookie right at Tolkan's head. The edge struck him just over the left eye, the impromptu missile shattering on impact.

Tolkan's hand flew to his face. "What the hell-!"

Jack reached over, grabbed Tolkan by his lapels, dragged him up off his comfortable chair so that he was half-hanging over his desk. Cookie crumbs and bits of chocolate were strewn across his Hermes tie.

"You haven't been listening to us, Joachim." Jack's face was flushed; there was a murderous look in his eye. "We don't have time for your fun and games." Jack hurled him back into the chair. "Tell us about your involvement in E-Two."

Now it was Tolkan's face that was white. He looked visibly shaken. "I was sworn to secrecy."

"Your allegiance is admirable," Nina said with a chill Jack could feel, "but misplaced."

"Spill it, Joachim!" Jack thundered.

Tolkan expelled a little squeak. "All right, but there really isn't much to tell." With a trembling hand, he pushed his hair off his forehead. "I heard about E-Two through someone I worked with at FASR. I quit when he did because he said FASR was too slow and poky, too conservative to get anywhere. He said if I was really serious about change, there was another group we could join, one that would get things done. Sounded good to me, so I said okay. Then I come to find out that E-Two's methods are violent."

"That didn't attract you?" Jack said.

"What? No."

"But your father was a violent man."

Joachim regarded Jack with the proper amount of fear. "What does my father have to do with it?"

Jack said, "The rotten apple doesn't fall far from the poisoned tree."

Tolkan shook his head. "You've got it wrong."

Nina crossed her arms. "So enlighten us."

Tolkan nodded. "The truth is once I was old enough to understand how my father could afford all the luxuries I enjoyed as a kid, I stayed as far away from him as I could. It sickened me the way he'd take us all to church on Sunday, how he'd kneel, say his prayers to Jesus, quote from the Bible, and then go out and do… the things he did. I wanted no part of him, his contacts, his blood money. I worked my way through college, got an MBA from Georgetown."

Nina came down off the sofa arm. "So how come you wound up here?"

"I worked for Goldman Sachs for a year and hated every minute of it. When I quit, I decided I wanted to be my own boss. The bakery was still going, more or less. I saw an opportunity. I stepped in, invested in advertising, in a community-outreach program. Gradually I built up the business to the point where I needed to expand."

"And look at you now," Nina said.

Jack put his fists on the desk. "So you expect us to believe that you never joined E-Two."

"I didn't," Tolkan said, shying away. "I swear it."

"What happened?" Nina asked.

"I felt ashamed of myself. I went back to FASR, but they wouldn't have me. Chris said I could no longer be trusted."

Jack said, "This friend of yours-"

"He isn't a friend."

"Colleague, whatever." Jack pulled himself up. "Does he have a name?"

"Ron Kray."

Nina checked the printout Armitage had given them. "He's here," she said, and read off his home address.

"That's a phony. Kray told me. He's very private."

Jack wondered why the name seemed familiar to him. He racked his brain, but the answer remained frustratingly out of reach. "So where does Mr. Kray live?" he said.

"He never told me and I never asked," Tolkan answered. "But he said he works at Sibley Memorial Hospital."

"I've heard of it," Jack said. "It's a rehab place for the elderly. Physical and psychiatric."

Tolkan nodded. "Ron's a nurse there. A psychiatric nurse."

THE MODERN layer cake of Sibley Memorial occupied a wide swath of real estate on Sleepy Hollow Road outside of Falls Church. Nina suggested they call to see if Kray was on duty, but Jack disagreed.

"First off, I don't want to take any chance of him being tipped off we're coming. Secondly, even if he's not there, the HR department is bound to have a current photo of him."

As it turned out, Kray wasn't on duty. In fact, the head of the psychiatric department told them he hadn't worked there for over two years.

They were directed to the HR department, where they obtained Kray's last known address, which matched the one on the list Chris Armitage had given them. Kray's photo ID, however, had been destroyed.

KRAY LIVED on Tyler Avenue, not more than six minutes away. Nina was silent during most of the drive. At length, she turned to Jack.

"You must think I'm quite the neurotic."

Jack concentrated on his driving. This was somewhat of a new area for him, and he wanted to make sure he read every road sign.

Nina took his silence for assent. "Yeah, you do."

"What do you care what I think?"

"For one thing, we're working together. For another, I like you. Your mind doesn't work like anyone else's I've ever met."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

She offered a nod of assent. "In a very short time, I've come to trust what you call your hunches."

"Would you call them something else?"

She nodded. "I would, yes, if I had a word to describe them. Whatever they are, they're far more than hunches, though." She put her head back. "You know, if I spend any more time with you, I'll start to doubt everything I thought was true."

She put a hand over his. "We had a moment there under the old oaks where Emma escaped from school at night." Her forefinger curled, the nail scratched lightly, erotically along his palm. "Why don't we take it from there?"

He braked until he could decipher a street sign. Also, to clear the air between them.

"Listen, Nina, I'm flattered. But just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm not into on-the-job screwing."

"Too many complications?"

The image of Sharon was beside him, with her long tanned legs, hair swept across her face, that mysterious look in her eyes he loved because he never quite knew what it meant or foretold. "Among other things."

"What if we weren't partners? I could arrange-"

"It wouldn't matter."

"Well, that's candor for you." Nina removed her hand. "Your ex still under your skin?"

He swung onto Tyler, slowed to a crawl.

"Okay, forget it. Privacy's something I respect. There is, in any case, a kind of privilege in loneliness. It makes you feel alive, introduces you to yourself."

Jack felt annoyed. "I didn't mean that."

"You just didn't say it." She took out a clove cigarette, lit up. "I have a question. D'you have any idea who Emma met underneath the oaks?"