'And small. A person we might describe as a minor player in an insignificant game, well beneath what I would want for my wife and my son.'

I stared at him some more, and then I looked at Pinocchio. I sighed, then stood. 'Okay, Richard. We've met. It's been fun. I'm sorry it's going to be like this, but now it's time to leave.'

He didn't move. Neither did Epps. 'Small, but reasonable, so I decided that I should explain things to you so that you understand.'

'I can ask nice, Richard, but, believe me, I don't have to ask, or be nice.' Epps shifted his weight forward slightly, away from the door. 'Epps, you won't believe it even while it's happening.' That probably scared him.

Richard raised both hands and smiled. 'I'm not here to threaten you. Look, I love this woman, and I love my son. What you don't understand is that she still loves me. We just have to work out a few problems, and then she'll come to see that.'

'Good-bye, Richard.' So much for civil discourse. So much for modern men discussing a modern problem in an enlightened manner. I was thinking that it might be fun to beat him to death.

He still didn't move. 'I just want you to consider what's best for Lucy. I know she's been offered this job, but it'll be much better for her to stay in Baton Rouge, and much better for Ben. I'm hoping that you're the kind of guy who wants what's best for them. If you cared, you'd tell her to stay home.'

He really believed it. I glanced at Epps, but Epps didn't seem to care one way or the other. I shook my head. 'You think I should tell Lucy to stay home?'

Richard smiled like a pleased teacher whose slow pupil was finally catching on. 'That's right.'

Maybe that's why their marriage failed. 'Richard, here's something that you don't seem to understand. This decision isn't mine or yours. It's Lucy's.'

Richard frowned, as if I'd failed him in my attempt to understand.

'I love her, and I want her here, but I can't make her come and I can't make her stay, and neither can you. It's her life, and her decision. You see?'

Richard Chenier frowned harder. 'There's always a way to get what you want. That's how I make my living.'

I stared at him. I tried to picture them as a couple, and couldn't.

Richard Chenier glanced at Epps, then stood. Epps opened the door. Richard said, 'You don't think I intend to just let them leave, do you?'

'I don't think you have any choice.'

'You'd be surprised.' He smiled at me, and I didn't like it. I didn't like him.

Richard Chenier walked out of my office without looking back. Epps stared at me, then grinned and turned away, too.

'Hey, Epps.'

He looked back, still grinning.

'That's some cat, huh?'

Epps dropped the smile, walked out, and closed the door. Hard.

I stared at the door for a very long time, and then I shook my head.

'Pleased to meet you, Richard.'

CHAPTER 14

I watched Richard and Epps drive away, then went back to my desk and stared at the Mickey phone and thought about calling Lucy, but what would I say? Your ex-husband dropped by and told me he loved you? Nope. Richard hired some guy to break into my house. It sounded like tattling.

I looked at the Pinocchio clock, and gave it Stan Laurel. 'Isn't this a fine development?'

Pinocchio's eyes went from side to side, but he didn't say anything. He never does.

I tried to think about Markov. I took out the two one-hundred-dollar bills, looked at them again, but I kept seeing Richard on the bills instead of Ben Franklin. 'For chrissakes, Cole, get over it. You're onto something with Clark. Follow up your lead.'

What kind of guy hires someone to break into his ex-wife's boyfriend's house?

Would you stop?!

I knew from Lucy that Richard Chenier was an attorney with the firm of Benton, Meyers & Dane, and I knew he had graduated from law school at LSU, where Lucy had been an undergraduate, but that was all I knew, and I had never given him much thought. Now he had entered my home and my office in a belligerent and threatening manner, which I could handle, but he had also indicated that he had no intention of allowing Lucy to leave Baton Rouge, which I didn't like at all. Whatever that meant.

I decided that if I couldn't stop thinking about Lucy's ex-husband, the smart thing would be to deal with it. I had met Lucy when I worked a case in Louisiana last year, and while I was there I had made friends with a couple of people on the Louisiana State Police and the Baton Rouge PD. Now I called them, told them what I knew about Richard and Epps, and asked if they could give me a fast background check. They told me that they'd get back to me as soon as possible.

While they were working on that, I called Joe Pike. 'Clark went to Seattle to see a man named Wilson Brownell. Brownell is a master counterfeiter. He taught Clark how to print, and I'm thinking that Clark went back to Brownell because he's getting back in the trade.'

'You think he's printing money?'

'I've got two one-hundred-dollar bills that I'm wondering about, and maybe this explains why Clark won't go to Jasper. If he's setting something up, it might be coming together and he wants to see it through.'

Pike didn't say anything for a moment, like maybe he was thinking. 'There's a woman named Marsha Fields at the Treasury office downtown. I could call her tonight, see if you can drop by with the bills tomorrow.'

'Okay.'

Then he said, 'What?' Like he could hear something in my voice.

'The guy who broke into my house is named Epps. He's the same guy in the LeBaron, and he works for Lucy's ex-husband. They just left my office.'

More silence. 'Want me to do anything?'

'I don't think we need to kill him just yet.'

'Maybe later.' Pike hung up. Sometimes the silence says it all.

I stared at the phone some more, then called the LSU Alumni Office. A little bit after that I phoned Benton, Meyers & Dane, pretending to be a prospective client, and six minutes after that the first of my cop friends called back. One hour and twenty-seven minutes after Richard Chenier walked out of my office, I knew that he had been a second-string cornerback for the LSU frosh team until a blown knee ended his collegiate career. He had dallied in campus politics, graduated summa cum laude, was an unsuccessful Rhodes candidate, and had never been arrested. Impressive. I also knew that he was a full partner at BM &JD, a firm specializing in corporate law for international oil concerns, but was currently out of the office (yeah, he was in mine!) and not scheduled to return until next week. Lawrence Epps was a former Louisiana state trooper who had left the job and who now worked as an investigator for BM &JD. He had been arrested four times, three of those for assault, and had been convicted one time for misdemeanor battery. One of those arrests was for beating his first wife. Sweet.

All in all, I was feeling better about things when I went home. I still wasn't liking Richard very much, but he seemed like a square guy, and if I tried real hard I thought that I might be going a little crazy, too, thinking that I might lose my child. After all, Lucy had married the guy, and that said something. Of course, she had also divorced him, but that didn't dawn on me until later.

When I got home that evening the cat was sitting by his bowl in the kitchen. I talked it over with him while I was making dinner, and said, 'What would you do?'

The cat blinked, then bent over and licked his anus. Cats lead simple lives.

Joe Pike called me at nine the next morning, telling me that Special Agent Marsha Fields of the U.S. Secret Service was expecting me. I made boiled eggs and English muffins for breakfast, then took my time showering and dressing before winding my way across town to the Treasury Department.