Simple Genius (22 page)

HORATIO PULLED HIS MOTORCYCLE to a stop next to Michelle’s truck. The woman had turned off the main road and parked under some trees down near the river. She wasn’t in the truck and Horatio followed a dirt path down to the water where he found her sitting on a fallen tree that extended partially over the water. She didn’t acknowledge his presence as he sat down on the other part of the tree that was still firmly on land.

“Nice evening,” he said as he tossed a pebble into the fast-moving York, which was carrying debris from an earlier thunderstorm down to the Chesapeake Bay.

She was silent for some minutes, just staring at the water until Horatio started to fear she might jump in.

Her first words definitely got his attention. “I cleaned my truck out once. I did it for Sean.”

“Why?”

“Because I liked him and he’d been going through a bad time.”

“Was it hard, cleaning out the truck?”

“Far harder than it should have been. Everything in there seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. But it’s just a truck, right?” She swiveled around on her backside until she was facing him. “It’s just a truck,” she said again.

“Truck, bedroom, lifestyle.
I can imagine it was very hard.”

“I couldn’t keep it clean. I tried. Well, I didn’t really try. I just couldn’t do it. Within a day I put everything back.”

“Sean says your racing scull is pristine. You could eat off the hull, he claims.”

She smiled. “He would say that.
Although he’s not exactly without his quirks.
Have you ever seen anyone so neat and orderly? I mean, come on.”

She snapped off a small branch from the fallen tree and tossed it in the water. As she watched it sail away she said, “I don’t know why I changed, Horatio. I really don’t. I don’t even remember changing to tell the truth, but with so many people claiming I did, I guess I have to accept it.”

“Okay. That’s a good admission.
A very positive step, Michelle.
Yet when I mentioned the rose hedge you reacted to that. Why?”

She’d visibly shuddered again when he’d said it. Another few minutes of silence went by. Michelle stared at the tree trunk she was sitting on; Horatio’s gaze was directly on her. He didn’t say anything, fearful he might ruin the possibility of the first real breakthrough since he’d started seeing her. His patience was amply rewarded.

She said, “Can you be afraid of something and you don’t even know what it is?”

“Yes. It can be buried so deeply within your mind that all you can register is the fear without realizing what the source of that fear is. Repression into the subconscious of past events that were beyond someone’s ability to deal with at the time is the brain’s fail-safe mechanism to protect us. We simply block it out.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.
But it’s akin to water in the basement that you try to fix by patching here and there. Eventually the damage becomes so severe that the entire foundation of the house is threatened as the water starts to seep into unexpected places, places you can’t even see until the damage is done.”

“So I’m a rotting house?”

“And I’m the best house fixer you’re ever going to run across.”

“But if I can’t even remember why I’m so scared, how can you help me?”

“There’s a tried-and-true method: hypnosis.”

Michelle shook her head. “I don’t believe in that crap. No one can hypnotize me.”

“Usually the people who are certain they can’t be are the easiest to do it to.”

“But you have to want to be hypnotized, right?”

“That certainly helps. But you want to get better, don’t you?”

“I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you about this stuff if I didn’t. I haven’t spoken to anyone about this, ever!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Will you let me hypnotize you?”

“I don’t like losing control, Horatio. And what if I tell you something that I can’t handle? What if it’s that bad?”

“That’s why I went to all those schools and have all the certificates on my wall. I’m the professional. Just let me do my job. That’s all I’m asking.”

“That’s asking a lot. Maybe too much,” she added bluntly.

“Will you at least think about it?”

She rose, nimbly walked down the trunk and hopped to the ground next to him. As Michelle passed him she called over her shoulder, “I’ll think about it.”

Horatio looked after her in exasperation. “Where are you going now?”

“I’ve got Viggie duty.”

SEAN LUCKED OUT BECAUSE VALERIE was sitting at the same table as the night before. And like that time she was sending another would-be pickup artist on his way.

Valerie was dressed less provocatively this time, in slacks and a cashmere sweater. Her hair was pulled back in a French braid and her lipstick was muted.

When she saw Sean headed toward her Valerie quickly glanced the other way. When he sat down across from her, she still didn’t look at him.

“I see you’re still very popular here,” he said.

“And I can see you don’t get the concept of a brush-off very well.”

“Tonight’s a new venture.”

“Not from where I’m sitting.”

“Would you like to grab some dinner?”

“Do I have to call the bouncer to get rid of you?”

“Let me think about that one while you decide where you’d like to eat.” She almost smiled. He was quick to pick up on it. “Okay, that’s a tiny little crack, but I’ll take what I can get.”

“And why would you think I would want to have dinner with you?”

“Okay, now that I have your full attention, I’ll tell you.” He paused and said, “I just want someone to talk to. Traveling around by
yourself
gets really old really fast. I’m not looking for anything other than good conversation over a nice bottle of wine. And we can split the check, no favors owed on either side.”

“And you’re assuming I can provide this good conversation?
And that I like wine?”

“The conversation I think is a given. My stupid and shallow radar is pretty damn good. It hasn’t made a peep since I met you. As for the wine, I’m flexible, but I passed a place down the street from here that has a Cabernet on the list I’ve been dying to try.”

“You know your way around grapes?”

“I used to collect wine.”

“Used to?”

“Yeah, until somebody blew up my house and my wine cellar.”
Sean rose from the table. “Shall we?”

Sitting at a corner overlooking the street and sharing the bottle of Cabernet, Sean once more glanced at Valerie’s wedding ring. He did so in such a way that she could hardly miss it.

“You’re wondering why I’m having dinner with you while I happen to be a married woman?” she said.

“I was thinking if I was your husband I wouldn’t let you go to bars by yourself.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“My worry would be that you might just take a fancy to one of those gentlemen.”

“And you think I’ve taken a fancy to you?”

“I think you’re wondering if I’m really sincere, or just another creep waiting to make his move.”

“And which one are you?”

“Well, if I am a creep I’d tell you that I’m quite sincere.”

“So where does that leave us?”

“At you making up your own mind based on observation. Sound reasonable?”

“What do we talk about so I can start observing?”

“Personal histories are an accepted protocol. I’ll go first. Like I said, I’m divorced, no kids. I told you I was a problem solver and I am. I’m a lawyer, but don’t hold that against me. I’m down here doing some due diligence for a client embroiled in some nasty litigation.
You?”

“Married and never a mom like I told you before.
I used to have a career. Now I sit at home or I sometimes go out. That’s about it.”

“Without your husband?
I mean what part of beautiful and intelligent doesn’t he get?”

She held up a warning finger. “You’re treading the creepy line.”

“Sorry. I’ll retreat to a respectful position. What do you do for fun?”

“I don’t do anything for fun. I think I’ve had my share of fun in life. Now it’s all downhill.”

“Come on, it’s not like you have one foot in the grave.”

“Don’t I?”

“You’re not ill or anything?”

“Not in the sense you’re thinking, no.”

He sat back and swirled the wine around in his glass. “Okay, you qualify at least in the top three of the most interesting women I’ve ever met. Just so you can put that in context, my ex never even made the top ten.”

“
Which tells me you’re a poor judge of character.
”

“I’ve gotten better.”

“My husband would make anyone’s top five
list
. He’s actually very interesting. At least what he does is very interesting.”

“And what’s that?”

She shook her head. “Loose lips sink ships, you know.”

Sean appeared to be puzzled for a moment. “Sink ships? Is he in the military? I know they have a big presence down here.”

“He’s with the government, but not that branch; although he used to be. Vietnam.”

“Vietnam! But you’re not that old.”

“He waited a long time to marry. Why he decided to go for it after all those years on his own, I can’t tell you.”

“What then?
FBI?
I’ve got some ex-Army buddies who joined up with the Bureau.”

“Have you ever heard of Camp Peary?”

Sean slowly shook his head. “But it sounds familiar. Is it a camp like for kids?”

She smiled. “In a way, but the kids are really big with toys to match.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Camp Peary is a training center for a government agency whose initials start with C and end with A. Does that spell it out for you, no pun intended?”

“CIA!
Your husband works for the CIA?” he said in a furious whisper.

She looked at him with suspicion. “You’re sure you never heard of Camp Peary?”

“I’m from Ohio. Maybe it’s famous around here, but the news hasn’t reached Dayton. Sorry.”

“Well, my husband actually runs the place. Again, it’s not exactly a state secret.”

Sean appeared stunned. “Valerie, let me ask you one simple question.”

“Why would a man like that let his wife go to bars by herself and have dinner with strange men?” Sean nodded. “Well, let me give you a simple answer. He doesn’t care what I do. Some days I don’t know why he married me. Well, I do. I make a terrific first impression. But with Ian, the effect wore off.”

“So if
Ian
goes his way and you go yours, why not just divorce?”

She shrugged. “Divorces tend to get nasty and take too much energy. You said you’d been divorced. Isn’t that true?”

“Very true,” he admitted. “I guess he keeps pretty busy. I mean with the war on terror and everything.”

“Or it just could be that I’m not interesting enough,” she said.

Sean sat back and looked pensive. “It was love at first sight for my wife and me. But then she changed, or I changed, who the hell knows. She didn’t like lawyers very much. I guess it was doomed from the start.”

“Maybe that’s what happened to me too.”

“Why, how did you and Ian meet?”

“I was with a private contractor that worked with CIA. My field is or was bioterrorism long before it became so popular. Ian and I met at a conference in Australia. That was before he’d been promoted to run Camp Peary of course. I’d actually visited the place before I even knew Ian. But I got burned out and left. He still revels in that world. That’s the difference between him and me. And it’s become a big difference.”

“Wait a minute. That’s why it sounded familiar. Didn’t they find a body at Camp Peary?”

Valerie nodded slowly. “The guy apparently climbed over the fence and shot himself.”

“Damn, why would anyone do that?”

“Everybody has issues, problems.”

“You sound like you speak from experience.”

“We all speak from experience, Sean.”

After dinner was over they walked down the street together.

“This was a great evening, Valerie, thank you.”

“It was a depressing evening, due in large part to me.”

Sean remained silent. He simply didn’t have a good answer to this. Finally he said, “I’ll be in town for about a week. Would you like to do this again?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.

“Could I at least have your phone number?”

“Why?”

“Is there any harm in talking?”

“There’s harm in everything.” Even so, she reached in her purse, pulled out a pen and piece of paper and wrote a number down and handed it to him.

“You can leave a message there; if I don’t call back, well, I’m sorry. Thank you for saving me from another night in that bar. Goodbye.” She touched his arm,
then
walked off down the street, leaving Sean feeling very troubled. Valerie Messaline was probably what she seemed to be: a lonely woman treading water until something happened. His only viable lead to Camp Peary had just disappeared. Now where should he start looking?

The answer came to him almost as quickly as the question had. The only thing was, would he have the courage, or more accurately, the level of insanity needed to pull it off?