“Amanda could easily have talked to her boss about her great-uncle’s hobby,” Fiona said.
“And with her connections, General Eddinger could have made contact with a gallery owner,” D.C. finished.
“So if he asks, we have an explanation,” Fiona said. “And perhaps, because we’re using Amanda’s visit as a catalyst, he’ll talk about the Rubinov.”
“I like the way your mind works, Lieutenant.”
“I like the way both of your minds work,” Chance said.
“It’s only a plan,” Fiona cautioned. “Franks may not go along with it.”
“True,” D.C. said. “But I’m betting his ego will tempt him to bite.” He shifted his gaze to Chance. “We’ll need to lay the ground work before you call the warden.”
As Fiona watched, D.C. took out his notebook and began to list items. “We need a real gallery and a real art professor.”
“I can handle those,” Natalie said. “My sister Sierra teaches at Georgetown and she has a close colleague in the art department. A woman. And there’s an art gallery two doors down from the Blue Pepper.” Her eyes met her husband’s. “Chance and I met there for the first time. The latest owner is a man. I can contact both of them.”
“We’ll have to get your faces on their Web sites,” Chance said. “Just because Franks doesn’t have an e-mail account is no reason to believe that he won’t do a little research. If he checks you out, we’ll have to make sure you’re golden.” Chance glanced at his watch. “I’ll get on that just as soon as Natalie sets things up. When everything’s in place, I’ll put a call through to the warden.”
Fiona rose as Chance helped Natalie lever herself up out of her chair. “What if Franks doesn’t agree to see us?”
“Then I’ll announce to the press that we’re arresting Amanda Hemmings, and we’ll ask the FBI to get you in as yourselves,” Natalie said.
“Not a bad fallback plan, sweetheart,” Chance said as he guided Natalie out of the conference room.
11
THE LAST THING FIONA had expected to be doing that night was sitting at the counter in her kitchen watching D.C. prepare dinner. Natalie and Chance had invited them to the Blue Pepper, but D.C. had explained they had prep work to do for the following day.
He was right. If Arthur Franks bought into their charade, they needed to go over the file Chance had given them. What she hadn’t imagined was that the D.C.’s idea of “prep” work had to do with food.
As soon as they’d left the station, he’d driven to a market, the kind you shop for groceries in. The trip still had her head spinning a little. He’d bought three bags full of food, and had spread it out over every inch of her counters. Who was going to eat all of it?
“How’s the wine?”
She took a sip out of the glass he’d poured her and found she enjoyed the tart, dry taste. “Excellent.”
He opened a drawer, selected a knife and peeled an onion. “That looks like a lot of work. We could have ordered in.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
She propped her chin on her hand and studied him. “That’s really what you do, isn’t it? You come up with ideas about having fun.” She thought of the way they’d snuck through a hedge and peeked in Kathryn Lewen’s window. “That’s why you came up with idea of our approaching Arthur Franks as an art professor and a gallery owner. Because it would be more fun?”
“The fun’s a side benefit. Although it shouldn’t be discounted. Don’t you think that if you enjoy your work, you do a better job?”
“I do. But I don’t usually think up elaborate masquerades to get it done.”
He lifted tomatoes out of a bag and lined them up on the counter. “Police work is often repetitious and tedious. Not only does a bit of a masquerade relieve the boredom, but I always find out something I didn’t know before.”
“You’ve done it a lot?”
He took another sip of wine and his eyes twinkled when they met hers. “As often as I can. In Iraq, I was always able to dig up inside information when I wasn’t ‘Captain D. C. Campbell.’” He set down his glass and selected a tomato. “No matter what approach we take with Franks, he’s not going to confess anything.”
“Agreed.”
“And if we have to put pressure on him through the FBI to see us as two cops, he’ll probably be even less cooperative.”
She couldn’t argue with that, either.
“If Chance can set it up, I believe our little masquerade is the only way we’re going to learn anything. Franks will have his guard down. And we’ll be appealing to his ego.” He paused as he began to chop a tomato. “I know you agree with me. You wouldn’t have gone along with the plan otherwise.”