the bookstore? Somebody reported us? Or you were already following him?”
“I’m not at liberty to disclose that.”
“But you already knew about him visiting his brother, right? You were just
playing dumb before.”
“We knew the two men claimed to be brothers, yes.”
Zack hesitated. “What makes you think they aren’t? No, I’ve seen them to-
gether. They’re definitely brothers.” Just talking to the FBI ate away at one’s
certainty. If Zack hadn’t had experience dealing with the delusional, he might
have fallen for her doubt game.
E x i l e s i n A m e r i c a
2 8 3
She glanced at her notes yet again, pretending to refresh her memory.
“Why are you being so loyal to the Rohani brothers? Not everybody would. I
know I wouldn’t be if I were in your shoes.”
“What does that mean?”
“Oh? Maybe you don’t know.” She’d gone back to being a robot, not a
nervous robot, just a robot.
“Maybe I do know.” But did they know the same thing? What if she knew
something worse?
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this—” A faint hint of smile appeared at the
corners of her mouth. “Did you know your boyfriend and the brother went to
a Motel 6 on Christmas night?”
Zack stared at her, trying to guess why she’d said this, if she wanted to bar-
gain or threaten or simply hurt him. “You’ve been following them?”
“No. We only stumbled on that. But we have been asking around. It’s
widely reported on campus that Mr. Wexler and the artist in residence are
having an affair.”
Zack was disturbed but not surprised to hear other people knew. He was
surprised only by how disturbed he felt, a cold panic in the pit of his stomach,
as if he were suddenly naked in public.
“Why’re you telling me this, Ms. Whitehurst? Do you think I’ll feel grate-
ful? Or do you just want to hurt and humiliate me?”
“I just want you to understand that you have no business protecting these
people. They’re not your friends. I want to make sure that you’re on our side
and not theirs.”
She was black and she was female, which suggested a kind of innocence,
condescending as that sounded. Only now did Zack see the righteous bully
under the mechanical courtesy. If she’d been white and male, he would’ve rec-
ognized it sooner. She was the classic other-directed good girl, black division,
like Anita Hill or Condoleezza Rice. She’d sacrificed a lot to get where she
was. She’d lost a lot of imagination and flexibility along the way.
“I was on your side,” said Zack. “They were on your side, too. But you’re turning us against you. You’re not very good at this.”
The robot didn’t even blink. “Does the wife know about Christmas
night?”
2 8 4
C h r i s t o p h e r B r a m
“Yes. She does. In fact, we all know what’s been going on. We have no se-
crets here, hard as that must be for the FBI to understand. It’s a private mat-
ter. It has nothing to do with national security. It’s our own private, personal
matter. You can’t use it to bargain or blackmail us into getting more informa-
tion. You must already know that, yet you still want to play the bully. It feels
good to be a bully, doesn’t it?”
Whitehurst remained stone-faced. Then she said, in flat, measured tones,
“I am not one of your pathetic patients, Doctor. I’m an agent with the FBI.
We don’t care about the fun and games you and your friends indulge in. All
we care about are the threats to our country, which we have to fight while you
have your fun and games.” She stood up. “I’ve wasted too much time here.”
She pulled on her trench coat and reached into a pocket. “Here’s my card. If
you change your mind and decide to cooperate, you can call me at this num-
ber.”
Zack understood she was more upset than she let on. Upset to be in the
wrong? Or upset to have stumbled into this mess of open marriages? He fol-
lowed her to the front door.
“But I have cooperated,” he said. “I told you everything I know. There’s
nothing else to add.”
“It’s your country, too,” she said. “If you change your mind, call me.” She
walked across the lawn to her car, a simple white sedan.
Zack slowly closed the door. He immediately wanted to call Elena and
warn her but feared he was too agitated and wouldn’t be coherent. He de-
cided to call Daniel first, so he could talk away some of his agitation. But as
he dialed Daniel’s number, he realized he was angry with Daniel, furious with