Chapter 33

Tuesday, July 6, 1:04 p.m.

Madeleine's first-day lunch stop turned out to be a storefront cafe called The State Diner, two blocks up and one block over from the hotel. It was a sleepy place and there were only a few customers, evidently local business people.

Madeleine had dressed in shorts and a sleeveless cotton blouse. Comfortable on the street, the outfit was inadequate in the refrigerator-like air conditioning of the diner. Her body was a mass of goose bumps. Worse, her nipples, always prominent, were distending alarmingly in the frigid dining room.

Knowing that lunch would be a torturous experience, she decided to ad lib a bit and ordered a BLT on toast -- to go.

Escaping the tomb-like diner, Madeleine crossed the street and found a comfortable bench in a vest-pocket park between buildings. The city fathers had done what they could to reclaim Twin Rivers' Old Town. The park was shady, pleasant, and near enough to the sidewalk to offer the diversion of people-watching.

Madeleine hoped that her unscheduled outdoor lunch wasn't giving Sam or Hugh Fulcher heartburn. But why should it? She was easily visible from two directions. Sam, or Hugh, or both, could find a way to observe her from as much as a city block's distance. It was good for them to have to deal with unexpected circumstances.

'Keep them on their toes.

There was a considerable amount of pedestrian traffic, and Madeleine enjoyed observing the passers-by. No one stopped, and nobody passed through the pocket park while she was seated there. Feeling much less tense than she had earlier at poolside, Madeleine rose, wandered down the street, and eventually returned to her room. It was 1:55 p.m. She called the number Sam had provided.

"Why'd you leave the diner so quickly?"

"Well, good afternoon to you, too, Chief Deputy Wicks."

"Sorry. But you shook us up a little, going in and coming right back out of the diner like that. What happened?"

"What happened was, I did as you asked, I wore something cool, and then, inside that diner, I started to experience severe frostbite. Take my word for it, it was necessary to get out of there."

"Well, no harm done. We saw nothing. Did you?"

"Nothing at all. Am I still on for the Mall at 2:30?"

"You are, indeed. Go pick out a nice sweater."

At 2:20 p.m., still wearing her skimpy outfit, Madeleine walked to her car for the short drive to the city's shopping mall. She noticed that the license plates on her car had been changed. She wondered whether this had occurred last night at Sam's apartment, or in the hotel parking lot.

Driving to the mall, she tried to spot Sam or Hugh Fulcher following her, but she saw neither of them.

The indoor mall, Twin Rivers West, was small by Greensboro standards, but it was relatively new and boasted a smattering of decent shops. Madeleine's only instruction was to move deliberately, so as to afford her watchers the greatest possible ease in tracking her movements. Starting at the center where she had entered, she slowly walked the length of one half of the well-lighted structure.

Before she had reached the end of the line of stores, she knew she was being followed. Stopping at a window display, she looked back at a young man who studiously avoided eye contact, but who had stopped when she did. He was in his early twenties, wore his blond hair in a severe crew cut, and looked like a body builder. Madeleine knew there was a Marine base located nearby. If this kid wasn't a Marine, she thought, he damned well ought to be.

This was most definitely not the guy, Madeleine thought, so there was no reason to go into her act. "But maybe I ought to? Just for the practice?"

Madeleine realized that this young man wasn't a good practice foil. He was young, vigorous, good-looking. If she provoked him, he might come on to her; this could only complicate life unduly. Resisting the temptation to smile at the man, she walked on. When he followed, she ducked into a rest room, deciding to stay there long enough to discourage the Marine.