Third Degree Part 28

In the silence that followed this remark, Nell Roberts began to sob, but the sound was mostly covered by the rain.

"Well, h.e.l.l," said Sheriff Ellis. "That's a shocker, and no mistake. But I'm not sure how it changes anything."

Biegler's eyes went wide in wonder. "Are you kidding? It changes everything."

The trailer door banged open again, and this time Trace Breen jumped out, shielding his eyes with his hand. "It's him again, Sheriff! Dr. Shields. He's still asking for Major McDavitt!"

Biegler gave Danny a long look. "Why is he asking for you?"

"Let's go find out," said the sheriff.

Chapter 18.

Danny sat at the Formica-topped table in the command trailer, waiting to speak to Warren Shields. The odors of sweat and mildew had mingled into an unpleasant soup in the cramped s.p.a.ce. To Danny's surprise, Sheriff Ellis had allowed Paul Biegler to follow them into the trailer; he stood two steps behind Danny, his posture tense. Trace Breen was present to work the comm gear, and his brother stood by the door with Carl Sims at his shoulder. Danny figured Ellis would kick Carl out when he saw him, but the sheriff's attention was on weightier matters.

"Put those on," said Trace, pointing at a headset on the table.

Danny picked up the headset, which was connected to a small gray box that read h.e.l.lO DIRECT on the top. Wires ran from this to a rack of audio gear against the trailer wall. A portable DAT recorder and three small speakers sat atop the rack.

"If those speakers are going to be on," Danny said, "turn them way down. I want Shields to think it's just him and me on the phone."

Sheriff Ellis nodded to Trace, who made an adjustment in the rack.

Danny tried to remember all he knew about Warren Shields. Danny had thought he was under stress from the effort of hiding his cell phone link to Laurel. But hearing that Shields was suffering from terminal cancer had blasted his perception of the past year to smithereens. Every a.s.sessment he had ever made of his and Laurel's relationship had been missing a critical factor. Moreover, it seemed impossible that Laurel would not notice an illness that serious. Had she known about the cancer and kept it from him? If so, she wasn't the person he'd thought she was. What have I done to that poor man? he thought. What have I done to that family? When Danny first began falling in love with Laurel, he had struggled hard against his feelings. Laurel had done the same, or so it had seemed. Even after they lost that battle, guilt had shadowed their relationship for a while. But eventually it faded, in the growing certainty that they were meant to be together for the rest of their lives. Now that old guilt had broken up through the dark soil at the bottom of Danny's heart, where he'd buried it, like some poisoned flower after a heavy rain- "Danny?" prompted Sheriff Ellis. "You still with us?"

"I need a pen and paper. To make notes."

"I don't think we got any here," Trace said.

"In a command post?"

"Here," said a deep, even voice.

Bodies moved behind Danny, and then Carl handed him a small notebook he'd been holding, along with a waterproof pencil. "Logbook," Carl explained. "All snipers carry them."

"Thanks, Sergeant," Danny said, using Sims's former military rank instead of deputy.

Carl melted into the back wall again.

Danny picked up the headset, thinking that if Warren knew he was Laurel's lover, this would be the shortest hostage negotiation in history. He made eye contact with the sheriff and Agent Biegler in turn. "Anybody has any suggestions, tell me now. When I start talking, I'm going to face the wall so I'm not distracted. I'm not a trained negotiator. I'll be flying by the seat of my pants. You don't want me doing this, I'm happy to step aside. But once I start, please stay out of it. No second-guessing on the fly."

Sheriff Ellis nodded, but Biegler stepped forward and looked down at Danny. "Don't mention his illness, if you can help it. For some reason, this man trusts you. You want to keep him on an even keel and get him out of there peacefully. Stay away from anything that aggravates the emotional component."

"What am I supposed to talk about? The weather?"

"You won't know that until Shields starts talking. But keep him cool. And don't offer him anything without getting something in return. No food, no medicine, absolutely no reduction in criminal charges. Only I can grant that, through the attorney general. Anything Shields requests gives us leverage, and we have to gain a concession for it."

Danny had a feeling that Biegler had flown up to Quantico for a weekend course in hostage negotiation. "I don't think he's concerned with criminal charges, Agent Biegler. And I don't think we have anything he wants." Unless he wants me. "But I'll keep your advice in mind."

"I need to know if Auster is dead or alive," Biegler added.

He's dead as a hammer, Danny thought. "Understood."

"Just get the little girl out of there," Sheriff Ellis said. "We don't want her in the line of fire if we have to a.s.sault the house."

"I think I've got the gist," Danny said. "Let's get to it."

"Dialing now," said Trace.

Danny put on the headset and waited. After three rings, he heard a click. Then Warren Shields, sounding not at all like himself, said, "Dr. Shields."

"Warren?" Danny said, feeling more than a little awkward. "This is Danny McDavitt."

"Finally," Shields said, with obvious relief. "It's good to hear your voice, Major."

"Yours, too." Danny wasn't sure how to begin, so he just went with his gut. "Doc, we've got a lot of confusion out here today. You want to tell me what's going on?"

Shields sighed heavily. "Laurel betrayed me, Danny. She's been having an affair with somebody. Worse than that...she's in love with him."

He doesn't know it's me, Danny realized. Elation almost lifted him out of his chair. "That doesn't sound like your wife to me. How do you know?"

"I found a letter from the guy."

G.o.d. He must have found a handwritten letter. If he'd gotten into her e-mail account, he'd know everything. Danny had always signed his handwritten letters "Me," just in case someone saw them. "That's what all this is about?" he asked. "An affair?"

"Afraid so. Pretty pathetic, huh?"

"Not really. That's a big blow, finding out a person isn't who you thought they were. That the world isn't the way you thought it was."

"You got it, Major. That's exactly it. You're living your life under certain a.s.sumptions, and then you find out they're all wrong. You thought you were walking on firm ground, but you're really walking through a swamp of s.h.i.t."

Danny wrote Depressed/Wronged man in Carl's logbook. He'd known plenty of guys who got Dear John letters while serving overseas. A few had shown their letters to Danny in the hope that he could read something between the lines that they couldn't. He'd never found a way to lessen the pain for any of them.

"You must be pretty angry," Danny said. "I know I would be. The thing is, though, I don't get what you're trying to do in there. You're talking about a man-and-wife kind of problem. But you've got a lot of trouble stirred up out here. A lot of firepower. Can you help me out on your thinking?"

"It's simple, really," Shields said, as if it really might be.

"Is it?"

"Absolutely. I just need to know who the guy is."

Danny's gut clenched. "The guy she's having an affair with?"

"Yep. That's it in a nutsh.e.l.l."

"And Laurel won't tell you?"

"Nope. She's protecting the guy. I mean, the a.s.shole dumped her-it's right there in the letter-but she's still protecting him. Do you believe that?"

Danny had forgotten to turn toward the wall. He did so now and tried to block out all the eyes staring at the back of his head. "Maybe she figures it could only make things worse, since it's over. You know?"

"How could things be worse than they are now?"

Danny realized that both their voices had the cavernous sound created by cheap speakerphones. He wondered if Laurel was hearing his voice as he spoke. "Maybe she figures that if you have a face to put to your negative thoughts, it's going to hurt a lot worse. Which could be true, you know?"

"No way. It's not having a face that's so bad. If I knew who the guy was, I'd probably laugh. I'd probably think he's a total loser."

Maybe he is, Danny thought wretchedly.

"I thought for a while that it was Kyle. My partner. But it wasn't."

As Danny wrote PAST TENSE in the logbook, he realized that someone had turned up the speakers in the trailer.

"I hear an echo," Warren said suspiciously. "Who else is listening to this?"

Danny gestured angrily for Trace to turn down the speakers. "n.o.body. They've got me on some kind of headset. Sheriff Ellis wanted to eavesdrop, but I told him I wouldn't talk to you unless it was just the two of us."

"Good man. Good old Danny."

Someone grabbed the pencil out of his hand and wrote AUSTER?! in Carl's logbook. It was Biegler. Danny s.n.a.t.c.hed the pencil back and waved him away. He knew Auster was dead, but he had to play out the charade to protect his link with Laurel.

"About your partner," he said. "I should tell you that you've got a lot of people worried about him out here."

Warren laughed softly. "That's kind of hard to believe."

"I wouldn't kid you, Doc. The folks out here would feel a whole lot better if Dr. Auster would come to the phone and say a few words. Just a quick h.e.l.lo would be enough."

"I told Ray Breen," Shields said with obvious irritation. "Kyle's busy going over our tax doc.u.ments. There's a Medicaid investigator in town trying to put us in jail."

"Is that right?" Danny glanced back at Biegler.

"I'm surprised he's not out there with Ellis."

"I haven't seen him. Just a whole bunch of deputies and cops."

"City cops outside the city limits?"

"They're part of the local SWAT team. You've caused quite a commotion out here, my friend."

"I guess it would. Look, Major, can you tell me anything about Vida Roberts? We heard she was hurt in a fire at our office."

Danny wrote, Concerned about future/at least for others. Used "we." People scrambled to read what he'd written. "She's in the ICU, that's all I know. I can check on her if you like."

"Please."

"One more thing," Danny said. "Your daughter."

"Beth?"

"Right. How would you feel about sending her out here to me? Just while you and Laurel get this thing worked out?"

"Beth's fine, Danny. She's in no danger. I hope n.o.body out there thinks I'd hurt my own child."

"No, no. Not under normal circ.u.mstances, that is. But Grant was pretty rattled when he came out of there earlier."

"Grant didn't understand what I was trying to tell him. He doesn't like having to grow up. He'd love to stay a kid forever. But no one can do that, can they, Danny?"

"That's a fact."

"I knew you'd understand."

Danny grimaced, then plunged ahead. "Well, I do and I don't, Warren."

"What's that?" Shields asked, his voice cracking with what sounded like fatigue.

"I said I don't really understand what you're doing. I've only known you a couple of years, but one thing I do know is that you're a man of honor."

Shields didn't reply for a while. Then he said, "Thank you, Major. That means a lot coming from you."

"I'm glad. But, Warren, the things you've done today...scaring your kids, putting their lives at risk, holding your wife prisoner...those are not honorable things."

Danny felt someone yank his shoulder. He turned and saw Biegler shaking his head and mouthing, Stop! Danny put out a hand and shoved him backward. Biegler looked ready to attack him, but Sheriff Ellis wrapped a bearlike forearm around the government agent's chest and held him back.

Danny kept waiting for Shields to reply, but the doctor said nothing.

"I can see how you might feel justified," Danny went on. "In an angry state of mind, I mean. But you can't justify those things, Warren. Not in my eyes. Some of the fathers we coached against might do this kind of thing, but not you. You're too good for this. And you know that things as important as your marriage need to be considered in a calm state of mind. You've got to put a cold eye on them, as my old commanding officer used to say. Then you can see what's really there. What's really happened."

There was a long, staticky silence. Just as Danny thought the connection might have been lost, he heard Warren say, "I'm feeling pretty alone in here, Major. Like I've lost my bearings. You know?"

Danny felt the first glimmer of hope. "That's why I'm here, buddy. I'm going to help bring you back down to earth."

Warren laughed strangely. "I'm not sure there's any way back from where I am now. I'm not even sure how I got here. It's like there's another directional vector besides north, south, east, and west. And I'm stuck on it. Does that sound crazy?"

"Not to a man who's been there himself. Sometimes life gets out of whack like that. I almost flew into the Arabian Sea one time, because my head was all turned around from personal stuff."

"That's hard to believe."

"Believe it." Danny hadn't smoked a cigarette in twenty years, but he wanted one now. "How long has it been since you slept, Doc?"

"A while now."

"How many hours?"