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I wasn’t going to allow this guy to rattle me “It doesn’t matter why I’m here”

He chuckled “So you’re doing as you were told? Following your orders Not asking questions Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah That would be me”

I decided to ask so my brain “You said you taped a lot of people Yet you o, to connect with Reverend Foster Why him?”

He shook his head “Not going there I never crossed Oliver back then and I haven’t in the years since” But his eyes again contradicted his words, as did another nod toward the pad Then he pointed at the door “Get out”

Neither of us moved

He reached beneath his shirttail and pulled out a Glock

“You can walk Or I’ll drag your bodies out after I shoot you It’s legal to kill home intruders in this state”

“That subpoena will be co,” I said

“I can hardly wait I’ll have my tords ready”

I ht behind us, still holding the gun, only now his grip was concealed by the wrinkled folds of his T-shirt

I carried the waterproof case

“Get on down the street,” he said “Disappear And don’t come back”

No sense arguing any further, so alked away I had the name and telephone number from the pad etched in my mind

“One , rookie,” Lael called out

I stopped and turned

“Tell whoever it is that sent you that I didn’t take that case away fro”

I got the e Just like inside with the na what he could Maybe he wasn’t the total asshole I thought him to be

“I’ll be sure to do that”

“Now get on I’ fishin’”

We walked away

“Were you serious about the subpoena?” Coleen asked

“That won’t be ood You saw the name and phone nu it”

Was he just being cautious?

Or was so else at play?

The street remained tranquil, the houses understandably quiet for a Thursday workdayus, standing at the curb, beside his Taurus at the driver’s door, one hand on the gun beneath his shirttail We were fifty yards away, the end of the block another fifty yards ahead, where ould turn and leave the neighborhood

We kept walking

Then an explosion rocked the

I whirled around

Streaks of flame burst upward fro into one violent tint Glass shattered into fragments, then a second explosion rocked the car side-to-side

We instinctively reeled down, shielding our faces

Flah the car’s interior

Black smoke billowed from the hulk

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

I watched the Taurus consuh down the street that the concussion effects of the explosion never reached us

“My God,” Coleen muttered

Lael was nowhere to be seen outside the car

A few neighbors had drifted out of their front doors, investigating the coured we had another five minutes before all hell broke loose That bomb had obviously been planted between the time Lael returned fro for hi here could never have been anticipated