Simple Genius

by David Baldacci

  “That certainly helps. But you want to get better, don’t you?”

  “I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you about this stuff if I didn’t. I haven’t spoken to anyone about this, ever!”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. Will you let me hypnotize you?”

  “I don’t like losing control, Horatio. And what if I tell you something that I can’t handle? What if it’s that bad?”

  “That’s why I went to all those schools and have all the certificates on my wall. I’m the professional. Just let me do my job. That’s all I’m asking.”

  “That’s asking a lot. Maybe too much,” she added bluntly.

  “Will you at least think about it?”

  She rose, nimbly walked down the trunk and hopped to the ground next to him. As Michelle passed him she called over her shoulder, “I’ll think about it.”

  Horatio looked after her in exasperation. “Where are you going now?”

  “I’ve got Viggie duty.”

  CHAPTER

  54

  SEAN LUCKED OUT BECAUSE VALERIE was sitting at the same table as the night before. And like that time she was sending another would-be pickup artist on his way.

  Valerie was dressed less provocatively this time, in slacks and a cashmere sweater. Her hair was pulled back in a French braid and her lipstick was muted.

  When she saw Sean headed toward her Valerie quickly glanced the other way. When he sat down across from her, she still didn’t look at him.

  “I see you’re still very popular here,” he said.

  “And I can see you don’t get the concept of a brush-off very well.”

  “Tonight’s a new venture.”

  “Not from where I’m sitting.”

  “Would you like to grab some dinner?”

  “Do I have to call the bouncer to get rid of you?”

  “Let me think about that one while you decide where you’d like to eat.” She almost smiled. He was quick to pick up on it. “Okay, that’s a tiny little crack, but I’ll take what I can get.”

  “And why would you think I would want to have dinner with you?”

  “Okay, now that I have your full attention, I’ll tell you.” He paused and said, “I just want someone to talk to. Traveling around by yourself gets really old really fast. I’m not looking for anything other than good conversation over a nice bottle of wine. And we can split the check, no favors owed on either side.”

  “And you’re assuming I can provide this good conversation? And that I like wine?”

  “The conversation I think is a given. My stupid and shallow radar is pretty damn good. It hasn’t made a peep since I met you. As for the wine, I’m flexible, but I passed a place down the street from here that has a Cabernet on the list I’ve been dying to try.”

  “You know your way around grapes?”

  “I used to collect wine.”

  “Used to?”

  “Yeah, until somebody blew up my house and my wine cellar.” Sean rose from the table. “Shall we?”

  Sitting at a corner overlooking the street and sharing the bottle of Cabernet, Sean once more glanced at Valerie’s wedding ring. He did so in such a way that she could hardly miss it.

  “You’re wondering why I’m having dinner with you while I happen to be a married woman?” she said.

  “I was thinking if I was your husband I wouldn’t let you go to bars by yourself.”

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “My worry would be that you might just take a fancy to one of those gentlemen.”

  “And you think I’ve taken a fancy to you?”

  “I think you’re wondering if I’m really sincere, or just another creep waiting to make his move.”

  “And which one are you?”

  “Well, if I am a creep I’d tell you that I’m quite sincere.”

  “So where does that leave us?”

  “At you making up your own mind based on observation. Sound reasonable?”

  “What do we talk about so I can start observing?”

  “Personal histories are an accepted protocol. I’ll go first. Like I said, I’m divorced, no kids. I told you I was a problem solver and I am. I’m a lawyer, but don’t hold that against me. I’m down here doing some due diligence for a client embroiled in some nasty litigation. You?”

  “Married and never a mom like I told you before. I used to have a career. Now I sit at home or I sometimes go out. That’s about it.”

  “Without your husband? I mean what part of beautiful and intelligent doesn’t he get?”

  She held up a warning finger. “You’re treading the creepy line.”

  “Sorry. I’ll retreat to a respectful position. What do you do for fun?”

  “I don’t do anything for fun. I think I’ve had my share of fun in life. Now it’s all downhill.”

  “Come on, it’s not like you have one foot in the grave.”

  “Don’t I?”

  “You’re not ill or anything?”

  “Not in the sense you’re thinking, no.”

  He sat back and swirled the wine around in his glass. “Okay, you qualify at least in the top three of the most interesting women I’ve ever met. Just so you can put that in context, my ex never even made the top ten.”

  “Which tells me you’re a poor judge of character.”

  “I’ve gotten better.”

  “My husband would make anyone’s top five list. He’s actually very interesting. At least what he does is very interesting.”

  “And what’s that?”

  She shook her head. “Loose lips sink ships, you know.”

  Sean appeared to be puzzled for a moment. “Sink ships? Is he in the military? I know they have a big presence down here.”

  “He’s with the government, but not that branch; although he used to be. Vietnam.”

  “Vietnam! But you’re not that old.”

  “He waited a long time to marry. Why he decided to go for it after all those years on his own, I can’t tell you.”

  “What then? FBI? I’ve got some ex-Army buddies who joined up with the Bureau.”

  “Have you ever heard of Camp Peary?”

  Sean slowly shook his head. “But it sounds familiar. Is it a camp like for kids?”

  She smiled. “In a way, but the kids are really big with toys to match.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Camp Peary is a training center for a government agency whose initials start with C and end with A. Does that spell it out for you, no pun intended?”

  “CIA! Your husband works for the CIA?” he said in a furious whisper.

  She looked at him with suspicion. “You’re sure you never heard of Camp Peary?”

  “I’m from Ohio. Maybe it’s famous around here, but the news hasn’t reached Dayton. Sorry.”

  “Well, my husband actually runs the place. Again, it’s not exactly a state secret.”

  Sean appeared stunned. “Valerie, let me ask you one simple question.”

  “Why would a man like that let his wife go to bars by herself and have dinner with strange men?” Sean nodded. “Well, let me give you a simple answer. He doesn’t care what I do. Some days I don’t know why he married me. Well, I do. I make a terrific first impression. But with Ian, the effect wore off.”

  “So if Ian goes his way and you go yours, why not just divorce?”

  She shrugged. “Divorces tend to get nasty and take too much energy. You said you’d been divorced. Isn’t that true?”

  “Very true,” he admitted. “I guess he keeps pretty busy. I mean with the war on terror and everything.”

  “Or it just could be that I’m not interesting enough,” she said.

  Sean sat back and looked pensive. “It was love at first sight for my wife and me. But then she changed, or I changed, who the hell knows. She didn’t like lawyers very much. I guess it was doomed from the start.”

  “Maybe that’s what happened to me too.”

  “Why, how
did you and Ian meet?”

  “I was with a private contractor that worked with the CIA. My field is or was bioterrorism long before it became so popular. Ian and I met at a conference in Australia. That was before he’d been promoted to run Camp Peary of course. I’d actually visited the place before I even knew Ian. But I got burned out and left. He still revels in that world. That’s the difference between him and me. And it’s become a big difference.”

  “Wait a minute. That’s why it sounded familiar. Didn’t they find a body at Camp Peary?”

  Valerie nodded slowly. “The guy apparently climbed over the fence and shot himself.”

  “Damn, why would anyone do that?”

  “Everybody has issues, problems.”

  “You sound like you speak from experience.”

  “We all speak from experience, Sean.”

  After dinner was over they walked down the street together.

  “This was a great evening, Valerie, thank you.”

  “It was a depressing evening, due in large part to me.”

  Sean remained silent. He simply didn’t have a good answer to this. Finally he said, “I’ll be in town for about a week. Would you like to do this again?”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.

  “Could I at least have your phone number?”

  “Why?”

  “Is there any harm in talking?”

  “There’s harm in everything.” Even so, she reached in her purse, pulled out a pen and piece of paper and wrote a number down and handed it to him.

  “You can leave a message there; if I don’t call back, well, I’m sorry. Thank you for saving me from another night in that bar. Goodbye.” She touched his arm, then walked off down the street, leaving Sean feeling very troubled. Valerie Messaline was probably what she seemed to be: a lonely woman treading water until something happened. His only viable lead to Camp Peary had just disappeared. Now where should he start looking?

  The answer came to him almost as quickly as the question had. The only thing was, would he have the courage, or more accurately, the level of insanity needed to pull it off?

  CHAPTER

  55

  MICHELLE DECIDED TO COMBINE her Viggie duty with a bold tactical move. There was still daylight left so she took the girl down to the boathouse after getting permission from Alicia. There she outfitted Viggie with a proper life jacket after ascertaining that the girl was only a fair swimmer. They pulled a kayak out and were soon on the water with Viggie in front with a paddle and Michelle guiding the craft from the rear while she instructed Viggie on the proper paddling motion.

  She quickly mastered the correct motion and soon her cuts were smooth and efficient through the water. Viggie was certainly stronger than she looked, Michelle decided.

  “This is fun,” Viggie said as the wind whipped through her hair.

  “I love it,” Michelle said. It only took her two cuts in the water with her paddle before she was once more in the groove. When you’ve paddled, collectively, hundreds of thousands of miles in the water, the muscle memory is ingrained.

  They quickly came, as Michelle had planned, to the area of the York across from Camp Peary. She stopped paddling and told Viggie to do the same. As they drifted in the current Michelle leaned back, and unobtrusively took in the shrouded-in-secrecy CIA installation. The perimeter fence gleamed back at her. There wasn’t a guard in sight, yet Michelle’s sixth sense told her that eyes were watching.

  “That’s Camp Peary,” Viggie said suddenly. “That’s where Monk died.”

  “You know about Camp Peary?” Viggie nodded. “Did Monk ever talk to you about it?” Viggie gave another nod. “What’d he say?”

  “Stuff.”

  “Codes and blood?”

  Viggie turned to stare at her. “You’ve been talking to that other man.”

  “Horatio Barnes, yes. He’s a friend.” Michelle had to bite her lip on that last comment.

  “I don’t like him.”

  “Well, he strikes some people the wrong way. So codes and blood? That sounds really interesting.”

  One good thing about being on a kayak in the middle of the river, Viggie couldn’t just get up and leave, which was one reason Michelle had brought the girl here.

  “Monk liked codes. He taught me about them. He was related to a very famous scientist.”

  “And you’re related to him too of course.”

  Viggie nodded with a proud look on her face. “Alan Turing was a homosexual. And people back then didn’t like that, so he ate a poisoned apple and died.”

  Michelle was at a loss for words with this change in direction of the conversation. Monk really had treated her like an adult. “That is very sad,” she finally said.

  “I hope I never have to eat a poisoned apple when people are mad at me.”

  “I’m sure you never will, Viggie,” Michelle said firmly. “Taking your own life is never the right answer.” Michelle felt a stab of guilt as she said this.

  “It’s like the wicked old queen in Snow White. She turned herself into a hag, got in an old boat and floated down the river to the cottage in the woods. Then she tricked Snow White into eating a poisoned apple. She didn’t die, but she went to sleep. It took a prince kissing her to wake her up. Yuck!”

  “Counting on handsome princes to make your life better is not very smart. Right?”

  “Right, but it also shows that whoever has the apple is pretty powerful.”

  Michelle decided to change the subject. “Viggie, have you ever heard of a secret room at the mansion?”

  Viggie turned around. “A secret room?”

  “Yes. We were at another old house around here and we found some kids inside a secret room there. One of the kids said lots of the old places down here had secret rooms.”

  “I’ve never heard of one at Babbage Town,” Viggie said.

  “Okay.” Michelle waited a moment and said, “Speaking of secret stuff could you teach me some codes?”

  “There are lots of different kinds. You can make them up too.”

  “Did you and Monk make codes up?”

  “Oh sure. Lots of times.”

  “I guess he wanted to keep things secret from other people. Do you know which people he wanted to keep secrets from?”

  “Everybody,” Viggie said. Then she turned and gave Michelle a sly grin. “Including you.”

  Michelle suddenly realized that Viggie knew exactly what she was trying to do and was having fun at her expense. Michelle decided to take a more direct tack. It carried risks but they didn’t have many options right now.