Hour Game

"I'm going to see one of Eddie's reenactments Saturday," said Bailey.

"Which one are you doing?" asked Michelle.

"The Battle of Cedar Creek near Middleton," answered Eddie. "Phil Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah against Jubal Early's Army of the Valley. It's usually held in October, but they moved it up this year." He looked down and then glanced at Michelle. He seemed to be about to say something but remained silent.

Harry said, "Wasn't old Jubal the only Confederate general who never formally surrendered?"

"That's right," said Eddie. "He ended up practicing law over in Rocky Mount, Virginia."

"Well, at least he took up an honorable profession after the war," said Harry.

"I think Eddie and I are going to be spending a lot more time together," said Bailey. King thought the man could not have been more obvious.

"I'm looking forward to that," said Eddie with what seemed genuine enthusiasm.

You're a good liar, Eddie, King thought.

Remmy reached out and took her son's hand. "How you doing?"

"Just hoping for happier days, Mom."

"Maybe you and Dorothea should go away somewhere, just get away."

"Yeah, maybe we'll do that," answered Eddie with not a trace of interest.

King noted that the Oxley children had come inside when they saw their mother. As Lulu joined them, King excused himself, went to the bar, got two glasses of wine and headed to the rear porch to see Sava

The young woman was sitting on the couch staring into the fire that blazed in the fireplace at one end of the room.

"Long day for you, Sava

She started and looked up, smiling when she saw who it was. He handed her one of the glasses and sat next to her. "A glass of Château Palmer can work miracles for the spirits. It's a fine French wine."

"‘Palmer' doesn't sound French," she said, staring at her glass as though she could see images in it.

"He was an English general under Wellington who came to Bordeaux with his army around 1814 and stayed. He purchased a property that eventually became known as Château Palmer, and started producing wine, which goes to show that the grape, like the pen, is mightier than the sword."

"I don't know much about wine," she said. "I'm more a Jack and Coke girl."

"One can never go wrong with Jack and Coke, but if you're interested in wine, I'd be glad to help you, although you could start learning right in this house. Your parents have a ten-thousand-bottle cellar. I nearly fainted with envy when I first saw it." He took a sip of wine and watched her watching the fire. "I saw you with the Oxley children."

"They're nice kids," she said quietly as she played with her string of pearls. "The little one, Mary Margaret, was bawling when she got here, poor thing. She really misses her daddy. I brought them out here. Mom and Ms. Oxley wanted to talk."

"They seemed to have worked everything out."

"I really thought Junior had done it." Her eyes suddenly glimmered with a layer of tears.

"So did I, at first."

"I know I wasn't much help the other day."

"You were still in shock. Whenever you're ready to talk, I'm here."

She nodded absently, and her nervous fingers played over her pearls. He waited for her to speak, but she didn't. She simply stared into the fire.

He finally rose. "If you need anything, anything at all, just give me a call."

She glanced up and clutched at his hand. "How come you're not married?"

At first he thought she was flirting with him but then realized she was serious.

He said, "I was, a long time ago, and it just didn't work out."

"I think some people are supposed to be alone."

"You don't think you're one of those people, do you?"

She shook her head. "No. But I think my father was."

Puzzled, King sat back down. "What makes you say that?"

Before she could answer, they heard Remmy say, "I'm sure there are people who'd like to see you, Sava

They both looked over to see her standing in the doorway scrutinizing them.

Sava

He watched mother and daughter walk off before rejoining Michelle in the family room. Harry had caught Remmy and Sava

Get as much as you can, Harry, thought King, because I pretty much struck out.

"Anything interesting?" asked Michelle.

" Sava

"Use your charm, Sean. She has the hots for you."

"Oh, you think so?"

"Please. Men are so blind when it comes to that."

"So anything happen on your end?"

"I've been invited to Eddie's next reenactment. I'm going with Chip."

King crossed his arms and stared at her. "Really?"

She stared back at him defensively. "Yeah, really. Why?"

"Women are so blind when it comes to that."

"Come on, he's married, Sean!"

"Yes, he is."

CHAPTER 52

MICHELLE DROVE WITH CHIP Bailey to the outskirts of Middleton, Virginia. It was a crisp morning with nothing but blue skies overhead and a nice breeze to relieve the growing heat.

"Good day to fight," said Bailey.

Is there really ever a good day to slaughter each other? thought Michelle.

The big man sipped on his coffee and munched on an egg sandwich from McDonald's. Michelle chewed on an energy bar and cradled her bottle of orange juice. She wore jeans, hiking boots and her Secret Service windbreaker. Bailey had do

"You ever been to one of these?" asked Bailey.

"No."

"They're actually pretty cool. They have all these events, infantry drilling, hospital demonstrations, bands, dances, even fancy balls, afternoon teas, candlelight tours. The cavalry charges are really something. These guys are serious about this stuff. You'll see hundreds of them out there today, although during the actual war the armies had tens of thousands of soldiers. But they put on a good show anyway."

"How did Eddie get into that? Doesn't seem like something a sensitive artist would be drawn to."

"I think it was his father who was interested in it at first. He was very much into history, even helped finance some of the battle reenactments."

"Was Eddie very close to his father?"

"I think he wanted to be. That's one reason he got into reenactments-at least that's my educated guess. But Bobby Battle was an inscrutable fellow. And he wasn't around all that much. I think he preferred sailing around the world in a hot-air balloon or building a factory in Asia to raising his kids."

"I understand he offered you a job after you rescued Eddie."

Bailey looked surprised that she knew this.

"He did but I wasn't interested."

"Mind my asking why not?"

"No big secret. I just liked being an FBI agent. I hadn't been with the agency all that long, and I wanted to make a career out of it."

"How'd you bust the case?"

"Got a tip that I ran to its source. Eddie was in college back then, and I did some digging around. Found out this guy living at the same apartment complex was a convicted felon."

"Why didn't Eddie live at home? Didn't he go to UVA?"

"No, he went to Virginia Tech over in Blacksburg, a few hours from here. Anyway, turns out this guy had found out who Eddie was, or more to the point who Eddie's parents were. Eddie came home late one night, and next thing he knew he was tied up in a shack in the middle of nowhere."

"How'd you learn about the shack?"

"The guy had used it before for hunting. I'm not saying he was the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was dangerous. The Battles paid the money; but we were watching when the pickup was made."