Chapter 63 Section five

The car pulls into a no-parking lot.Decker got out of the police car before Sanchez could stop it and ran towards a khaki government building.It is a long and narrow building with three floors.Esperanza, Hal, and Ben followed closely on either side of him.He ran up the wide concrete steps to a set of glass doors.At the door in the middle, a man in his 40s was waiting for them.He was of medium build, neither fat nor thin, with neatly combed hair and a short beard.He was wearing slacks and a blue sweatshirt, with a BP player on his belt and a mobile phone in his hand. "Better hurry up, I'm at a carnival party." The man produced a bunch of keys and was about to open one of the doors.He stared gravely at Esperanza, who was still wearing the fire-scorched, soot-covered shirt and pants he hadn't had time to change. "What happened? You said on the phone that it was related to our conversation this morning."

"We don't have time to come to your office," Decker said. "We want you to be here and tell us what we need to know." The man put down the key and frowned. "Then who are you?" "Steve Decker -- that's his house was attacked," Esperanza said. "Mr. Decker, this is John Miller, the senior FBI resident agent." Decker immediately asked, "Why did you stop Officer Esperanza from investigating the attack?" Miller was taken aback.After a while, he replied: "This is confidential." "It looks as though the attack was not directed at me, but at a lady I saw regularly. She was my neighbor, named Elizabeth Dwyer, and she called herself Beth. The name is not to you Does it make any sense?"

This time Miller responded immediately. "I'm not going to discuss that." "This afternoon, there was an explosion in her house." Miller's reaction was like a slap in the face. "what?" "I finally got your attention, didn't I? Are you ready to discuss this now? Why are you meddling in the investigation of my attack?" "There was an explosion in Elizabeth Dwyer's house?" Miller turned to Esperanza, startled. "Is she there? Was she killed?" "Obviously not," Esperanza said. "We haven't found a body yet. Someone who looked like her was seen getting into a car that was parked on Fort Connor Drive seconds before the explosion."

"Why didn't you tell me this when you called?" "Am I telling you?" Miller rolled his eyes. "I don't like being pushed around." "I don't like being shot, either," Decker interjected. "Who's trying to kill Beth Dwyer? You know a guy named Brian McKittrick. What? What have you to do with these things?" "No comment," Miller said dryly. "This conversation is over." "You don't want to end without answering my question." "What if I don't answer?" Miller asked. "What are you going to do if I don't answer you?"

"Is it all right to you that Beth's life is threatened?" "Whether it matters or not, it has nothing to do with you." Decker felt a rush of heat rushing through his veins.He glared at Miller so hard that he wanted to punch him flat against the door.beth!He thought of Beth again.Whoever tried to kill her might have caught up to her by now.But the bastard didn't seem to care about that. "What?" Miller asked. Decker took a step back, telling himself to hold his breath. It wouldn't help Beth if he was arrested for assaulting an FBI agent.Holding his breath, he repeated silently, his chest heaving up and down.

"You're smart," Miller said. "We need to talk about this," Esperanza said. "No," Miller said, "that's not necessary. Excuse me, I still have a few important calls to make." He pushed open the door, walked into the building, cast an angry glance through the window, locked the door, and Turned around and walked in. "He's got to talk to me when this is over," Decker said.