"He's been away for a while. I saw him about a month ago when he got back." She shot a glance at Kelly and back at me.

"You a friend of his?"

"We go way back."

"I guess he won't mind. I've got his number here, if I can find it."

Dressed now only in her bra and panties, she rummaged through her bag as she talked. She looked up at one of the other girls and said, "What number am I?"

"Four."

"Christ! Can somebody go ahead of me? Can I go number six? I've got no makeup on yet."

There was a grunt from behind the laptop. It seemed the Turkish harem girl was going on fourth now.

Sherry tipped out an Aladdin's cave of a handbag.

"Here we are."

She handed me a restaurant card with an address and telephone number scribbled on the back. I recognized the writing.

"Is this local?" I asked.

"Riverwood? About fifteen minutes by car, over the bridge."

"I'll give him a buzz--thank you!"

"Remind him I'm alive, will you?" She smiled with weary hope.

I went over to Kelly and said, "We've got to go now, Josie!"

She stuck out her lower lip.

"Aww." Maybe it was being in the company of other females, but she looked more relaxed than at any point since we'd driven away from the house.

"Do we have to?" she pleaded with big round eyes that were covered in makeup. So were her lips.

"I'm afraid we must," I said, starting to wipe it off.

The Indian maiden said, "Can't we keep her here? We'll look after her. We'll show her how to dance."

"I'd like that. Nick!"

"Sorry, Josie, you have to be much older to work here, isn't that right, ladies?"

They helped Kelly get all her feathers off. One of them said, "You work real hard at school, honey. Then you can work here with us."

They pointed to a quicker way out, through the service exit at the back. As we were leaving, Kelly looked up and said, "What do they do, anyway?"

"They're dancers."

"They dance in bikinis? With all those feathers? How come?"

"I don't know," I said.

"Some people like watching that sort of thing."

Just as we got to the exit I heard Sherry shout, "Pat's daughter? The lying bastard!" We walked back down the hill, looking for somewhere to sit out of the rain. A place that looked more like a house than a restaurant had a sign calling itself the Georgetown Diner. We went in.

We sat in the three-quarters-empty cafe, me with a coffee, she with a Coke, both deep in thought--me about how to make contact with Pat, she most probably about growing up and going to college, dressed like Pocahontas. Our table was by a rack of greeting cards and local drawings for sale. It was more like an art gallery than a coffee shop.

"We can't just turn up at Pat's address because we might compromise him," I thought aloud to her.

"And I can't phone him because they might have made the connection between us, and there could be a tap on his phone and a trigger on the house."

Kelly nodded knowingly, not understanding a word I was saying but pleased to be part of grown-up stuff instead of being abandoned or dragged around.

"It's so annoying because he's only fifteen minutes away," I went on.

"What can I do?"

She gave a little shrug, then pointed at the rack behind me and said, "Maybe send him a card?"

"Good idea, but it would take too long" Then I had a brainstorm.

"Well done, Kelly!"

She grinned from ear to ear as I got up and bought a birthday card showing a velvet rabbit holding a rose. I asked for a pen and went back to the table. I wrote: "Pat--I'm in deep shit. Kev is dead and Kelly is with me. I need help. IT WAS NOT ME. Call me from a public phone ASAP. Nick." I wrote down the number.

I sealed the envelope and wrote down Pat's address, then asked to borrow the cafe's Yellow Pages. I found what I was looking for; it was on the same street, seemingly within walking distance. We put on our coats and left. It had stopped raining, but the sidewalk was still wet. I checked the street numbers; we had to go downhill toward M Street.

The courier office was next door to a weird and wonderful New Age shop with a windowful of healing crystals that could change your life. I wondered which one they'd suggest if I went in and described my circumstances. Kelly wanted to stay outside and look in the window, but I wanted her with me; people might look twice at a child on her own outside a store and something might register. There was also the risk of someone in the shop identifying her, but it was a question of balance between exposing her and making best use other as cover.

"Can you get this to my friend after four o'clock today?" I said to the guy at the desk.

"We're in real big trouble because we forgot to send his birthday card, aren't we, Josie?"

I paid the fifteen-dollar fee in cash, and they promised to bike it around just after 4 p.m. I needed the intervening two hours to prepare for a meeting.

We went into the Latham Hotel. I'd guessed my accent wouldn't stick out in here, and I was right; the large reception area was full of foreign tourists. I sat Kelly in a corner and went to the information desk.

"I'm looking for a mall that would have a Fun Zone or a Kids Have Fun," I said.

It turned out there were about half a dozen of them in and around the D.C. area; it was just a matter of looking up all the different addresses in the city guide I'd been given. There was one at the Landside Mall, not far from the Roadies Inn. I hailed a taxi; this time the driver knew where he was going.

The idea of Kids Have Fun is that you drop your kids off for a few hours while you go off on your big shopping frenzy. I'd gone once with Marsha to pick up Kelly and Aida from one.

The children get a name tag on their wrist that they can't re move, and the adult is given an ID card that means they're the only person who can collect the child. The girls had been acting up the morning I went, and I remembered that as we approached the center Marsha had grinned at the travel agent's across the way and said, "I always think that's brilliant positioning the number of times I've been tempted to drop the kids off and pop in for a one-way ticket to Rio!"

The mall was shaped like a large cross, with a different department store Sears, Hecht's, JCPenney, Nordstrom at the end of each spur. There were three floors, with escalators moving people up and down from the central hub. The food court was on the third floor. It was as busy as it was massive, and the heat was nearly tropical probably on purpose, to send you to the drink counters.

I spotted Kids Have Fun on the Hecht's spur. I turned to Kelly.

"Hey, do you want to go in there later? There's videos and all sorts of stuff."

"I know. But I want to stay with you."

"Let's go in and have a look anyway." I didn't want to put her in there yet because I didn't even know if we were going to get the phone call or not, but I'd still have to do the recon.

I went up to the desk.

"Do we need to reserve to come in?"

Apparently not; we just had to turn up and fill out a form. I figured that if I did get a phone call at four, I'd have only half an hour at the most to hide her. I had to assume the worst-case scenario, which was that they knew Kev's mobile number and were waiting to intercept it and listen to me giving Pat directions. I wanted Kelly away from that area and safe. Also, I couldn't be sure about Pat. He might call the police when he got the card. Or he could be part of a trap. I had to be careful, but at the same time I was desperate to see him.

I could see her looking around. It didn't look that bad. We walked out.

"You can come with me now, but I have to go on my own later, OK?"

She looked pissed.

"Whyyy?"

"Because I have to do stuff, OK? You can help me now, though."

At last I got a smile.

"Oh, OK-. You won't be long, will you?"

"I'll be back before you know it."

Kelly and I started walking around, doing recon without her realizing it.

"What are we looking for. Nick?"

"A store with cameras and telephones."

We covered the whole mall, eventually finding a store on the first floor. I bought a battery charger for the mobile phone.

Kelly decided not to buy another present for Melissa after all; she'd just pick up the friendship bracelets from home. I didn't comment.

At five of four I took the phone from my pocket and turned the power on. The battery and signal strength were fine. I was ready.

At ten after four it started ringing. I pressed Receive.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Where are you?"

"In a phone booth."

"At five o'clock, I want you to come to the Landmark Mall in Alexandria. I want you to enter via JCPenney, go to the center hub, take the escalator to the third floor, and go straight toward Sears. OK so far?"

There was a pause as it was sinking in.

"OK.".

"On the left-hand side there's a restaurant called the Roadhouse.

Go into the Roadhouse and get two coffees. I'll see you there."

"Seeya."

I turned the power off.

Kelly said, "Who was that?"

"Remember I talked about Pat? I'm going to see him later--that's good, isn't it? Anyway, are you ready for Kids Have Fun?"

She was going whether she liked it or not. If Pat were setting me up, this place would soon be swarming with cops.

I filled out the form with the names we were using at the hotel. Kelly was studying the obstacle course with padding and plastic balls to break your fall. There were video areas where a huge variety of films were being shown, a juice dispenser, rest rooms. It looked very well organized. The place was packed. I could see hosts who were playing games with the kids and doing magic tricks. Seeing as she'd been doing nothing but watching children's TV for God knows how many hours, Kelly should be into all that. The downside was the danger of her talking, but I had no choice. I paid my money, plus a twenty-dollar deposit for the magic key to reclaim my child.

I asked her, "Do you want me to stay for a while?"

She was dismissive.

"You can't stay. This is just for kids."

She pointed at a warning sign that said: be careful, parents.

DON'T GO NEAR THE PLAYTHINGS BECAUSE YOU MIGHT TRIP.

OVER THEM AND HURT YOURSELF.

I squatted, looking into her eyes.

"Remember, your name's Josie today, not Kelly. It's a big secret, OK?".

"Yeah, OK." She was too busy looking into the play area.

"I'll be back soon. You know I'll always be back, don't you?"

"Yeah, whatever." She was dragging herself away. Her face was toward me but her eyes were looking the other way. A good sign, I thought, as I headed off.

I took the escalator to the third floor. I got myself tucked in the corner table of a cafe and ordered an espresso and a Danish.