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chair, but she told him to get a towel from the kitchen. She didn’t want to mess up the furniture. There was a nightlight in every room. It wasn’t much but enough so they didn’t have to turn any lights on.
    He came back with a towel, spread it on the chair, then opened a bottle of water and gave it to her. While she sat and drank and tried to get herself together, he went and quickly checked other rooms downstairs, then up on the second floor.
    “Where are the Shaws now?” he asked when he came back down.
    “Some Greek Island…looking for a location.” She was exhausted but already responding to the water. It was time for him to leave, if he was going to leave. “I’ll be okay now,” she said. “I have a car, and my friend is only a few minutes away in Tahoe City. You’ve gone way above and beyond, and I really appreciate it.”
    He gazed through the French doors to the porch that overlooked the lake. “You know if he’s even home?”
    “I’m sure he is, but I’ll make sure.”
    She called, and when James answered she said, “You home alone?” He said he was. “I need to come over. Be there in a few minutes. Keep it to yourself.” She hung up before he could ask questions.
    Marco said, “Ready?”
    “I don’t need you to drive me over there.”
    “When you’re in good hands, I’ll leave. No guns in the house, are there?”
    “There’s a gun upstairs in the master bedroom. A Beretta. The bottom drawer of the nightstand next to the bed, in back of the socks. Should be two clips. And, if you would, bring a pair of slippers from the closet. My feet—I’m messing up the floor.”
    He came back down a couple minutes later with the Beretta and slippers.
    “Great,” she said, reaching for the slippers. He pulled them back. He had a wet towel over his shoulder. He cleaned her feet and then put the slippers on.
    “You don’t need to be moving around, bending down. At least not until your doc friend gets you fixed up,” he said.
    When he handed her the gun, she handed it right back. “You have better mobility and speed in case it’s needed. Until I’m, as you say, fixed up. ”
    They went back outside and over to the garage. He pulled the Range Rover out and the Shelby in.
    “They pay you for keeping everything in order here?” he asked as he helped her into the front seat.
    “Because I consult on their films when they involve cops and robbers, and they like to have somebody reliable keep a watch, it’s a quid pro quo. It’s nice to come over and sit quiet and away from my life.”
    “Doc’s the only one knows?”
    “Yes. He’s a good friend. I dated him for a while, but we proved much better as friends.”
    He nodded and walked around to get into the driver’s seat. When they were on the highway heading for Tahoe City, Marco suggested any doctor treating a bullet wound was obligated to report it.
    “He’ll deal with it in the best way to protect me. He can write a report, if he’s so inclined, and neglect to submit it.”
    After a few moments of silence, Sydney decided to ask a question that had been bothering her. She turned to him and said, “You aren’t on the run, are you, by any chance?”
    “I had problems, but I paid my debt. I’m clean.”
    “You do time?”
    Marco nodded. “Nearly two years in a really nasty system below the border. Then I got rescued and did some work for Uncle Sam. In turn, I got my records sanitized, so now I’m a free man with no record.”
    “What’d you do?”
    “A colleague on the border, and a good friend, was ambushed and killed. The killers escaped back into Mexico. I took a leave, hunted them, and brought them to justice. Unfortunately, I didn’t get away clean.”
    “But you are now.”
    “I am now.”
    She was seeing this guy from an angle she would never have even considered a short time ago. He was one of those guys living in that gray world, that no man’s land, the lawless underbelly, and she was becoming more and more