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myself, for
God’s sake. What do you think we’re running, the Shoreham Hotel? Oh hell, I’ll
do what I can. But they won’t be ableto get there for a couple of
hours.’
    ‘Fine. Thanks for your help, Lieutenant.
I’ll brief my office.’ Barry replaced the receiver.
    Mark Andrews and Barry Calvert waited for
the elevator,which was just as slow and reluctant to take t hemdown as it had been to take them up. Neither of them spoke until they were
inside the dark blue Ford.
    ‘ Stames is coming
back to hear the story,’ said Calvert. ‘I can’t imagine he’ll want to take it
any further, but we’d better keep him informed. Then maybe we can call it a
day.’
    Mark glanced at his watch; another hour and
forty-five minutes’ overtime, technically the maximum allowed an agent on any
one day.
    ‘I hope so,’ said Mark. ‘I just got myself
a date.’
    ‘Anyone we know?’
    ‘The beautiful Dr Dexter.’
    Barry raised his eyebrows. ‘Don’t let the
boss know. If he thought you picked up someone while you were on duty, he’d
send you for a spell in the salt mines in Butte , Montana .’
    ‘I didn’t realise that they had salt mines
in Butte , Montana .’
    ‘Only FBI agents who really screw it up
know there are salt mines in Butte .’
    Mark drove back to downtown Washington while Barry
wrote up his report of the interview. It was 7:40 by the time they had returned
to the Old Post Office Building, and Mark found the parking lot almost empty.
By this time at night most civilised people were at home doing civilised
things, like eating moussaka . Stames’s car was already there. Goddamn him. They took the elevator to the fifth floor
and went into Stames’s reception room. It looked
empty without Julie. Calvert knocked quietly on the chief’s door and the two
agents walked in. Stames looked up. He had already
found a hundred and one things to do since he’d been back, almost as if he had
forgotten that he had specifically come back to see them.
    ‘Right, Barry. Let’s have it from the top,
slowly and accurately.’
    Calvert recounted exactly what had happened
from the moment they had arrived at Woodrow Wilson to the moment he had asked
the Metropolitan Police to put a guard on the room to protect the Greek. Mark
was impressed by Barry’s total recall. At no point had he exaggerated or
revealed any personal prejudice. Stames lowered his
head for a few moments and then suddenly turned to Mark.
    ‘Do you want to add anything?’ he asked. l Not really, sir. It was all a bit melodramatic.
Although he didn’t come over as a liar, he was certainly frightened. Also
there’s no trace of him in any of our files. I radioed the Night Super for a
name check. Negative on Casefikis .’
    Nick picked up the phone and asked to be
put through to Bureau Headquarters. ‘Give me the National Computer Information Center ,
Polly.’ He was put straight through. A young woman answered the phone.
    ‘ Stames , Washington Field Office. Would you please have the
following suspect checked out on the computer immediately? - Angelo Casefikis : Caucasian;male; Greek ancestry; height, five feet nine inches; weight, about a
hundred and sixty-five pounds; hair, dark brown; eyes, brown; age, thirty-eight;
no distinguishing marks or scars known; no identifying numbers known.’ He was
reading from the report Calvert had placed in front of him. He waited silently.
    ‘If his story is true,’ Mark said, ‘we
should have no listing for him at all.’
    ‘If it’s true,’ said Calvert.
    Stames continued to wait. The days of waiting to find out who was in the
FBI files and who wasn’t had long gone. The girl came back on the line.
    ‘We have nothing on a Casefikis ,
Angelo. We don’t even have a Casefikis . The best the
computer can offer is a Casegikis who was born in
1901. Sorry I can’t help, Mr Stames .’
    ‘Thanks very much.’ Stames put the phone down. ‘Okay, boys, for the moment let’s give Casefikis the benefit of the