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rejoin the program. By Monday I’ll be in a better position to clarify this sort of request.”
    â€œAnd that’s all? Alice Frizen voluntarily left the program.” Larson scratched out notes for himself.
    â€œForfeiting a sizable stipend and medical insurance coverage, I might add.”
    â€œThat’s a lot to give up.”
    â€œIt is indeed.”
    â€œNo explanation of this dependent? Child? Lover? Relative?”
    â€œNone that I’m aware of.”
    â€œAnd that’s that?” Larson had spent a career reading the faces of notorious liars, and he put Sunderland up there with the best of them—but a liar just the same. It wasn’t all, and Larson knew it.
    â€œThe possibility of Mr. Romero’s parole lit a fire under the U.S. Attorney’s office. With it came a renewed interest in locating Ms. Stevens, a.k.a. Ms. Frizen.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd I don’t report rumor or innuendo.”
    Larson studied the man carefully, awaiting another lie.
    â€œIt’s one of those things you hear, is all,” Sunderland said.
    â€œWould you make the call for me?”
    â€œOn a Saturday?”
    Larson answered, “You want to wait until Monday? I was told that if Markowitz doesn’t have the entire list decrypted by now, he will
any day
. I doubt either of us has slept much in the last thirty hours, and I can tell you I for one won’t be doing my best work by the time Monday rolls around.”
    â€œYou’ll have to wait here.”
    â€œI’m good at waiting,” Larson answered, containing his excitement. “Government work, you know?”
    Sunderland didn’t appreciate the sarcasm. He left the room, Larson catching a glimpse of the deputy marshal standing guard by the door. After a minute Larson put his head down onto his arms and rested on the table. He sat bolt upright upon Sunderland’s return.
    Sunderland sat down beneath a great emotional weight, reminding Larson of some judges as they returned to the bench following jury deliberations.
    Sunderland said, “An Alice Dunbar appears on a three-year-old health insurance group coverage for St. Luke’s Hospital, Minneapolis. The social she provided is the same one we gave her for Frizen. She probably had no choice. It makes sense: Post 9/11, it’s this side of impossible to get a counterfeit social. The name change to Dunbar was legit—done legally in California. There’s also a social assigned by Treasury to one Penelope Dunbar, born in California, currently a five-year-old Caucasian female. The kid’s social was mailed to a box number in Minneapolis. The investigator’s report lists some calls made to the hospital there before passing this up the command. His report suggests the lead was promising at that time.”
    â€œAnd?” Sunderland now seemed to be dragging this out for dramatic effect and the change bothered Larson.
    â€œNo follow-up.” Sunderland’s face reflected Larson’s exasperation. “You’re the one who brought up government work: It looks as though he sent it over to us, to Justice, but not directed to the U.S. Attorney’s office—and this is a little over three months ago. Apparently it never found its way to the U.S. Attorney’s office. This deputy had not only the post office box number where the social had been sent, but a residential address he thought was good. It was very good work this guy did. There’s been a lot of turnover at Justice since Ridge and Homeland Security—I probably don’t have to tell
you
that. But as far as I can tell—and it’s the same for the guy I talked to—it looks as if it died there.”
    â€œRight,” Larson said, then, under his breath, “Or else she did.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    Minneapolis, Minnesota, streamed past outside the bus window as the passenger took a final opportunity to commit the face of his next victim to