He did see. Buthewanted to know.
Beatrix pulled onto Route 40,losing sight of Blackwell’s Pierce-Arrow and the traffic light he was stopped at behind them, and tried to come up with something to say to her best friend.Sorry I thought you were a spy? Ella sat shotgun with her eyes on the road, saying nothing.
“Ella …”
She shifted in her seat. “Yes?”
Suddenly a siren went off—loud, close. In the lane next to theirs was a black sedan, unmarked, with a man in a suit gesturing at Beatrix to pull over.
Oh no.
She stopped on the shoulder, overworked heart zipping to top speed yet again as terrible possibilities suggested themselves. She glanced at Ella as the sedan came to a halt in front of them. Ella looked back, eyes wide.
“Wizard?” she asked.
“I—I don’t know,” Beatrix said. “I didn’t get a good look at him.”
He stepped out of his car, revealing a long, dark coat. But as he walked under a street lamp, the light showed his hair was blond, not silver, cut short.
“Not a wizard,” Beatrix whispered, the hard knot in her stomach unrelieved.
Ella gripped her hand and put her fear into words: “Could be FBI.”
Beatrix rolled down her window as the man arrived at their car, and he leaned in, frowning at them both. “ID, please.”
“Is anything the matter?” Beatrix said, reaching for the expected words from an innocent person.
“ID,” he snapped.
Beatrix handed over her driver’s license and Ella’s state-issued identification card, trying to arrange her face into an expression that resembled puzzlement.
He looked at the cards. Then he said, “Do youladieshave any idea what time it is?”
Beatrix could do nothing but stare at him, now honestly befuddled.
“Five minutes after nine,” Ella said.
“At night,” he said.
There was a brief silence as they waited, fruitlessly, for him to go on.
“Yes,” Beatrix said. “It is indeed night. Is there anything?—”
“Do you consider it appropriate to be out this late in a city neither of you live in?”
Oh. She nearly laughed. It wasthatsort of stop.
Thank God.
“We’re on our way home, officer,” she said.
He leveled a disbelieving stare at her. “I’d like to search this car.”
Ella made a noise that sounded like the precursor to a protest. Beatrix hurriedly said, “Certainly, sir, if you’ll just show me your identification.”
The man produced a Baltimore Police Department badge and ID. “Get out.”
They did, Beatrix mouthing “it’s OK” to Ella as they stood in the dark at the side of the road, shivering in the chill air.
