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it off because you acted like a total jackass. What the hell is the matter with you, Jack?”
    “I don’t trust her,” Keller said. “She’s not telling you the whole story.”
    Marie shook her head and started the car. “Well, she still wants me on the job, God knows why. I sort of danced around the question of your involvement. From now on, you let me deal with the client, okay? You seem to have lost your people skills.” She began backing the car out of the parking space.
    “Suits me,” Keller said.
    Marie slammed on the brakes. “So now you’re pissed at me?” She took a moment, then a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. “I get it. Look, Jack, you didn’t want this job in the first place. Just forget the whole thing.”
    He looked at her. “I said I’d help, and I will,” he said. “I’m not trying to back out.”
    “If you’re going to be this big a pain in the ass, I don’t need your help,” Marie snapped. She finished backing out, then slammed the car into gear. Tires squealed asshe sped out of the parking lot. They drove in silence for several minutes. Finally, Marie said, too casually, “You seeing Lucas again anytime soon?”
    Keller’s eyes narrowed. “Why, you think I need to see a shrink about this?”
    “Well,” Marie said, “something about this situation’s put a bug up your ass. Lucas has helped you a lot. He’s gone to bat for you. And since you won’t talk to me…” Her voice trembled slightly on the last word.
    Keller looked out the window. “I’ll call him,” he said after a few moments. “He’s been bugging me about taking him to the beach anyway.”
    “When?” Marie said.
    “This weekend. First I’ve got to make some calls to Fort Bragg. See if we can get somebody to tell us how to find Lundgren.”
    “Where are you going to start?”
    “Probably the Provost Marshal. If there’s legal papers to be served, it’s their lookout. After that, I’ll try the Inspector General. What about you?”
    “I’m talking this afternoon with the operator of the day care where Alyssa was when Lundgren took her. You want me to drop you at my office?”
    “Yeah, that’d be good.” The tension between them had eased, but only slightly. Neither spoke until they had gotten back downtown and Marie pulled up outside the office. “Okay. Let me know what you find out,” Marie said.
    “Right,” Keller said as he got out. “See you later.”
    “Later,” she said. It wasn’t until she had driven off that he realized she hadn’t asked if he was coming over.

CHAPTER FOUR
    “EighteenthAirborneCorpsHeadquartersCompanyOfficeoftheProvostMarshal lCorporalDetwilerspeakingcanIhelpyou?” the female voice on the other end of the line compressed the prescribed greeting down into an unrecognizable blur of words, just like any other Army clerk Keller had ever met.
    “Corporal,” he said, “my name is Jackson Keller. I’m attempting to locate a Sergeant David Lundgren regarding his…regarding a legal matter.”
    “What sort of legal matter, sir?”
    “It involves his daughter.”
    “Support matters are handled by an allotment from the soldier’s pay. If you give me his unit designation I can give you the name and number of the officer to contact.”
    “It’s not a support matter. It’s about custody.”
    “That would be the office of the Judge Advocate General, sir. It would be handled by the JAG office at his unit level. If you give me his unit number, battalion first…”
    Keller took a deep breath. He remembered well the first rule of military bureaucracy: What ever the problem is, make it someone else’s responsibility. “I don’t think JAG represents him, Corporal. We believe Sergeant Lundgren kidnapped his daughter.”
    The clerk didn’t miss a beat. “That would be Criminal Investigation Division, their number is 555-4976, hold on and I’ll try to connect you.” Keller tried to saysomething else, but before he could get a word out, there was a click, then