Daylight (Atlee Pine, #3)(51)

“My God, Lee. Last time I saw you, I held you in one arm.”

“Mr. Bennett, thank you for agreeing to meet with me. This is my associate, Carol Blum.”

“Ms. Blum, very nice to meet you. Please come in.”

He backed away and the dogs moved with him.

“And who are these handsome boys?” asked Pine.

“The tall white one is Finnegan, Finn for short. The black and tan, of course, is Guinness.”

“Labradoodles?” said Blum.

“Yes. I have allergies. These boys do not shed. They have hair, not fur. And they keep me company,” he added quietly. “We take long walks together. They are . . . sound friends.”

Blum glanced around the front room and saw it was decorated in blues and golds and whites. The room had a nautical feel, organized with a place for everything and everything in its place. A wall of built-in cabinetry was filled with photos and books. She saw several photos of the same woman always standing next to Bennett.

Pine noticed this, too. “Jack told us about the loss of your wife. We’re very sorry.”

Bennett’s features clouded and one of his hands reached down and started to stroke Finn’s head.

“Yes. It was . . . a shock.”

“Do you have children?” Blum asked.

He shook his head. “Please sit down. Would you like something to drink? This is about the time of the day where I have a finger or two of scotch.”

“I’ll just take water,” said Pine.

“I’ll join you in the scotch,” said Blum, drawing a surprised look from Pine.

Bennett led them through to the rear of the house, where he poured out the drinks, and they settled in comfortable chairs overlooking the water. Finn and Guinness lay on either side of their owner and friend.

“Is that your boat?” asked Pine.

“Yes. The Saint Joan.” He smiled sadly. “A little joke between us. It’s taken on new meaning now, at least for me.”

“Do the dogs go with you?”

“The dogs go everywhere with me. The two best first mates I’ve ever had.” He added in a pensive tone, “I spent much of my working life alone, just because the mission called for that. Now I don’t like to be alone.” He took a sip of his scotch and looked out at his boat.

“I’m sure,” said Blum.

“So, Jack said you’d talk to me about what happened all those years ago?”

He focused on her. It seemed to Pine that the man was once more assuming a professional veneer over his long-since-retired features. “I’ll tell you what I can. I don’t think it will be everything. Some of the things have never been declassified.”

“You know what happened to me and my sister?”

“Yes.” He swallowed with a bit of difficulty, and Pine thought she could see his eyes glisten before he looked away and rubbed at them. “Yes. It was unfortunate and unforgivable. It was the worst failure of my professional life. Jack’s, too.” He paused and added, “But that was nothing compared to what happened to your family.”

“Thank you,” said Pine. “What can you tell us?”

“I spoke with Jack, of course. He filled me in on what he had told you. Thus, you know what your mother’s role was in all that. She was the inside source in our sting operation against the New York Mafia back in the eighties.”

“Yes. Her real name was Amanda. I never knew her real last name.”

“Doesn’t matter. All that was officially changed, so the Pine family you all became.”

“And my father worked as a bartender at the Cloak and Dagger bar in New York, where part of the sting took place. I was surprised that all of the people working there wouldn’t be law enforcement.”

“We didn’t have enough bodies to fill all the roles,” explained Bennett. “Your father had no idea what was going on, of course. He just poured the drinks.”

“But then he and my mother became intimate. And she confided in him?”

Bennett slowly nodded. “Damn nuisance, that was. But your mother was so young and under so much pressure. I could hardly blame her for reaching out to Tim. She must have felt very alone.”

“You’re right, they were both very young. So did they have any family?” asked Pine. “Were their parents still alive? Siblings? Grandparents?”

“They both told us no.”

“But did you check?”

“Checking would have led to a possible trail and opened doors that someone could have followed up on. We made the decision to take them at their word.”

“It would be unusual for both of them not to have any family,” noted Blum.

“I’m sure they did have family. But again, we didn’t push it. And to my knowledge neither of them tried to contact anyone while they were under our watch.” He looked at Pine. “Did you ever meet any of their ‘family’? Or I guess your family, too.”

“No.”

Bennett frowned. “In WITSEC, that’s the sacrifice one makes. All ties severed. It’s the only way to keep the protectees safe.”

“But it didn’t work in our case,” said Pine. “Two attempts were made on our lives. We had to be taken out of WITSEC.”

Bennett’s frown deepened. “I know. That drove me nuts.”