The Sixth Man by David Baldacci Page B

of the owner, whose name was not Martha but Hazel Burke. She’d lived in this part of Maine all her life, as she had told them at breakfast.
    “Your room is on the other side of the hall, dear,” she called up to Michelle from the bottom of the short stack of stairs. From this vantage point she could clearly see the entrance to both rooms. “That is the gentleman’s room you’re about to enter.”
    Michelle called back in a tight voice, “But I’m not going to my room. I’m actually going to the gentleman’s room.”
    “And will you be staying long in the gentleman’s room?” asked Burke, as she started to climb the steps.
    Michelle looked at Sean. “I don’t know. How frisky are you feeling?”
    Burke had arrived on the second floor in time to hear this. “Now, dear, we are ladies here.”
    “Maybe
you’re
a lady.”
    Sean cut in. “We’re just going to be working on something, Mrs. Burke. A legal case.”
    “Oh, you’re a lawyer?”
    “Yes.”
    “You heard about that other lawyer, didn’t you? That poor Mr. Bergin?”
    “How did you know about that?” asked Sean quickly.
    Burke wiped her hands on her apron. “Oh, well, dear, murders aren’t so frequent up here that folks don’t talk about them. Everybody knows, I suspect.”
    “Right. I guess they do.”
    The woman turned to Michelle. “You’re not a lawyer, are you?”
    “Why do you say that?” said Michelle stiffly.
    “Well, dear, I don’t know you, really, but you just don’t seem the type to wear, you know, dressy clothes.” With obvious distaste, she ran her eyes over Michelle’s faded, tight jeans, dusty boots, white T-shirt, and worn leather jacket.
    “You’re right. I actually prefer spandex and spikes.”
    “That’s not very nice,” Burke admonished, her broad face growing pink.
    “Well, I’m not a very nice person, I guess. Now if you’ll excuse us.”
    “I’ll come and check on you in about five minutes.”
    “I’d wait a bit longer,” said Michelle.
    “Why?” Burke said suspiciously.
    Michelle rubbed Sean’s arm. “The
gentleman
took his Cialis.” She closed the door of Sean’s room with a definite thud. “Okay, that lady is really starting to piss me off.”
    “Forget that. I’m going to call Bergin’s office in Charlottesville.”
    “Do you think they know?”
    “I don’t know. They usually notify the next of kin first. But Ted’s wife is dead and they never had children, at least that he ever mentioned.”
    Sean sat on the bed and made the call. Someone answered.
    He said, “Hello, it’s Sean King. Is this Hilary? I spoke to you on the phone the other day.” Sean cupped his hand over the phone. “Ted’s secretary.”
    Michelle nodded.
    “Yes,” said Hilary. “Aren’t you supposed to be meeting with Mr. Bergin at Cutter’s Rock about now?”
    Sean looked grim. She didn’t know. “Hilary, I’m afraid I havesome bad news. I don’t like doing this on the phone, but you need to know.” He told her.
    The woman gasped, tried to steady herself, and then dissolved into tears. “Oh my God. I can’t believe it.”
    “Neither can I, Hilary. The FBI are investigating right now.”
    “The FBI?”
    “It’s complicated.”
    “How, how did he die?”
    “It wasn’t by natural causes, obviously.”
    “Who found the body?”
    “I did. I mean me and my partner, Michelle.”
    At that moment Hilary’s professional façade completely dissolved.
    Sean waited patiently for her to stop sobbing. When it didn’t look like she was going to cease he said, “We can talk again later, Hilary. I’m really sorry to have been the one to have to tell you.”
    With a massive effort she composed herself. “No, no, I’m all right. It was, it was just such a shock. I just saw him yesterday morning, before he left on his flight.”
    Sean had only talked to Hilary on the phone before and had never met her in person, but he could envision the woman wiping the tears and perhaps most of her makeup and mascara