“Why the Harcourts?” Cabot asked.
“That’s the question we don’t have a complete answer to yet.”
“What kind of operation?”
Eamon held his eyes for a beat. “We don’t know that yet either. Symbolic often means destructive.”
“Violent,” Cabot said.
Wiley turned to face Cabot. “How many of the Harcourt houses have you been inside this year?”
“Three.”
“Including the place on Martha’s Vineyard?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re the family friend who shows up at Christmas and Easter. You connect at symphony galas and museum events.”
“Yes. That’s the assignment.”
“Do you know who staffs the kitchens at the houses?”
Cabot swallowed. I watched his Adam’s apple move.
“I know the names of the kitchen staff,” he said, “because I think they’re more interesting than the people they cook for. I’m not compiling a—“
“I didn’t think you were,” Wiley’s voice softened, “that’s the problem. You just remember and assemble the information when needed.”
Cabot tugged on his sleeve. “So you’re saying Onyx Bay—“
“They need what you know,” Wiley said. “They’ve been preparing for two years, and they have the people, the discipline, and the will. I assume what they don’t have is the inside picture of the family they’ve decided to attack. You have that.”
“I never published —“
“It doesn’t matter what you published. It matters what you’ve seen and remember. You’re the access map they’ve been missing.”
Cabot turned toward Eamon. “Tell me he’s wrong.”
“He isn’t wrong.”
Eamon looked at each face in turn.
“Separately,” he said, “neither of you is the problem you’ve become together. Wiley has been watching them assemble. He’s the one person who can recognize what they are and figure out when they move. Cabot is the one person who has the inside view of the target family.”
He folded his hands on the closed folder. They remained steady.
“Together, the two of you are a danger to Onyx Bay. You can stop them before they execute. They can’t allow that.”
“So they’d rather we didn’t exist?” Wiley asked.
“They’d rather you not speak to each other.”
Wiley swallowed. “Then why are you putting us in the same room?”
“Because they are counting on us recognizing the danger and deciding to keep you apart. We don’t give them what they’re counting on.”
That was the flashing red light.