She sat bolt upright.The car pulled in front of her, and Marcus—who had apparently caught her movement—rolled down the window and called, “Kate?Are you all right?”
“I think I get it now,” she said.“I think I know what he’s trying to say.”
“What?”
“Get us a hotel room,” she said, hopping to her feet and into the passenger seat of the car.
“Are we spending the night?”
“Marcus, I love you, but please be the first person to just say, ‘Yes, Kate’ when I ask for something.Just this once.”
“Yes, Kate.”He pulled out of the parking lot, a pensive expression on his face.After a minute, he said, “Did you… um… did you mean that?”
“With all my heart,” she replied.“I just need a little bit of trust instead of everyone questioning every single thing I do.”
Marcus slumped.“Oh.Right.Yeah, you got it.”
Kate frowned.“Are you all right?Look, I’m sorry for being angry with you.I’ve just been tired of having everything I think, say, or do, scoured for any sign of irrationality.”
“Yeah, totally.I’m fine.And I understand.”He gave her a smile that almost seemed genuine.“Yes, Kate.”
She returned a smile of her own.“Thank you.”
He pulled into the parking lot of the first hotel they came to, a Motel 6.The backlight was broken behind the L, so the street sign advertised Mote 6, Double, King, Free Wi-Fi.
It wasn’t until Marcus got the keys to the room that Kate realized what he had really asked her in the car.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“We’ve been focused on the meaning of the objects,” Kate said.“We were close to being on the right track, but not precisely.”
“You don’t think it was penance after all?”Marcus asked.
“No, I do,” Kate said, placing the photographs she’d printed from the hotel’s business center on the table and beginning to arrange them.“I just don’t think that was the message for me.”
She moved the photographs to their rough positions on an imaginary map of the United States.If she was right, then taken one by one, the ciphers were meaningless, but taken all together, they delivered a very clear message, one that would tell Kate exactly where Cox was going next.
“Mind cluing me in on what you’re doing?”Marcus asked, a touch peevishly.
“Yes.I mean no.I don’t mind, and yes, I’ll clue you in on what I’m doing.”
“Take a breath, Kate.Form the complete sentence before saying it out loud.”
Kate glared over her shoulder at him.“So help me God, Marcus, if you screw with my good mood right now.”
He lifted his hands.“Sorry.I can’t help it.”
Kate turned back to the photographs.“I think the objects are important, but not just the objects.Where they point is what matters.”
“Where they point?”
“Yes.“The letter opener was the key.He didn’t put that on a piece of furniture.He hung it from the chandelier.Like he’s shouting, ‘Look at this.’”
"Look at what exactly?"
“That’s what I’m hoping to find out.”She pointed at the photographs.“Each object was very carefully arranged so that they were visible from the street, but they were also carefully oriented.The second and hour hands of the pocket watch, for example, were aimed at a precise angle through the window that wasn’t perpendicular or parallel to the street.And that letter opener was also angled away from the road.”
"Okay.So you think Cox is leaving a sort of trail of breadcrumbs or a compass?'I'm going here next.Catch me if you can?"