Red grudgingly gave up her search for Blake Madison and edged her way into a singing circle that appeared to be having a helluva time. A reed-thin woman was singing a song about a bird-of-paradise tattoo. As Red sat down and joined in the chorus, she rolled over questions in her mind. Where had Madison gotten off to? And better yet where was that book he was bogarting? She felt lucky that no one had figured out about Scrump yet, but that was only a matter of time. When that inevitably happened, how was she going to protect herself? She was pretty sure that Ivan wasn't responsible. The guy was shot-- not crunched and folded in half in a footlocker at the bottom of the lake. And Scrump had been shot, not poisoned, so that probably let Li Su off the hook. Then again, after their spotty history, she wouldn't put anything past them.

Suddenly, the man beside her with the wild beard and wilder eyes burst into song. He sang about Lydia the tattooed lady, and Red began to notice a theme. She also noticed that the gentleman in question felt the need to do an interpretive dance to accompany his singing. Naked as the day he was born and a damn sight hairier--Red shuddered and looked away just in time to see Li Su standing in the door of the kitchen. She was watching a man go up the hill and shaking her head. The guy walking up the hill didn't look like the guy who had interrupted her in the hot springs…. He looked like Argent. Great. Another bozo to keep tabs on.

When the dancing man finally crescendoed and the admiral had married Lydia, Red took a deep breath and began:
Rapid Roy that stock car boy
He's too much to believe
You know he's always got an extra pack of cigarettes
Rolled up in his t-shirt sleeve
He got a tattoo on his arm that say "Baby"
He got another one that just say "Hey"…..



Miles above and beyond this scene, Agent Rex Edgewater took a cd from his bag and slid it into his laptop. He chose a particular interrogation from the menu and put his headphones on. He had handsomely caught the attentions of a stewardess when he boarded the plane, and she had spent the past half-hour trying to get him to notice her, but he was deep in concentration and thinking about Red. The laptop screen showed a dismal brick interrogation room. At one end of the table was Scrump. At the other end was Red. Just when Edgewater thought the two couldn't be any more different, Scrump would get more agitated and Red would get more relaxed. It would have been comical if there hadn't been millions of dollars and several lives at stake.

"Miss Locks, you have been advised of your rights?"

"Yes. And my lefts are feeling lonely."

"Miss Locks, you are aware that you have been connected to both the Les Serrures ring and the Fechamento crime family?"

"Merely an accident of birth. Anyone with a crackerjack badge could have figured that out. Do you have a crackerjack badge, agent?"

Scrump grimaced and began laying out evidence on the table. If any of it was new to Red, she didn't show it. He grilled her about her bank accounts, and she waved it off as a family trust. Surely the Fechamento family lawyers had given him the papers? Scrump questioned her about the accident at the grounds that killed so many of the staff. Red reminded him of Blake Madison's testimony at the grand jury trial that had exonerated her on all counts. Red smiled placidly and Scrump continued his barrage of questions. She had him outclassed by a country mile and he knew it. By the time the family lawyers arrived, Scrump was pit-stained and furious. Red was immediately released and had the audacity to shake Scrump's hand on her way out the door.

Amazing, Rex thought as he turned off the screen. If he could put her away for Scrump's death, he'd be a hero. If it turned out that she was actually innocent, he just might ask her out for a drink.