Page 137 of Gone Before Goodbye

Porkchop’s face is set. “You know what we learned at the TriPoint refugee camp.”

She nods. “One witness—and only one witness—claims they saw Trace leaving the campafterMarc was killed. That’s it. And the witness could have gotten the timing wrong, whatever. Anyway, I called Trace because I wanted to hear his explanation. Not over the phone. Face-to-face.”

“And he ran instead,” Porkchop says, spreading his hands. “Gee, that doesn’t seem suspicious.”

“The point is, we figured he’d gone to Bangladesh or some other remote area.”

“Made the most sense. Easier for him to hide.”

“Either way,” Maggie says, “you’ve been searching for him ever since. And you’re good at this kind of thing, Porkchop.”

“Not that good.”

“No, you are. And you’re—shall we say—highly motivated. Yet you’ve come up with nothing.”

“The point being?”

“Maybe we got it wrong,” Maggie says.

“How so?”

She sits up and turns to him. “Okay, so right after I called Trace, he broke into Apollo Longevity and stole the THUMPR7, the DNAsequencing machine, all of it. At first, I figured his plan was to fly to America and hide that stuff in those safe deposit boxes.”

“Makes sense.”

“It did, yes.”

“It doesn’t anymore?”

“Let me try this theory on you,” Maggie says.

“I’m listening.”

“Suppose Trace never planned on coming to America.”

“Because he planned on running?”

“Not like we think.”

“I’m not following.”

“I think Trace flew that day from Dubai—not to the United States but to Bordeaux. I think that’s where Oleg Ragoravich built in secret his new ‘fountain of youth’ headquarters. Trace was fascinated by that vineyard. Château Haut-Bailly. His apartment has a ton of wine from it. He even sent Marc and I there on vacation.”

Porkchop allows himself a small nod.

Maggie shifts in her seat. “Nadia says she kissed Trace goodbye outside Terminal 1. But Emirates, the only airline that flies nonstop from Dubai to Dulles, leaves from Terminal 3. Air France uses Terminal 1. Not that he couldn’t have taken a connecting flight, but…”

The Heathrow Express stops at London Paddington. Maggie and Porkchop rise and follow the signs for the Hammersmith & City Line. The train is packed so they stand for the five stops to King’s Cross St. Pancras.

“Sharon just did some digging for me,” Maggie continues. “An abandoned vineyard adjacent to Haut-Bailly was bought three years ago by someone using a double-blind trust. Sharon says there are satellite photos showing what looks like massive underground construction.”

“Suspicious,” Porkchop agrees.

“And do you want to hear the big kicker?”

“I’m all ears.”

“Nadia has a tracker on Ivan Brovski’s phone.”