"You were telling me what you do for a living ..." the detective began.
"I can't tell you. It's top secret," Kendall said.
The detective looked surprised. "Excuse me?"
"The truth is ... I work for the government. I'm undercover. And so is ... my daughter here. That's what she wanted to tell you."
"She?" the detective asked. "But your daughter is male."
Kendall and Thompson exchanged looks for a moment. So, the detective accepts Thompson as my daughter, but sees him as male, Kendall thought. Interesting.
"Detective, can I ask you something?" Kendall asked.
She leaned back in her chair. "Only if you explain what you mean by being undercover for the government."
Kendall nodded. "How old do you think my daughter is?"
She looked at Thompson. "Maybe ... 26?"
"And how old am I?"
"Mrs. Stevens, I don't understand ..."
"Just answer the question."
She looked at him. "I don't know ... maybe 40?"
"So you don't see anything wrong with that?"
"Wrong with what?"
"That my daughter is only fourteen years younger than me."
"No, why should it?" The detective sighed. "Mrs. Stevens. If you're trying to get out of his questioning ..."
"No, no. I'm just easing some of my own curiosity."
The detective looked oddly towards him, then continued. "Then if you would please tell me which government agency you are undercover for ..."
"Sorry, but I can't. It's classified."
"Mrs. Stevens, I agreed to play along with your little game if you answered my question."
"I just did. I said it's classified."
The detective was beginning to lose her cool. She stood up and slammed her hands down on the table.
"Getting angry with me won't make me talk. I've dealt with more threatening people than you in my life."
"Fine," she said, calming down a little. "I'll just call my friend at the FBI. If you do work for the government, then someone at the FBI must know you."
Then she left the room.
Thompson turned towards Kendall. "What gives? I thought you didn't want us to tell them the truth."
"At first, I didn't. But if this is a Class 4, like I suspect that it is, we need to take bigger risks to get to the bottom of what's happening in this town."
"And what happens when they check out the name Kendall Stevens and don't find a match? I'm assuming the FBI doesn't have you on file."
"You're assuming correctly. But it doesn't matter. I don't intend of staying around that long." Kendall stood up and walked towards the door, looking out the window.
"What are you doing? You think you can just walk out a building of cops without being stopped?"
Kendall turned and smiled. "Of course."
