Disclaimer: I don't own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
Of course Ash was right. If somebody in Marybeth Tucker's environment was lying about certain aspects of her past or present life, it was most likely one of her very near and dear ones.
Guerrero, had he been there, could have probably provided an empirically established figure supporting that statement.
So they went back to Marybeth's parents.
"Mr. and Mrs. Tucker, I really don't want to intrude myself into your affairs and I also absolutely don't intend to touch on sensitive family matters, but your daughter's life is on the line."
Ilsa was all but pleading with the Tuckers. The assassin that had apparently been sent to kill Marybeth had, according to Chance and a short text message from Guerrero, been a very dangerous individual. Only God knew whom they were going to send next, whoever "they" was.
She could really do without Chance's life at risk so soon after all the heartbreak with Philippa. The idea behind taking this particular case had been to take it slow, to get back to business step by step. And now they were dealing with one dead assassin, apparently assassinated by another assassin, and the high possibility that another, even more dangerous one was going after their client.
Not to mention the fact that the interpretation that Johnny the Shark had been murdered by someone who wanted to protect Marybeth was only one option. There was also the chance that someone had put out a ransom on her and Johnny had simply fallen prey to a competitor who wanted to eliminate all confounding factors before going for the kill itself.
"We really appreciate what you're doing for Marybeth, Mrs. Pucci, but you've got to believe us that we would not hold back any information, no matter how painful, embarrassing or horrendous, if it would help to keep our daughter safe. There is really nothing left that we haven't already told you." The Tuckers looked genuinely crestfallen and at their wits' end.
Ilsa sighed and glanced at Winston. Time for Plan B.
She so wished it hadn't had to come to this.
"Well, in that case, would you agree to a polygraph test?" Winston did his best, but there really was no way to make a sentence like that sound not offensive.
Mr. Tucker shook his head with an angry snort, but his wife put a calming hand on his knee. "If it helps Marybeth…"
Winston went to get the polygraph from the van.
Her parents might have not objected, but Marybeth, who had been impatiently waiting in the dining room with Ames, sure did. Her usually exceptionally polite and collected behavior completely changed the moment she laid her eyes on the device in Winston's arms.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!", she shouted at him at the top of his lungs. "THESE ARE MY PARENTS AND YOU'RE TREATING THEM LIKE CRIMINALS?"
"Well, maybe they are and that's why somebody is trying to kill you. Out of revenge or to somehow weaken them…", Ames chimed in rather nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.
"EXCUSE ME? DID YOU JUST SERIOUSLY IMPLY THAT MY PARENTS COULD BE SOME CLOSET AL CAPONES AND I JUST HAVEN'T NOTICED YET?"
"You never really know with anyone, especially not with your own family."
Only someone who had been around Ames for a while, like Winston, could have noticed the brief shadow passing over her face as she spoke those words. He knew she had remembered her father, the bastard who had tried to kill her in order to save her half-brother.
"This ends here and now." Marybeth Tucker, in probably the bravest stunt she had ever pulled in her life so far, stepped between Winston and the door. "There's no way my father will be subjected to a polygraph test."
"Ms. Tucker…" Ames got up and reached for her. Marybeth lashed out at her. Ames tried to grab her by the shoulder. Winston knocked down two of the dining table chairs, then hurried to unobtrusively hold the door closed. The Tuckers, alerted by the turmoil, predictably tried getting into the room and when they couldn't they started yelling and banging against the door. They probably would have tried calling the cops, hadn't Chance blocked all telephone lines from the outside during Ilsa's conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Tucker.
He was crouching hidden in the dark now, watching the struggle in the dining room from behind one of Mrs. Tucker's prizewinning rose bushes, ready to jump into action any moment. So far, however, their plan didn't seem to work out. Nothing was moving in the garden and Winston and Ames wouldn't be able to keep up their charade much longer before Mr. Tucker ran for an axe from the garage or something in that direction. Luckily he didn't own a gun, at least no officially registered one, they had checked that beforehand. If he owned an unregistered one, though, things could turn really ugly….
There! Finally! A shadow on the deck, smoothly moving like a cat's, only much bigger. Chance wasted no time – he lifted his tazer gun, aimed and pulled the trigger.
The shadow materialized as a darkly clad man of average build but with muscular shoulders and a heavy caliber gun. He was even wearing a bullet proof vest, but Chance had aimed well – the man's unprotected left thigh had taken the hit.
Convulsing helplessly he lay on the ground, completely unable to defend himself in any way, shape or form. Chance quickly disarmed him before banging against the window, letting Ames and Winston know that they could stop provoking poor Marybeth Tucker now.
… … …
"Could you PLEASE explain what all this is about?" Mr. Tucker would have probably been beside himself with anger, hadn't he been completely overwhelmed by the fact that a heavily armed man had just been caught in his garden and was sitting in his dining room, tied up to one of his dining room chairs.
"We still assume that one of the parties involved in Marybeth's life is lying, but we just couldn't figure out which – so we decided to go the other way and ask the one person who probably knew: The killer of the killer", Winston explained. "Of course this only works if our killer's killer is really here to protect Marybeth – if he's after a ransom and just wanted to make sure Johnny the Shark didn't beat him to it…."
"So", Chance said, smiling at the tied up man. "Why did you come here? To kill or to protect?"