First Family (21 page)

“What is this? Who the hell are you?”

Sean sat down on one of the barstools set next to the granite kitchen counter.

“Where did you get that picture?” she said accusingly.

“First go get some clothes on. Your striptease act is wearing kind of thin on me.”

She scowled at him. “Why the hell shouldn’t I just call the police?”

In answer he held up the camera again. “Because then this fab shot of you and Greggie boy will get sent to DHS. And unless you can
explain to them why a man who runs the company that’s
competing
with Tuck Dutton’s firm is handing you an envelope at a nice cozy lunch at his house, Science Matters can kiss that fat contract goodbye. Am I right or am I right,
Cassandra
? Now go get some clothes on!”

She stalked off to change. When she came back she was covered up in a mauve-colored velour warm-up suit.

He nodded at her approvingly. “Much better. Now I can actually treat you like an adult.” He sat down on the sofa in the living room that had impressive water views. She sat across from him and tucked her bare feet under her.

“So I take it the flowers
weren’t
from Greg?” she said with attitude.

“Nope. His blowing you off at lunch was entirely legit. Maybe he’s used to chicks like you and knows better.”

“So who exactly are you and what do you want?” she said. “Because the sooner you get out of here the better.”

“One ground rule, you’re not asking the questions, I am.”

“Why—”

He held up the photo and she quickly closed her mouth.

“I know about you and Tuck Dutton.”

She rolled her eyes. “Is that what this is about? Please.”

“You were having an affair with him.”

“Prove it.”

“I actually don’t have to. I can leave that to the FBI.”

“FBI? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Tuck’s wife was murdered and his oldest daughter kidnapped. You telling me you didn’t know that?”

“Of course I knew about it. It’s been in all the papers. His sister is the First Lady.”

“You like screwing the First Brother-in-law?”

“Go to hell.”

“That’s something you should be worried about, actually.”

“What is that supposed to mean exactly?” she said in a false bored tone.

“It means
exactly
that the oldest motivation in the book for a
philandering husband to bump off his wife is so he can marry the mistress.”

“It wasn’t like that with me and Tuck.”

“So what was it like? You can either tell me or the FBI. And the agent running the case isn’t nearly as nice as I am.”

“He was attracted to me.”

“Yeah, that I know. But if you did the little bend and hold you just pulled with me, I can hardly blame the guy. Well, I can blame him, actually, because he’s obviously a weak little bastard. So why’d you come to work for him when I’m sure you got better offers elsewhere from bigger companies?”

“You seem to know a lot about me.”

“I’ve always been a curious guy. You were saying?”

“He said he’d be really good to me if we got the contract.”

“So not just salary, a piece of the equity?”

“Something like that.”

“I’m not interested in ‘something like that.’ I want facts.”

“Twenty percent of the contract profit,” she said hastily. “Over and above my salary and bonus.”

“But then you did get a better offer, although it was after you signed with Tuck.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said hesitantly.

“Sure you do. You have a fling with Tuck. Dawson has his ear to the ground and finds out, or maybe he put you up to it, who knows. But now he has the proof to take to DHS. Banging the president’s brother-in-law. They find out, Dawson wins the contract and you get a backdoor payoff. Maybe part of it was in that envelope he gave you today.” He held up the camera. “Only now I have the proof about you and Greggie to give to DHS and crater your dream. Interesting development, wouldn’t you say? And why a cash payoff?”

“Greg said they can track any funds these days. Electronic, Swiss bank accounts, anything. The cash was sort of a down payment.”

“Okay.”

“Look, maybe we can cut some kind of deal.”

“I’m not looking for cash in an envelope.”

“Deals don’t have to always be about money.” She glanced at him anxiously. “I know you think I’m probably a slut, but I’m really not. We could have a lot of fun together. I mean a lot.”

“Thanks, but I’m not really into women who show their ass to every delivery guy who knocks on their door. And not to be too blunt but when was the last time you were checked for an STD?”

She moved to slap him but he caught her by the wrist.

“You can’t sleep your way out of this one, lady. This is not about some lousy government contract and screwing your way to the nice condo life on the water. Unless you cooperate with me you’re looking at being a clear accessory on a murder-kidnapping charge. In Virginia, where it took place, that’s a capital offense. And death by lethal injection may be painless but you still end up really dead.”

The tears started to flow now from Cassandra. “I had nothing to do with any of that, I swear to God.”

Sean pulled out a digital recorder and set it on the coffee table.

“Sit.”

She sat.

“Here’s the deal. Unless you tell me the absolute truth, and I know enough about it that if you try to screw with me even a little, this all gets turned over to the Feds ASAP, got it?”

She nodded, brushing tears from her eyes.

“Great.” Sean turned on the device and said, “On the day before his wife was killed, Tuck was here with you. He stayed at your condo, is that correct?”

She nodded.

“I need to hear you.”

“Yes, he was here.”

“He’d spent the night before, hadn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“And you two were having an affair?”

“Yes.”

“Did his wife know?”

“I don’t know. Tuck didn’t seem to think so.”

“Tuck hired you because of your former job at DHS. He thought
that would give him an inside track on winning a big contract from Homeland Security, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re now double-crossing him with Greg Dawson and Science Matters?”

Cassandra hesitated. Sean reached for the recorder. “Okay, have it your way.”

“Wait. Yes. I’m working with Greg Dawson behind Tuck’s back. He was having us followed. He found out about the affair. He came to me and offered a better deal. I took it.”

“Tuck Dutton was supposed to come back to Virginia on the day after his family was attacked. But he came back early. Do you know why?”

“We… we had a disagreement.”

“About what?”

“I… I think he suspected something was going on.”

“With Dawson and you?”

She looked surprised. “No. It was the opposite of that.”

Sean looked puzzled. “The opposite?”

“He thought his
wife
was having an affair. I told him I thought he was being stupid. I said what were the odds that he
and
his wife would be screwing around at the same time? I guess that was sort of tactless, but men are such little boys when it comes to adultery. Okay, so you messed around. It’s not that big of a deal. So get over it.”

“But he didn’t get over it.”

“No. I actually thought he was going to hit me. He said he loved his wife. And here we’re sitting naked on my bed after screwing each other’s brains out. And I said something dumb like, ‘Well, you have a funny way of showing it.’ Then he yelled at me, grabbed his stuff, and left.”

“Did he say why he thought his wife was having an affair?”

“He mentioned something about some phone calls he’d overheard. And he said one time that he followed Pam and she had coffee with some man he didn’t know.”

Sean sat back against the cushions. That was one angle he’d never considered. “Did he describe what the guy looked like?”

“No. He never did.”

“There was about an hour unaccounted for between the time Tuck should’ve been home and when he actually got there. I’m talking around 9:30 to about 11:00 that night. Did he call you during that time?”

“No, I haven’t heard a word from him since he bolted out of here.”

Sean looked skeptically at her. “I need the absolute truth, Cassandra.”

“I swear. Check my phone records. I went to bed and didn’t talk to anybody.”

Sean switched off the recorder. “If I need to talk to you again, I better be able to find you.”

“Are you going to let this all come out?”

“No. At least not yet. But piece of advice. Tell Greggie to back off the contract.”

“He’s going to be really upset. He’s already paid me a lot of money.”

“That’s your problem. Why don’t you try the old bend and hold, since Greg just doesn’t seem to be a foot-in-the-crotch kind of guy.”

Sean was on a flight back to D.C. that night. He’d discovered a lot. The only trouble was he now had more questions than before.

W
ILLA STAYED CLOSE
to the rock wall as she flitted along the corridor, her fingers scraping over the uneven surface. She listened for any sound, watching for any glow of light. She had her own lantern turned down so low that she could barely see. It was cold, and mists of her breath trailed the young girl down the dark path. She turned a corner and stopped.

Was that someone coming? She turned off the light and flattened herself against the rock. Five minutes later she started moving again. This time she kept the light off. Her hand grazed across wood and then hit the metal. She halted, turned the light on to its lowest level. It revealed the metal lock.

Just like the one on my door.

She found enough courage to lift her hand and tap lightly on the wood. No answer. She tapped again, a bit harder.

“Who is it?” a quavering voice said from the other side.

Willa looked around and then placed her face against the door and whispered, “Are you locked in?”

She heard footsteps and then the voice said, “Who are you?”

“My name is Willa. I was locked in too but got out. I think I can get you out too. What’s your name?”

“Diane,” she whispered back.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“No.”

“Me either. Hold on.”

Willa pulled out her pen clasp and rolled-up can top and went to work. It was more difficult than the first time because she had to
keep the light turned down so low. While she concentrated on feeling for the lock pins to drop to the sheathing line, she was also listening for the sounds of someone coming.

The pins finally fell into place; Willa turned the tension tool and the door swung open. Diane Wohl looked down at her. “You’re only a child.”

“I’m nearly a teenager,” Willa said firmly “And I managed to get out of my room. And get
you
out of yours. Come on.”

As they headed off Diane looked around. “Where are we?”

“You really need to keep your voice down,” whispered Willa. “Sound really carries in places like this.”

“Places like what?” the woman said in a lower voice.

Willa touched the side of the wall. “I think we’re in a tunnel or old mine.”

Diane hissed, “Oh my God, if we’re in an old mine it could come down on our heads at any second.”

“I don’t think so. The support beams look really sturdy. And the men who are keeping us here wouldn’t have brought us to an unsafe place.”

“Why not?”

“Because they might get hurt too.”

“Do you know which way is out?”

“I’m just, you know, trying to feel some air movement.”

“But if we keep going, we’ll get lost. Maybe forever.”

“No we won’t.” She shone the light on the dirt floor. “I cut up the paper labels off the canned food. I’ve been dropping pieces every ten feet or so. That way we’ll know where we came from in case we have to turn back.”

They kept going forward, around one turn and then another.

Willa checked her watch by lantern light. “We have about twenty minutes left before they come by again. But the other man might show up. He’s unpredictable.”

“The tall man with the white hair?”

“Yeah. He doesn’t seem as bad as the others, but I’m still afraid of him.”

“I’m terrified of them all.”

“Where do you live?”

“In Georgia.”

“I’m from Virginia. I hope my family’s okay. The man said he contacted them and told them I was okay. Do you have a family?”

“No, I don’t,” Diane said quickly. “I mean, not of my own. But I asked him to contact my mother and tell her I was okay. But I don’t know if I’m going to
stay
okay.”

“Another good reason for us to get ourselves out of here,” answered Willa.

“What was that?” Diane said sharply.

There had been a shout somewhere behind them.

“I think they found out we’re not there,” said Willa. At that instant she felt a bit of air current on her cheek. She grabbed Diane’s hand. “This way.”

They hurried down the passage.

“Look!” Willa said.

The corridor ended in a thick door.

Diane tried to turn the old door handle but it wouldn’t budge.