Immaculate Deception (26 page)

She shook her head, unclasped her hands and brought them to
her ears. Fiona reached out and pryed them apart. Still holding them, Fiona
continued.

"He wanted to divorce you and marry her."

Her ploy hadn't worked. Fiona was reaching her, driving the
message home.

"He was getting ready to dump you, Mrs. Rome, have
what he always dreamed about. His own child, which you couldn't provide him
with."

She felt the impetus of relentlessness. She felt no mercy,
thinking only of Frankie McGuire and her baby.

"No. No!" Mrs. Rome cried.

"You asked for time. Planned and plotted. In Nevada
you got the cyanide. Then you chose your moment. That evening, with your
husband at his staff meeting, you went down to Mrs. McGuire's apartment. She
was already in bed. You had a real heart-to-heart, probably consented to the
divorce, sealed it all with a toast."

"I won't listen to this," the woman protested, struggling
to put her hands back over her ears. Fiona felt her strength. She shook her
head when Cates stepped forward to assist her.

"You murdered her. In cold blood. To protect yourself
and your marriage."

Again the woman shook her head vigorously. Fiona looked
toward Cates, who stood by now, watching patiently, nodding approval. Still the
woman hadn't broken.

"You killed that woman, Mrs. Rome. Admit it. We know
too much now. You're finished."

"Lies. It's all lies," she screamed.

The woman was stonewalling beyond her emotional strength.
Soon her husband would arrive to buttress her resolve. Greg's voice roared
back.

"There were no fingerprints because you erased them,
worked the apartment over, made it sparkle, cleaned every corner with your
usual fanatic zeal."

"Just wait. Charles will know what to do," the
woman said. "You can't trick me."

Fiona had been holding the woman's arms apart and now she
let go.

Human beings, Fiona had learned, worked in patterns with
surprising aberrations from the norm. This was one of those cases. The woman
was holding back. Nothing was working. Or, Fiona thought, was she failing to
see something? an essential ingredient overlooked. She heard movement in the
vicinity of the apartment's front door. Only then did the idea occur to her.

"He told me you did it, Mrs. Rome," Fiona said
calmly, bending over the woman, talking calmly, gently. "And he'll never
forgive you. Never."

Slowly Barbara Rome raised her head, her eyes spitting
black hatred.

"He's a damned liar."

"He's coming in now. Ask him."

A pale and angry Charles Rome confronted her from the
living room entrance. He was out of breath. Behind him was the Eggplant.

"Don't tell them a damned thing, Barbara," he
shouted. He turned to the Eggplant, who looked harassed and angry.

"I demand they be relieved of their duties as of
now," Rome snapped. "They are harassing my wife." He moved
toward his wife and put his arm around her. She shrugged it away, looking at
him fiercely.

"You got something to say?" the Eggplant said,
directing his attention to Fiona and Cates. Although he had the demeanor of an
angry man, his eyes told Fiona that he was dissembling, playacting.

"This man," Fiona said calmly, taking her cue
from the Eggplant's attitude, "was Mrs. McGuire's lover."

"You gave your word, you lying bitch," Rome said
pointing a menacing finger at Fiona. Any pretense of control had vanished.
Again he turned to the Eggplant. "Captain, I want them dismissed. I want
their badges taken away and thrown into the Potomac."

The Eggplant stared at him, but did not respond.

"I can have you chewed up and spit out as well,
captain. I demand that you act. Or would you prefer I speak to the mayor?"

"I told her what you told me, Congressman Rome,"
Fiona interjected pointedly.

"What did you tell her, Charles?" Mrs. Rome
asked.

The congressman seemed suddenly trapped by competing
forces, confused as to who to address next. He turned to the Eggplant.

"I want these people out of my home," he shouted.

"What did you tell her, Charles?" Mrs. Rome
persisted. Rome turned to her impatiently.

"I told her the truth," Rome snapped.

"And what was that?" Mrs. Rome asked.

"That..." he began.

"That you killed her," Fiona said directly to
Mrs. Rome "You poisoned her with the cyanide that you brought from
Nevada."

"What the hell are you talking about?" the
Eggplant pressed. He was growing genuinely angry now. Above all, he hated to be
in the dark, especially at a so-called moment of truth. She pressed forward.

"She brought the cyanide back from Nevada. She owns a
mine there."

"I don't have to stand for this," Rome said,
rushing over to the telephone. "I'm calling the mayor instantly." He
picked up the phone.

"Send him my regards," the Eggplant said.

Rome looked at him for a long moment, then put down the
phone.

"Maybe we can settle this between us," he
muttered. His complexion had turned ashen.

"What did you tell her, Charles?" Mrs. Rome
asked.

"I told you. I told her..." Again he lost his
voice.

"The truth you said," Mrs. Rome snapped.

"He told me you killed her," Fiona said, knowing
she was gambling her career. But she was certain now. Dead certain. The
Eggplant's glance shifted to Rome's face.

"Can't you see what she's doing..." Rome said,
his voice sputtering to silence.

"You told her that it was me?" Barbara Rome
asked.

"Can't you just..." Rome managed to reply, but he
was being defensive now, treading water, on the verge of panic. "Don't say
another damned thing, Barbara. I want a lawyer immediately. I know my rights.
We do not have to say anything. Nothing. Say nothing, Barbara."

It was unraveling now. Fiona, the Eggplant and Cates had
seen it before. Conspirators falling out. There was nothing for it but to let
it happen.

"He was the one," Mrs. Rome said, her eyes
narrowing with hatred.

"I told you to shut your fucking mouth," Rome
screamed, lashing out with his fist, hitting her full force on her nose. The
force of it threw her off balance and she fell against the bookcase and slipped
to the floor bringing a shower of books with her. He started after her, but
Cates caught him before he could strike her again and held him in a hammerlock.
He squirmed and shouted obscenities, but Cates held him fast.

Mrs. Rome began to bleed from the nose.

"You dirty bastard," she cried, the blood
trickling over her mouth onto her spotless clothes. "He did it. He was the
one. It was all his idea."

"Shut your fucking mouth," Rome shouted.

"Cuff the son of a bitch," the Eggplant said. No
sooner ordered than Cates had his cuffs on Rome, who had been forced to his
knees.

"You bastards. I am a member of the Congress of the
United States," he screamed.

"God help the Republic," Cates said. He lifted
Rome's arms behind him until the pain quieted him down.

Still bleeding, but paying no attention to the blood
trickling down to her chin, Barbara Rome stared at her husband with abject
hatred. She had struggled up to her feet and was now looking down at her
husband.

"I caught him," she said between clenched teeth.

"She's crazy," Rome whimpered. Then he looked up
at her and found his strength. "Filthy rich cunt."

She sneered at him, spitting a wad of bloody mucus in his
face.

"My turn now, you animal," she shouted, then
turned to the Eggplant, growing strangely calm.

"I followed him one morning. Wasn't the first time he
had been with other women. But Frankie. Of all people, Frankie. Our so-called
friend. And making her pregnant after all those years..." She paused to
clear her throat of blood. "He begged me to help him, get him off the
hook. He made promises, you see. Promises. He made lots of promises. All I did
was get the cyanide. Everything else was his idea. No way people would find
out. He was sure of that. It was he that laced the wine the morning before.
Sure I had to give him one more chance. You see, he knew she always took a wine
nightcap in bed. Oh, he knew all her intimate secrets. It was disgusting. But I
stood by him, believed his promises." She turned to Fiona. "You're
right about one thing, I did clean the place. I believe in cleanliness."
The condition of her face and dressing gown was an ironic contradiction.
"I must have done a helluva good job. He had it all planned out. Of
course, he was at a staff meeting at the time. His alibi was airtight."

"You goddamned fool," Rome shouted through his
pain. "We had it made. Perfect. I never told her you did it. They tricked
you."

She paused, then turned to him.

"My father warned me about you," she said.
"He told me you were too ambitious, would stop at nothing to gain your
ends, that you would use me." She nodded, as if to herself. "Well,
you used me alright."

"Used you," Rome sneered. "Spoiled
bitch." He shook his head. "What choice did I have? She was going to
expose us, ruin us both."

Fiona felt nothing but disgust for this ruthless poseur.

"What about all that sentimental horseshit,
Rome?" Fiona asked. "The stuff you handed me yesterday about being so
proud of having this child of your own?"

"He told you that?" Mrs. Rome sneered. "All
that bastard was ever interested in was power. Power over everybody." She
smiled suddenly. "Well I unloaded your wagons, didn't I, Charlie?"

Justice triumphant, Fiona sighed. Amazing how much scum
bubbled to the top.

"Read 'em their rights and bring 'em in," the
Eggplant said. While they did that, he used the phone in the den. They could
not hear what he was saying. After awhile, he came back into the room.

"Hizzoner," the Eggplant said. "He was real
pissed this morning." He looked at Rome. "That one raised hell, made
the mayor rush me down here. Threatened he'd take my badge if I didn't move my
ass."

"And now?"

"I just told him where he could put it," the
Eggplant said, his face breaking suddenly into a broad grin. "He said he
was going to spend the day practicing his pucker."

They started to move through the apartment. Cates first
with Rome. Fiona following with his wife. They were docile now, zombielike in
their obedience.

"FitzGerald, Cates," the Eggplant called after
them. They turned. He raised a finger and waved it at them.

"I'm not finished with either of you." The
Eggplant said. "When the Eggplant says he wants something on his desk in
the morning, the Eggplant means it."

"Sorry, chief," Fiona said. "We should have
kept you..." She paused. "Apprahzed."

He nodded and shook his head in what they both knew was
mock exasperation.