Murder on Embassy Row (36 page)

“How did Trottier sound?” Lake asked.

“Annoyed at first, but he came around. Paul was right. We shouldn’t judge him too harshly. He was just doing his job, too, like…” They heard what sounded like an automobile in the driveway.

“He’s here,” Morizio said.

“I think it was on the street,” Lake said. She looked at her watch. It’s only been forty minutes. He said an hour.”

“I told him to open the door and yell.” He looked at Hafez, said, “The person who’s coming here is the chief of police for Washington, our boss, Chief Trottier. We’ll tell him the story, show him what I found when I was out and go from there. You’ve trusted us all along, Hafez, and I want you to keep doing it. We have as
much to gain as you do, and going through the proper channels is the only way. We all stand together. In some ways this has worked out better than we ever hoped for. We’ll take it a step at a time and…”

“Sal.”

Morizio looked at Lake, who was looking through the door into the hall. A bouncing flashlight beam came closer, and there were heavy footsteps. Then, the large, dark figure of a man filled the doorway.

“Thorpe,” Morizio said, sheltering his eyes from the light the Englishman trained on him.

“Sal,” Thorpe said. “Happy Thanksgiving. It looks as though you’ve feasted.”

“Goddamn it,” Morizio said, taking a step toward him. “What the hell are…” He stopped when he saw the .357 Magnum in Thorpe’s other hand.

“The three of you move closer to the fireplace and raise your hands. Do it now!”

“You’re crazy, Thorpe,” Morizio said as he started to comply with the order. “I’ve already talked to Chief Trottier and…” Wasted, empty words, he knew, and the awareness of it brought a stinging bile to his throat. So did the sudden, sinking realization that in all the excitement and confusion of the past few hours he’d never thought about having a tape recorder rolling. Lake? Had she thought of it? He knew she hadn’t. He wanted to call time out, to correct the lapse in professionalism. “Jesus,” he muttered.

“Why this?” Hafez asked Morizio as he stood with his back to the fire, his hands above his head. Morizio didn’t have any answers. He was trying to think, to calm down, to analyze the situation they were in and to make a sound judgment how to handle it. His attempt at reason was short-lived, however. He’d been looking at Thorpe, and at the weapon in his hand, but his eyes
shifted to the conference table where he’d laid Paul Pringle’s letter after showing it to Lake. Thorpe saw it too, and quickly scooped it up.

“That’s my property,” Morizio said.

Thorpe laughed as he scanned the letter in the light of a flashlight on the table.

“That’s mine,” Morizio shouted. He moved toward Thorpe. The sound of the magnum’s discharge reverberated off the tile walls in a deafening explosion. The shell hit above the fireplace, sending wood raining down on Lake and Hafez.

“The next one finds the heart,” Thorpe said casually. He waved the gun. “Move,” he said, “that way.”

Morizio stepped back into line with Hafez and Lake, and they stepped sideways, away from the hearth and to the nearest long wall. Thorpe crumpled up Pringle’s letter, stepped near the fireplace and tossed it into the flames. They shot up as they licked away at the new fuel, and in seconds the charred remains of the letter were part of the other ashes.

“You bastard,” Morizio said to Thorpe, reaching for Connie’s hand.

“Don’t do anything foolish,” Thorpe said.

“What do you think, Thorpe, that you destroyed the only copy?” Morizio said, forcing a laugh into his voice. “Copies have gone to the appropriate people. You’re not as smart as you think you are.

“I’ll have to take that chance, won’t I?”

“We know everything, Thorpe,” Morizio said, “about you and your murders—Ambassador James, Paul Pringle, others. You’re scum, the game’s over.”

“I quite agree,” Thorpe said. “So here we have the infamous Nuri Hafez. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, young man. Obviously, reports of your demise were exaggerated.” He laughed. “Come forward.
Let me see you. Come, come, toward the fireplace. Let the light shine on your face.”

Hafez looked at Morizio, and Morizio could feel emotion from the young man, fear, confusion, as though he were asking Morizio for guidance. Morizio didn’t have any, for Hafez or for himself.

Hafez did as instructed by Thorpe, and flames from the fireplace played across his young, handsome face, catching his eyes for split seconds, dancing away, black curls glistening, then falling into momentary shadow as the eyes caught the light again.

“You’ve done a fine job, Sal,” Thorpe said.

“Meaning?”

“You’ve broken all the rules, defied all authority, and yet have come up with a fugitive of international repute, a brutal murderer of an esteemed world diplomat and of a loyal security agent named Pringle. Obviously, your brief holiday from duty is over. In fact, I can guarantee it.”

“Wrong, Thorpe,” Connie said. “Hafez didn’t kill anyone and you know it. You’re the one, perhaps for some vague nationalistic aim, but the killer nonetheless.”

“You’re very sweet,” Thorpe said, smiling. “What a shame that you couldn’t have dissuaded your lover here to take another tack, to honor tradition and higher authority, to…” He said it to Morizio, his smile broadening “…to take the highway instead of those treacherous winding country roads he seems so fond of. Pity. We could have forged a wonderful friendship, the three of us, lunches together, good conversation, sparkling moments of laughter and companionship between chums. I would have liked that. I don’t have much of it, unfortunately, because it seems the world is full of people like you, knights on their white horses, veins
filled with what they consider honor and integrity, all that bloody nonsense that gets in the way.”

“Of what?” Morizio asked.

“Of life. Those misguided souls do not usually live long, Sal. Their purified blood runs before its time.”

“You’re big on threats, Thorpe.”

“And quite good at carrying them out. It’s my profession.”

“My brother,” Hafez said softly.

Thorpe raised his eyebrows. “What about your… deceased brother?”

“You killed him.”

“No, of course not. There are others in this world who are able to separate ideals from practical actions. Your brother lost his head, as it were, because our friends in Iran understood the necessity of not only punishing him for his crimes against the state, but for telling the world it was you. We needed that to give us time to find you and to make sure
you
were punished.”

“The punishment’s over,” Lake said. “I don’t know about large, international matters, but I do know that even governments must stand accountable for their actions.”

A smile from Thorpe, then a belch which he covered with his hand. “Part of your sweet nature, Miss Lake, is your wonderful naiveté. I like that in a woman.”

“If I had a gun,” Morizio said, “I’d…”

“But you don’t,” said Thorpe. “I do, and…”

Lake and Morizio looked at each other. Morizio said, “And what, Thorpe?”

“And it is time for the guilty to pay.”

The flashlight on the table was aimed at Nuri Hafez’s chest and face. Thorpe raised the gun, held it with both hands, and squeezed the trigger. Again, the room exploded with sound as the bullet left the barrel and struck
Hafez squarely between the eyes. His face disappeared; bright red blood burst over the room like a huge firework in a black sky on the Fourth of July, pellets of crimson splattering Morizio and Lake’s faces, tiny pieces of bone stinging them like red ants.

Another discharge before Hafez’s faceless body fell, this one opening a gaping hole in his chest and driving him back into the fire.

Lake’s scream was as loud as the revolver’s discharge. She fell toward Morizio, who grabbed her and held her up. He slumped back against the wall, his head hitting the red and blue tiles.

Everything was still, except for the lingering vibrations of explosion and scream, and a sickening change in the sound from the fireplace as Hafez’s hair and skin ignited, accompanied by a pungent odor.

“I’ll call the police,” Thorpe said. “I thought Mr. Hafez was about to draw a weapon. Pity. Much might have been learned from questioning him. Good job, Sal. You, too, Miss Lake. You’ll undoubtedly be commended by your chief.” He went to the fireplace and dragged Hafez out by his legs. “It’s over,” he said, “finally over.” He looked to where Morizio and Lake leaned against each other. “You’ve been splendid throughout this,” he said. “Bloody splendid.” He belched and left them alone.

THE SEATTLE TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 24.

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