Senate Cloakroom Cabal (38 page)

“Thank you.”

“Oh sure.”

I heard the door, then Crawford saying, “Thank you, sweetheart.” He got a giggle in response. “Laura?”

“Sorry to bother you at home. Captain Walsh just called. Sherman Rogers is dead.” I gave him the details. “Do you know if Senator Pembroke is still at home?”

“He and Sally left yesterday for Greenbrier, West Virginia, for a couple of days. They had no definite plans after that.”

“Can you reach him?”

“I have his private cell phone. Is there . . . have you heard something?”

“There's a good possibility it was a professional hit on Sherman.” I explained what Reed and Max had told me. “I'm concerned for the Senator . . . his family.”

“Fred?” He asked excitedly.

“If somebody wanted to, they could find him the minute he used his credit card or cell phone.”

“I know the FBI . . . police can, but how . . .”

“Don't underestimate . . . their money can buy many things. They thrive on control. A credit card trace would not be a problem,” I said resolutely.

“Should I call him?”

“They need to check out of wherever they are, and then they should use only cash and public phones. Tell them to cash a check, if they can. Tell him to buy a phone card and to call you at a prearranged time twice a day.”

“This sounds a little cloak-and-dagger . . .”

“Maybe, but it could save their lives.”

89

“E
ditor Lassiter wants you to know,” Mary said on the phone, “that the Carmayan government asked the Organization of American States (OAS) for oncologists, internists, surgeons, nurses, and police support. Our president announced that our Marines would remain to complement the one hundred and fifty peacekeepers other countries would be providing.

“Rias reported to Riley that Rogers Pharmaceuticals employees on Carmaya are quite shaken over Sherman Rogers's mysterious death.

There's more; I'll fax it to you.”

“I can imagine their fear. I'm surprised any are still there.”

“Well, as long as they don't come after you . . .” She hung up.

I called Max and hoped he had gotten over my screw-up. He greeted me pleasantly. I told him I'd gone as far as I could on my Pembroke piece.

He asked if I'd heard about the president's order to keep the Marines on Carmaya. “This is becoming an international incident,” he said. “Reed told me the German government is installing additional police at that Frankfurt hospital.”

“Sherman's death . . . something's out of whack there. He ran the company, but not the drug processing. It feels to me there's another reason why—”

Max interrupted. “Let's look at the usual reasons someone is eliminated. They know too much, screwed up, or backed out.”

“Like Mort. Okay, let's say hypothetically, the same people are behind everything bad that's happened. The pharmas are intent on keeping Tutoxtamen off the market at any price. They learned about Carmaya and planned its destruction. But they did not know about the German operation and believed they were betrayed there.”

“That narrows down the
bribees
,” he said.

“Exactly, except how or where does Sherman Rogers fit that scenario? Rufus McAllister had worked closely with Sherman on C-2 . . . Sherman doesn't make sense.”

“It usually doesn't,” Max said. “The quiet guy next door who is the good neighbor turns out to be a murdering pedophile or serial killer.”

“I understand . . . but that's hard to believe . . . the son would turn against the father.”

“True. Didn't you say Senator Crawford and the counterterrorism agents had developed a theory that the invaders might have been planning to take the island without resistance?”

“That was a scenario that seemed to best fit what they were discovering at that time.”

“Right, so when the insurgents got fired upon, that went against the plan.

The mercenaries felt betrayed and fired rocket grenades and attacked,” Max said, tying it up.

“Senator Crawford told us Maloney had speculated it must have smelled like an ambush—because the insurgents were not expecting heavy machine gun fire. They expected little if any resistance. They regrouped without firing a return shot, then rearmed with heavier weaponry that they would have brought with them to use on an as-needed basis.

“The mole might be somebody high up in Rogers—a person the pharmas expected would know everything about C-2. And when the security force on C-2 turned out to be so well-armed, overwhelming the attackers, the pharmas knew they had been betrayed. Killing the son was payback.”

“That is a plausible scenario,” Max said.

“Maybe Sherman owed the pharmas for something . . . but what? We may have to look back three years, when his father began creating an alternative plan. Maybe Sherman was pressed into a compromising position, something was being held over his head. He went along with the bad guys, except for saying he was heavily fortifying the island.”

“Bingo,” Max said. “That may not be on the nose, but it's close.”

90

R
o, Gavin, Michael, and I agreed to meet at Ro's condo at 7:00. I left Jerry in charge of Tyler, or maybe that should be the other way around. I got there a couple of minutes after the hour and found I was the last to arrive. Ro was very upbeat and gave me a hug. Crawford had just arrived, and Michael had driven over with Ro.

Michael had prepared an agenda. My world was so different from theirs. My agendas were ever-changing. The Carmaya attack was item one on Michael's list. I had thought they would've put the Senate corruption first, but I was happy with the order.

Ro asked if I'd begin.

“FBI SAC Reed Davis gave me an update on the yacht, which I'll get to. First, Sherman Rogers's death: Captain Walsh said hospital security and NYPD scoured the hospital's surveillance tapes and found the killer. An outside camera caught him entering the hospital through the rear service area. Another camera showed him inside the hospital, where he entered a room and emerged wearing a hospital orderly's white outfit, pushing a laundry cart.

“He then used the service elevator and was next seen moving down a deserted corridor, then entering Sherman's room, so identified by hospital security. He came out thirty-seven seconds later and retraced his steps back to where he had changed clothes. He reappeared in his street clothes, but went out through the front lobby. Police consider Sherman's death a homicide.”

Crawford jumped in. “That's good enough for me. What next?”

“Your attack scenario, senator,” Michael said.

“Good. I have something to add to what you just said, Laura. Along with the ambush theory, consider that Maloney had mentioned Sherman as a possible leak. It sounded absurd to me at the time.”

“Captain Walsh thinks the FBI are in a position to make some arrests.”

Ro wondered if it would happen before Kelly announced Pembroke's resignation. Michael offered that Nancy Morris had not said anything about Pembroke when he had talked to her earlier. “Except to say it was very quiet with Senator Pembroke off on a surprise vacation.”

“Laura, with Fred away, would that delay the FBI?” Crawford asked.

“The FBI and MPD are concentrating on more than Horowitz and the conspiracy. They want to nail down the chain of evidence on Mort's and Sherman's murder before arresting anyone.”

Michael asked, “Wouldn't an arrest or two spook Senator Pembroke?”

“Senator Pembroke is expecting to be arrested,” I said, looking to Crawford. “You agree?”

“I believe that's why he's taken Sally off alone. They have a very strong relationship. Once the tears, the anger, and the questions dry up, they'll work together and jointly tell their children,” he said emotionally. “He won't run.”

My great relationship with Jerry flashed through my mind. We were strong. We would be there for the other, no matter what. That thought caught me up. My heart was racing. “I have a brilliant idea,” I said enthusiastically, “but only if you all agree.” They laughed, and I got some fun-poking comments. I felt that relaxed everyone.

“This is very chancy. I bounce things around a lot with Jerry and Max. It may seem harebrained, but you sort of have to take it for what it is. Try not to reject it out of hand.”

Ro smiled. “Is this how you won your Pulitzer?”

“We did a lot of it then, because we had very few hard facts as we have here. Try not to have strong ownership of your ideas, okay? First, I won't do anything with the tapes unless I have full permission from FBI SAC Davis and Captain Walsh. Okay?”

They nodded. I grabbed my water and took a large gulp, letting my preamble sink in. “I propose that the tapes be properly edited and played to Kelly privately.”

Ro was the first. “That is a brilliant idea, Laura. I'm just not sure that it's a good one.”

I laughed. The men followed, but Michael jumped in.

“I'd love for that to happen. But who'd play it?”

“Instinctively I have problems with it,” Crawford said. “Ro and I couldn't do it. Tom would kill the messengers, deny everything, and probably threaten our careers, just for starters.”

I grinned at him. “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? I'm thinking our publisher or managing editor would do it. There is precedence. They could call Kelly and advise him of an impending story. And remember, the FBI and MPD would be fully informed. This would allow them to have their people in place ready to pounce on Horowitz and the others when Kelly arrives at the
Star
. After the tape is played, the FBI would track Kelly, then wait.”

“And this would be done without arresting Fred?” Crawford asked.

“At first, yes. If he has agreed to cooperate fully and will testify, the Justice Department might very well plead him out.”

“He hasn't called me today,” Crawford said. “I guess I should call his cell. When do you think all of this might take place, Laura?”

“Maybe tomorrow. Protection for Senator Pembroke and his family needs to be in place before Kelly has a chance to contact Horowitz. We're dealing with some very nasty people. My hope is that when we cut off the serpent's head, the rest of the snake will die.”

“Being the bully he is, Tom may give up everyone to save himself,” Ro said disdainfully.

I laughed. “Why, Mrs. Dalton, I am surprised.”

We all laughed because of Ro's uncharacteristic statement. The tension-breaker felt good. Crawford agreed that Kelly would go belly-up. That set off a buzz of consequences and ramifications, until Crawford refocused our attention.

“Fred told me Friday that the whip and chairman of Appropriations were two others he knew of firsthand that had taken money. He knew there were others, but didn't give up their names.”

“How will all of this affect your party's leadership?”

Ro answered, “Anticipating that imminent problem, Laura, a small group of us has met. We are prepared to nominate Harold Raines for majority leader. We'll work out the rest after that.”

Crawford liked the idea of playing the tape to Kelly and not arresting Pembroke. Michael was all for it. Knowing Reed and Max, I felt we were on firm enough ground in their evidence-gathering to allow the paper to play our Mort/Pembroke edited tape to Kelly.

“Max already has one of Mort's killers in custody,” I said, “and should have the second one soon. I don't know how the arrests of the senators will take place. After that stink in the House of Representatives about raiding a congressman's office, those of us on the outside feel many in Congress think themselves above the law, present company excepted, of course.”

“I'm afraid, Laura, you are more right than you may know,” Ro said somberly.

91

R
eed and Max had agreed to my plan of playing damning portions of the tapes for the majority leader. The next morning at 9:15, I was sitting with Barton when he called Tom Kelly.

After the amenities, Barton told Kelly about the audio tapes implicating him in alleged illegal activity and that he wanted to give Kelly the opportunity to hear the tapes before the
Star
ran with the story. Kelly must have balked, because Barton firmly assured him the tapes were authentic and could be easily corroborated. Kelly must have eased off. Barton was nodding and asked the senator to pick a time to meet.

“Thank you, Senator. Yes, 2:00 in my office.”

I called Max to tell him, but he hit me with his news without saying hello.

“NYPD knows the name of Sherman's killer. They matched facial recognition photos with the hospital's tape. They sent me the perp's photo, and it matches up with B&G's photos. FBI has put the perp at the top of their most wanted list. NYPD and MPD put out APBs as well.”

I told Max that Kelly agreed to hear the tapes and when. Max said he'd call Reed.

Senator Kelly arrived on time, and Barton played him Mort's tape, edited so that Roanne's voice was not on it. Pembroke's tape was edited down to just his comments about the money and Mort being right. Riley, Lassiter, and I watched the meeting on closed circuit TV in an adjoining room. Kelly appeared calm, very much the actor. I thought Pembroke's comment about Mort's “being right” elicited the only flicker of emotion from him.

When finished, Barton asked if Kelly wanted to say anything, on or off the record. The senator denied the accusations without characterizing the tapes. As he stood to leave, he asked Barton what the
Star
's plans were. Barton declined to say and again asked if Kelly wished to make a statement. He did not.

Max called me later in the day. “FBI agents were on Kelly from the moment he left the paper. He didn't head straight back to his office. At one point, his car pulled over to the curb, Kelly got out and made two calls from a pay phone. Dumb move. The FBI's parabolic microphone picked up his end of the first call, which was a message for Horowitz. That was confirmed later from the pay phone's records. Horowitz hadn't answered because he was in custody at that time.”