Shadows and Lies (15 page)

Becky's eyes lit up. "Do you know where she is?"

"No, but I think I know how to find out. Let me do my job. I want this over as much now as you. If I do find her, I still think we can make a deal. As cold as this sounds, she is certainly very frightened and that will make this easier, assuming I can locate her fast enough."

“It does sound cold, doesn't it? But you can't expect me to have any sympathy for that bitch. Frankly, she got what she had coming. And if she's afraid of being killed and that makes her easier to deal with, then that's all right by me. I know how that sounds but I don't care. That's how it is." Despite the bravado of her words, the fear was back in Becky's face. She fidgeted with her cigarette pack, trying without success to extract another.

"You're working on one already," Powers pointed out lightly.

She looked down at the cigarette burning on the lip of the ashtray. "God, I'm a wreck." Her mind was somewhere else for a long moment before she resumed "You understand, don't you, that this is just too big a scandal? With these dead bodies it's even bigger than when we first spoke. There is
no way
the presidency can survive any of this. I know I've asked a great deal of you, Danny, but I have to ask even more. For my sake, for the country, you must be prepared to do whatever is necessary. You understand?" Her intense eyes bore into his and he understood what she wanted, but wasn’t going to say aloud. "Trust Alta. She can make things happen. If you're mistaken and this woman is dead she can make arrangements to get rid of the body. But if that woman's alive you must make the deal with her, no matter what she thinks or how frightened she is. You understand?"

"And what if it was the President who tried to kill her? We have to consider the possibility that she could be in no mood to deal. Revenge might well be her primary object now. What then?"

Becky's determination increased. "Let's just hope that isn't true, but it only emphasizes what I just said. Do whatever you have to do to keep this bottled up. Just get this done! I don't know how much longer I can stand this." She was on the verge of tears. "I'm relying on you."

Powers removed his eyes from her and said nothing while he finished his coffee.

"You're disappointed in me, aren't you?" she said finally.

"I can only imagine what your life has been like."

“For too long it's been lies and deception. It makes you jaded. Everyone, it seems, is out to use you. I try to do what's right, what I know will be good for this country, but it seems I spend my days in endless power games. These last four years have just slipped away and I know, if we are fortunate enough to be re-elected, I have to work harder at accomplishing something worthwhile before this opportunity is gone." She extinguished her latest cigarette then coughed again into her fist.

"Marei's at least as frightened as she is angry. She wanted money. Now she'll probably want more and assurance that she’s safe." He thought of the subservient woman he had seen on the tape. "She's not going to go public if it can be helped. At least, I don't think so."

Becky rose and he followed. "I'll just trust to you then. I've got to go. I have a lot to do." She forced a smile. "Will you be watching my performance tomorrow night?"

"If at all possible."

"I'll be thinking about you. My one real friend in this lousy world." She kissed him lightly on the lips. "Thank God you're here." She hesitated for a moment then said, "I have another regret, you know."

"What's that?"

"That we never really dated, never really got to know one another that way. We were such great friends as kids. Maybe... Well, maybe it would have been us instead the man I ended up with."

"I doubt you'd have been happy as the wife of a St. Louis cop."

Becky recovered more than a measure of her former self and flashed him her
Time
magazine cover smile. "Honey, if I'd been your wife you wouldn't have
been
a St. Louis cop.”

ELEVEN

The White House, 6:03 p.m
.

The First Lady, dressed in an ivory colored lace bra and matching panties cut high above her thighs, leaned her head back, raised her right arm to her neck and groaned.

"Are you having another spasm, Mrs. Tufts?" Alta asked as she finished with the overnight case and closed the lid.

"God, yes. I wish the doctor could find something that worked and didn't also knock me out. This is no time for it. I'll look like I have my neck in a brace on national television." She turned and faced her assistant. "Could you?"

"Of course. You know that." Alta removed her suit jacket then slipped two small gold rings from her fingers as Becky Tufts lay on the cover of the made bed, stretched herself out luxuriously and moaned lightly.

Alta stepped from her skirt, pulled her slip up to her waist, sat astride the First Lady and with her small hands and delicate fingers worked the muscles of her neck and upper back. Becky groaned in pleasure. "Oh God, yes." Alta kneaded the muscle and tissue beneath her skin with a heavy, deep motion then moved down to her upper back. With scarcely a missed motion she unsnapped the First Lady's bra strap and continued working methodically along her back. A thin layer of perspiration appeared on her upper lip but Alta worked without interruption.

When she reached the panties Becky said, "Slip them off, hon. I need to feel those hands right on my skin." Alta eased the panties down from her rump then off her legs. Her hands dug into the buttocks with fresh vigor. She was sweating now. She moved to the back of Becky's legs and continued methodically.

"You're an angel, dear. An absolute angel." She paused before continuing in a different voice. "I'm worried Danny might be suspicious of you. You never should have gone with him to that woman’s apartment. I told him the reason we needed him was so no one associated publicly with me would be involved and then you foolishly went there. I can't believe you were so stupid! What were you thinking?"

The words were harsh and tears stung Alta's eyes. Her hands faltered for an instant.

"Don't stop!" the First Lady ordered. "Just use your head from now on, understand?"

"I was just..."

"Follow my orders! Don't do so much independent thinking."

"Yes, ma'am."

The First Lady glanced back, smiled and said, "Don't be upset, dear. It's going to be fine just so you do your part. I'm in ecstasy right now, you know. That's thanks to you."

"I'm glad I can help."

Becky cocked an eyebrow. "I think I'll turn over and have you do my front. You know just what I'm in the mood for now, don't you?"

Alta's pink tongue licked her bow shaped lips for just an instant.

Cleveland Park, 6:29 p.m.

Powers stared out of the window for several long minutes. The wind had abated and it was raining lightly, the drops intermixed with a spreading fog. It was too early for the next move. There was an old desk of burnished cherry in the brownstone's paneled office. There Powers made notes on a pad and listed what he believed he knew.              

He wanted to dismiss Shanken's suggestion of outside involvement, but it was clear enough the man was right. The question was: Who and how many groups? Powers couldn't think of any way he could make that determination. Someone had used Arabs, but as Shanken suggested, he couldn't know if that meant anything. If Powers put his mind to it he could come up with a substantial list of people and interests who would want those tapes and the power they represented. But with what little he knew now, it was not possible for him to determine who was involved or if it was just a single group. He drew a question mark.

Had the Arabs been waiting at the apartment, or had they followed him? He didn't like thinking he was so out of touch they'd had no trouble keeping on his tail undetected. Powers readily acknowledged that others were better at this hide-and-seek game he was playing, but he thought he was good enough to spot a tail, and had yet to do so. He had sensed he was being followed but there was nothing he could put his finger on. The experience was uncanny as well as unsettling. The only ones he was certain were keeping an eye on him were Shanken and Lily. He drew another question mark on the page and turned to the next question.

Had the President tried to kill Marei? The implications were staggering since he could not see any way the Chief Executive would ever be held accountable for such an act. Not in these circumstances at least where the legal case lacked hard evidence. Assuming he was correct and the young woman was alive, he frankly doubted Marei would possess the nerve to go public with the accusation, no matter how much she wanted revenge. It would destroy her and what remained of her family.

But such an attempt by the President would explain Karp's involvement in what Powers had been led to believe was a private matter between him and the First Lady. Becky could have brought Powers in with no idea what her husband had done, though she certainly hadn't dismissed the idea earlier and Powers doubted anyone knew her husband or his capabilities better. He wrote another question mark.

Perhaps the President ordered someone to kill Marei. But anyone in whom he'd place that level of confidence surely would not have botched the job. No, the scene Powers observed had little of the professional about it. This seemed much more a crime of passion than one of intellect or unemotional professionalism.

What if it was Karp? Powers found it hard to believe that he would soil his hands but tempers can be a serious problem even for someone with a calm exterior. Given the right circumstances, enough pressure, anything was possible. Still, with a man like Lily at Karp’s disposal, it struck him as improbable that Karp would take such a risk no matter how angry he was. Powers saw little possibility that Lily would fail to finish such a job, and in a more thorough manner than this one.

Which raised another question. What the hell was someone like Lily doing so closely associated with the White House? Becky had seemed bothered by him as well, but not
that
bothered. She'd said nothing about getting rid of the man permanently. And for all of her assurances, Powers wasn't willing to rule Shanken out as the killer, probably using Lily, despite the attack on him and all the double talk about Arabs, Israelis and outside interests.

The gun he'd been carefully carrying since the night before was meager comfort. As he'd told Becky, if someone was cleaning up loose ends why not him as well?

And what about Alta? He wasn't in the habit of suspecting women he'd slept with, not that there'd been any others since Gloria's death, but there was the stark fact that she was the only person he'd told about Dorat, and within hours the young woman was dead. What were his real feelings for Alta? If he was unsuspecting, why had he not let her know he had a weapon?

Powers considered again holing up until this blew over. Given enough time, he'd likely be able to resume his life afterward. Then again, maybe not. Could he ever be certain someone wouldn't come for him in the dead of night and slip a plastic bag over his head?

No, the only way to end this was to see it through. But the irony there was that the more he learned, the more dangerous that knowledge was to him.

What was the point of such thinking? He already knew too much. Last night was proof enough of that. It was no longer a question of helping Becky. He had to see this through for his own survival. And he believed he saw a way to bring the ending this very tonight, certainly no later than tomorrow. Well, it couldn't come too soon. Working the docks along the river shore in St. Louis without backup or living a year with the enemy in deep cover was a piece of cake compared to this.

Powers turned back to his notes and thoughts, liking few of the tentative conclusions he reached. He worked with only the steady clicking of a clock standing in the hallway. As he finally lifted his pen from the paper, he couldn't help thinking about the kindly professor. The man had been at the back of his mind ever since their meeting. He picked up the telephone and punched Dr. Kandari's home number. A young woman answered again. "Is Dr. Kandari in, please?" he asked.

"No. Mr. and Mrs. Kandari have left the country. I am to tell everyone that."

"Where did they go?"

"He didn't say and I have no idea."

Powers considered that for a moment. "I think some people might not believe you. I'd suggest you leave yourself."

The young woman sounded startled. "I didn't think about... Thank you. I agree. I'm leaving now."

There was momentary fumbling at the door as Powers replaced the receiver. He moved to the door and eyed the apartment entrance where he watched Alta came in.

"Hi," she said warmly, as she placed her large black purse on the table by the door and removed her coat. She peered through her water stained glasses at him quizzically. "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Of course. You just caught me thinking." Powers walked over and kissed her. She responded warmly then pushed herself away as if concerned she might lose control.

"That's better," she said with a pixy smile. "Well, I got Mrs. Tufts off. What a chore. It was one thing after another. I'm really concerned she hasn't had time to properly prepare her speech. And she didn't look good. Did you notice?"