D.C. Dead (14 page)

“I’m telling you only what Brix told me. It wasn’t always in the White House, he said. After all, Mimi worked, and he did have his own house. There is a garage, and someone could drive right in and enter the house unseen.”

“How very convenient,” Stone said.

“On other occasions they used the White House family quarters.”

Stone sat up in bed and faced her. “Are you telling me he was having an affair with . . .”

“With Katharine Rule Lee? Possibly, he wouldn’t say. But the family quarters were sometimes available when the president was traveling, or just in the daytime, and Brix had full access, keys and everything. I mean, not in the presidential bed, but there are a number of bedrooms in the quarters, and they are usually unused. Brix knew the schedules of the cleaners, and the Secret Service wouldn’t enter the quarters without his permission. I think that the apparent impossibility of what he was doing was a big thrill for him.”

“I can see how it could be,” Stone said. “As far as you know, did anyone at the White House suspect?”

“He told me once that there was someone who had seemed to know something, but he couldn’t be sure. So he just continued as he had before.”

“Did he mention a name?”

“No, Brix was a very discreet man.”

“Did Mimi know about these other women?”

“I think she preferred not to know. If Mimi had been a more attentive and adventurous wife, none of this would ever have happened. I think she viewed sex, perhaps for religious reasons, as a means of procreation and little else. He told me once that she was shocked when he tried to give her cunnilingus, and disgusted by the thought of giving him fellatio. She wouldn’t touch his cock with her hand.” She glanced at the bedside clock.

“Perhaps I’d better go,” Stone said.

“I do have an appointment at five o‘clock, and God knows, after what we’ve been doing, I need a nap.”

Stone got into his clothes, and she walked him to the elevator, still nude. “I’m in New York once, sometimes twice a month,” she said. “I have an apartment at the Carlyle Hotel. Would you like to see me there sometime?”

“I would be delighted,” Stone said. He gave her his card.

“No attachments, no entanglements. I prefer it that way,” she said.

“I understand. That’s fine with me.”

They kissed, then he got onto the elevator. His last image of her was her standing, naked and relaxed, blowing him a kiss.

“Dino is not going to believe this,” Stone said aloud to himself. “Not any of it.”

26

STONE FOUND ="3lliv>

“The Yankees, of course,” Dino said.

“You want to wait until it’s over before I tell you what happened?”

Dino muted the TV. “You ended up in the sack with her, didn’t you?”

“I don’t like your accusatory tone,” Stone said, “and a gentleman would never answer that question.”

“You just did,” Dino said.

“Never mind that. Milly had a lot to say, and I think you’ll find it interesting.”

“There was time for talking?” Dino asked “You’re losing your touch.”

“You want to hear this, or you want to watch the fucking ball game?”

Dino switched off the TV. “All right, I’m all ears.”

“First of all, she didn’t fall on hard times after her husband’s death—quite the contrary. And she doesn’t take money from men.”

“And you bought it?”

“She has a list of lovers, all or most of them married, but she’s not a hooker—she just likes sex.”

“She told you that?”

“No names, except the guy we saw yesterday, and of course Brix Kendrick. He was her first lover after her husband died.”

“Did anything she say have anything to do with why we’re here, or are we just gossiping?”

“Dino, she says that Brix told her he had a lover in the White House.”

“Anybody we know?”

“He wouldn’t give her the name, but they were doing it in the White House.”

“That’s impossible.”

Stone explained why it wasn’t.

“And you think it’s the first lady?”

“No, of course not, even though Milly said that was a possibility.”

“Why don’t we go back to New York and let Milly solve this?” Dino asked.

“You’re not paying attention, Dino. Now we have a motive for the murder.”

“I must have missed that.”

“Jealousy. Brix’s lover was jealous of his wife, or she wanted her out of the way so she’d have a clear shot at Brix.”

“Sounds like she had already hit the bull’s-eye,” Dino pointed out.

“The bull’s-eye was to have Brix all to herself.”

“I can’t say I like your theory all that much.”

“Have you got a better one? Have you got a theory at all?”

“Yeah, I think Brix had a scene with his wife, offed her, then, out of remorse, offed himself.”

“No,” Stone said, “Brix left ahead of Mimi—they were in separate cars, remember, and when he heard she was dead he knew who had done it. His remorse was that his affair led to his wife’s death.”

“Why do you always like the complicated motives?” Dino asked. “What’s wrong with s “No, ofsimple?”

“This is just one step removed from simple,” Stone said. “His lover saw Mimi leave the tennis court. Maybe there was a confrontation, words were exchanged, names called. Mimi turned to leave, and the lover grabbed the first thing handy—the brick—and hit her with it or threw it at her.”

“Having first paused to kiss the brick, leaving her Pagan Spring lipstick on it,” Dino said. “I like that part.”

“All right, I don’t know how the lipstick got on the brick,” Stone admitted. “I’ll give you that one.”

“Thanks, I feel so much better.”

“Oh, come on, you know this scenario works.”

“So tell me, how are we better off than before you and Milly did the deed?”

“We’re better off because we know who to talk to now,” Stone replied.

“We do? I missed another one.”

“The maids who clean the family quarters.”

“You’re saying Brix was using the family quarters to fuck his girlfriend?”

“I explained that, being in charge of the house, he had all the keys, and he knew the maids’ cleaning schedule.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.”

“Look, Dino, our backs are against the wall here. We can either send the president and first lady a nice note accepting the FBI report and go home, or we can run down this lead. What’s it going to be?”

“I think ‘lead’ is too strong a term,” Dino said, “but what the hell? You talk to the maids, I’ll listen.
Then
we’ll write the Lees a nice note and go home.”

“Okay, I’ll set it up with the White House,” Stone said. “And, Dino, you cannot roll over in bed and tell Shelley about it. She has a vested interest in protecting the FBI in all this and she could screw it up for us.”

“You think she’d do that?” Dino asked.

“Inadvertently, maybe, but she might mention it to Kerry Smith, and that would not be good.”

“What about you, pal? You going to roll over in bed and tell Holly about this?”

“We’re working for Holly, sort of,” Stone pointed out. “God knows, we’ve had little else to tell her.”

“You seeing her tonight?”

“Yes. Here.”

“Then lock your door. I’m seeing Shelley here, too.”

“Will do.”

“Gee, I hope you won’t be all worn out after your matinee,” Dino said.