Death of an Intern (41 page)

I
watched the agents finishing up. Mr. Brown knelt beside Frankie. “Ms. Grayson, you are under arrest on suspicion of conspiring to murder Janet Rausch, Thalma Williams, and Julia Alvarado.”

“I didn't kill anyone,” she cried. “I didn't…it was Donna. I didn't know!”

“Ms. Grayson, we will read you your rights and sort it all out later. We need to get you to the hospital. Your brother has been notified.”

She moaned. “Oh God, what have I done to him?” “

Roberts.” Mr. Brown signaled to an agent who read Grayson her rights.

I saw Beth with Annika. The two women who had come to Kat's and my aid. This time Annika was aiding her friend.

“Who are you?” I heard Beth ask her.

“FBI.”

Max began helping me to my feet. “Come on, it's time to get you out of here.”

“Talbot was going to kill Beth too,” I said.

I heard Annika say, “I'll explain later. I'll answer all your questions. I promise. I have to go, but Agents Roberts and Judy Samuels will stay with you.”

Mr. Brown called out, “Okay, people, let's wrap it up.”

Max led me toward the front door. I got my bag, and not one to pass up an opportunity, I took out my camera.

“Max, Ms. Wolfe all right?” I heard Mr. Brown ask.

“Yup. Laura, meet Special Agent Reed Davis.”

“I made it, Mr. Brown. I was in on the end.” I barely managed a small smile.

“You sure it wasn't a little closer to your end?” He went back inside. I heard him call out. “We're out of here, folks.”

Beth and Annika were now standing on the sidewalk. Beth was looking into the mole's eyes, the way Jerry looked into mine. “Will I ever see you again?”

“Tomorrow, I promise,” Nielssen answered, hugging her friend.

Arlington Police and several citizens were on the perimeter. I wondered if Shansky was there.

“Good job, people. We're moving out,” Mr. Brown called out, as he and an agent escorted Grayson out the front door and into my camera's flashes. I fired off a series of shots as they walked her to one of their vehicles and an agent secured her inside.

Mr. Brown turned and came over to Max and me. “We're going straight back to headquarters. Max, you and Ms. Wolfe ride with me. The medical team will take Ms. Grayson.”

“My car…”

Max quieted me. “We'll get your car later.”

“I'll debrief you in the car, Ms. Wolfe. I know you have work to do.”

“Thank you, Mr. Brown.”

Epilogue

T
he
Washington Daily Star's
headline the next morning:

 

FBI KILLS SECRET SERVICE AGENT RESPONSIBLE FOR SERIAL MURDERS

A large photo centered above the fold showed two FBI agents escorting Frances “Frankie” Grayson through a doorway. The caption read:

“Frances Grayson, twin sister of Vice President Frederick Grayson, is escorted by FBI agents from an Arlington townhouse early last evening. Grayson was wounded by Secret Service Agent Donna Talbot when Grayson tackled Talbot, who was attempting to shoot Star reporter Laura Wolfe.”

The headline to Laura's article:

KILLINGS OF WILLIAMS, ALVARADO WERE COVER UP FOR JANET RAUSCH MURDER
By Laura Wolfe, Washington Daily Star Staff Reporter ©

“Secret Service Agent Donna Talbot was killed in a shootout with FBI agents last night in the home of a former employee of Vice President Grayson. Talbot had murdered two pregnant women, Thalma Williams and Julia Alvarado, and removed their fetuses in a convoluted effort to cover up her planned murder of Janet Rausch.

Ms. Rausch became pregnant in a tryst with Vice President Grayson and had refused to abort her baby…”

Jerry, Max, Reed Davis—Mr. Brown to me—and I had just sat down at a table in the rooftop Terrace Restaurant atop the Hotel Washington for a celebration lunch. It was a balmy, clear day in May, and Jerry was buying.

I spoke first. “Before we celebrate, there are a couple of things I would like to say. One is that my editor, Avery Lassiter, can't join us, but did tell me that she and I have a 3:00 meeting in our publisher's office.”

Jerry took my hand.

“Early this morning, before I went to the paper, Jerry drove me to the hospital so that I could talk to Frankie Grayson. Mr. Brown—”

Jerry, Max, and Brown snickered.

“You're still Mr. Brown to me, Agent Davis, and thank you for clearing my visit with the Secret Service. The Vice President was also there. Ironically, we'd met in that same hospital a few days earlier visiting Kat Turner. I went in to see Frankie alone. Well, one agent was in the room. Actually it was probably better that way.

“I told Frankie right off that I wasn't there for small talk or to gloat. I was there to thank her for saving my life.” As I said this, tears welled up in my eyes.

Jerry was prepared with tissues.

“I told her that a lesser person would have let Talbot shoot me. She said she never knew Donna was involved with the murders. I told her that Beth and I had each told that to the FBI and MPD.”

After a moment of reflection, Jerry broke the silence. “We decided it would be too much to try and see Kat. I'm sure the Turner family has a lot to deal with. Money and power are insidious little devils when out of control. We are grateful for Ms. Grayson's act on Laura's behalf, but that can't take away from her thoughtless, abusive behavior.

“The Vice President surprised me. He and I talked a little while Laura was in with his sister. He assured me he had no knowledge of Donna's activities. He gave me no inkling he was going to resign.”

“As he said,” I chimed in, “he had no other choice. I was at the White House at 11:00 for his public statement. It was in the East Room where many Presidential news conferences are held. I was assigned to Gerty's usual front row seat. She was ill.”

“…and that is why, at noon tomorrow, I will resign as Vice President of the United States. I visited with my sister in the hospital this morning. She has met with counsel and is fully aware of her situation. Her physical wound will heal. But for those people left behind who have suffered the loss of a loved one, their wounds may never heal. I love my sister. I will do everything in my power, as a brother, to help her. I was not asked to resign, but my hands are not clean here. There is much I must look at within myself, for although I had no knowledge of the plot to kill Janet Rausch, I was the reason why it was done. So, in that way, I was very much involved. I believe for the President to continue the excellent work of this Administration, he should not be weighed down by me. I have let him and others down. For that I am, and will forever be, deeply sorry.”

“Being a widower,” Davis said, “his social improprieties alone wouldn't have forced him out.”

I looked at him. “You underestimate the power of the press. Some personal things people will accept. Not this. Besides, they broke the law.”

Davis smiled. “We're very aware of the power of the press.”

“And today,” Max joined in, “we are very proud of our press.”

“You better be,” I chided.

We all laughed.

“When I walked into the newsroom early this morning, after visiting Frankie, I got the surprise of my life. Alerted by security that I was on my way up, I was greeted with applause from my peers. Lassiter was up on a chair, facing the assembled members of the newsroom.”

“Okay, everybody quiet down. I want to read a message from our publisher. Ahem.

“‘This was the first time in all my years of publishing that a President of the United States called me to say he had full knowledge of a story we were about to run implicating someone in his Administration. The revelations about his Vice President severely distressed him. He had been fully briefed by the Attorney General and had read an advance of our story faxed to him by Editor Lassiter…'”

Lassiter coughed, to clear her throat as a few lighthearted heckles were thrown her way. “All right,” she said. “The publisher's message goes on.

“‘The President added he was also told that Star reporter Laura Wolfe was instrumental in breaking the case. He wanted me to convey his congratulations. I thanked the President for what I knew had to be a very painful call. In lieu of a more ceremonial time, I, too, want to thank Ms. Wolfe for her diligence and superb reporting.' End quote.”

There was a burst of applause. Then Lassiter quieted the crowd. A voice which some thought afterward was Mary's, yelled out, “Where is Gerty when you need her?” This brought a huge roar, and even Lassiter grinned.

She waved the crowd to quiet down again, and then said, “Laura Wolfe, we are very proud of you.” There were more cheers and applause. When Van Peoples handed the boss a laminated copy of today's front page, the newsroom quieted, and Lassiter said, “Laura, this is given to you from every member of this paper with our grateful, journalistic thanks.” There was more cheering and applause when I accepted it.

Max and Davis congratulated me. Jerry, who had been there, leaned over and kissed my cheek.

Davis said. “We're flying Sarah McDowell up from Atlanta. She told agents who interviewed her there that she and Janet had slept with the Vice President and that he had impregnated both her and Janet. Lisa Sherra and Alma Norman will also be interviewed. Laura, you always had our trust, but we couldn't bend our rules.”

“You do know what rules are?” Max asked, looking at me.

“I know one which won't be broken the next several months.”

I reached for Jerry's hand and squeezed it.

Max added. “Your ability to see beyond what was in front of you made this case.”

“I honestly wanted Carr's story. I didn't know the world was beating a path to her door as well. I had enough background and felt I could convince her she was in a tough position with Grayson. It was working until Donna showed up. I taped the conversations from the kitchen. When you hear it, you'll be amazed at how genuine Donna sounded in wanting to help Beth. I was lucky you guys rode in when you did.”

“We, too, experienced luck in finding the van,” Max said. “Talbot went out in one too many storms, and we got the side-view mirror.”

Jerry nudged Max. “Tell them what you told me about Talbot.”

“In the collection of evidence, we found a small tool box that held her gruesome instruments. Two knives: a six-inch wide blade and a scalpel; a syringe that contained traces of male sperm and a dildo to fake the rape, which she did not use on Mrs. Alvarado.

“Ms. Grayson went to see Beth Carr honestly wanting to help her. She told us she and Janet had had a fight over the abortion a week before Ms. Rausch was killed. After the fight, Grayson had told Talbot she was afraid Janet might spill the beans. She had never meant for Janet to be killed.

“At the reception for her parents, Grayson and Talbot overheard Janet tell Kat Turner a friend was taking her to a pregnancy clinic Saturday afternoon. Ms. Grayson hoped it meant an abortion.”

“And all the time Talbot was planning to kill Janet,” I added. “She had already killed Thalma Williams to set up her whole serial-killing scenario.”

“Talbot was Delta-trained, had been in Black-Ops and Special Forces. She was a trained killer,” Davis said.

“Can you imagine how surprised she was,” Jerry joined in, “when Janet led her back to the 2nd Street Clinic?”

“It couldn't have worked out better for her,” Max added. “It threw us way off.”

“Talbot boasted, just before the FBI broke in, that she did it to protect Rick. She was also furious with Frankie for creating the sexual mess-up.”