The Face of Deception (21 page)

Eve shivered. There has to be another leadhellip; someone else.

Yes, there is. Scott Maren.

Another relative? She grimaced. And is he dead too?

No. Hes Chadbournes personal physician, and hes been out of the country, which probably saved his life. He paused. But Im not sure well be able to use him. I believe hes probably involved in the actual murder.

How?

Opportunity. Two years ago, on the morning of November second, Ben Chadbourne checked into Bethesda for his annual checkup. The body appeared at Donnellis funeral home after midnight on No-vember third.

You think thats when the switch was made?

Logan nodded. It had to have been choreographed perfectly, with one Ben Chadbourne checking in and another checking out. Maren probably gave the real Chadbourne a lethal shot claiming it was vitamin B or something.

So hes their inside man at Bethesda, Eve said slowly. It was possible and diabolically clever, she thought. A physician was in a position of trust and yet dealt with the means for taking life every day. This has to be supposition. Maren would have had to go through all kinds of security checks before he became Chadbournes physician.

Im sure he did, Gil said. But hes highly re-spected and also a close friend of the Presidents. Maren, Chadbourne, and Lisa Chadbourne all went to college together. Either Chadbourne or his wife was probably instrumental in getting him his posi-tion at Bethesda.

Why would he do it? Why would he take that chance?

Logan shrugged. I dont know, but Id bet he did. Thats why Ive been trying to contact him. We might be able to persuade him to implicate Timwick and Lisa Chadbourne.

I cant see that Maren is a lead. Theres no way hed admit he was involved if its true. Hed be a fool.

Maybe. Logan paused. Unless we could con-vince him that hes a dead man if theyre not taken out. When I made up my list of their possible targets for elimination, Maren ranked high on it.

Eve thought about it. Hes the only witness who can link Lisa Chadbourne and Timwick to her hus-bands death.

Right. If theres no such witness and the death is discovered, they could set up a patsy, claim it was a terrorist plot or some other conspiracy. But Maren is real, and if he goes down for the murder, they couldnt be sure he wouldnt talk and bring them down with him. I havent any doubt that from the moment the plan was conceived, they were already planning on killing him.

But will he believe that?

We can try. We dont have much choice. Hes our only hope right now.

You said he was out of the country. Where is he?

Detwil sent him on a goodwill mission to Jordan to inspect the hospitals there. It was high-profile and he was supposedly requested by the king of Jordan. On the surface its an honor that would increase Marens prestige.

And below the surface?

Possibly a setup. Fiske would have found it easy to kill him there and shift the blame to a foreign dis-sident group. I think Bentz and Cadro were killed be-cause they suspected I might be getting too close, but Maren was always a target.

He wont cooperate. For Gods sake, if he killed the President, hes a dead man either way.

Not if we offer him a deal.

You dont have authority to offer him She studied his face. What are you thinking?

That I want Detwil and Lisa Chadbourne out of the White House, and I dont care how I do it. He paused. Even if it means helping Maren set himself up somewhere with a fat bank account.

Make a deal with a murderer?

What if we cant get DNA proof? Can you sug-gest anything else?

She was too confused to think clearly about any-thing at the moment. Whats to stop Fiske from still going to Jordan after Maren?

The situation has changed. They need Maren, and they wont kill him until his usefulness is ended. He smiled. Remember, they took my body to Bethesda. Theyre going to want Maren there to cover up. He was supposed to come back day after tomorrow, but now hell be winging his way home at warp speed. While we go to Emory to see Kessler, Gils going to Bethesda and try to gather Maren in.

How is Gil going to keep from being gathered in himself? Theyre bound to be on watch for us.

Through the magic of disguise, Gil said. Im going to dress up as a female nurse. He tilted his head. A blonde, I think. With great boobs.

What?

Just joking. Dont worry, Ill handle it.

She was already worried. She didnt want any harm to come to him. Gil might have been involved in the plot to deceive her, but he was a likable rascal.

And, dear Christ, there had been too many deaths already. People she had never met were dying. She seemed to be in the middle of a circle of ever-widening ripples of destruction. Thank God, those ripples hadnt touched anyone close to her yet.

And they mustnt touch them.

Youre talking as if you can move around without any problems, she pointed out. What about money? What about ID? Credit cards can be traced and

Logan took care of that. He had me buy a few handy-dandy phony drivers licenses on the black market. Youre Bridget Reilly. I thought your red hair looked like you might be of Irish descent. The picture is very satisfactorily blurred and

My picture? She turned to Logan. You got a phony drivers license for me?

He shrugged. I had to be prepared. I had Gil get IDs for everyone who was at Barrett House. I thought it might come down to this.

Damn him. He had not only known the trouble he was involving her in, he had planned on it. And I suppose you had Gil set up phony credit cards for all of us too?

He nodded. But I brought enough cash to see us through most situations.

Youre absolutely incredible.

I had to be prepared, he repeated.

She had to get out of the room, or shed do some-thing violent.

Call Margaret. She headed for the bedroom. Im going to phone my mother and tell her to be ready to go.

Her phone will be monitored, you know.

Im not an idiot. I know theyll be watching my mother. Ill be careful, but Ive got to warn her. Ill use my digital phone and call her on hers.

She has a digital too?

Of course. Joe got them for us. He says there are all kinds of creeps out there listening in on cellulars. Digitals are almost foolproof.

I should have known it was the ubiquitous Mr. Quinn, Logan murmured. Is there anything he doesnt think of?

No, hes a good friend and he keeps us safe. She gave him a cool glance over her shoulder. I can guess why you wouldnt understand that concept.

THIRTEEN

Sandra had seen the morning news, and it took Eve ten minutes to get past her exclamations of relief and deflect her barrage of questions to tell her that Mar-garet was coming.

What do you mean, I have to leave? Sandra said. Whats going on, Eve?

Nothing good. I cant talk about it.

Is John Logan really dead?

No. Look, Mom, its going to be nasty, and until I get it cleaned up, I want you somewhere safe and out of public view.

Safe? Im safe here. Joe stops by every other day, and that black and white is parked out in front every night.

Mom hellip; She had to find a way of convincing her. Do what I ask. Please. Its bad. Trust me. Im scared of what may happen.

Scared? Sandra was silent. I believe you are scared. I havent seen you act like this since Fraser She broke off and then said, I want to see you.

I cant come there. It would only endanger you.

What are you mixed up in, Eve?

I cant tell you that either. Will you do this for me?

I have a job. I just cant run off

Theyll kill you, she said baldly. Or theyll use you to kill me. Is that what you want? For Gods sake, tell the office you have a family emergency. Believe me, its true.

Kill you, Sandra repeated, and for the first time Eve heard fear in her voice. Im going to call Joe.

Im going to call him myself. But he may not be able to help you. Dont leave the house and dont open the door to anyone but the person I send after you.

And who is that?

Christ, what if they found a way to monitor the conversation? She couldnt have Margaret a target. Theyll have ID. Ill fax a picture No, her fax machine had been destroyed along with almost everything else in the lab, and besides, a fax might not be safe. Ill get a photo and information to you somehow. She paused. And, Mom, dont go any-where with anyone else, no matter what kind of ID they show you. Not the police, not the FBI or Secret Service. No one.

When will this person be here?

I dont know. Soon. I dont even know how theyll contact you. They may not want to come to the house. Just do what they say. Okay?

Im an adult, Eve. I dont go blindly where Im led. God knows, I did enough of that when I was growing up. She sighed. Okay, okay, Ill go along with this. But I wish to hell youd never heard of John Logan.

Me too, Mom. Me too.

And you take care of yourself.

I will. She paused and then said impulsively, I love you.

My God, now I am scared. You dont get sappy very often. She said awkwardly, I love you too, Eve. She quickly hung up the phone.

Eve pressed the end button on her phone. Ex-pressing affection was still never easy for either of them. There had been too many years of noncommu-nication during Eves childhood.

But Sandra knew she loved her. She didnt have to say it.

She braced herself. Now Joe.

She quickly dialed Joes private digital phone number.

He picked up immediately.

Joe?

A silence, and then his voice came low, hard. What the hell are you up to?

Can you talk? Is there anyone around?

Im walking out to the parking lot. Why didnt you call me? Why the hell didnt you return

I was busy. Stop yelling at me.

Im not yelling. It was true, but every word was laden with anger. I could strangle you.

You may have to stand in line.

Is that supposed to be funny?

No. Im in trouble, Joe.

Thats pretty clear. Did you kill Logan?

Her hand tightened on the receiver. What?

Did you kill him?

Are you nuts?

Answer me. Look, if you did it, I know it was self-defense, but I have to know so I can fix it.

Why would you think Of course I didnt kill him. Hes not dead. Its all a lie.

Silence. Then Id say youre in very deep shit. Have you seen CNN?

About Barrett House burning? Yes, I know about that.

No, the latest bulletin. The one that mentions you as a suspect.

Me?

Novak, that hotshot lawyer of Logans, was in-terviewed, and he said you were staying with Logan at Barrett House. He paused. He said you were Logans lover and he had been concerned about the relationship because you were unbalanced.

Son of a bitch.

They know about Lakewood, Eve.

She stiffened. How could they know? How could anyone know? You buried the records. You promised me that I

I dont know how they found out. I thought I had it covered.

You should have been more Christ, she was blaming Joe for something that wasnt even his re-sponsibility. They mentioned Lakewood?

Yes. He paused. I told you that there was no reason to hide it. Theres nothing wrong about

It seems there is reason.

Joe cursed softly. Tell me where you are. Ill come to you.

She tried to gather her wits. I shouldnt see you. As long as youre not involved youll be

Tell me. I am involved. Tell me or Ill hunt you down. Im damn good at hunting.

She knew better than anyone else how deter-mined Joe could be. Im coming to Atlanta. I need to see Kessler. Ill meet you at the Hardees parking lot out in Dekalb at ten tomorrow morning. Thats about six blocks from Emory.

Right. He didnt speak for several seconds. How bad is it, Eve?

Big-time. It couldnt be any worse.

Sure it could. You couldnt have me to help fix it.

She smiled shakily. Thats true. That would make it worse. She thought of something. Will you dig up a picture of Logans assistant, Margaret Wilson, and run it over to my mother? Tell her that Margaret is the one whos going to help her.

Help her do what?

Shes going to see that Mom gets to somewhere safe.

Im taking care of her. There was an edge to his tone. You dont need any other help.

Dont do this to me, Joe. I need all the help I can get. Will you get the picture to her?

Of course Ill do it. But youd better have a damn good reason for not trusting me.

I do trust Maybe hed understand when she explained everything to him. She thought of some-thing else. And will you find a picture of James Timwick and a man called Albert Fiske, who works for him? Bring it with you tomorrow.