D.C. Dead sb-22

by Stuart Woods

  Bacon’s eyes opened, and he did not move. Teddy plunged the short needle of the hypodermic into his carotid artery and pressed the plunger, then pulled it out and set it on the bedside table. This would only take a minute, he knew. When he had been at the CIA, they had tested the drug, first on animals, then on volunteers.

  “It’s going to feel nice,” Teddy said. “You’ll feel warm all over, and you’ll be able to see and hear, but you won’t be able to move or speak. Don’t worry, it won’t kill you.” He pressed his fingers against the artery and felt for the pulse. He could feel its rapidity, then it slowed. It was done.

  “You just lie quietly there for a minute,” Teddy said. “I’ll be ready for you shortly.” He left the paralyzed man and went into the bathroom. He switched on the light and looked around, checked the medicine cabinet. Then he saw what he wanted, standing in a drinking glass on top of the sink. He walked to the bathtub, closed the drain, and turned on the water, testing the warmth. He wanted it hot. Then he returned to the bedroom.

  Bacon’s body was twitching a little as he tried and failed to move. Teddy removed the plastic cap from his pocket, capped the needle, and put the hypodermic into his pocket. Then he pulled back the covers?ied, exposing Bacon’s naked body, then took the man’s head in his hands and dragged him from the bed onto the floor. He took hold of Bacon’s wrists and dragged him into the bathroom, then he muscled the inert form into the bathtub.

  “You’re going to have a nice hot bath,” Teddy said, “then you’re going to die.”

  Bacon’s eyes swiveled and looked at him, seeming to open wider. “Lauren never knew what hit her when you fired that shot,” Teddy said, “but you’re going to know everything.” He went to the sink and took the straight razor from the glass on the sink. He had planned to use a kitchen knife, but this was much better. He returned to the bathtub and, in turn, made an incision in each of Bacon’s wrists, parallel with the forearm, then he dropped the hands back into the water.

  “This is how you commit suicide with a razor,” Teddy said. “You don’t cut across the wrist, but along it. You bleed a lot more that way. Now, you have a couple of minutes before you lose consciousness. Use it to think about the stupid thing you did. Use it to think about that beautiful young woman whose life you took. Your autopsy will show that your cause of death was suicide by blood loss. They’ll never think to do a tox screen, and even if they do, it’s very unlikely that they’ll detect the drug I gave you. No one will ever know why you died but me, and whoever I choose to tell about it.

  “Are you a Christian, Todd? I hope so, because then you’ll believe me when I tell you that you will wake up in hell, because you committed the sin of murder.”

  Teddy sat by the tub for another couple of minutes, periodically checking Bacon’s pulse. Finally, his heart stopped. His body appeared to be afloat in a bathtub of tomato soup.

  Teddy switched off the bathroom light and went back into the bedroom, scuffing the carpet to remove any sign of the body being dragged across the floor. He let himself out of the house, put on his shoes and booties, and walked back to the Toyota.

  Half an hour later, Teddy pulled into the parking lot at Manassas Airport, still wearing his gloves and booties. He locked the Toyota and went inside through the back door, locking it behind him. He hung the car keys on the board at the rental counter, let himself out the front door onto the ramp, and locked the door behind him.

  Back in the airplane, he retrieved his Apple AirBook. He had a strong signal from the FBO’s wireless network. He logged on to the CIA mainframe and sent a single e-mail, then he put away the computer, started the airplane, taxied to the runway, and took off to the south, not turning on his transponder. He flew low until he was sure he was out of Washington Center’s airspace, then he climbed to eight thousand feet, set the autopilot, and entered the code AVL into the GPS. He pressed the DIRECT button on the GPS, then the NAV button on the autopilot, and let it fly him toward Asheville Regional Airport, in North Carolina.

  Now, flying through the smooth night air, the starry sky above him, the green landscape below, he allowed himself to weep for Lauren Cade, and what he had lost.

  56

  Holly woke up at six and slipped out of bed, leaving Stone still dead to the world. She showered and put on fresh clothes, stuffed the other things she had left at the hotel during Stone’s stay into her bag, then she tiptoed out of the suite and went down to her car.

  The drive to Langley went? hotel quickly, since rush hour was not in full force, and back in her office she found a pastry in the kitchenette she shared with Lance Cabot, then made some coffee.

  She took breakfast to her desk, switched on her computer, and while it booted, she shuffled through the mess in her in-box. She had some catching up to do, she reckoned, and she had to go and see the director at nine.

  She had just stuffed a large bite of cheese Danish into her mouth when a message slowly materialized on her screen. This was not an ordinary e-mail, and she wondered who had sent it. She did not wonder for long.

  Last night, your minion Todd Bacon, while trying to murder me, instead killed Lauren Cade, who was your friend. Apparently conscience-stricken, Bacon took his own life in the wee hours of this morning.

  I will pay you the compliment of believing that you have honored our arrangement, that the attempt on my life was an act of Bacon’s own devising, without reference to you or Cabot, and I will conduct myself accordingly. Should you wish to reach me again, place an ad in the Arts section of the national edition of the New York Times, addressed to Wanderer.

  Good luck to you.

  Holly attempted to print the message, but when she touched a key, it gradually disintegrated and disappeared from the screen.

  Lance looked in, his briefcase still in his hand. “Good morning.”

  Holly was still staring at the screen and did not respond.

  Lance stepped into the room, set down his briefcase, and took a seat across from her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I’ve just had a communication from Teddy Fay,” she replied. “I tried to print it, but it disappeared.”

  “And what did he have to say for himself?”

  “Apparently, Todd Bacon went off the reservation last night and went after Teddy. He didn’t get him, but, as a result, Lauren Cade was collateral damage.”

  “Good God,” Lance said, his face darkening. “Is Teddy going on another rampage?”

  “No, he said he didn’t blame you or me, but I think he killed Todd and made it look like a suicide.”

  “Thank heaven for small favors. Find out if he was telling the truth.” Lance picked up his briefcase and went to his own office.

  Holly looked up Todd Bacon’s home number and called it. She got an answering machine. She tried his office extension and got voice mail. Maybe he was on his way in. It was nearly nine, so she went to the director’s office and was shown in immediately.

  “Thank you for coming, Holly,” Kate Lee said, motioning her to a chair.

  Holly sat down and prepared herself for a rebuke.

  “I wanted to tell you that I think your idea of bringing Stone and Dino down here was exactly the right thing to do.”

  Holly let out the breath she had been holding.

  “Frankly, I had expected them to conclude that Brix murdered his wife before killing himself. I am astonished, of course, to see how this has played out, but I don’t want you to think that yo?ludu are in any way responsible for the events following Stone’s and Dino’s arrival.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Holly replied.

  “I am, of course, going to be leaving the Agency next year, when Will’s term ends. I will resign.”

  “I’ll be sorry to see you leave,” Holly said.

  Kate smiled. “You can be sure that Lance is already preparing the ground for a shot at this chair, after I go.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Holly said.

  “I don’t know if he’ll get it. That w
ill be up to a new president, but if he does, I’m sure he’ll bring you up here with him. If he doesn’t, I want you to know that your personnel file will contain the highest possible personal recommendation from me, and I will make a few phone calls, too.”

  “That’s very kind of you, ma’am, and I appreciate it.”

  “The president has asked me to tell you that he is very grateful for your work over the past days, and that you may always use him as a reference, whatever you may decide to do. That goes for me, as well.”

  “Thank you, Director, and please convey my gratitude to the president,” Holly said.

  “Okay, get back to work, girl.” Kate opened a file on her desk and began to read.

  Holly went back to her office, and Lance buzzed her to come into his office. “Where have you been?” he asked.

  “The director asked me to come up to see her.”

  “And?”

  “She thanked me for bringing Stone and Dino down from New York.”

  “That’s all?”

  “She said nice things about me.”

  “What about me?”

  “She said you’ve probably already begun to do the groundwork for getting her job when she goes.”

  Lance chuckled. “She knows me well. I have planted the idea in a few places on Capitol Hill, and with a couple of likely candidates for president. And if I get it, I’ll want you with me.”

  “Thank you, Lance.”

  “Now, what are we going to do about Todd Bacon?”

  “I think we should do nothing,” Holly said.

  “Don’t you want to know if he’s dead?”

  “Yes, but I’m not going to ask. If he is, he’ll be discovered in due course. Nobody in this building doesn’t not show up for work unless he’s called in. If Todd doesn’t show, someone will find out why.”

  “All right, let that sleeping dog lie,” Lance said.

  Holly went back to her office, and her phone was ringing. “Hello?”

  “It’s Stone. We’re out of here. Dino and I are flying directly to New Haven for Peter’s opening tonight.”

  “I’d send him a telegram if there were still such a thing,” Holly said. “Tell him I said break a leg.”

  “Will do. What should I do with the car?”

  “Leave it at the FBO at Manassas, with the keys under the seat. It will be picked up.”

  “Thank you for such good company while we’ve been here,” Stone said.

  “We both needed that, I think.”

  “Coming to New York anytime soon?”

  “You’ll be the first to know.”

  “Take care, then.”

  They said good-bye and hung up.

  Holly was working at her desk just before lunch when her phone rang. “Yes?”

  “It’s Tank Wheeler, in Tech Services.”

  “Morning, Tank. What can I do for you?”

  “Todd Bacon is dead.”

  Holly took a long beat before answering. “How?”

  “When he didn’t come in this morning and didn’t call, I sent some people over to his place. They broke in and found him in the bathtub with his wrists slit.”

  “Did Todd seem suicidal to you?”

  “Nope. He seemed to be enjoying his work. He had something on his mind, though-he had been preoccupied for a few days.”

  “Have you any reason to believe it wasn’t a suicide?”

  “My people had a look around, but there was no evidence of foul play. One odd thing, though: they found a sniper’s rifle in a briefcase in Todd’s car that he had checked out of the weapons vault yesterday. I’ve no idea why.”

  Holly did not comment on that. “Have you called the local police?”

  “I’m about to do that right now. I wanted to tell you first.”

  “Play it by the book,” she said, “except for the sniper’s rifle. You can put that back where it belongs and deal with the written record.”

  “I have already done so.”

  “We’ll want our own pathologist at the autopsy.”

  “Of course. We’ll track the investigation every step of the way and keep the Agency out of the papers.”

  “Let me know the results,” Holly said. “And thanks, Tank.” She hung up and went into Lance’s office.

  He looked up from his desk. “Heard anything?”

  “Tank Wheeler just called. When Todd didn’t show up for work, he sent some people out there. They found him in the bathtub, bled out. There was an Agency sniper’s rifle in his car.”

  “I see.”

  “I told Tank to call the police and go by our playbook for such an event. We’ll be represented at the autopsy, and of course we’ll see the police report. Tank has returned the rifle to the vault and adjusted the record.”

  “And the Agency will be kept out of it?”

  “Of course.”

  “I guess I’d better start thinking of a replacement for Todd in Tech Services.”

  “I might be interested,” Holly said.

  “Not going to happen,” Lance said. “Your future at the Agency will depend on how my plans for me work out,” he said. “But don’t worry, whatever happens, you’re thought of as valuable around here.”

  “Thank you,” Holly sai?”d, then went back to her office and put Todd Bacon and Teddy Fay out of her mind.

  57

  Dino parked the car at the Manassas FBO, and he and Stone carried their luggage to the airplane. While Dino stowed the bags, Stone walked around the airplane and did his preflight inspection. He had already gotten a weather forecast-good all the way-from Flight Services and filed his flight plan.

  Then Stone remembered a call he had not made. He checked his notebook for the number and the hospital answered. “Dr. Tom Kendrick,” Stone said.

  After a short wait, Tom Kendrick came on the line. “Dr. Kendrick.”

  “Dr. Kendrick, this is Stone Barrington. We met at your parents’ house.”

  “I remember,” Kendrick said.

  “We’ve concluded our investigation, and I wanted you to know the results.”

  “I’d like to hear it,” Kendrick replied.

  “We have concluded that your father did not kill your mother. The note he left was misinterpreted.”

  “I’m relieved to hear that,” Kendrick replied, “but who did kill her?”

  “She was killed by a woman named Shelley Bach, who was having an affair with your father. We believe that your father took his own life because he felt that his affair with Ms. Bach was the root cause of her death. This will all be in the papers by tomorrow, so you’d better prepare yourself for a lot of phone calls from the media.”

  “Thank you, I’ll try to handle that. And thank you for letting me know the outcome.” Kendrick hung up.

  Stone got aboard, then buttoned up the airplane, started the engines, and ran through his checklist. Finally, he called ground control for his clearance. The controller read him the clearance, and Stone repeated it.

  “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen an airplane cleared across the Washington TFR,” he said, referring to central Washington, including the White House. “And at low altitude. You must know somebody.”

  Stone laughed. “No, just the luck of the draw,” he replied, and requested permission to taxi. When they had lifted off, Stone said to Dino, “You’re going to be impressed with our routing.”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I think Holly used her influence with Air Traffic Control to see that we got the scenic route.”

  Moments later they crossed the Potomac at three thousand feet and saw the Washington Monument and the White House ahead.

  “Man, what a view!” Dino said. “I’m going to send Holly some flowers!”

  Shortly after they had passed the White House, Stone was told to climb directly to his filed cruising altitude and to fly direct to New Haven. Normally, he would have ascended in stages and been told to fly an airway.

  They landed at Tweed Field, New Haven, and
Dino’s son, Ben, drove out onto the ramp to meet them and unload their luggage.

  Dino embraced his son, and Stone shook his hand. “We could have taken a cab,” Stone said.

  “I’m glad to have a break from the theater,” Ben said. “Peter will be embroiled with details until curtain ?cab,”time, since he’s the director, but I wasn’t needed. I’m only the producer.”

  He drove them to the building where Peter had bought an apartment that housed himself, Ben, and Peter’s girlfriend, and Stone and Dino made themselves comfortable in the guest room, while Ben went back to the theater.

  “They’ve done some more fixing up since we were here last,” Dino said.

  “Yes, they’ve got curtains and a nice Oriental rug, now,” Stone agreed. They found the makings of sandwiches in the fridge and made lunch.

  As the final curtain came down, the audience rose as one, applauding, whistling, and shouting. The cast took multiple curtain calls, then, to shouts of “Author! Author!” Peter joined them for the final bow.

  “That was really something,” Stone said.

  “I hadn’t expected it to be so funny,” Dino replied. “That was terrific writing.”

  “It certainly was,” Stone said. “They’re meeting us at the restaurant.”

  The opening night party was nearly as much of a triumph as the opening night performance. Stone and Dino were treated with deference by the student crowd, but stayed out of the way and let Peter and Ben have their moment of glory.

  Finally, Peter joined them at their table.

  “It was brilliant, Peter,” Stone said.

  Dino praised him, as well.

  “I’ve got some news,” Peter said. “There was someone from the Shubert Organization in New York in the audience, and it looks like we’re going to get an offer to open our play in one of their theaters after Christmas.”