by David Wind
“I know Ellie. If you’re really Ellie’s sister, you wouldn’t shoot me. If you aren’t her sister, then it’s an act and you’re not here to kill me either.”
Carla’s face was expressionless. “And which one is it?”
Steven shrugged. “I don’t know yet. What do you drink?”
“Scotch or brandy, I don’t care. But I want an answer.”
“I have no answers…yet.” He went to the bar and picked up a bottle of scotch.
“My office has been trying to reach you since yesterday morning,” he said without turning to look at her.
“I was in Bermuda, on vacation until this morning. When I found out what happened, I called the hospital and learned Ellie was being transferred to Georgetown.”
Steven poured the two drinks, went back to the couch, and gave her a glass. “Then why are you here with a gun instead of at the hospital with your sister?”
Steven followed the motion of her slender hand when she raised the glass to her mouth. He noted that her fingers were long and tapered. She took a drink of the scotch and, while he waited for her to go on, continued his inspection.
Her skin was lightly tanned, and taut. Her mouth was larger than Ellie’s. Her nose was smaller. Her eyes were a similar shade of deep blue. She had a small birthmark on her cheek, an inch below her left ear. Studying her, he thought back to the pictures he’d seen, in Ellie’s apartment. The woman sitting next to him could be the same one as in the photographs.
Carla lowered the glass. “Besides the message your office left on my machine, there was one from an FBI agent to call him. I did. He told me that the Bureau was investigating Ellie’s accident. They believe someone tried to kill her. When I asked the agent who, he wouldn’t answer me. Instead, he started asking questions about you.”
“So, it was on the basis of some questions from an evasive FBI agent that you decided to kill me?”
She frowned. “Not quite. First I asked a friend for a favor—I work at Treasury. They have several investigative branches. When I explained the situation to my friend, he said he’d see what he could do. When he called me back, he told me that all he could find out was that the FBI had you under investigation as their prime suspect.”
“So then you came here, intent on shooting me. Why did you change your mind?”
“You tell me.”
“I thought I did.”
“No, you said I could be one of two possible people: Ellie’s sister or some mysterious third party. Which one am I, Morrisy?”
“I’ll go with the sister story for now.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I don’t disbelieve you.”
She gazed at him for several seconds before setting the safety on the weapon, lifting it from her lap, and placing it next to her. “I guess that will have to do. Now, would you please tell me what’s going on?”
Steven held his hands palm up. “I wish I could, but I don’t know. When was the last time you saw Ellie?”
Carla frowned. “A couple of months ago. It’s a funny relationship. I’m sister by six years. We were never close, except as kids, but we love each other. We could go for months without seeing each other. An occasional phone call to check in, but that’s all.”
Steven heard the underlying sadness in her voice, and understood the distance that time puts between people. “Tell me about Ellie,” he said in a gentle voice.
She moved her head from side to side, once, and favored him with a strained half smile. “You really are something, Morrisy.”
“Steven.”
“Steven. You walk into your own apartment and find a gun pointed at you. Then, somehow, you turn everything around and instead of answering questions, you ask them.”
“The lawyer in me.”
She shook her head quickly. “No, it’s not that. All right, I’ll tell you about Ellie. She loves puppies and children; and she hates to go to the zoo because the animals are caged up.” Carla paused to search Steven’s face. “When she was sixteen, she was raped by her high school math teacher and spent six years in therapy.
“But even after that, she stayed one of those idealistic people who never learned their idealism isn’t worthwhile and nobody really gives a damn. Because she’s an idealist, she went to work for Senator Pritman.”
Carla took a long drink of the scotch before continuing. “She’s deeply in love with you. I remember talking with her right after you gave her the ring. She said that once the election was over, you would be married.”
He thought about their first dates. They had not become lovers immediately; rather, they had dated for almost two months before they’d made love for the first time. What he’d taken for hesitancy and shyness was fear, a physical fear of lovemaking. His anguish for Ellie grew strong again.
“I never knew that. The rape.”
“It isn’t something one usually speaks of.”
“No.”
“Now do you believe that I’m Ellie’s sister?”
He searched her face, seeking a similarity with Ellie. He wasn’t sure there was one. “I never said I didn’t. What changed your mind, about killing me?”
She ran a forefinger along her lower lip, thoughtfully. “With all her faults, Ellie was one hell of a judge of character. She wouldn’t have fallen in love with someone who could kill her. Only I didn’t realize it until I met you face to face.”
It was her words, and the tone in which she spoke them, that allowed Steven to accept that Carla was who she claimed to be. “Would you mind telling me how you got into my apartment?”
She smiled shyly and pulled a key with a paper tag out of the side pocket of her purse. He recognized his key immediately. “I used this. I was at her apartment, looking for something that might have told me what really happened to her. I found your keys there.”
“Did you notice if her engagement ring was in the apartment?” he asked quickly.
Carla frowned thoughtfully, and then shook her head. “I would have noticed if it was. But she would never take it off.”
He nodded. “Whoever tried to kill her did.”
Carla stared at him for several seconds. “Steven, what’s going on?”
“I’ll be damned if I can figure that out.”
“Could Ellie have found something she shouldn’t have?”
“That’s the popular theory,” he said dryly. “But what could Ellie have learned? She was only the senator’s administrative assistant. Pritman doesn’t have any major skeletons in the closet.”
“How can you be certain of that? Especially with Ellie in the hospital?”
He motioned to the far wall, where dozens of photographs hung in a random arrangement. These were the photos of his Washington life. Among them were pictures of Ellie alone, he and Ellie, and he and Pritman and Ellie. He pointed to one of the Pritman photographs. “Because I had him investigated.”
Carla’s eyes widened again. “You had him investigated. Why? Was there something once?”
Steven looked from Carla to the photograph. “A few years ago, when it became obvious Pritman was looking like a potential candidate, Arnold Savak and I made a decision. If we were going to be Pritman’s advisors, we had to be certain he was clean. A reputable security agency handled the investigation. He has nothing important enough in his past to cause him trouble, politically.”
Steven paused. “If Ellie did discover something, it wasn’t about Pritman’s past.”
“Okay,” Carla said. “Perhaps it’s something Pritman’s involved in now. Ellie has access to all the Senator’s information, and Pritman’s on a lot of committees.”
“I still can’t see that as a reason.”
“Maybe you should put on glasses and take a closer look,” she said, her words ringing caustically. In the silence that followed, Carla rose. “And now I’m going to see Ellie.”
“They won’t let you in at this hour.”
She smiled secretively. “I got in here. I’ll get in there.”<
br />
Steven stood and walked Carla to the door. Standing, Carla was about an inch taller than Ellie, and a bit slimmer. “Your friend at Treasury, did he have any ideas?”
“No. But he’s looking into it for me.”
“If he comes up with anything, will you let me know?”
Carla stepped through the doorway and turned to him. “Of course I will. And Steven, I am sorry about before.”
He smiled. “Don’t be. I might have done the same thing.”
<><><><>
Steven came out of the bathroom wearing his thick terry robe and toweling his hair. As he walked toward the couch, he saw the dark snout of Carla Rogers’ gun. It had slipped down between the cushions and she must have forgotten it. He reached for the gun just as the phone rang.
He picked up the telephone on the table next to the couch.
“Steven, it’s Arnie. I called the hospital but you’d left. How did Ellie’s transfer go?”
“Fine. There were no problems. How was your flight back?” he asked, belatedly remembering that Savak had flown his private plane from Greyton to Washington and remembering also, his earlier fears about the flight.
“Smooth as glass. No problems. They’ll deliver your car to the office tomorrow. I left the keys and the driver’s name with Chuck.”
“I appreciate everything you’ve done, Arnie, you know that.”
“I know,” Savak said easily. “What about Ellie’s sister? We still haven’t been able to reach her.”
“I spoke with her a few minutes ago. She’s back and on the way to see Ellie,” he said, not wanting to go into their meeting.
“That’s great. Will you be in tomorrow, or are you going to the hospital?”
Steven stared at Carla’s pistol. It was a Browning nine-millimeter. A very deadly and very effective weapon. He wondered how Carla would have come into possession of this type of weapon.
“I’ll be in tomorrow,” he told Savak. “Ellie’s scheduled for tests, and there’s no sense in my sitting around and worrying.”
<><><>
Steven took a cab to his office. As the driver wound through the early rush hour traffic, Steven found himself looking at the cars around him, searching for a familiar face, Blayne’s face. Three blocks short of his destination, he realized he was allowing himself to give in to the sort of apprehension that could cripple him mentally.
By the time he got out of the cab, he had reconstructed his outlook, and knew the only way to combat the uncertainties of his present situation was to go on with his life as if everything were normal. If he didn’t go about his typical routine, in his usual manner, the agents from the Bureau—if they were watching him—would gain extra ammunition for their cannons. So he would strive to be who he’d always been.
When he reached the Pritman suite of offices, he found he was the first one in. He went directly to his office, closed the door, and unlocked the locked filing cabinet. He took out his attaché case from the bottom drawer, where Savak had left it.
He removed the Entente papers, set them on his desk, and pressed the privacy button on his phone. When he saw the light go on, he nodded to himself. No one would disturb him until he shut it off. His secretary would see to that.
Then Steven made himself forget about what had been happening to him, and went to work.
<><><>
“Make sure that subsections three A and four C are taken out and replaced with what I’ve just given you,” Steven said to his secretary.
“I’ll have it for you before lunch,” Ruth Benson promised as she closed her steno pad and pushed her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. “Don’t forget to go over the messages.” She pointed to a pile of pink call slips that had accumulated during his week in Pennsylvania.
“I won’t,” Steven said. “Ruth, about Ellie—” he began when the intercom buzzed. He picked up the phone receiver and depressed the intercom button. “Morrisy.”
“Steven,” came the deep baritone of Senator Philip Pritman.
“Good morning, Senator.”
Ruth Benson left the office without being asked.
“Glad you’re back,” Pritman said. “Do you have a few minutes free?”
“I’ll be right in.”
Three minutes later, he was sitting across from Pritman. The senator’s office was modest, smaller than his or Savak’s. Pritman liked it that way. It was neat, utilitarian, and fit the senator’s no-nonsense bearing.
A sonic humidifier sat on a small table beneath the window, its silent motor sending out a steady mist of vapor, a sign that the senator’s sinus condition was acting up again.
Pritman wore a gray three-piece suit, which accentuated his slender build and strong neck. His face was handsome and photogenic, lined with the grooves of responsibility. With his salt and pepper hair combed neatly in place, and his eyes reflecting a somber mien, Senator Philip Pritman conveyed a sense of strength and stability.
“Coffee?” he asked after Steven was settled in the chair.
Steven shook his head. “I’ve had a pot this morning.”
“I spoke with the head of neurology at Georgetown, a few minutes ago. He assured me that they’re doing everything possible for Ellie.”
“I know they are,” Steven said.
Pritman rubbed his palms together. “Steven, I can’t tell you how bad I feel about what happened. Ellie is my right hand. I’ve made arrangements to visit her this afternoon.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Steven, don’t for a minute think I didn’t want to go to Pennsylvania when I got news of Ellie’s accident. But Arnie and Simon persuaded me it would be the wrong action for all of us at this point.”
While Steven sensed the guilt underlying Pritman’s words, he also understood the motives for keeping Pritman in Washington. “They were right, Senator. In light of what happened in Greyton, your presence would not have been in our best interest.”
“You mean that FBI nonsense?” Pritman asked, shaking his head. “That was ridiculous, thinking you would hurt Ellie.”
“Someone tried to kill her, Senator.”
Pritman’s expression didn’t change. “So Arnie said. Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think it has something to do with our proposal?”
“With Entente? No one knows about that except for you, Arnie, and myself.”
Pritman leaned back in his chair. “I’ll be glad when the proposal is out in the open.”
“Soon,” Steven said.
“Steven, I’ll understand if you’d like to take some time off. The proposal can wait a little longer.”
He would understand, Steven knew. “Thank you, but no. I think it will be easier to work than to sit around. And now that I’ve straightened out the Entente problems, as far as legalities are concerned, the rest is up to you.”
“It’s good?”
Steven smiled. “Oh, it’s better than good, Senator. It will get you into the White House, provided you do your part.”
Pritman clasped his hands together, and then rested his chin on them. “I should have taken acting lessons.”
“That’s not something you need to worry about. You’re a natural. What you lack in acting ability, you make up for with honest passion.”
Pritman’s brow furrowed slightly. “Steven, are you as certain about Entente as Arnold? You’ve voiced doubts in the past.”
Steven stood and walked to the wall of bookshelves. On the center shelf was a photograph of Pritman, with Steven and Savak in the background. It had been taken when Pritman had given his third reelection acceptance speech.
“I like to play devil’s advocate. But I’m as sure as I can be, as long as its purposes are as an election tool and a method of arms negotiations. But to put it into effect...”
“One day we may have to call on it.”
“Yes, should the circumstances warrant it, I’m in full agreement with Arnie as to its use. Senator, if you’d been where Arni
e and I were, you’d see that also.”
“Arnold’s arranged an invitation to that affair for the Chinese delegation. He also worked out a formal introduction with Xzi Tao.”
The shock of hearing the name from his past jolted him. It took him a moment to recover and speak. “So soon?”
“Arnold infers that just being seen talking with Xzi will lend more credence to our plan.”
“Be careful of Xzi. He’s deceptive.”
“Who would have thought a Chinese Intelligence officer would one day be the Ambassador to the United Nations?” Pritman shook his head. “Hell, who would have thought we’d even have any semblance of a normal political relationship with China?”
“Not me,” Steven whispered.
Chapter Ten
“What the hell were you thinking?” Steven demanded, bending over Savak’s desk. “Of all the people in the world, you can’t let him meet with Xzi.”
Savak met Steven’s anger with calmness. “I know what I’m doing. Steven, whoever said ‘an enemy I know is better than one I don’t’, wasn’t speaking gibberish. We know Xzi better than anyone here. The man is honorable, in his own way. He’ll do what’s necessary for his country.”
“A country diametrically opposed to ours!”
“And to the Russians as well. Steven, don’t stop believing now. We’re almost there.”
Steven lifted his hands from the desk, his anger easing. “Well at least you’ll be there with him.”
Savak’s lips compressed into a thin line. He double stroked his nose, and said, “No. It can’t be me. It won’t work that way.”
“Can’t? Christ Arnie, this was your idea. You’re the tactician behind this enterprise. Pritman needs your sense of timing if he’s to meet Xzi.”
“It must be you, Steven. Xzi respects you because of what happened. He’ll treat you accordingly. If I go with Pritman, it won’t have the impact we need.”
Steven stepped away from the desk and shook his head adamantly. “I won’t go there now, not with Ellie in the hospital.”
