Wrongfully Accused

by Ana Barrons

  How does it feel to be falsely accused? he wanted to ask. Instead he said, “Why do you have to figure out a code to get to these accounts? If you knew how to break it, why didn’t Drew give you the numbers to the accounts outright?”

  She raised her face to him. “I only knew about the code because he wrote himself a note about it. And I saw the note by accident.”

  “How’s that?”

  She raked a hand through her hair, then cupped her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, God, why didn’t I leave well enough alone?”

  “Because well enough just doesn’t do it for you, Joy,” Ben said.

  Joy opened her mouth to lob something back at Ben but Gabe cut her off. “So you saw the note by accident,” he pressed.

  “It was at the funeral,” she said. “I was in Drew’s office alone for about half an hour before Kate came in. And I was, you know, touching his things...trying to find some connection...”

  Ben snorted.

  “Anyway, I opened his drawers...looking for some little thing I could take with me.”

  “Like what?” Gabe asked.

  “I don’t know. Like a keychain or something. And I found this little silver flash drive with an American eagle on it. I figured Kate wouldn’t need it for anything and it would probably get thrown away, so I slipped it in my purse.”

  “Where is it now?”

  “In my pocket,” Ben said.

  Gabe didn’t object. He gestured for Joy to continue.

  She took a deep breath and let it out as she spoke. “So, a few days ago I decided to see what was on it. I plugged it into my laptop and opened up the files.” She blew her nose. “I was...shocked.”

  “I bet you were,” Ben muttered.

  “Can’t you wait in the other room or something?” Joy said, her voice trembling. “Damn it, Ben, this is hard enough.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t want you to be inconvenienced,” he said.

  Still holding the laptop, Gabe went to stand beside Ben. “You okay, pal?” he asked quietly.

  “Just hunky-dory,” Ben said.

  “Ben, I told you everything!” Joy shouted from the bed. “Everything I told you is the God’s honest truth. Why can’t you accept that?”

  “Why don’t we turn over this little device to the FBI and see what they have to say?” Ben said, refusing to look at her.

  Joy jumped to her feet. “I agreed to get Gabe involved, okay? I could have destroyed that goddamn thing, and erased those files from my laptop and no one would ever have known. But I wanted you to see that I’m an honest person at heart, even if, yes, I had an affair with Drew. Okay? I’m an adulteress. So crucify me.”

  “I prefer the term ‘whore,’ personally,” Ben said.

  Joy slapped her palms to her chest and moved toward her husband. “Fine. Paint a scarlet W on my chest. But don’t make me out to be a murderer, for God’s sake!”

  “You offered to show Ben the files?” Gabe asked.

  Her adamant expression fell. Ben said, “No. She left her laptop open on the bed—behind a locked door, mind you—when she went to the Cannon House Office Building with you. I don’t like being locked out of my own bedroom—”

  “You moved out!” Joy shot back.

  “—so I kicked the door in. And there was her laptop.”

  “No one asked you to snoop,” Joy said.

  “No one asked you to lock me out. No one asked you to fuck a married man. Marriage may have meant nothing to you or Drew but it meant something to Kate. It meant something to me.” His voice cracked on the last word.

  “Was the device plugged into the computer when you found it?” Gabe asked, wanting desperately to steer the conversation away from the Stuarts’ marital issues and back to the evidence he was holding in his hands.

  Ben shook his head. “She’d hidden it. She pulled it out when I confronted her with what I’d seen, and told me the story she just told you.”

  “It’s not a goddamn story,” Joy said. “It’s the truth.”

  “Was there anything that identified the device as belonging to Drew rather than you?” Gabe asked.

  Joy sagged against the footboard. “No,” she said. “And there’s more.”

  “Oh?” Gabe said. As though what she already told him wasn’t bad enough.

  “There’s another document on there that Ben found. I hadn’t seen it before—before we went to the office.” She raised pleading eyes to her husband, but he continued to look away from her. “Ben, please,” she said. “We don’t have to show him that one. Please. No one has to see it. We never should have brought him into this in the first place. I don’t know why I—”

  “It wasn’t your decision to make,” Ben said.

  “You may not believe this,” Joy began. “But I—”

  “I don’t believe it,” Ben interrupted. “Whatever it is. You’ve lied to me for the past two years, so why should I believe your excuses?”

  Gabe took the laptop from her. “Pull up the other document.”

  Joy’s hands shook, but she managed to pull it up. He scanned the open document, which was double-spaced, all caps. It was a speech, beginning with the words:

  COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS, I STAND BEFORE YOU WITH A HEAVY HEART. [Head down, swipe at tears.]

  What the fuck?

  NOT ONLY HAS THIS TRAGEDY TAKEN MY BELOVED WIFE FROM ME [long indrawn breath, voice cracks] AND STOLEN LOVED ONES FROM MANY OTHER FAMILIES, IT HAS, ONCE AGAIN, RIPPED AT THE HEART OF DIGNITY, OUR NATIONAL...

  Gabe blinked furiously and scrolled down to where he spotted the words: THESE TERRORISTS MAY HAVE BLOWN AMERICANS OUT OF THE SKY, BUT THEY WILL NOT SUCCEED IN DESTROYING THE FABRIC OF OUR NATION. WE HAVE THE TOOLS TO DEFEAT THEM ONCE AND FOR ALL. BY PASSING THE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY BILL WE SHOW THE WORLD THAT WE HAVE THE WILL TO CRIPPLE THESE COWARDS...

  Gabe raised his head slowly and locked gazes with Joy. The pulsing in his temples blocked all sound, but by the look in her eyes and Ben’s it was clear that no words were necessary.

  Congressman Andrew Franklin had planned to blow up his wife’s plane, killing her and everyone else aboard, to ensure passage of the Global Intelligence and Security Bill.

  Gabe was only sorry the man was dead so he wouldn’t have the pleasure of killing the bastard himself.

  Joy sniffed and said, “I’m sure someone at the FBI could tell us when he wrote it.”

  Gabe set the laptop carefully on the bed and crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes never leaving Joy’s. “Who would have turned the tables on him?”

  Joy’s head jerked back. “What do you mean? I assumed he made a mistake.”

  “I wouldn’t have taken Franklin for a stupid man, and he would have had to be pretty damn stupid to accidentally blow himself up.”

  Joy turned to Ben, who was staring at his shoes, and back to Gabe. “You don’t think...”

  “Who had the most to gain from killing Drew Franklin?”

  “Gabe... Even if I wanted to, how in the world would I pull something like that off?”

  “You have the codes, Joy, which means you have access to the money.”

  “That’s crazy. I would never do anything like that.”

  “You have access to ex-felons.”

  She opened her mouth to reply and then shut it. Her shoulders drooped, as though she was deflating before his eyes. “I couldn’t have done this any more than Kate could have,” she said quietly.

  “You’ve certainly changed your tune,” Ben said, but his voice was shaky and his eyes held something softer when he regarded his wife. Yeah, it’s one thing to be angry and vindictive over an affair, and another to imagine your wife spending the rest of her life in prison.

  “I’m not like Drew,” Joy said. “I... I never knew anyone like him.”

  “Spare me,” Ben growled.

  “No, Ben, I don’t mean that in a good way,” she said, hugging herself. “I’ve had time to think about him, and I see so many things in a differ
ent light now. He was completely and utterly self-centered. I don’t think he ever gave a damn about any of us. Not me, or Kate, or Michael... or anyone. All Drew cared about was Drew. I can remember wondering whether it bothered him to move Kate’s money.” She glanced at Gabe. “Because even though I went along...it bothered me.”

  “He didn’t have much of a conscience,” Gabe said.

  “No,” she agreed. “And if this... If he planned to actually bring down Kate’s plane...”

  “When did you get the books from his study?”

  Joy blinked. “Oh, you mean—” she gestured at the copy of Divine Comedy lying on the bed, “—I got that one and two others from Michael’s office.”

  “Before or after Kate was attacked in her bedroom?”

  “After. But I swear I had nothing to do with that. I spotted them in a box in his office and I knew how much Drew treasured them.” She shot Ben a guilty look. “So I took them home. I didn’t think Michael would even notice they were missing.”

  “When did you first see them in that box?” Gabe asked.

  “I’m pretty sure they’d been there since Michael picked up the files from Drew’s house.”

  Gabe scrubbed at his beard stubble. He had no way of knowing whether she was telling the truth. “Well, Joy, if it wasn’t you, then who pulled the rug out from under Drew Franklin’s master plan? Because right now, I’ll tell you the truth, it doesn’t look good for you.”

  A minute passed in which the only sounds were of Joy sniffling and the air conditioner switching on. Ben lowered himself into an upholstered chair closer to where Gabe was standing.

  “I think I know who did it,” Ben said.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Joy whirled to face him, her eyes wild. “What did you say?”

  Ben ignored her and focused on Gabe. “The night before the plane blew up, Joy and I went back to Drew’s parents’ home after dinner, because she insisted she had to have a word with Drew.”

  Gabe thought back to how surprised he’d been when Kate had told Parker they’d been there that night. “Who else was there?”

  “Michael Clark, Ed Jorling. Kate, but she hadn’t joined us for dinner, and when we got back she was asleep in the TV room. And another man I hadn’t met before. I didn’t catch his name. Something French, I’m pretty sure.”

  Joy said, “He was a friend of Michael’s, but I don’t remember his name either.”

  “Think,” Gabe said.

  “Ben asked me that night, but I didn’t know then and I don’t know now.” She paused. “Maybe...Philippe?”

  “Go on,” he said to Ben.

  “I was hoping I’d get to talk to Kate, but since she was out of it I was stuck with the others. So I took my time going upstairs to the bathroom, and when I came out I heard voices coming from one of the bedrooms.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this?” Joy asked.

  Again he ignored her. “The other man was talking to Drew, saying something like, ‘You didn’t mention that this little gift was for your wife.’”

  Gabe felt a chill run down his back. “Go on.”

  “The other guy said something about Kate being on a commercial flight.”

  “What did the guy look like?”

  “I don’t know... Sort of dark. Mediterranean-looking. Greek or something.”

  Gabe nodded, making a mental note to get a full description.

  Ben ran his hands through his hair and his face looked pained. “So Drew says something about collateral damage.”

  Joy gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. Gabe swallowed and asked, “What else did they say?”

  “Well, I heard one of them walking so I turned and went back toward the bathroom. Then I heard a door close and the water go on, so I figured one of them went into an adjoining bath. I walked toward the steps—and it’s deep plush carpeting, so I didn’t make much noise—and I see through a crack in the door that the other guy is taking something out of Kate’s big brown leather purse and sticking it in his pocket.

  “Oh, God,” Joy whispered.

  “Then what?” Gabe asked.

  Ben took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I headed downstairs before the guy realized I was there. A little later he came down and put something in the briefcase Drew had with him at dinner.”

  “How did you know it was Drew’s briefcase and not this guy’s?”

  “Because Drew put it down right beside the bottom step in the foyer, and it struck me because Joy does the same thing.” He did not turn to look at his wife.

  “Where were you when he opened Drew’s briefcase?”

  “I was sitting in the living room where I could see the guy when he came downstairs. I don’t think he even noticed me.”

  “Why didn’t you report this to someone?”

  Ben raised his head and looked Gabe in the eye. “I could tell you it was only because I didn’t know what I’d heard or seen, which is technically true, but I’d be lying. I figured if there was something dangerous there, and I had no idea what it was... Well, when I saw the guy put it in Drew’s briefcase I was pretty damn sure he was passing it along to that bastard.”

  “Did it occur to you that the device was an explosive?”

  Ben shrugged. “Sure. I’m not stupid. But how likely was that, really? I mean, Franklin was a schmuck but he was an elected official, for God’s sake. Anyway, I figured if by some crazy twist of reality he was planning to blow up his wife and the other people on her flight he deserved to blow himself up in his car.”

  “Oh, my God, that’s right,” Joy said. “Drew said he was driving back to D.C.”

  “What if Drew had discovered the switch and put whatever it was back in Kate’s bag?” Gabe asked, his voice harsh.

  “Actually, that remote possibility bothered me so much I couldn’t sleep that night,” Ben said. “I took a cab to the airport early so I could talk to Kate before her flight left. I tore a button off my cuff on the way over and asked her if she had a safety pin, and she went through her bag. You know how it always has everything but the kitchen sink it? Well, she started pulling things out, and I got close enough that I could see if there was anything weird in her bag. I even joked about how she’d never even know if someone slipped drugs or a bomb into her bag.”

  “Well, goddamn it, Ben,” Gabe growled. “You should have called the fucking cops or the FBI if you overheard them talking about explosives and—”

  “Nothing was said about explosives,” Ben said calmly.

  “Well, collateral damage and all that. You suspected that Drew was planning to blow up his wife’s flight, and you saw this guy move something into his briefcase, which is exactly where the explosion originated.”

  Once again, Ben hung his head for a moment before meeting Gabe’s gaze. “First of all,” he said, “I convinced myself that it had been wishful thinking on my part. I mean, come on. I hated the guy, but I didn’t really believe he was a psycho.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you didn’t report that conversation immediately after the plane exploded.”

  “What was there to report?” Ben said, throwing his hands up. “Before I read Drew’s speech I had no way of knowing whether he, or whatever might have been in his briefcase, had anything to do with that explosion. So I would have been implicating myself and possibly Joy in some sick scheme with no evidence even to support my story.”

  “So you sat back while Kate was implicated instead.”

  Ben was silent. After several moments he said quietly, “If I had known she was in custody I would have contacted you right away. I would not have left her to twist in the wind.”

  Gabe was too annoyed to answer. He was the one who’d abandoned Kate when she needed him. Not Ben.

  “And,” Ben went on, “if I’d known Drew was going to board a flight with other people, I swear to you, I would have risked looking like a fool and made the report. I have to live with the fact that innocent lives were lost because I didn’t alert the aut
horities. But you can’t make me feel guilty for wanting that evil bastard to get blown to kingdom come if that was what he had in his possession. Neither of them identified the ‘little gift’ or said when he was going to give it to his wife. It was all guesswork on my part.”

  “Now we have to figure out who the man was,” Gabe said, pulling out his cell phone. “I assume he wasn’t on the Learjet.”

  “No,” Joy said. “I knew all those people. I guess we could ask—” She stopped suddenly and stared at her husband, wide-eyed. “My God, Ben. Everyone we had dinner with that night is dead.”

  * * *

  The Stuarts’ attorney arrived at the house within thirty minutes, and the four of them discussed the situation at length with a view to exempting the Stuarts from prosecution in exchange for their full cooperation. Given that they had come clean voluntarily, there was reason for hope.

  Parker and Mancuso arrived within twenty minutes of being called. Before they went inside, Gabe pulled Parker aside. “Where is she now?” he asked.

  “She and her mother left Philly early this morning to go to her house,” Parker said. “Our guy said they loaded up cleaning supplies into the cars.”

  Gabe let out a breath. At least she was in D.C. again. But with her mother? “You never did explain why you guys didn’t stop her crossing state lines to begin with.”

  “We advised her not to leave town, but in cases like this sometimes it makes more sense to follow a person of interest. See where they lead you... Why are you shaking your head?”

  “I would never have expected her to go to her parents, that’s all,” Gabe said. “Maybe her sister’s house, but not theirs.”

  “People do unexpected things when they’re under stress.”

  “Yeah,” Gabe said. Didn’t he know it.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Franklin residence,” the woman said.

  “Mrs. Callahan?”

  “Yes?”

  “Is Kate there with you?”

  “It depends,” Valerie said. “Is this Gabe?”

  Shit. “I need to know she’s okay,” he said.

  “Oh, she’s great,” Valerie said, and Gabe couldn’t remember ever having heard Kate’s mother use sarcasm before. “Never better.”