share with Allison. No, Allison Pagone cannot know Haroon’s nameor his specific occupation, or even his employer. All she needs to know is thatthis unidentified man in the photograph is a friend, a friend who will bedispatched by Larry Evans to kill her at some point down the road.
“This guy is some kind of undercover agent?” Allison asks,nodding at the photograph.
“He’s working with Larry Evans, among others,” McCoyanswers, though it is not really an answer to the question posed. “He’s callingthe shots, Mrs. Pagone. He will insist that you be eliminated, and he willinsist that he be the one who does it.”
“He’s supposed to kill me but make it look like a suicide.”
“Yes,” McCoy says. “The last thing they want anyone to thinkis that you were murdered. They want it to look like you were distraught,guilt-stricken, that kind of thing.”
Allison looks skeptical. McCoy had thought this idea hadalready been accepted.
“You were in theater, right?” Harrick says to Allison,sensing her hesitation as well. “So this is playacting. This man in thephotograph will come in and pretend to kill you and make it look like asuicide.”
“I just-it seems so hard to believe that anyone wouldbelieve that.”
“Who’s ‘anyone’?” McCoy shrugs. “All that Larry Evans willknow is what he hears through his eavesdropping device. It’s audio, not video.He’ll hear a man he trusts”-McCoy shakes the photograph of Ram Haroon-“he’llhear this man enter your house, he’ll hear you scream or whatever, he’ll hear astruggle, he’ll hear this man forcing you up to your bathroom, he’ll hear a gungo off-a gun with blanks, of course, but he won’t know that-and then he’ll hearhis trusted partner leave your house, and you just have to keep quiet for a fewhours. Larry Evans will have no reason to think you aren’t dead.”
“I guess,” Allison says.
“And then Agent Harrick and I, we’ll come storming into yourplace early that next morning, and we’ll find you ‘dead,’ and Larry Evans willstill be listening. He’ll hear me say, ‘Allison’s dead,’ and he’ll hear mypartner say, ‘Oh, yeah, she’s dead, all right.’ And we will come to theconclusion that you committed suicide. I will say, loud and clear for LarryEvans to hear, that this is all my fault, because I had been squeezing you forinformation on the bribery scandal, and because I threatened Mat. Poor me. Pooryou.”
Allison smiles sheepishly.
“Then we’ll whisk you out of there, on a covered gurney,hopefully before any press or local officials get to the scene. Within thehour, you’ll be sipping champagne in protective federal custody. Larry Evanswill think he’s home free-that you’re dead with no questions asked-and he willcomplete his operation. And you will be totally safe.”
“Mrs. Pagone,” Harrick adds. “Larry Evans trusts the man inthat photograph. He’ll believe he is hearing a murder, staged to look like asuicide. And when we come in the next morning, we’ll confirm it for him.There’s no way he’ll know the truth.”
“It’s not the first time we’ve staged a death,” McCoy adds.“The fact that Larry Evans will be listening in only makes it easier. We canuse his bugging device against him.”
Allison raises her hands. “Fine. That’s fine.”
“So you’re clear on how this works,” McCoy asks.
Allison nods. “It’s a five-step plan.”
“Right. Step one?”
“Step one,” Allison echoes. “You’ll tell my lawyer, Paul,when it’s time to begin. Paul will get in touch with me and he’ll reference themurder weapon. That will tell me it’s time to begin.”
“Right.” McCoy looks at Paul. “Just say something like,‘They still haven’t found the murder weapon.’ Something not too obvious.”
Paul nods.
“Then we get to step two,” Allison continues. “I will tellMat, in my house, for Larry Evans to hear, precisely where I buried the murderweapon. Larry Evans will like that, because it adds something to the idea of mysuicide. He will send that-that man in the photograph-to get the statuette,with the idea that he’ll put it beside me after I ‘kill myself.’ It istantamount to a suicide note, a confession.”
“Exactly,” McCoy says. “But what you’re really doing isgiving me the signal.”
“Right,” Allison agrees. “That’s step three. You will bewatching the grocery store where I buried it. When you see that man in thephoto retrieve the statuette from behind Countryside, you’ll know it’s time towork our plan.”
“Good,” McCoy says. “And step four?”
“Step four,” Allison sighs, “you will come to my house andintroduce yourself to me as if we had never met. We will have a conversationfor Larry Evans to hear. You will say you are investigating the briberyscandal. You will say that you are going to take a deal to Mat, that if heconfesses, you’ll get the county attorney to spare me the death penalty.”
“Yes.”
“I will be distraught. Suicidal, I suppose. I will saythings like, ‘My daughter is already losing one parent.’ And the obvious routefor me to take-as someone who is looking at a surefire conviction and probablya death sentence-is just to take my own life, on my own terms.”
“Which is perfect, from the perspective of Larry Evans,”Harrick adds.
“And then,” Allison continues, “step five, I can expect avisit from that man in the photograph.”
McCoy brightens. “We’ll stage your death/suicide and get yousomewhere safe.”
Paul Riley clears his throat. “There’s one wrinkle, folks.”
“A wrinkle,” Irv Shiels repeats.
“There’s a wrinkle?” McCoy asks.
“Yes,” Paul says. “We want this to happen very soon. Wewould like it to happen now-tomorrow, the next day-or at the latest, after sheis charged. Your target date of mid-May is not acceptable.”
“It’s the only way,” McCoy says quickly. “We’ve told youthat.”
It’s the only way because the scientist whom Larry Evans hascompromised, Doctor Neil Lomas, apparently was extremely distraught about SamDillon’s death and has told Evans that he will cease working on the formula ifanyone else is killed. Paul Riley is right, in theory. They should stageAllison Pagone’s “murder” very soon, a matter of days, and whisk her to safety.But reports of Allison’s death would be big news in town, news that would notescape the attention of Doctor Neil Lomas, and the Bureau needs Doctor Lomas tocomplete his formula. Their intelligence tells them that Ram Haroon will likelydeliver this formula to one of the high-ranking members of the LiberationFront, and they need that to happen. They need Doctor Lomas happy andproductive.
Which means Allison Pagone can’t “die” until the formula iscompleted, which is estimated at this point to be mid-May.
“We can’t give on that,” Irving Shiels says, standing in thecorner in that military stance he so often assumes. “If we do this with Mrs.Pagone now, there’s no point in doing it at all. It has to be when we say, andit looks like mid-May.”
Allison Pagone looks at Paul Riley. McCoy expects them toleave the office and confer, but surely they’ve already discussed this. McCoyhas never left any room for doubt on this point.
“Okay,” Allison says to Irv Shiels. “I’ll do mid-May, orwhenever. Whenever you say. Whenever Paul comes to me with the talk about the‘murder weapon.’ ”
McCoy sits back in her chair, looks at her boss, Shiels, whostands with arms folded, scowling. Scowling, but content. They have their deal.
“Your ex-husband, Mat, obviously will know about this,”Harrick says. “He will know about his immunity deal, and he will be the one whoplays the partner in these staged conversations you will be having in yourhouse for Larry Evans. You need someone to say these things to, and Mat makessense. Your daughter, Jessica, remains in the dark.”
“Yes.” Allison shakes her head too eagerly. “She will notknow the details.”
A pause. Everyone looks at one another.
“We have a tentative agreement, then,” Paul Riley says.“This is-I’ve only had today to digest an awful lot of information.”
“Understood,” Irv Shiels says. “But we don’t have much time.We would assume that Mrs. Pagone will be questioned very, very soon. And thingswill start moving against her very quickly.”
“You made sure of that,” McCoy says to Allison.
