Capital Offense

stunning.

Jack reread the headline.

Crowd Cheers First Lady’s War On Drags

He’d known that Katherine and Carolyn were working on some major reforms, but with his policy of not mixing work with their relationship, he’d had no idea of the impact. He read on.

First Lady Carolyn Alden Lane is beating her own previous record as the most popular woman in history with numbers that surpass any other person in recorded time.

Even John F. Kennedy did not enjoy such outstanding popularity. Her latest attack on the drug trade is being touted as a brilliant plan with the kind of teeth that could end the reign of drug lords for years to come.

“By eliminating the market for drugs versus trying to eliminate the pushers, we are bringing this fight onto our own battlefield,” Carolyn Alden Lane said. With the polls climbing, legislators are quickly jumping on board to support the First Lady’s plans.

Jack knew that the fate of his relationship with Katherine relied on him. He’d been the one to walk out. Was he irrationally obsessed? No, too much evidence existed. He sipped at his beer, theoretically piecing the puzzle together. His father’s paperwork, Adam Miles’s journal, the tape, and the E-mail all tied Carolyn to Cain. Even though her investments with Mort Fields appeared to be legitimate, his father’s files implied impropriety. And suspiciously, Jack realized, his father’s last known business appointment had been with Carolyn.

Jack knew his father opposed Warner’s reelection to the Senate. And with the death of Bill Rudly, Warner had not only claimed the Senate seat, but had also become the senior Senator for Missouri, thus positioning him for his presidential bid.

Throughout history, people had been murdered for less. Power. Money. Love. The three main reasons people resorted to killing. But could Carolyn have ordered Cain’s men to murder his father? Jack wondered. What about the deaths of Adam Miles and Mort Fields? It certainly appeared that she’d ordered his elimination.

The whole scenario sounded ridiculous, Jack thought. Maybe Katherine was right. Maybe in his desperation to deal with, and solve, his father’s death, he was grasping at straws. He finished off his beer and ordered another. Regardless of what this investigation did to his relationship with Katherine. Jack knew he owed the truth to his father’s memory and to himself. He’d uncover it, or die trying.

SEVENTY-FOUR

Any decision was better than no decision, Katherine thought, standing in her office. She stared at the copy of the E-mail message that Jack had shown her. This couldn’t be from Carolyn, but she had to admit, she believed it was sent from Carolyn’s E-mail address. There had to be a logical explanation.

Only one way to find out, Katherine said to herself. She let herself into Carolyn’s office, sat down behind her computer and logged on. As her fingers flew over the keyboard, typing in the commands that would allow her to view the log of Carolyn’s communications, her gaze danced nervously from the screen to the door.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered as she viewed the message, proving Jack’s accusations. She clicked the print icon.

Suddenly, the office door swung open.

Katherine’s pulse thundered in her ears. Stay calm. She smiled at Randy McCabe, another assistant that Carolyn had recruited from the prosecutor’s office in Missouri.

Brow furrowed, he cocked his head and stared at her. “What are you doing?”

“Carolyn asked me to pull up some records for her.” The whir of the printer caused Katherine to jump.

Randy’s gaze swung to the printer. “I just talked with Carolyn, and she sent me in here to pull up some info off her computer for the meeting she’s in. She didn’t mention you might be using it.”

Katherine rose from the chair and pulled the copies off the printer. “She probably just forgot. It’s all yours.” Leaving Randy standing in the middle of Carolyn’s office, Katherine shut the door behind her.

She picked up her briefcase, and walked out of the White House with as much restraint as she could muster. Fear coursed through her veins, causing her arms and legs to tingle with weakness.

You’re blowing this out of proportion, she whispered to herself. Jack had her freaked out and paranoid. This is not a panic situation. I should probably just turn around and go back to work.

Fear propelled her forward, away from her office. But where to go? She searched her pockets, then realized she’d left her mobile phone on her desk. Damn.

She walked about three blocks when she finally spotted a pay phone. Please, oh please be there, she thought as she dialed Jack.

He answered on the third ring. “Rudly.”

“Jack, thank God you’re there.”

“What’s wrong?”

Katherine told him the entire story, including the E-mail log she’d retrieved from Carolyn’s computer that proved her communications with Cain. “I’m sure it’s all right. There’s got to be a logical explanation. I should probably just go back to the office.” She desperately wanted Jack to tell her everything was fine and she should return to work.

“Don’t go near the White House.” His voice rose a decibel. “Are you at home?”

“No, I didn’t go home.”

“How far from the White House are you?” The tension in his voice reached out, causing her heart to race.

“About three blocks.” Her hand shook. “You’re scaring me, Jack, really scaring me.”

His voice became silky smooth. “It’s going to be fine. But you must listen to me. You’ve got to think rationally.”

“Okay.”

“Now, you need to remember that if they’re tracking you they’ve already checked the cab companies, and know that you’re probably still on foot.”

Katherine looked around. People strode briskly past her, seemingly intent on their own destinations. “Do you really think they may come looking for me?”

“They might once they figure out you left early. Are you sure no one followed you out of the White House?”

“I don’t think so.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t see anyone.”

“Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to act like you’re just out for a walk – go in and out of some stores, or whatever. Scan the people around you. You can tell if anyone is following you that way. If it looks like someone is staying with you, lose them. Crawl out a back window if you have to. Just lose them.”

“All right.”

“Make your way to my hotel, and go straight to the women’s restroom off the main lobby. Go into a stall, lock the door, and stand on a toilet so no one can see your feet. Once I can confirm it’s safe to move you, I’ll get you out of there. Got all that?”

“Yes, I… Oh my God!” Two men, in dark suits, were coming toward her from across the street. They were about a block away but cutting diagonally through traffic.

She heard Jack calling, “Katherine. Katherine…” as she slammed the phone into the cradle.

She exited the phone booth. Don’t panic. Think. She glanced back over her shoulder. Three quarters of a block, but walking fast.

A cafe sat twenty steps away. Stay calm. Katherine pasted a smile on her face and entered the restaurant.

“Do you have a restroom?” she asked the server behind the counter.