Next to the kitchen was a small bathroomwith a shower stall, but no tub. The shampoo was Evie's brand, and the mixedscent of powders and soaps reminded him of her. There was a mirrored medicinecabinet over the sink. Harry watched himself reach for it. He looked like hell — tired, drawn, and in need of a shave. He wondered if Gene Hackman ever lookedthis bad. Inside the cabinet were a number of unmarked bottles of pills. Harryrecognized Valium, Seconol, and some type of amphetamine. He suspected theothers contained various sorts of painkillers. The prescription labels had beentorn off all of them. There was also a small bottle of white powder. Harry tooksome on a moistened finger and rubbed it over a spot on his gums. The immediatenumbness it produced meant it almost certainly was cocaine. Evie had nevershown even the slightest interest in drugs, and Harry could not remember heraccepting so much as a hit of marijuana if it was offered to her at a party.
Desiree's drug use had to have beenrecreational, or at most intermittent. Double identity or not, if she wasstrung out on drugs, Harry would have noticed.
He opened the single drawer in the vanityand stared down in utter dismay at its contents. There was nothing in the smalldrawer but condoms — perhaps fifteen different styles and brands in boxes andindividual packets — some common and storebought, some from exotic specialtyhouses. Harry picked up one of the packets. It was labeled Thai Tickler onone side, and had a lewd drawing printed on the other beneath the promise GuaranteedPleasure for Him and Her. Harry threw it back angrily and slammed thedrawer shut. Part of him wanted to leave — simply to get out of there andforget the whole goddamn thing. He had already learned more about his wife andher alter ego than he ever would have wanted to know. And he dreaded having toface the revelations awaiting him in the pages and computer files in the livingroom. But he knew he couldn't back off. He had been dropped into the middle ofa nightmare and the only way out for him was through it.
There was barely space in the singlebedroom for a narrow dresser and a neatly made queen-size bed. Double, louveredclosets filled all of one wall. Harry checked beneath the bed and then pulledapart one set of the closet doors. The evening dresses — fourteen of them — were elegant, sexy, and far from inexpensive. On the floor beneath them were anumber of pairs of dress shoes, all from the upscale shops Evie frequented.Behind the other set of doors was a collection of nightgowns, peignoirs, teddies,and other extremely provocative bedroom apparel. The hardly subtle collectionwas not very appealing to Harry. He was much more aroused by the feel of Evie'sbody beneath a flannel nightshirt, or even a plain cotton T. Perhaps his tastewas the reason she rarely wore the few lacy garments she had at home. Orperhaps Evie's ways were simply different from Desiree's. Bewildered and moresaddened now than angry, Harry returned to the living room and the writingsthat had very likely cost Evie her life.
Betweenthe Sheets
ThePower and Extraordinary Influence of the SexualUnderground in America
Men call me beautiful. Women,too, for that matter. For as long as I have been aware of that reaction, I havebeen able to use it to my advantage. I am intelligent, well-educated, andinterested in many things. But what I am most interested in is sex. Sex andpower. Throughout the pages of this book you will learn how I — and the many,many women with whom I have worked and whom I have interviewed — use their looksand sex appeal to attract and control others, both men and women. You willlearn of business decisions that earned or lost millions, which were made forno other reason than to please one of us. You will learn of major politicalappointees who were fired and others who were hired simply because one of usdemanded it. Sometimes there is money paid to us to exert our influence — vastsums of money. Sometimes we exercise our control over judges, politicians,businessmen and the like simply to prove that we can.
Are we worth it? Read thisbook, and then decide for yourself. .
Harry set the folder down and openedanother marked Correspondence. It contained letters from senior editorsat several of the big-name publishing houses expressing great interest in thesample chapters of Between the Sheets, by Desiree. The correspondencewas sent to the post office box of an agent in Manhattan named Norman Quimby.Harry had never heard Evie mention the man and wondered if he existed at all. Anumber of the other letters were from the producers of syndicated televisiontabloid shows. Those letters were written to Evie in care of a different postoffice box. They suggested that if she could deliver Desiree and all thematerial she claimed to have on tape and film, there could be seriousdiscussion of a long-term, on-camera deal. The producers also promised toinvestigate how to implement a number of high-tech safeguards Evie had insistedupon to protect Desiree's identity and enhance the mystique surrounding her.One producer wrote:
I think it's a marvelous idea to makeDesiree's identity the best-kept secret since Pearl Harbor. By the time theseries airs, the book will be out, and the hype we'll generate should create aphenomenon — Madame X, Sydney Barrows, Christine Keeler, and HeidiFleiss all rolled into one, with a dash of Marilyn and the Kennedys thrown infor good measure. I can't give you hard figures yet, but let me just say hereand now that if you can deliver what you claim you can, we will be able to dobusiness.
Harry picked up one of the videos. It waslabeled simply #1. He scanned the folders on the floor. One was marked Vids.Inside were six narratives, each two or more pages long, and each titled bya single number. He kept the one headed #2 and set the rest down. Thenhe slipped the video into the VCR.
This tape features a woman whocalls herself Briana, he read.
She is thirty-one and a formerhomecoming queen at a large Southern university. By day she is a physical therapistat a clinic just outside of Washington, D.C. At night she works for an escortservice. The fee for her services is $2000 a night. She has only a few clients,and she works only when she wants to. The split with her agency is fifty-fifty.Recently, she became pregnant by her boyfriend and decided to retire from theescort service. The video — something of a retirement present from Briana to herself- wasmade by a camera hidden behind a mirror in her apartment. The owner of herescort service knew nothing about it. Briana was operating on her own. But shehad already contracted her services out to a powerful tobacco lobby. Her payfor influencing the vote of the senator shown with her in this video was$50,000. And for the video itself another $50,000. Her face and voice, as wellas the senator's, have been electronically obscured. .
Harry watched in morbid fascination as awoman with large, youthful breasts and the perfect, muscled body of a teenagerallowed herself to be undressed by a man whose body was not nearly so wellmaintained. Calling him 'Senator,' she teased, rubbed, dared, cajoled, andfinally loved him into the promise to drop his support of another stiff tax ontobacco products. The woman was incredibly sexy, alluring and skilled — so muchso that the senator did not last more than two minutes once their actuallovemaking commenced.
The electronic blurring of faces andvoices made it impossible to identify the man, and Harry wondered if, in fact,the tape was the genuine article or something Desiree had staged. WasDesiree herself in one or more of the videos? Unfortunately, the likelihoodof that seemed quite high. Harry decided to put off viewing the rest of themuntil he had gone through all the other material.
He checked the time. It was nearly two.Silently, he thanked his profession for providing him with the hour- to-hour oreven minute-to-minute self-control necessary to make it through an all-nighterfollowed by a full day of work. He would stay here until dawn, then stop by theapartment to shower and change before heading to the hospital for rounds. Assoon as he could clear out his office schedule, he would return.
He scanned the folders and loose papers,trying to decide how best to get organized. One small pile caught his eye. Itwas, perhaps, five or ten pages, bound by a single rubber band. The labeltucked beneath the elastic was written in Evie's hand on a yellow Post-it. Itread Business Execs. (preliminary notes) See also Desiree's Diary.
They meet every two weeks atthe Camelot Hotel. Young, handsome, and powerful. I was chosen by Page to joinsix other women — each among the most beautiful and desirable in the city. The payoff for oneevening's work: a thousand in cash. One of us was assigned to each of them. Myfirst night, a Tuesday, I was sent to the room of-
Harry froze. There was a sound in thehallway outside the door. He was certain of it. Someone was pressed up againstthe door, listening. He set the papers down where they had been, tiptoed to oneof the windows, and
