Silent Treatment

He slowed until the light was just aboutto turn red, then spurted across the intersection just ahead of the oncomingFifth Avenue traffic. The maneuver drew an angry volley of horn blasts, but ensuredthat no car could make it through behind them. Harry hurried up Fifty toSixtieth. As soon as he reached the corner, a black Lexus rolled up. The dooropened and Harry jumped in while the car was still moving. The driver, agood-looking man about forty, swung on to Central Park South and accelerated.

'Kevin Loomis,' he said. 'Sorry for thecloak-and-dagger stuff. I'm not even sure it'll do any good. Stallings and Itook every precaution we could think of when we went to meet at Battery Park,but somehow they still managed to follow one or both of us. Stallings was onthe way back to his office from our meeting when he had his cardiac arrest.'

'Who are they?' Harry asked.

'They are the people I think areresponsible for killing your wife. That's why I decided to see you tonight.They're health insurance people. They call themselves The Roundtable.'

'You mean like the Million DollarRoundtable?'

'More like the Hundred Million DollarRoundtable. . I'm part of it.'

They turned on to the West Side Highwayand headed uptown. Harry listened in near disbelief as Kevin Loomis describedthe secret society and his recent involvement with it. Harry liked the manimmediately — the hard edge to his speech, the street-smart toughnessunderlying the newly acquired executive's manners. If The Roundtable was aselite and exclusive as Loomis depicted, it was a bit difficult to imagine himbelonging.

As he listened, there were two things thatstruck Harry almost from the beginning. The first was the secrecy and mistrust — and how little Loomis had been allowed to know about the other knights. Itsounded more like a covert government operation than an old-boys club. Thesecond was something about the man, himself. Clearly Loomis was saddened bywhat had happened — to Evie and to James Stallings. But while hecertainly wasn't flip or glib, neither did he seem that distraught or desperate- or even frightened. He sounded much calmer tonight than when they first spokeon the phone. Calm and detached.

'As far as your wife goes,' Loomis said,'I'm just guessing at what might have happened. I'm assuming you had nothing todo with her death.'

'Our marriage was on the rocks, just likethe newspapers said. But I would never have harmed her.'

'The people on The Roundtable are terriblyparanoid. They were worried that Desiree was investigating them.'

'She wasn't,' Harry said. 'She was writinga book and preparing a tabloid TV report on the power of sex in business andpolitics.' He reviewed the night he had spent in Desiree's apartment, omittingany mention of The Doctor. 'Her involvement with your group was primarilyresearch,' he concluded. 'She probably went through your wallets when she hadthe chance. She figured out you were in the insurance business, but that wasall she knew. I don't think she had the faintest notion what you were meetingfor.'

'Well, apparently The Roundtable didn'tbuy that. I was there for the discussion, and there was not even a hint thatthey planned to track her down and kill her. But now I'm sure they did. I haveno idea who actually injected her with that chemical. I would imagine it's thesame guy who carries out the terminations of policy-holders who cost ourcompany too much money. Hell, for all I know, there may even be more than oneof them.'

Harry decided to wait until he knew a bitmore about Loomis and his motives before sharing the news of Anton Perchek.They entered the Bronx on the Henry Hudson Parkway and continued driving awayfrom Manhattan, toward Van Cortland Park. Harry remained uneasy about Loomis'saffect, and wondered if the man was lying or perhaps holding something back.

'Kevin,' he said, 'why have you decided totell me all this? I mean, you're part of it. If The Roundtable is destroyed,there's a good chance you'll suffer, too.'

'There are a few reasons, actually. I'veread a lot about you, and I don't like what they're doing to you — they'redestroying your life. You won a medal for getting shot up in Nam. I was tooyoung to fight, but my older brother Michael lost a leg there. Also, the wholething's getting to be too much for me. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm no angel.Far from it. I could do most of what The Roundtable wanted and not bat an eye.But I draw the line at killing people, no matter how sick they are or how muchthey're going to cost us. I intend to turn state's evidence and make some sortof deal with the DA's office — that is, if I ever get my hands on anyevidence.'

'What do you mean?'

'There's nothing on paper. Nothing at all.Stallings was the only one who might have backed me up. I'll go ahead anyway — tell the same story I just told you and name what names I can. But I suspectthe lawyers for the other knights will cut me to shreds.'

'Maybe not. You know, all along I've had atheory about why whoever killed Evie seemed to be going out of their way notto harm me. I figured it was because I was the perfect fall guy — why get rid of me? Now I realize I've probably been right. With every signpointing to me, you and Stallings weren't likely to challenge The Roundtable.'

'Exactly. You said your wife's killer hasbeen trying to get you to kill yourself. That would have been the clincher. Idon't know about Stallings, but I would have immediately stopped suspecting TheRoundtable.'

Harry turned to Loomis.

'What you're doing takes a lot of guts,'he said. 'When you do go to the authorities, I'll be right there with you, ifthat's any comfort.'

'Thanks. But from what I've read in thepapers, I'm not sure that would be a plus. The cops really hate you.'

Harry smiled.

'Touche. Kevin, listen. I'm thinking aboutsomething pretty far-out that might help us. Could you go over the criteria youremember from that sheet Stallings gave you?'

'I can do better than that.'

He handed over the printout of Merlin'sprogram — the criteria that had cost Beth DeSenza her job. Then he looped on tothe Mosholu Parkway, heading back toward the Major Deegan Expressway and thecity.

'How many companies are involved?' Harryasked.

'Probably five — that's not counting mycompany or Stallings's. I know two of them for sure — ComprehensiveNeighborhood Health and Northeast Life and Casualty. What companies the otherthree represent, I don't know yet, although I might be able to find out if Ireally work at it.'

'Don't do anything to ruffle anyone'sfeathers. These guys clearly don't have much patience with people who upsetthem.' Harry studied the criteria. 'The lowest projected cost to qualify fortermination was — what again? Half a million?'

'Exactly.'

Harry rolled up the printout and tapped itagainst his fist. His idea was beginning to take shape.

'Kevin, I really appreciate that you'vecome to me before going to the DA,' he said. 'Now I've got something to show you.'

He handed over a folded copy of theposter. Kevin glanced at it, then pulled off into the breakdown lane and turnedon the interior light.

'Never saw him before,' he said after halfa minute.

'He's the man who killed Evie. We haveproof. I saw him outside her room just before the injection. Her roommate sawhim in the room. And he left a fingerprint that was identified by theFBI lab. His name's Anton Perchek. He's a doctor, Kevin. An M.D. He's known allover the world as a master of torture, and for keeping victims alive andawake during torture. He was supposed to have died in a helicopter accidentescaping from prison six years ago.'

'And you think he's involved with TheRoundtable?'

'I do. I think he's the one who carriesout these. . these terminations.'

Kevin handed back the poster and swung thecar on to the highway. For a time they rode in silence.

'You've got to nail that guy,' Kevin said.

You've got to? Harry looked at him curiously,but didn't comment. Kevin's eyes remained fixed on the road.

'I have a thought,' Harry said. 'You saidtwo of the companies involved were Comprehensive Neighborhood Health andNortheast Life and Casualty. I don't have many patients with Comprehensive, butI do have quite a few covered by Northeast Life. Suppose I admitted one to myhospital and made up a diagnosis that would qualify him