Payton, his voice cold, his eyes straying, his thoughts apparently racing.
'He never told her!'
'Obviously,' agreed the CIA director, now staring at the house. 'However, he was explicit. The day before yesterday he said that on the way to the airport he would stop at his office and leave the information with his secretary, Ann O'Reilly. He stopped; he went up to his office; the mobile unit confirmed it.'
'What time was that?'
'Around four-thirty, if I remember the mobile's logs.'
'Wednesday?'
'Yes.'
'Annie wasn't there. Every Wednesday she leaves at four o'clock in the afternoon and Kendrick knows it. It's her crazy aerobics class!'
'He obviously forgot.'
'Not likely. Come with me, sir.'
'I beg your pardon?'
'Out to my car.'
'We have work to do here, Lieutenant, and I have several calls to make—from my car. Alone.'
'You're not doing a damn thing until I speak to Congressman Kendrick's secretary.' Sixty-five seconds later with Payton standing by the open door, the voice of Patrick O'Reilly's wife came over the cellular phone's speaker.
'Congressman Kendrick's—’
'Annie,' interrupted her husband. 'After you left the office Wednesday afternoon, who was there?'
'Only Phil Tobias. It's slow these days; the girls left earlier.'
'Phil who?'
'Tobias. He's Evan's chief aide and washer of the bottles.'
'He never said anything to you, yesterday or today? About seeing Kendrick, I mean.'
'He hasn't been here, Paddy. He didn't show up today or yesterday. I left half a dozen messages on his answering machine but I haven't heard from him, the high-hog PR brat that he is.'
‘I’ll talk to you later, tiger. Stay where you are. Understood?' O'Reilly replaced the phone and turned in his seat, looking up at the man from the Central Intelligence Agency. 'You heard, sir. I think an apology from yours truly is in order. You have it, Mr. Payton.'
'I neither seek it nor want it, Lieutenant. We've botched up so damned much in Langley that if someone thinks that his wife may be caught in one of our bungles, I can't fault him for telling us off.'
'I'm afraid that was it… Who goes after Tobias? You or me?'
'I can't deputize you, O'Reilly. There's no provision for it in the law and, frankly, there are specific provisions against it, but I can ask for your help, and I desperately need it. I can cover for tonight on the basis of genuine national security; you're off the hook for not reporting. But where this Tobias is concerned I can only plead.'
'For what?' asked the detective, getting out of the car and quietly closing the door.
'To keep me informed.'
'You don't have to plead for that—’
'Before any official report is released,' added Payton.
'That you've got to plead for,' said Paddy, studying the director. 'To begin with, I couldn't guarantee it. If he's spotted in Switzerland or floats up in the Potomac I wouldn't necessarily know about it.'
'We're obviously thinking along the same lines. However, you have what's referred to as clout, Lieutenant. Forgive me, but I've had to learn about everyone around Evan Kendrick. The District of Columbia Police Department virtually bribed you to come to Washington twelve years ago from Boston—'
