Deadly Disclosures

by Julie Cave

  “Why would he care so much? Does Christianity pose such a threat to evolution that you would take such drastic steps?”

  “Fundamentalist Christianity is a stain on our society,” said Winters, a sudden snarl in his voice. “It’s hypocritical and repressive. It takes away personal freedom and independent thought. It promotes scientific ignorance.”

  It was a similar refrain to what Damon Mason had told Dinah and Ferguson during their interview with him.

  “So he seems to me to be on your side. Why would you then get rid of him?”

  “Unfortunately he lacked the discipline required.” Winters was silent for a few moments. “Murder is a means to an end for myself and Ivan, but Mason actually had some moral objections.”

  “How ironic,” commented Dinah dryly. “Atheism and morals — about as far apart from each other as you could get. So he was killed because he was about to tell us what happened?”

  “He couldn’t be trusted. He seemed to be crumbling under the pressure of what he knew and your repeated threats of throwing him in jail. So we took the easiest option.”

  “What about Lara Southall? Just another innocent victim?”

  “A similar situation to Catherine, I’m afraid. She didn’t know much about the conflict between the board and Whitfield, but she was in the unique position of being close enough to Whitfield to know that the conflict was more than insignificant. And we weren’t sure what Whitfield had confided in her in the days leading up to his disappearance. So we warned her, then we finished the job. She was explicitly told not to speak to you.”

  “So the problem with all of those three victims is that they had big mouths?”

  “Right,” sighed Winters. “Civilians have no capacity to follow orders. Sometimes I think I’d prefer it back in the army.”

  Dinah shook her head in amazement. “You can’t control people, you know. A second ago you were bleating on about personal freedom and now you’re wishing you could make people do what you want. That sounds a bit inconsistent to me.”

  Winters laughed. “I see you haven’t killed all your brain cells yet.”

  Dinah was silent for a few moments, then asked, “So what about Thomas Whitfield?”

  Winters poured himself another drink. He leaned back in the chair and lifted the drink in the air in a mock salute to Dinah. “I can certainly see why this stuff can be addictive. I can’t really blame you for that.”

  Dinah clenched her jaw and waited.

  Finally, Winters said, “Well, Thomas Whitfield really brought this on himself. He was hired specifically for his scientific background, and for the direction we wanted the institution to take. We wanted someone who would staunchly defend the principles of science.”

  “Someone who was an evolutionist, you mean,” interjected Dinah.

  “Yes, to be blunt. He was a member of IAFSI and had been an evolutionist all his life. We thought he was a safe bet.”

  “So what happened?”

  “He started hanging around that irritating Coleman fellow,” said Winters. “He ended up being completely brainwashed. We didn’t know he would be so easily influenced. Of course we watched them go head to head in the debates and so forth, but I didn’t count on them actually liking each other. Eventually they ended up being friends and Whitfield actually converted to Christianity. That would have been barely tolerated, but he wasn’t content to leave it there. He wanted to include in the Smithsonian exhibits that advocated creationism as a credible alternative for how the world began. Can you believe it? He discussed it with the board, and obviously we were not happy. We’ve been fighting against creationism for many years.”

  “Of course. In spite of your outward declarations of personal freedom of thought, speech, and religion, you really don’t want anyone to practice any religion except atheism, right?” Dinah said mildly. “That doesn’t sound like freedom of religion to me; that sounds like religious persecution.”

  Winters glared at her. “That’s not true! Science is the one remaining area where religion can’t sink its insidious claws. Yet Christians think they can exert control over it as well. We just want the scientific arena kept out of the religious debate.”

  “Isn’t it true that science can’t prove either the big-bang theory nor evolution because they can’t be duplicated in the laboratory? That’s hardly science,” countered Dinah. “In any case, why do you care so much? Does creationism pose that big a threat to you?”

  “Have they converted you, too?” demanded Winters, his face darkening. “It’s typical for them to take a pathetic drunk under their wing.”

  “So the board declined to allow creationism to be exhibited at the Smithsonian?” Dinah asked, ignoring the spiteful jibe.

  “Right, but Whitfield refused to take no for an answer. So he began lobbying Congress. As you know, there are many conservative Republican idiots who would side with him on this issue, and if it got to the point where Congress actually agreed with him, we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.” Winters finished his drink and began pacing the room.

  “I still don’t get it. You have one of the most powerful positions in our country and in all the matters of national leadership, yet you have exposed yourself to multiple murders on the basis of scientific beliefs. It doesn’t make sense to me, sir,” Dinah responded with sarcastic disdain.

  Winters stood, glaring at Dinah, his face red with anger. “Do you really think that going back to primitive religious beliefs is going to allow us to advance humanity? First you will allow creationism as a recognized viable alternative to evolution and then you break down everything that we have worked for in a humanistic and secular society. A society with a religious conscience will take power away from women’s rights and family planning; it will isolate relationships to an archaic institution of marriage and take away sexual freedom. They’ll bring morality into the search for medical cures, outlaw embryonic stem cell research and other major research. This nation has had a conscience before and it stunted human progression for years. Religion is a step back to the Dark Ages and the one thing that will solidify the religious position is any kind of scientific acceptance of a Creator. And you — you interfere, looking for the horrible murderers, and you have no idea of the regression that society will get by giving power to those you are protecting. These deaths are collateral damage — no more. We have been working for a liberal society of human order and freedom of human choice, and the drastic effect of claiming some fairy tale god as our authority is not going to happen on my watch.” Winters must have suddenly realized he was ranting and took a deep breath, adjusting his tie. “Rhetoric aside, I was simply upholding my end of the bargain.”

  Dinah took a guess. “Your mutually beneficial relationship with IAFSI?”

  “Whether I agree with them or not, I need them.” Winters stood facing the wall contemplatively. “My family left me with a number of assets and a huge load of debt. I have no access to the type of cash needed to fund a senatorial campaign.”

  “So IAFSI agreed to fund your election campaign in return for selling your soul?” Dinah smirked.

  “Not just the last election campaign — I am not sold as cheaply as that.” Winters narrowed his eyes. “I want to be president. IAFSI agreed to fund all my campaigns, including the presidential one. In return, I was to support their ideology and use my position to ensure that conservatives are kept away from the halls of power, which of course includes the secretary of the Smithsonian.”

  “That still seems like a pretty big risk for IAFSI,” commended Dinah. “You may not continue to be re-elected.”

  “They chose me for a reason,” boasted Winters. “Apart from the fact that I am eminently electable, I come from a liberal state. As long as Californians continue to agree that religion represses human progression, re-election is not a problem. In the meantime, it was IAFSI’s job to use their networks to drum up support for me in other states in preparation for a shot at the presidency.”

  “And onc
e there, you can use your increased power to pass all sorts of legislation that the Christians would adamantly oppose,” speculated Dinah. “So in return for their ongoing cash, they ordered you to sort out the problem with Whitfield. They didn’t realize how far you were prepared to go, but they continue to support you nevertheless. What happens if they find out you were behind Mason’s death?”

  “They won’t,” Winters said. “I want to be president too much to let that happen. You shouldn’t underestimate me. I do not leave loose ends.”

  Dinah smirked at him. “So Whitfield was a loose end, something for you to clean up?”

  “We warned him off first,” said Winters. “I’m not totally barbaric.”

  “How did you do that?”

  “First, just with words. We threatened his job, his reputation, and his salary. I suppose it was during this time that Lara Southall and Catherine Biscelli picked up on the conflict between him and the board. But he wouldn’t listen. He was determined, he said. The media would have a field day. Finally, on the day he was due to give his submission to Congress, we organized a little side trip for him.”

  “That’s the day he disappeared,” added Dinah. “How did you get him out of the building without the security cameras picking up on it?”

  “Ivan is the head of security. He can doctor any of the digital recordings he wants,” boasted Winters. “We had to increase the pressure on Whitfield to let the whole creationism thing drop, so we used some physical force. Just a few ideas we’d picked up in the army.”

  “So you brought Whitfield here and tortured him, trying to get him to agree to re-convert back to his evolutionist origins?”

  “Right,” agreed Winters blithely. “But he still wouldn’t give in, so we eventually killed him.”

  Dinah took a moment to digest this — Winters spoke of the murder of Thomas Whitfield as though it was no more substantial than a discussion of the weather.

  “Let me get this straight — you killed four people simply to ensure that creationism doesn’t find its way into the Smithsonian; to ensure that IAFSI continues to support you financially so that you can become president?”

  Winters looked steadily at her and simply smiled. “You don’t win wars by being timid.”

  Scarily, the senator appeared to be entirely without reason.

  “What about Chief Justice Pryor?” Dinah asked. “What does he know about this?”

  “Not much, but even if he’d started to guess at what had happened, he owes me too much to open his mouth.” Winters snorted. “You see, there’s a man who knows how to keep his mouth shut.”

  “Why does he owe you?”

  “The appointment of the chief justice is made by the president. Pryor desperately wanted to become the chief justice, and we equally wanted a liberal on the Supreme Court bench. So we appointed him, despite the fact that we had to pass over several much more experienced judges to do so. It was an unpopular decision at the time, and Pryor has never forgotten it. Wisely, he didn’t ask any questions and simply tried to make sure that the argument stayed out of the media.”

  “And away from us,” added Dinah. “He told the staff not to mention the conflict between the board and Whitfield to the FBI.”

  “Well, he’s a wise guy, like I said.”

  “And he’s totally behind your humanist agenda?”

  “You bet. In fact, he and others are working on new vilification laws right now. I will have great pleasure introducing them to the Cabinet.”

  “What type of vilification laws?”

  “Christians are soon about to be breaking the law for their draconian ranting against our modern society. We’re positioning their Bible teaching on this as ‘hate crimes.’ Soon they won’t be able to proclaim their anti-gay or pro-life dogma without answering for it in a court of law. It’s the legal muzzle we’ve all been waiting for and we’re not going to let some moralistic scientist open a platform for them to stand on. The churches in America are weak because they have no consistent backbone, but creationism tends to inspire them to really take their Bibles seriously, and that could give them just what they need to stop the liberal advancement of our culture. Most churches have accepted either evolutionary teaching or other progressive ideas and attempted to fit them into their Bible, ultimately taking any foundation they have to argue against the vilification laws. They no longer are a voice of authority and I am not about to let them have one. Neither is Pryor, even though he wouldn’t be particularly in agreement with my more aggressive but very necessary methods.” On the edge of another rant, Winters pulled himself short.

  “And Kenneth MacIntyre? He also seemed to be involved.”

  “No, he was the guy we set up to take the fall,” corrected Winters. “It was clumsy and ill-planned, but we thought throwing the majority of the evidence his way would be enough for you to concentrate on him, even if you couldn’t ever arrest him.”

  “So he knew nothing?”

  “He knew less than nothing. His companies take up most of his time. He comes to board meetings, ignores everybody, doesn’t say anything, and then leaves. Sometimes I think he barely knows what it is the institution actually does.”

  Dinah frowned. “You keep saying ‘we’ and I know that there has to be more people involved in this. Who else knows about this?”

  Winters grinned. “Oh, you’re gonna love this when I tell you. You’re right, of course, there is one more person who assisted me. Can you guess who it is?”

  “No,” snapped Dinah. “Just tell me.”

  “I can do better than that, I can bring him right out.” Winters gestured over her head, and Ivan opened the door to allow a fourth person into the room.

  Dinah turned around and when she saw him, her jaw hung agape in shock and confusion.

  Winter’s co-conspirator was none other than her former supervisor and Special Agent in Charge, George Hanlon.

  • • • •

  “Well,” said Dinah contemptuously. “I always thought you were a slimy little snake.”

  George Hanlon smiled and accepted a drink from Winters.

  “Since when did you care about the politics of evolution and creationism?” she continued.

  Hanlon shrugged. “I don’t, to be honest,” he replied. “I care about my promotion to the position of assistant director.”

  “What did you have to do?” Dinah asked, although she already knew the answer. “Apart from sell your soul, I mean.”

  Hanlon shrugged. “I’ve been friends with Mac here for over 30 years. He told me about the problem he was having with Whitfield. I told him about how being a SAC was boring and I wanted to move up the chain. So we reached an agreement.”

  “What agreement?”

  “Funny enough, it involved you. If I could arrange for an investigation to either not incriminate anybody or, alternatively, incriminate the wrong person, then I would get my promotion. I thought about how I could achieve that, and I immediately thought of you.”

  Dinah knew what was coming and remained silent.

  “I chose you because of your past history of messing everything up,” gloated Hanlon. “I knew about your alcohol addiction, and I knew that if you came too close to the truth, I could ruin you and your career quite easily. Luckily, you did it yourself.”

  Dinah sat in misery. Her weaknesses had been used by Hanlon and Winters on purpose to achieve their goal and ultimately kill four people.

  “Who is going to believe you, Harris?” Hanlon taunted. “You are nothing but a drunken misfit, too washed out to even do your job. The media thinks you’re a joke.”

  Dinah knew that it was true. She had single-handedly destroyed her own credibility. She hadn’t realized that she had any capacity left to feel more pain, but the realization of what she had become caused a new pain full of regret and disappointment.

  “Tell me, Harris, why do you think we’ve told you everything?” Winters asked mildly. He gestured at Petesky, who was still standing behind her. “It’s n
ot to satisfy your curiosity, although I’m glad we could help you in that regard. Unfortunately, your depression will become too much for you and you will take a lethal dose of alcohol and drugs. It’s a tragic end to a career that was at times quite brilliant.”

  Dinah would have smiled, if the fear choking her would have allowed it. Did any of them have a clue as to how close she’d come to doing it for them?

  “So why not just do it before? Why bother bringing me here?”

  Hanlon gave a sinister smile. “Information is king, Harris. We wanted to talk to you to see if you divulged anything we should be worried about, particularly in relation to Ferguson.”

  “He doesn’t know anything about this,” Dinah angrily retorted.

  “Well, we will ensure that he doesn’t.” Hanlon motioned Petesky again.

  She noticed from the corner of her eye that Petesky was fixing a drink, including sprinkling ground-up pills liberally into the liquid.

  “You don’t need to do that,” she said quickly. “As you pointed out, I have no credibility and nobody would believe me even if I did try to reveal what you’ve told me. I know how to keep my mouth shut. There’s no need to do anything drastic.”

  Winters smiled. “Didn’t I just spend the last half an hour explaining that it has been the big mouths of people that couldn’t be trusted that put us all in this mess in the first place? I’m sorry, you’re too much of a liability. As I said, I don’t leave loose ends.”

  Petesky glided to her side and handed her a drink. It was almost 100 percent vodka, and despite the circumstances, Dinah could feel the power that alcohol had over her.