Sam looked as though he was about to protest, then stopped. “Just be careful.”
“SO LET ME JUST BE SURE that I’ve got this all straight,” Kate said to the nervous man across from her, who was now on his third straight Scotch. “ORDP was set up by several groups who want to see drugs legalized as a matter of principle. Then along came Wilson with an offer of money you badly needed, claiming that his interest was in the efficient use of government resources. The War on Drugs wasn’t working and was eating up too much of the taxpayers’ money.”
“Right. He seemed legitimate.”
“But then one of your board members told you that he’d been involved in some shady financial deals in the past, and you started checking up on him because you were worried that it could cause trouble for ORDP.”
“Yeah. Legalization’s a touchy subject. I really do think it’s the only solution, and I know this is the time to get it done, so I didn’t want to take any chances.”
“So you met with him and expressed your concerns. And right after that, you had a phone call from Armistead.”
He nodded. “I’d never met him before. Newbury’s committee had given us a contract to study boot camps, and he threatened to pull the contract and see to it that we didn’t get any more unless I laid off Wilson.” He heaved a self-pitying sigh. “And that’s when I knew that something was going on.”
“So that’s when you met again with Wilson and told him that you had to know what was going on so that you could protect ORDP?”
“Right. He brushed me off at first, but I kept after him, telling him that my only concern was for ORDP and I would go along for the organization’s sake.”
“And he finally told you that he and his partner were putting big money into a drug company that was ready and willing to market mind-altering drugs if they became legal?”
“Yeah. I didn’t like the idea of taking money under those circumstances, but I couldn’t see that there was anything really wrong about it. It’s kind of like drug-prevention programs taking money from the liquor companies and the brewers.”
Kate consulted her notes again. “So after he told you that, you asked why Armistead was involved and that’s when he told you that he and his partner were making big contributions to Newbury’s PAC in exchange for his help in getting the legislation through. Right?”
“Right. He didn’t say how much money was involved, but I think it was a lot, and he sort of hinted that some of it was going directly to Newbury himself.”
Kate thought for a moment. “But he never mentioned anything about New Leaf—or any experimentation going on there?”
“No. I told you that we chose New Leaf ourselves, as one of the boot camps we were going to study. He wouldn’t have even known about it—or if he did, he never said anything to me.”
“Did he ever say anything about experimental drugs that Glasser Biotech was working on?”
Levander frowned into his nearly empty glass. “Yeah, come to think about it, he did. I didn’t pay much attention at the time because I was busy worrying about ORDP. He said something about their working on some revolutionary drug that could really put an end to the crime problem, and how legalizing mind-altering drugs would make it easier to get approval for that, too.”
Kate saw it all now. If the public could be made to believe that mind-altering drugs were acceptable, then it was probably only a small step to getting them to accept an experimental drug that might well permanently alter the brain. And the same argument could be made for both: it would reduce crime.
She explained her thinking to Levander. He isn’t all bad, she thought. The fact that he’d come to her proved that he had a conscience. In fact, he was like the couple who’d been hired to take care of the kids—and probably like some others who’d gotten caught up in this mess. When people were desperate enough for something, they often failed to listen to their consciences.
After she’d finished, Levander nodded. “That makes sense to me. In fact, I remember now that he said they were thinking long-term.” He shook his head sadly. “It’s enough to make me rethink my own views on legalization.”
“So what will happen now—to you, I mean?” Kate asked.
“I’ve already written my letter of resignation, so I can at least say I resigned before they fire me.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be so hasty,” Kate said thoughtfully. “The truth is that I’m not at all sure you did anything criminal, and your board—or the rest of them—should be glad that you exposed this.”
“Maybe,” he said doubtfully. “I do think there are a few of them who would support me.”
They parted outside the bar, and the moment Kate was in the Porsche, she picked up the phone and called Sam.
“Hot damn!” he said when she was through. “If this doesn’t get Newbury and Armistead, then nothing will. And I’ve got a piece of good news, too. Chief Pollard called and said that the FBI picked up that gun-for-hire and they think he’s going to talk.”
“We should tell them about Crawford,” Kate replied, thinking that the poor intern had somehow gotten lost in all this. “It’s possible that he killed him, too.”
“Already done,” Sam said. “I called the FBI agent and gave him the information and Detective Coldron’s number. If he was responsible for Crawford and he fingers Armistead or someone who can be traced to Armistead, that would be the icing on the cake.”
“Do we have any more loose threads to tie up?”
“None that I can think of. All we do now is wait for the results of the brain scan on Charles Scofield and the analysis of the pills they found at New Leaf.” He paused briefly. “And, oh, yeah, we might consider finding some time to get a marriage license.”
“I’ll pencil it into my schedule,” Kate said dryly.
“In the meantime, I’ve got a bottle of champagne on ice and I even got caviar this time “
“HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I really do love you—and that I was nuts to divorce you?”
Sam trailed his tongue down across her throat, between her breasts and down still farther. “You have. You were. And I forgive you.”
Kate didn’t answer—or rather, her answer was a deep moan of pure delight.
Epilogue
From the Washington Post, eight months later
FORMER CONGRESSMAN SENTENCED
Former Rep. Jack Newbury was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the murder of a congressional intern who had uncovered illegal contributions to the congressman from two financiers who were seeking his assistance in the battle over drug legalization.
The complicated scheme, which has come to be known as “Paxgate”, after the name given by Glasser Biotech to the brain-altering drug they had developed, has resulted in numerous criminal convictions. The story was first unearthed by former Post reporter, Kate Stevens, after she began to receive threats from Newbury and his chief of staff. Ms. Stevens was recently awarded a Pulitzer prize for her story.
The drug was being tested illegally on juvenile offenders at a now-closed boot camp in Maryland called New Leaf. Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) said that the damage to the brains of the subjects is irreversible, though all will be able to lead relatively normal lives.
The revelation cast a pall over last fall’s hearings on drug legalization, and Congress has yet to act on the matter.
ISBN 978-14592-7558-4
EXPOSÉ
Copyright © 1996 by Saranne Dawson
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work In whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, Including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any Information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the Imagination of the
author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Books by Saranne Dawson
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
Copyright
Expose Page 26