by Stuart Woods
They made their way to Pennsylvania Avenue. “Which gate do we use?” Dino asked.
“There,” Stone said, pointing. “That’s the one you see in the movies all the time.”
Dino swung into the drive and stoppiv>ve and ed at the gate. Two uniformed officers wearing Secret Service badges approached, one on each side. Stone and Dino presented their White House IDs.
“Names?” an officer asked.
“Barrington and Bacchetti,” Dino replied. “Sounds like a delicatessen, doesn’t it?”
The officer maintained a stone face as he checked a clipboard. “Right, Mr. Barrington,” he said.
“Bacchetti,” Dino corrected him.
“Right. Straight ahead, under the portico. Somebody will meet you.”
The gate opened and Dino drove through.
“Slowly,” Stone said. “I want to take this in.”
“It’s not our first time here, you know.” They had attended a White House dinner a couple of years before.
“I know, but I didn’t take it all in that time.”
Dino pulled to a stop under the portico, and a man on each side of the car opened the doors. One of them drove the car away, and the other opened the door to the building. They presented their IDs at a reception desk, and the young man who had opened the door led them down a hallway until they came to an elevator. When they got in, he pressed an unmarked button and stepped out of the car. “You’ll be met,” he said.
The elevator rose; Stone couldn’t be sure how far. He didn’t know the car had stopped until the doors opened. They stepped into a broad hallway, and a man in a dark suit with a small badge of some sort on his lapel waved them to a sofa against the wall. “Please be seated. Someone will come for you shortly.”
They sat. A little way down the hall another Secret Service agent stood at a loose parade rest before a large door.
They had been on the sofa for perhaps five minutes when the elevator door opened, and the first lady of the United States stepped out, followed closely by Holly Barker. The first lady was also the director of Central Intelligence, Katharine Rule Lee, and it had taken an act of Congress to overlook the inconvenience that nepotism had been involved in her appointment.
“Mr. Barrington, Lieutenant Bacchetti,” the director said, walking over and extending her hand. “It’s good to see you both again.”
They had already leapt to their feet to renew their acquaintance, previously made at the White House dinner.
Mrs. Lee led the way down the hall to the guarded door, which was opened for her by the Secret Service agent. “Come in,” she said, sweeping into a large, handsomely furnished living room. “The president is on his way back from the West Coast and will be here in time for dinner. In the meantime, what would you like to drink?”
“Mr. Barrington will have a Knob Creek on the rocks,” Holly said to a man in a white jacket, “and Lieutenant Bacchetti will have a Johnnie Walker Black the same way.”
“I see you’ve been drinking with them,” the first lady observed.
4
Stone sipped his drink slowly and had a look around. It was the living room of an upper-class American family, complete with good paintings and family photographs in silver frames on the grand piano. He wondered when somebody would get around to why he and Dino were there.
“I understand you’re now a partner at Woodman and Weld,” the first lady said.
“For about a year,” Stone replied. “For a long time previously I was of counsel to the firm, and I worked from my home office. I still do.”
“What sort of clients do you work for?” she asked.
“My largest client is Strategic Services,” he said.
“I know them, of course.”
“I also serve on their board.”
“Mike Newman is a good man,” she said. “Almost as good as his predecessor.”
Stone was about to agree when the door opened, and the president of the United States breezed in, followed by a man carrying his luggage. “Good evening, all,” he said.
Everyone but his wife leapt to their feet and made the appropriate greetings.
“You’re early,” his wife said.
“Not inconveniently so, I hope. Will you all excuse me while I get out of this suit?” Without waiting for a reply, he walked into another room and closed the door behind him.
Mrs. Lee looked at her watch. “They must have had a hell of a tailwind,” she said.
“West to east will do that for you,” Stone observed. “It’s tougher going the other way.”
“Oh, that’s right, you’re a pilot, and I understand you’ve moved up to a jet. We will want to hear about that.”
“Of course,” Stone replied.
“We may as well wait until he’s back before I brief you.”
Stone nodded. He was nursing his drink, wanting a clear head for this meeting, whatever it was about.
The president came back wearing a cardigan sweater, and the butler was waiting for him with a drink. He collapsed in a large armchair that Stone had avoided, correctly guessing it had a regular occupant.
“How was your flight down?” he asked Stone.
“Uneventful, Mr. President.”
“At home, we like to be called Kate and Will,” the president said. “Uneventful is the best kind. I miss flying. The Secret Service won’t let me, you know. They can’t get a team of a dozen agents onto my Malibu, and the required jet fighter team wouldn’t be able to fly slowly enough to escort me.”
“I can see the problem.”
“I’m out of here in another eighteen months, though, and I’ve sworn to fly home to Georgia in my own airplane. Fuck the Secret Service and the Air Force.”
Stone laughed. “Only you can get away with that.”
“Will,” his wife said, “I think I’d better get to why Mr. Barrington and Lieutenant Bacchetti are our guests this evening.”
“Of course, my love, go ahead.”
“Please,” Stone said, “it’s Stone and Dino.”
She smiled, then continued. “Stone and Dino, you may recall that a year ago there was a murder on the grounds of the White House.”
“I remember hearing about it on the news. The husband took his own life shortly thereafter, and was blamed for the killing.”
“That is correct. Her name was Mimi Kendrick, and her husband was Brixton Kendrick. She was my social secretary, and he was, in effect, the manager of the White House, in charge of the physical plant and the office arrangements.”
Stone made a note of the names.
“The problem is,” the first lady said, “Will and I don’t believe Brix killed his wife.”
“Oh?”
She shook her head. “The investigation was, to Will’s and my mind, inconclusive. Because the Kendricks were federal employees on what, in effect, is a government reservation, the D.C. police were not involved. The FBI and the Secret Service conducted the investigation. Secret Service personnel are not trained as detectives, and it’s my own belief, perhaps colored by my association with the CIA, that FBI agents are not awfully good at investigating homicides, either.” She looked at her nails. “It’s possible that the White House staff were too willing to accept the Bureau’s conclusions, given the proximity of the midterm elections. Will didn’t want a stink, either, and I, in my position, was not about to publicly criticize the Bureau.”
“I understand,” Stone said.
Will Lee spoke up. “I’m a lame-duck president now, and I don’t really give too much of a damn about stepping on bureaucratic toes or contradicting the wise. I want to know, both for the sake of justice and for my own satisfaction, what actually occurred, and if there is a responsible person still out there, I want to see him tried and convicted.”
The first lady cleared her throat. “Holly suggested that, because of your current status with the NYPD, Dino, and because you, Stone, are a retired homicide detective, and because you are both under contract to the Agency, you two mig
ht be best qualified to review the investigation quietly and draw conclusions.”
“I see,” Stone replied.
“We’d be glad to do that,” Dino said. “Will we have access to the FBI’s file on the case?”
She handed Dino a briefcase that was resting against her chair. “Everything’s in here,” she said. “The Secret Service file, too. Take it all with you after dinner.”
“Anybody want another drink before we dine?” the president asked.
Everyone demurred.
“Good, I’m hungry.”
Stone noticed that dinner had not been announced, but as soon as the president was seated, food began magically arriving. They dined on a rib roast of beef, rice, and green beans, and a bottle of good California Cabernet.
They stayed for A quick brandy after dinner, then the president rose, signaling their imminent departure. “Do you have any questions?” he asked Stone and Dino.
“Not at the moment, Mr. Pr-Will. Whom should we contact when we do?”
The first lady spoke up. “Call Holly first, and if she doesn’t satisfy you, call me at my office. My secretary will know your names. If we need to meet again, we’ll do it here. In the meantime, the White House staff will be apprised of your identities, and you may prowl around with an escort appointed by the chief of staff, Tim Coleman. Just call him, if you need to.”
Stone and Dino said their good-byes, and Holly left with them.
When they were in the eleinoe in thvator, Stone asked, “Holly, what have you gotten us into?”
“After you’ve read the file, you can tell me,” she replied. “Where did you choose to stay?”
“At the Hay-Adams.”
“Nice. Are you sharing a room?”
“No, Dino has his own accommodations.”
“Good, then you may invite me back for a drink,” she said. “I’ll drive myself and meet you there.”
The elevator doors opened, and they were escorted back to the entrance, where their cars awaited.
5
Stone and Dino got out of their sinister SUV at the Hay-Adams, and Holly pulled in behind them. Stone turned to Dino. “Go to your room,” he said.
“Yes, Poppa, and be sure to close your door so I can’t hear your pitiful cries.”
Stone opened the car door for Holly and told the valet to put it on his tab.
“Where’s Dino?” Holly asked.
“He’s been sent to his room.”
“Oh, good.”
Stone led her to the elevator and thence to the suite.
“My goodness,” Holly said, “is the Agency paying for this?”
“Only to the extent of your miserable per diem,” Stone replied. “Drink?”
“Oh, yes; brandy, please.”
Stone poured them each one from the generous bar on the sideboard, and they sat down on the sofa, with the sight of the brightly lit White House through the French doors in the distance. Dino’s door was tightly shut.
Holly set down her glass, took Stone’s face in her hands, and kissed him firmly, then she picked up her glass again and took a sip. “I want to tell you some things,” she said. “Personal things.”
“All right,” Stone said, not sure where this was leading.
“I know, perhaps better than anyone else, what you’ve been going through since Arrington’s death.”
Stone said nothing.
“You’ll remember, since you were a witness to his murder during that bank robbery, that the love of my life, Jackson Oxenhand-ler, was taken from me in much the same way that Arrington was taken from you.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“I remember what I went through during the months that followed. I remember the dreams I had, the yearnings that could not be fulfilled, the pain, the constant pain. The pain, by the way, lessens after a while, then goes away.”
“I’m experiencing that,” Stone said, “and I feel guilty about it.”
“So did I, and all I can tell you is don’t worry about it. It takes care of itself, eventually.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“The other thing I remember vividly was how-you should excuse the expression-horny I was. I thought about sex with Jackson every time I lay down to go to sleep. After a few weeks, it surprised me that I thought about sex with you.”
“That does surprise me.n se”
“I know, we’d only just met, but some reptilian part of my brain began to distinguish between a dead lover and a potential lover who was out there, alive. So, when we finally had the opportunity, I was ready for you. And I’ve enjoyed every moment in bed with you since then, when we had the opportunity.”
“And I with you. When you walked into Elaine’s last night, I felt . . . as the song says, ‘that old feeling.’”
“Good. That means you’re alive and well, and you’re about where I was at this stage. Do you want me now?”
Stone stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. “Oh, yes. And I feel guilty about that, too.”
“Don’t,” she said, taking his hand and leading him toward the open bedroom door. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”
And she was. She undressed them both and lay in Stone’s arms, caressing and kissing various parts of him. When she was ready-and when he was ready-she took him inside her, and for an hour, maybe more, they did the things they had always done with each other.
Stone was awakened by sunlight coming into his room. The curtains were open, and he could hear the shower running. He joined Holly, and they soaped and scrubbed each other, then they made love again.
Finally, they got into robes and went into the living room, where Dino was sitting in a comfortable chair, reading the Washington Post. “Good morning,” he said. “I’ve ordered breakfast for us.”
“How considerate of you, Dino,” Holly said, kissing him on the forehead. She sat on the sofa and poured herself a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice from a pitcher already delivered by room service. “Tell me, Dino, do you have a girl these days?”
“One or two,” Dino replied.
“Why don’t you invite one of them down here to join you? I’m going to be taking up a lot of Stone’s evenings, and I wouldn’t want you to feel neglected.”
Dino looked over the top of his newspaper. “That’s a very good idea,” he said. “Does she get per diem, too?”
“From you, not from the Agency.”
“I’ll make a call after breakfast.”
The doorbell rang, and room service wheeled in a large cart containing bagels, smoked salmon, sour cream, and a dish of caviar. They arranged themselves about the table and pitched in.
“I’ll bet you read the files last night, didn’t you?” Holly said to Dino.
“I did.”
“Any conclusions?”
“I found them carefully crafted to leave no alternative to Brixton Kendrick as the murderer. His suicide must have been an enormous relief to the Bureau.”
“I think you could say that,” Holly agreed. “I think it was an enormous relief to everybody except the people who knew them best, who believe that Brix could never have murdered his wife.”
“Stone,” Dino said, “I want us to go over to the White House today and walk the route from the tennis courts to the parking lot, the one that Mrs. Kendrick took. I want to see where she died.”
“Good idea,” Stone said. “What did the medical examiner’s autopsy report say about the ca siabout tuse of death?”
“Oddly, the ME’s report was missing from the files.”
Holly stopped chewing her bagel. “Really?”
“Really.”
“I’ll get on that this morning,” she said.
“It could be critical,” Dino said. “It often is.”
“I agree,” Stone echoed, “and while you’re scaring up that report, see if you can find out who neglected to include it. That could be very interesting to know.”
“I’ll do that,” Holly said.
After bre
akfast, Holly got dressed, and Stone noted that she wore an outfit different from the one the night before. Holly had planned ahead.
He kissed her good-bye at the door. “Thank you,” he said, “for last night. You were correct in all your observations.”
“I’m glad you agree,” she said. “Will I see you tonight?”
“Book a table at your favorite restaurant, and come here for a drink first, say, six-thirty?”
“You’re on,” she said, and she was gone.
6
They arrived at the White House reception desk, and Stone and Dino flashed their IDs. “We have an appointment with Tim Coleman,” Stone said to the receptionist.
A call was made. “Someone will be out for you in a moment,” the receptionist said.
“We know the way,” Stone replied.
“Someone will be out for you in a moment.”
In not much more than a moment a young male staffer materialized in the reception area and introduced himself. Everybody shook hands. “Right this way.”
They were led almost to the Oval Office and then were turned into a small waiting room outside the chief of staff’s office. They could see him inside, feet on his desk, talking into two telephones, a secretary waiting with a stack of papers.
Coleman hung up one of the phones and waved them into his office. “Good,” he said, “you caught me on a slow day.” The phone that he had hung up rang, but he ignored it and pressed the other to his chest. He pushed a button on a console. “Fair. Come in here,” he said.
A moment later, a very tall woman in a short dress entered through another door. “Stone Barrington, Dino Bacchetti, this is one of my two deputies, Fair Sutherlin.”
Everybody shook hands. Stone noticed a very firm grip.
“Gentlemen,” Fair said, “it’s a pleasure to meet you. We all appreciate your taking the time to come down here and look into this for us.”
“We’re glad to be here,” Stone said.
“That go for you, too, Lieutenant?” she asked.
“Yep, and call me Dino. He’s Stone.”