The Laid Plans

"Get undressed," he said.

"Yes."

Peter’s eyes followed her into the bathroom, and he began to undress. Chloe came out a few minutes later, naked, and he became excited at the sight of her young, nubile body. She was beautiful. Chloe got into bed beside him, and they made love. She was inexperienced, but the fact that she was a virgin gave Peter the extra excitement that he needed.

In the middle of a sentence, Chloe had sat up in bed, suddenly dizzy.

"Are you all right, my dear?"

"I – I’m fine. I just feel a little – " She held on to the side of the bed for a moment. "I’ll be right back."

She got up. And as Peter watched, Chloe stumbled, fell, and smashed her head against the sharp corner of the iron table.

"Chloe!" He leaped out of bed and hurried to her side. "Chloe!"

He could feel no pulse. Oh, God, he thought. How could you do this to me? It wasn’t my fault. She slipped.

He looked around. They mustn’t trace me to this suite. He had quickly gotten dressed, gone into the bathroom, moistened a towel, and begun polishing the surfaces of every place he might have touched. He picked up Chloe’s purse, looked around to make sure there were no signs that he had been there, and took the elevator down to the garage. The last thing he had done was to wipe his fingerprints off the elevator buttons. When Paul Yerby had surfaced as a threat, Tager had used his connections to dispose of him. There was no way anyone could connect Tager to Chloe’s death.

And then the blackmail letter had come. Carl Gorman, the hotel clerk, had seen him. Peter had sent Sime to get rid of Gorman, telling him that it was to protect the president.

That should have been the end of the problem.

But Frank Lonergan had started asking questions, and it had been necessary to dispose of him, too. Now there was another nosy reporter to deal with.

So there were only two threats left: Marianne Gorman and Dana Evans.

And Sime was on his way to kill them both.

Chapter 23

Marianne Gorman repeated, "You know – the one with the eye patch. Peter Tager."

Dana was stunned. "Are you sure?"

"Well, it’s hard not to recognize someone who looks like that, isn’t it?"

"I need to use your phone." Dana hurried over to the telephone and dialed Matt Baker’s number. His secretary answered.

"Mr. Baker’s office."

"It’s Dana. I have to talk to him. It’s urgent."

"Hold on, please."

A moment later, Matt Baker was on the line. "Dana – is anything wrong?"

She took a deep breath. "Matt, I just found out who was with Chloe Houston when she died."

"We know who it was. It was – "

"Peter Tager."

"What?" It was a shout.

"I’m with the sister of Carl Gorman, the hotel clerk who was murdered. Carl Gorman saw Tager wiping his fingerprints off the elevator in the hotel garage the night Chloe Houston died. Gorman sent Tager a blackmail letter, and I think Tager had him murdered. I have a camera crew here. Do you want me to go on the air with this?"

"Don’t do anything right now!" Matt ordered. "I’ll handle it. Call me back in ten minutes."

He slammed down the receiver and headed for the White Tower. Leslie was in her office.

"Leslie, you can’t print – "

She turned and held up the mock-up of the headline: MURDER WARRANT SERVED ON PRESIDENT RUSSELL.

"Look at this, Matt." Her voice was filled with exaltation.

"Leslie – I have news for you. There’s – "

"This is all the news I need." She nodded smugly. "I told you you’d come back. You couldn’t stay away, could you? This was just too big to walk away from, wasn’t it, Matt? You need me. You’ll always need me."

He stood there, looking at her, wondering: What happened to turn her into this kind of woman? It’s still not too late to save her. "Leslie – "

"Don’t be embarrassed because you made a mistake," Leslie said complacently. "What did you want to say?"

Matt Baker looked at her for a long time. "I wanted to say goodbye, Leslie."

She watched him turn and walk out the door.

Chapter 24

"What’s going to happen to me?" Marianne Gorman asked.

"Don’t worry," Dana told her. "You’ll be protected." She made a quick decision. "Marianne, we’re going to do a live interview, and I’ll turn the tape of it over to the FBI. As soon as we finish the interview, I’ll get you away from here."

Outside, there was the sound of a car screaming to a stop.

Marianne hurried over to the window. "Oh, my God!"

Dana moved to her side. "What is it?"

Sime Lombardo was getting out of the car. He looked at the house, then headed toward the door.

Marianne stammered, "That’s the – the – other man who was here asking about Carl, the day Carl was killed. I’m sure he had something to do with his murder."

Dana picked up the phone and hastily dialed a number.

"Mr. Hawkins’s office."

"Nadine, I have to talk to him right away."

"He’s not in. He should be back in about – "

"Let me talk to Nate Erickson."

Nate Erickson, Hawkins’s assistant, came on the phone. "Dana?"

"Nate – I need help fast. I have a breaking news story. I want you to put me on live, immediately."

"I can’t do that," Erickson protested. "Tom would have to authorize it."

"There’s no time for that," Dana exploded.

Outside the window, Dana saw Sime Lombardo moving toward the front door.

In the news van, Vernon Mills looked at his watch. "Are we going to do this interview or not? I have a date."