The Chamber (Page 96)

"Sure. Just tell me what – "

"Go wait by the guardhouse. I’ll be there in ten minutes."

Adam brushed his teeth and laced up his Nikes, and spent fifteen minutes chatting about this and that with Willis, the guard, at the gate. A black Mercedes, the longest model in history, approached and stopped. Adam said good-bye to Willis, and got in the car.

They shook hands because it was the polite thing to do. Phelps was dressed in a white jogging suit and wore a Cubs cap. He drove slowly on the empty street. "I guess Lee has told you some things about me," he said, without a trace of concern or regret.

"A few things," Adam said carefully.

"Well, there’s a lot to tell, so I’m not going to ask what subjects she’s covered."

A very good idea, Adam thought. "It’s probably best if we just talk about baseball or something. I take it you’re a Cubs fan."

"Always a Cubs fan. You?"

"Sure. This is my first season in Chicago, and I’ve been to Wrigley a dozen times. I live pretty close to the park."

"Really. I go up three or four times a year. I have a friend with a box. Been doing it for years. Who’s your favorite player?"

"Sandberg, I guess. How about you?"

"I like the old guys. Ernie Banks and Ron Santo. Those were the good days of baseball, when the players had loyalty and you knew who’d be on your team from one year to the next. Now, you never know. I love the game, but greed’s corrupted it."

It struck Adam as odd that Phelps Booth would denounce greed. "Maybe, but the owners wrote the book on greed for the first hundred years. of baseball. What’s wrong with the players asking for all the money they can get?"

"Who’s worth five million a year?"

"Nobody. But if rock stars make fifty, what’s wrong with baseball players making a few million? It’s entertainment. The players are the game, not the owners. I go to Wrigley to see the players, not because the Tribune happens to be the current owner."

"Yeah, but look at ticket prices. Fifteen bucks to watch a game."

"Attendance is up. The fans don’t seem to mind."

They drove through downtown, deserted at four in the morning, and within minutes were near the jail. "Listen, Adam, I don’t know how much Lee has told you about her drinking problem."

"She told me she’s an alcoholic."

"Definitely. This is the second drunk driving charge. I was able to keep the first out of the papers, but I don’t know about this. She’s suddenly become an item around town. Thank heaven she hasn’t hurt anybody." Phelps stopped the car at a curb near a fenced lot. "She’s been in and out of recovery half a dozen times."

"Half a dozen. She told me she’d been through treatment three times."

"You can’t believe alcoholics. I know of at least five times in the past fifteen years. Her favorite place is a swanky little abuse center called Spring Creek. It’s on a river a few miles north of the city, real nice and peaceful. It’s for the wealthy only. They get dried out and pampered. Good food, exercise, saunas, you know, all the bells and whistles. It’s so damned nice I think people want to go there. Anyway, I have a hunch she’ll turn up there later today. She has some friends who’ll help her get checked in. She’s well known around the place. Sort of a second home."

"How long will she stay there?"

"It varies. The minimum is a week. She has stayed as long as a month. Costs two thousand bucks a day, and of course they send me the bills. But I don’t mind. I’ll pay any amount to help her."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"First, we try to find her. I’ll get my secretaries on the phones in a few hours, and we’ll track her down. She’s fairly predictable at this point, and I’m sure she’ll turn up in a detox ward, probably at Spring Creek. I’ll start pulling strings in a few hours and try to keep it out of the paper. It won’t be easy, in light of everything else that’s been printed recently."

"1’m sorry."

"Once we find her, you need to go see her. Take some flowers and candy. I know you’re busy, and I know what’s ahead for the next, uh-"

"Nine days."

"Nine days. Right. Well, try to see her. And, when the thing down at Parchman is over, I suggest you go back to Chicago, and leave her alone."

"Leave her alone?"

"Yeah. It sounds harsh, but it’s necessary. There are many reasons for her many problems. I’ll admit I’m one of the reasons, but there’s lots of stuff you don’t know. Her family is another reason. She adores you, but you also bring back nightmares and a lot of suffering. Don’t think bad of me for saying this. I know it hurts, but it’s the truth."

Adam stared at the chain-link fence across the sidewalk next to his door.

"She was sober once for five years," Phelps continued. "And we thought she’d stay that way forever. Then Sam was convicted, and then Eddie died. When she returned from his funeral, she fell into the black hole, and I thought many times that she’d never get out. It’s best for her if you stay away."

"But I love Lee."

"And she loves you. But you need to adore her from a distance. Send her letters and cards from Chicago. Flowers for her birthday. Call once a month and talk about movies and books, but stay away from the family stuff."

"Who’ll take care of her?"

"She’s almost fifty years old, Adam, and for the most part she’s very independent. She’s been an alcoholic for many years, and there’s nothing you or I can do to help her. She knows the disease. She’ll stay sober when she wants to stay sober. You’re not a good influence. Nor am I. I’m sorry."

Adam breathed deeply and grabbed the door latch. "I’m sorry, Phelps, if I’ve embarrassed you and your family. It was not intentional."

Phelps smiled and placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder. "Believe it or not, my family is in many ways more dysfunctional than yours. We’ve been through worse."

"That, sir, is difficult to believe."

"It’s true." Phelps handed him a key ring and pointed to a small building inside the fence. "Check in there, and they’ll show you the car."

Adam opened the door and got out. He watched the Mercedes ease away and disappear. As Adam walked through a gate in the fence, he couldn’t shake the unmistakable feeling that Phelps Booth actually still loved his wife.

Chapter 36

RETIRED Colonel George Nugent was barely ruffled by the news of Naifeh’s heart attack. The old guy was doing quite well by Monday morning, resting comfortably and out of danger, and what the hell he was only months away from retirement anyway. Naifeh was a good man, but past his usefulness and hanging on simply to bolster his pension. Nugent was considering a run for the head position if he could get his politics straight.

Now, however, he was pressed with a more critical matter. The Cayhall execution was nine days away, actually only eight because it was scheduled for one minute after midnight on Wednesday of next week, which meant that Wednesday counted as another day though only one minute of it was used. Tuesday of next week was actually the last day.

On his desk was a shiny leather-bound notebook with the words Mississippi Protocol printed professionally on the front. It was his masterpiece, the result of two weeks of tedious organizing. He’d been appalled at the haphazard guides and outlines and checklists thrown together by Naifeh for previous executions. It was a wonder they’d actually been able to gas anyone. But now there was a plan, a detailed and carefully arranged blueprint which included everything, in his opinion. It was two inches thick and a hundred and eighty pages long, and of course had his name all over it.