Last Snow - Eric van Lustbader [67]
“Speaking of which,” he said in a soft voice, “I want to run an investigation on everyone in the cabinet.”
The president sat up straight. “You suspect someone? Of what?”
“Of nothing, of everything.” Paull took the cigar from between his teeth. “Here’s how the situation looks from my particular vantage point, Edward. Frankly, I don’t trust anyone in your inner circle. It’s my opinion that Benson and Thomson have taken steps to ensure they know what your moves will be before you implement them.”
“Denny, what you’re saying—”
“Please let me finish, sir. Consider: Your first two initiatives have been shot down in Congress, embarrassing defeats for a newly elected president. Recall that Lloyd Berns had assured you that he’d have the votes from the other side of the aisle to ensure the bills’ passage, but unaccountably he was wrong. It was as if someone had spoken to the right congressmen before Berns, which could only have happened if the opposition had knowledge of the decisions of the inner cabinet.”
The president blew out a little puff of anxious air. “Come on, Denny. I’ve known you a long time, but this sounds preposterous. What you’re intimating is that a member of my cabinet is leaking information to my enemies.”
“I’m not intimating it, sir, I’m stating it straight out.”
“On the basis of what? Circumstantial evidence, a series of set-backs that are normal—”
“With all due respect, Edward, the string of setbacks we’ve suffered are anything but normal.”
The president made an exasperated sound. “But there could be any number of explanations, all of which might be perfectly innocent.”
“Innocence doesn’t belong in politics, you know that. And, if I may say, in the position you’re in you don’t have the luxury of kicking suspicions into the gutter. If I’m right, your enemies have already started to poison your presidency. We’ve got to short-circuit your enemies, and I mean right now.”
Carson considered for some time. At length, he nodded. “All right, Denny. Begin as soon as you get back to the office. Pick your team and—”
“No. All the work is going to be done by me alone, unofficially, outside the office. I don’t want to leave a trail of any kind.”
The president rubbed his temples. “You know this is the sort of assignment Jack ought to be handling.”
“Naturally, but you and I have sent him on what I trust is a parallel course.”
“I detested lying to him.”
“You didn’t lie, you withheld knowledge, and for a damn good reason.”
“Jack is a friend, Denny. He brought my daughter back to me. I owe him more than I can ever repay.”
“Then trust in his abilities.” Paull stubbed out his cigar. “For the moment, that’s all we can do.”
_____
ENTWINED, CRADLED by the softly breathing night, Jack and Annika spoke in the secretive tones of ghosts:
“What do you think is happening beyond these walls,” Annika said, “in the hallway, the other apartments in this building, out on the street, in other sections of the city? It’s impossible to know, just like it’s impossible to know who’s thinking about us, thinking about following us, extracting the secrets we keep so close to us, who harbors thoughts of murder and mayhem.” She turned in his arms. “What are your secrets, Jack, the ones you keep closest to you?”
“My wife left me—twice,” Jack said with a vehemence that was almost like menace. “Who the hell knows what secrets are held inside the human heart.”
Annika waited a moment, possibly to allow his anger to subside, before she said, “What happened on the sofa beneath the Tibetan mandala?”
Jack closed his eyes for a moment as he felt his heart beating hard. “Nothing happened.”
“So you were talking to a ghost, is that it?”
“I was talking to a secret.”
“A secret Alli knows.”
“She and I, yes.”
“This just underscores what I said. We know so little, less than what seems apparent, less even than we believe.” She placed her hand on his arm, moved it down to the back of his hand, tracing the