Murder at Ford's Theatre - Margaret Truman [28]
“An intern who worked for Senator Bruce Lerner was found murdered early this morning in Baptist Alley, behind Ford’s Theatre. The victim, Nadia Zarinski, had been bludgeoned to death by what a police spokesman has termed a blunt object. Ms. Zarinski, who graduated from American University, had worked as a part-time volunteer at Ford’s Theatre. There had been rumors of a romantic relationship between Ms. Zarinski and Senator Lerner, which was denied by all parties involved. Police say they have no leads at this point in the investigation.”
Klayman clicked off the set and went to his computer in a corner of the living room, where he brought up one of many electronic folders he’d created, each devoted to an unsolved murder to which he and Johnson had been assigned. This particular folder dealt with the disappearance a year earlier of another congressional intern, approximately Nadia Zarinski’s age and who looked a great deal like her: five feet four inches tall, face with prominent cheekbones (chipmunk cheeks), brown eyes and hair, full-figured. The missing girl, whose name was Connie Marshall, had interned with the House majority leader. Like the Lerner-Zarinski connection, there were rumors that the congressman and Ms. Marshall had had an affair, but that had never been proved.
He stared at the photos of Connie Marshall provided by family and friends and suffered the same emotions he always felt when opening that file. The search for her had consumed months, without results. She was a missing person, presumed dead. No one searched for her anymore.
He created a new file, NADIA ZARINSKI, and typed in what information the day had delivered. He made a series of notes that reflected what the next investigative steps would be, saved the file, and closed the computer.
Were the cases connected? Had Nadia’s murderer also been involved with Connie Marshall’s disappearance and presumed death?
With any luck, he’d play a role in answering that question.
He was physically tired but mentally alert. He took a textbook from his desk—he occasionally took courses as a nonmatriculated student at George Washington University; the course he was about to start covered the 1920s and ’30s—and read until sleep came. His final conscious thoughts were of Nadia Zarinski’s lifeless, battered body in a shabby alley behind Ford’s Theatre.
Morning couldn’t come fast enough.
CHAPTER NINE
IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, the eminent Virginia architect Waddy B. Wood designed more than thirty elegant homes, some of them mansion size, in an area that was an extension of the exclusive Dupont Circle residential community. The area was known as Kalorama—Greek for “beautiful view”—and its stately Norman, Tudor, and Georgian homes offered stunning views of Rock Creek Park. One of the more imposing houses, in the châteauesque style inspired by Paris’s École des Beaux-Arts, was the residence of Virginia senator Bruce Lerner.
Lerner and his then wife, Clarise, had purchased the house in the early years of their marriage, and it was to there they’d brought their only child, Jeremiah, home from the hospital. The previous owner had turned it into a bed-and-breakfast, a highly unpopular move with his wealthy neighbors, who were grateful when it again functioned as a private home for a distinguished U.S. senator and his family.
It was a large house, with twelve-foot-high ceilings, period moldings, and hardwood floors throughout its sixteen rooms. There were seven fireplaces, four baths, a separate two-bedroom apartment, maid’s quarters, a three-car garage with a deck above that afforded views of Washington’s monuments from its front, and from its rear, the park. Senator and Mrs. Lerner paid $800,000 for it in the late ’70s; its current worth was estimated to be well in excess of $2 million.
This night, Lerner sat on the deck, a glass of scotch on the rocks in his hand. His pose in the chair was relaxed, long legs in gray slacks stretched in front of him, double-breasted