Murder at the Library of Congress - Margaret Truman [74]
“In there,” the intern said, pointing to the employee kitchen.
Annabel went to the door. Wedged in the small kitchen was what seemed to be the entire public affairs staff, their attention focused on a TV on the counter tuned to Lucianne Huston’s cable network. Annabel spotted Wilson in a far corner and gave him a wave, which he returned. Someone said, “Quiet!” as Lucianne’s face filled the screen.
“This is Lucianne Huston reporting from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. What started as a simple murder—if any murder can ever be branded simple—of a leading researcher at this institution has turned into a brewing scandal complete with mysterious payoffs to the murdered researcher, Michele Paul; a stolen painting in Miami, where a security guard was gunned down; the shooting death of the person who stole the painting in Mexico by police there; and the unsolved disappearance eight years ago of yet another researcher at this institution, John Bitteman. Bitteman and Paul were both scholars in search of the mysterious, alleged diaries of Bartolomé de Las Casas, a companion of Christopher Columbus on his voyages in search of a new world.
“I’ve learned that Michele Paul had been receiving money for years from one of America’s richest men, David Driscoll, founder and now chairman emeritus of Driscoll Securities, a passionate collector of Hispanic art and artifacts, and a leading benefactor of the Library of Congress. Why he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the murder victim is a question still to be answered.
“Authorities at the Library of Congress, its Jefferson Building behind me, have been uncooperative in my search for answers to the many riddles surrounding Michele Paul’s murder. Their silence speaks volumes to this reporter.
“I’m Lucianne Huston reporting live from Washington.”
The staffers gathered in the kitchen looked at one another in bewilderment as someone removed a videotape from the VCR and squeezed out of the room. The others followed, buzzing about what they’d just seen. Rich Wilson came to where Annabel stood outside the kitchen.
“Is all of what she reported true?” he asked.
“Who knows? There are more rumors flying around this place than cards in the card catalog. The reporter, Lucianne Huston, had asked me about David Driscoll, so I suppose there’s some truth to what she says about him.”
“That’s a bombshell.”
“More like a land mine someone just stepped on. Where there’s one, there’s bound to be others.”
They moved to an empty cubicle.
“Annabel, will this have any bearing—I mean, an adverse bearing on the article you’re writing or the issue itself?”
“I don’t know. At the moment, the murder is overbearing. But the article will be about Las Casas, not Michele Paul. I do know that the library is being turned upside down by all that’s happened. Lucianne Huston is in the process of painting it to be the devil’s crib itself.”
“She’s pretty good at that. Fill me in on how your article is going.”
“Sure.”
After giving Wilson an idea of her approach and some of the better bits from her research, Annabel went to the Hispanic reading room and looked in on Consuela Martinez.
“Come in, come in,” Consuela said. “How’s everything going?”
“Despite my best intentions, much too slowly. You?”
“Doing my best, which isn’t very good. What’s new with the investigation?”
“Lucianne just gave a live report on it on the noon news.”
“Really? What did she have to say?”
“Lots.” Annabel recapped what she’d seen on TV.
“Wow! I’d heard something about David Driscoll having paid Michele for some information, but now it’s definite?”
“According to Lucianne. Did you ever have an inkling that something like that might have been going on?”
“Absolutely not. If I had, I would have immediately brought it to the Librarian’s attention and probably taken pleasure in doing it, I’m ashamed to admit.”
“Why do you think Driscoll would have paid Michele, Consuela?”
“Pretty obvious, isn’t it? It had to have been for something Michele was giving Driscoll. His