(1976) The R Document (37 page)

Pierce answered immediately. ‘You can talk now,’ he said. ‘It’s safe. Did your wife run off?’

‘To Texas. She wants to vindicate herself.’

‘I’m not surprised.’

‘Well, I am. I can’t understand her doing it. I realize she wants to clear herself for me, but that means defying Tynan. It’s foolhardy. She should know better. She should know that nobody can beat Tynan at his own game. Trying to snatch one of Tynan’s witnesses from under his nose and wring the truth out of her. Karen doesn’t realize how dangerous that can be.’

‘You mentioned she’d left you a note,’ said Pierce calmly. ‘Do you mind reading it to me?’

Collins pulled Karen’s note out of his pocket and read it to Pierce.

When he finished, he said, ‘I’ve got a good mind to go to Fort Worth today and try to find her.’

‘No,’ said Pierce firmly. ‘You stay put. We’ll find her for you. I’ll notify our man down there - Jim Shack, remember? - and get him on her trail. It would save time if we had some leads. Her note says she’s staying with friends in Fort Worth. Do you have her address book at home?’

‘We keep a joint address book. But I think she has an old one of her own around somewhere.’

‘Good. The minute you get back to the house, dig up that old address book, if she left it behind. Then - No, better not read those addresses from your phone - use another pay phone on the way to the office - then read me the names and addresses of all of Karen’s friends in the Fort Worth-Dallas area. I’ll pass them on to Jim Shack.’

‘Very well.’

‘I’ll also have Jim Shack find Tynan’s star witness. Your wife would be too emotional to handle her. But Shack can tackle the job.’

‘Thanks, Tony. Only - how are you going to find Tynan’s witness? He wouldn’t let me see his file.’

‘No problem. I told you we have two informers in the FBI building. One is a night man. He’ll get a chance to peek at the dossier on Karen after Tynan and Adcock have gone home. He’ll relay the name of the witness to me and I’ll pass it on to Shack. Trust us to handle this. Your wife - and her case - are in good hands.’

‘I can’t tell you how grateful I am, Tony.’

‘Never mind,’ said Pierce, ‘we’re all in this together. I’d like to spring you in time to get to California and counteract Tynan’s testimony. If he’s the only Government witness, he’ll stampede the Senators into passing the Amendment. My other hope is that we can nail down The R Document by tomorrow. We’re seeing Father Dubinski and Donald Radenbaueh for follow-up interviews in the next few hours.

What about you? Are you going back to see Hannah Baxter today?’

‘She couldn’t make it today. I phoned her from Chicago - from the airport - this morning. Woke her up, but she was nice about it. She agreed to see me tomorrow morning. We have an appointment at her place at ten.’

‘Okay. If there’s anything new, I’ll call you at your office. Is your phone clean for incoming calls?’

‘It will be by the time you call. I’m having it debugged every morning now.’

‘Good. I’ll be in touch.’

*

For the first time in many years, Vernon T. Tynan was on his way to see his mother on a day that was not Saturday.

Besides the fact that it was Wednesday, there were other unusual aspects to Tynan’s visit to Alexandria. For one thing, he had not bothered to bring his OC file on celebrities. For another, he was not going to have lunch with his mother. For yet another, it was not a quarter to one but three fifteen in the afternoon.

What had inspired this precedent-shattering trip was a telephone conversation Tynan had had with his mother no more than ten minutes ago. She did not call him regularly, but occasionally she did call, and this had been one of the times.

‘Am I disturbing your work, then, Vern?’ she had asked.

‘No. Not a bit. How are you? Is everything all right?’

‘Never better. I was just wanting to liank you.’

‘Thank me?’

‘For being such a thoughtful son. The television set works perfectly now.’

He had not known what the devil she was talking about. ‘What do you mean?’ he had asked.

‘I want to thank you for having the television set fixed. The repairman came late this morning. He said you’d sent him. It is very nice of you, Vern, to think of your mother and her problems when you are so busy.’

He had been silent as he tried to assemble his thoughts

‘Vern? Are you there, Vern?’

‘I’m here, Mom. Uh - I may see you in a little while. I have some business in Alexandria. I’ll put my head in for a minute.’

That’s an unexpected treat. Again, thanks for sending the

repairman.’

After he had hung up, Tynan had tilted back in his chair, still trying to sort it out.

It could have been a mistake, the wrong address. Or it could have been something else. In any case, one thing for sure: He had not sent any television repairman to fix his mother’s set.

Immediately, he had heaved himself out of his chair to find his driver and car and get himself over to Alexandria as fast as possible.

Now, having arrived before his mother’s apartment in the Golden Years Senior Citizens Village, he left the back seat and entered the building. He tested her alarm button; uttered an expletive because it was not on, then let himself into the apartment.

Rose Tynan was in her contour chair before the television set. She was watching an afternoon variety show. Tynan absently brushed her cheek with a kiss.

‘You’re here,’ she said. ‘I’m so glad you could come. Can I get you a bite?’

‘Never mind, Mom. I stopped by for only a minute.’ He indicated the set. ‘So it’s better now. I can’t remember -what was wrong?’

‘What?’ she asked over the din of the television program. With a wheeze, she leaned forward and lowered the volume.

‘I was trying to remember what was wrong with the set.’

‘Sometimes the picture jumped around.’

‘So the repairman came this morning? At what time?’

‘Maybe eleven or a little after.’

‘Was he wearing a uniform?’

‘Of course.’

‘Do you remember what he looked like. Mom?’

‘What a silly question,’ said Rose Tynan. ‘He looked like a repairman. Why?’

‘I wanted to be sure they sent out their best man. How long was he here?’

‘A half an hour, maybe.’

He wanted to pursue this without worrying her. ‘By the way, Mom,’ he said casually, ‘did you watch him fix ii to see he was doing his job? Were you in the room with him all the time?’

“We talked a little while. But he was very busy. Finally I went to do the dishes.’

‘Okay.’ Tynan walked over to the sofa and looked at the black telephone on the stand beside it. ‘Mom, where can I find a screwdriver?’

With an effort, she struggled out of the contour chair. ‘I’ll get it. What do you need with a screwdriver?’

‘I thought I’d check your telephone while I’m here. I couldn’t hear you very well when you called. Maybe I can adjust it.’

The moment that his mother returned with the screwdriver, Tynan disconnected the base of the telephone. Next, he removed the casing. The inner mechanism lay bare. He began to examine it minutely.

After an interval, he exhaled softly, murmuring, ‘Ahh.’

He had located the monitor - a transmitting bug smaller than a thimble encased in adhesive and resin - the electronic eavesdropper that picked up both sides of a conversation on an FM receiver hidden somewhere else in the city where the conversation could be taped. The device was the very one the FBI had been using.

Tynan extracted the monitor from the telephone, pocketed it, and restored the casing and base to the telephone.

‘Was something wrong, then?’ Rose Tynan asked.

‘Yes, Mom. It’s okay now.’ The important thing was what they - whoever they were, exactly - had picked up on the telephone since this morning. He tried to remember if he had told his mother anything of importance, in the last several Saturdays, that she might have repeated today to a friend on the phone.

‘Mom, have you used the telephone today? Not early this morning, but since around eleven o’clock?’

‘I’m trying to remember.’

‘Try hard. Anybody call you? Or did you call anyone?’

‘Only one call to me. Mrs Grossman.’

‘What did you discuss?’

‘It was for a few seconds. About a new recipe she found. Also, I talked to you.’

‘That’s all?’

‘Yes, that’s all. Except - wait - was it today? - it was today -I had a long talk with Hannah Baxter.’

‘Can you remember what you two talked about?’

Rose Tynan began to recite the matters she and Hannah Baxter had discussed. It was all trivial, inconsequential. ‘She tries to keep busy,’ Rose Tynan was concluding. ‘She misses her husband so much. Having her grandson, Rick, in the house means she’s not alone, but it’s not like having your close one, especially when he was the Attorney General. Of course, she will have the Attorney General there tomorrow-‘

Tynan had been only half-listening, but now he perked up. ‘What do you mean, having the Attorney General there tomorrow? Maybe you’re confused. Noah was Attorney General, but he’s dead.’

‘She meant the new Attorney General - what’s his name?’

‘Christopher Collins?’

‘That’s the one. He’s coming to see her tomorrow morning.’

‘Why? Did she say why?’

‘I don’t know. She didn’t say.’

‘Collins going to see Mrs Baxter,’ he said more to himself than to his mother. ‘Well, now. What time did you talk to Hannah Baxter on the phone?’

‘On the phone? I didn’t say I talked to Hannah on the phone. I talked with her in person. She dropped by to have coffee with me this morning.’

‘In person,’ Tynan said, with relief. ‘Good. Well, I’ve got to run, Mom. Got a lot to do before going to California tomorrow. And one thing. Don’t let in any more repairmen without checking with me first. Just call me first.’

‘If that is what the Director wants.’

‘That’s what I want.’ He kissed his mother on the forehead. ‘And thanks for all the news.’

‘What news?’ she asked.

‘I’ll tell you someday.’ With that, he departed in haste.

*

It rained the next morning, and the sky over Washington was dark and heavy as Chris Collins rode from the Department of Justice to the Baxter residence in Georgetown.

Throughout the drive Collins’ mood had matched the weather. He had rarely been gloomier. Since yesterday, there had been no calls whatsoever from Tony Pierce or Van Allen or Ingstrup. Apparently their interrogations and investigations in the capital, and those by their colleagues around the country, had produced no clues that might lead to discovery of The R Document. Worse, there had been no word from Jim Shack in Fort Worth about Karen. Tomorrow afternoon, at the far end of the country, in the California State Capitol, the 35th Amendment would be put to its final vote before the forty members of the Senate. A majority vote was needed to ratify. That was twenty-one members. According to an exclusive story in The Washington Post this morning, a source close to President Wadsworth had disclosed that Presidential pollster Ronald Steedman had informed the President that the latest and closing confidential count of the California Senators had revealed that thirty were going to vote to ratify the new amendment. By tomorrow night the 35th Amendment would be a part of the Constitution of the United States. The future had never looked so bleak to Collins.

He realized that his Government limousine had pulled up before the old white brick three-story house in Georgetown. It was exactly ten o’clock in the morning. He was right on time for his appointment with Hannah Baxter.

As Special Agent Hogan opened the rear door for him, Collins instructed his driver, Pagano, ‘You can wait right here.’ Stepping out of the car, he added to Hogan, ‘I shouldn’t be long. Just stand by.’

Going up the stairway guarded by the iron grille, Collins was too disheartened to have any expectations about this

visit. He had seen Hannah Baxter once at the outset of his

hunt for The R Document, and she had been able to offer him very little. True, she had led him to Donald Radenbaugh, which had been something, but not quite enough. He doubted if she would have more to offer the second time around. This was an exercise in futility, he was certain, but he had promised Tony Pierce he would try again, and so he was trying.

He had rung the doorbell. Instead of the maid, it was Hannah Baxter herself who opened the door.

Her plump countenance was as hospitable as ever. ‘Christopher, how good to see you again.’ Once inside, she accepted his kiss, then held him off. ‘Well, let me see. You’re looking splendid - well, maybe a bit tired. You mustn’t overwork. It’s what I always told Noah. I was right, you know.’ ‘You’re looking better than last time, Hannah. How are you getting along?’

‘Managing, Christopher, just managing. Thank heavens I have little Rick around. When he goes to school in the afternoons, I’m absolutely lost. His parents are coming back from Africa next week. I think they’ll let him stay with me until the semester’s done. Maybe all summer, too. How’s Karen?’

Collins wanted to tell her, but it would be too complicated, would involve Tynan, and he thought better of it. ‘Oh, she’s fine, never better. She sends her love.’

They had reached the living room.

Hannah pointed ahead to the sliding glass doors visible through the partially drawn heavy maroon draperies. ‘Look at the rain. Too bad I couldn’t arrange sunny weather for you. We could have sat in the patio. No matter, let’s make ourselves comfortable here.’

Collins waited for Hannah to settle on the sofa, and then he sat down in the high-backed armchair in front of the draperies across from her.

‘Is there anything I can get for you, Christopher?’ she asked. ‘Coffee or tea?’

‘Not a thing, Hannah. I’m perfectly content. I want to talk a little business. It won’t take long.’

‘Go right ahead.’

‘As a matter of fact it has to do with the same business

I came to see you about last time, shortly after Noah’s death. Do you remember?’

Her brow furrowed. ‘Not exactly. So much has happened … I think it was about some papers of Noah’s you were trying to find, wasn’t it?’