“What about his claim of someone in your service?”
“I believe that is in the realm of preposterous.”
“And his claim of the means to kill Mrs. Lee?”
“Anybody with a gun has the means to kill anybody else.”
“Do you believe this man is a serious threat or just crazy?”
“Conceivably both, but in any case we will take his threat seriously, as we do all threats. The part about being willing to die is probably true — in fact, that may be what he intends.”
“How did he get your e-mail address?”
Beam looked at his shoes for a moment. “That is the single most disturbing thing about the threat. I’ve got a tech team working on where his e-mail came from, and I’ve got two agents working on how he could have discovered my secure address.”
“How many people have that address?”
“Knowledge of it is restricted to our director, two deputy directors in Washington, and in L.A. to three supervisory agents. It’s used for the most confidential communications.”
“How about secretaries, clerical workers, cleaning ladies?”
“None of the above, but an employee might root it out if he had access and enough time.”
“What are your chances of backtracking to find the sender?”
“Fair to good, unless he’s very, very smart and capable. We’ll assume he is.”
“Is there anything you’d like me to do?”
“Mrs. Lee tells me she and the president are having dinner in this house tomorrow night. I just want you to know that, from eight A.M. tomorrow, my agents will be all over the house and the property. We’ll be as unobtrusive as possible.”
“Actually, we’ll be having dinner outdoors, by the pool, weather permitting.”
“Then we’ll set up a perimeter.” Beam extended a hand. “May I have the e-mail back, please?”
Stone handed it to him.
“Who will be attending the dinner tomorrow night, besides the president and first lady?”
“Whoever they would like to include, plus my guests. They are Chief of Detectives, NYPD, Dino Bacchetti and his wife, Vivian, who is an executive at Strategic Services, Michael Freeman, chairman and CEO of Strategic Services, and he may be bringing someone, you can ask him. Also my son, Peter Barrington, his girlfriend, Hattie Patrick, Ben Bacchetti, the chief’s son, and his girlfriend, Tessa Tweed. I’ll let you know if any other guests are added to the list.”
“Thank you, Mr. Barrington.” Beam stood up. “I’ll keep you posted if there are further developments.”
“I would appreciate that.” Stone shook the man’s hand, received his business card, and watched him leave. Stone was not unduly alarmed about the threat, but its presence would add an edge to their evening that he didn’t like. He would tell Dino and Mike to come armed.
The phone rang; Manolo answered and buzzed Stone. “Mr. Peter is on the phone,” he said.
Stone picked up. “Good afternoon, kiddo!”
“Glad to hear your voice, Dad. I got your message about dinner tomorrow, and we’d all like to come.”
“Great!”
“I’d also like to bring Billy and Betsy Burnett.”
“Of course, I’d love to see them.”
“What time?”
“Six-thirty, seven?”
“And, Dad, the night after that, we’d like to have you all over here for dinner. You haven’t seen our place yet.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Stone said. “How’s the flying going?” He had given Peter his old Citation Mustang.
“Very well. Billy has got Ben, Hattie, and me type-rated in it. Tessa hasn’t shown any interest.”
“Good news. You’ll get lots of use out of it.”
“When does your new Citation M2 arrive?”
“In a few weeks. There was a delay in certifying the avionics.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
“I can’t wait to see you,” Stone said. They said goodbye and hung up. Stone called Mervin Beam and got his voice mail; he added the Burnetts to the guest list.
As they were having a drink before dinner, Ann turned up. “I finally got free,” she said.
“Your things are in your dressing room,” Stone said. “Top of the stairs, first door on your left.”
“I’ll go up after dinner,” she said. “Right now I’d like a martini.”
Stone buzzed Manolo and ordered the drink, and it appeared quickly.
“Now that I’ve got you all together,” Stone said, “I want to tell you about my conversation with the Secret Service.” And he did so.
4
Stone woke the following morning to find Ann in her dressing room, putting her things away. He liked it that she did these things naked.
“Good morning,” he said from the doorway.
She smiled. “And good morning to you.”
“If you’d like anything pressed, just leave it out and tell Manolo.”
“I’ll do that. Oh, by the way, Kate told me to tell you that they accept your invitation to dinner tonight with pleasure.”
“The Secret Service already told me.”
“Who else will be here?”
“My and Dino’s sons and their girlfriends, and a couple who work for Peter in his production company at Centurion Studios, named Billy and Betsy Burnett.”
“Oh, I’m supposed to tell you that Senator Sam Meriwether and his wife, Dorothy, will be coming, too.”
“I’ve met him,” Stone said, “but not her.” Sam Meriwether, a former congressman from Georgia, had been elected to Will Lee’s old seat and was Kate’s campaign manager. His sobriquet in the Senate was “the new Sam Nunn.” “They’re welcome.”
“Technically, he’s my boss, but he’s been working out of D.C., so I haven’t seen a lot of him, just a lot of phone calls.”
“Is he the right guy to run Kate’s campaign?”
“He is. Kate wanted a southerner, preferably a Georgian, and he’s the sort of senator who gets along with people on both sides of the aisle. Kate and I pretty much run the day-to-day operations, and Sam is more of a strategist. He also is good on television and gets along very well with the press.”
“The accent helps, I think,” Stone said.
“It certainly does. It’s an old-fashioned Georgia accent, and it sounds good on him.”
“Does Kate know about the death threat?”
“Sure, and she’s unfazed. She’s used to that sort of thing, and she knows she’s well protected.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I wouldn’t want her to worry unnecessarily. What time do you have to be back with Kate?”
“Not until eight-thirty or so,” she said.
“Then you have time to come back to bed for a little while, don’t you?”
She smiled. “I’ll be right there.”
They had breakfast sent up on trays and ate in bed, watching the morning shows and reading the papers. A BREAKING NEWS title came on the screen.
“We’ve just had news that Senator Eleanor Stockman has taken a turn for the worse,” an anchorwoman said.
Ann put down the papers and listened. “Uh-oh,” she said.
“Senator Stockman went into the hospital after collapsing at her home last week, and was diagnosed with an operable brain tumor. She had the surgery and was said to be recovering well, but in the early hours of this morning she arrested and had to be revived and intubated. She has been on a respirator for several hours now, and a spokesman says that she is in critical condition.”
“That’s so sad,” Ann said. “I saw her in New York a couple of weeks ago, and she looked tired, but healthy. She was scheduled to speak at the convention.”
“It sounds very serious,” Stone said. “Who will they get to replace her?”
“My guess is Governor Richard Collins might appoint himself to the seat. He’s one of our bright younger stars, and it would be a good opportunity for him to become better known nationally.”