Flattening the crumpled paper with the heel of her hand, she reread the details and instinctively punched in the code for her voice mail.
"You have seven new messages," the robotic female voice announced through her speakerphone. The first five were from local maitre d"s hoping to get some free press for their restaurants by ratting out who was eating lunch with whom. The sixth was a follow-up call on Alexander John"s art award. And the last . . .
"Hi . . . er . . . this message is for Lisbeth," a soft female voice began. "My name"s . . ."
The woman paused, causing Lisbeth to sit up straight. The best tips always came from people who didn"t want to identify themselves.
"My name"s . . . Violet," she finally said.
Fake name, Lisbeth decided. Lisbeth decided. Even better. Even better.
"I just . . . I was reading your column today, and when I saw his his name, my stomach just . . . it"s not right, okay? I know he"s powerful . . ." name, my stomach just . . . it"s not right, okay? I know he"s powerful . . ."
Lisbeth mentally ran through every mention in today"s column. The First Lady . . . Manning . . . does she mean Manning? The First Lady . . . Manning . . . does she mean Manning?
". . . it"s just not right, okay? Not after what he did." She"s careful how she puts the knife in. She knows to punch, but not too hard. "Anyway, if you can give me a call . . ."
Furiously scribbling the number, Lisbeth flipped open her cell phone and immediately started dialing. Her ears flushed red as it rang.
C"mon . . . pick up, pick up, pick up, pick- "h.e.l.lo?" a woman answered.
"Hi, this is Lisbeth Dodson from Below the Fold-I"m looking for Violet."
There was a second or two of dead silence. Lisbeth just waited. New sources always needed an extra moment to decide.
"Hiya, honey-hold on one second," the woman said. In the background, Lisbeth heard a bell chime and the sudden wisp of wind buzzing the phone. Whatever store Violet was in, she just left for privacy. Which meant she was willing to talk.
"This isn"t . . . you"re not recording this, right?" Violet finally asked.
Lisbeth glanced at the digital recorder that always sat on her desk. But she didn"t reach for it. "No recordings."
"And you won"t give my name out? Because if my husband . . ."
"We"re off the record. No one"ll ever know who you are. I promise you that."
Once again, the line was drowned in silence. Lisbeth knew better than to push.
"I just want you to know, I"m no snitch," Violet said, her voice cracking. Based on Violet"s inflection and speed, Lisbeth wrote mid-30s? mid-30s? in her notepad. "Understand, okay? I don"t want this. He just . . . seeing his name in print again . . . and so happy . . . people don"t realize-there"s a whole "nother side of him . . . and what he did that night . . ." in her notepad. "Understand, okay? I don"t want this. He just . . . seeing his name in print again . . . and so happy . . . people don"t realize-there"s a whole "nother side of him . . . and what he did that night . . ."
"What night?" Lisbeth asked. "What was the date?"
"I don"t think he"s a bad person-I really don"t-but when he gets angry . . . he just . . . he gets angry with the best of "em. And when he"s real real angry . . . You know how men get, right?" angry . . . You know how men get, right?"
"Of course," Lisbeth agreed. "Now, why don"t you just tell me what happened that night."
72.
I don"t wanna talk about it," I insist. don"t wanna talk about it," I insist.
"She was recording the whole time?" Rogo asks, still in shock as his voice crackles through the cell phone.
"Rogo, can we please not-?"
"Maybe it"s not how it looked. I mean, she gave you her car and and her phone, right? Maybe you misread it." her phone, right? Maybe you misread it."
"I heard my voice on the tape! How else could that possibly be read!?" I shout, squeezing my fist around the steering wheel and jamming even harder on the gas. As I blow past the thick twisting banyan trees that shield both sides of County Road from the sun, I hear the shift in Rogo"s voice. At first, he was surprised. Now he"s just hurt, with a dab of confused. When it comes to judging someone"s character, he"s usually a master.
"I told you she"d burn us-didn"t I call it?" Dreidel hisses in the background. His voice is barely a whisper, which means someone"s there with them.
"Did she say why?" Rogo adds. "I mean, I know Lisbeth"s a reporter, but-"
"Enough already, okay? How many times do I need to say it? I don"t wanna talk about it!"
"Where are you now anyway?" Rogo asks.
"No offense, but I shouldn"t say. Y"know, just in case someone"s listening."
"Wes, you"re full of manure-where the h.e.l.l are you?" Rogo insists.
"On US-1."
"You"re lying-that was too fast."
"I"m not not lying." lying."
"Too fast again. C"mon, Pinocchio-I know the little stutter and stammer when you"re fibbing. Just tell me where you are."
"You have to understand, Rogo, he-"
"He? He? He? The royal The royal He, He," he moaned, more angry than ever. "Son of Betsy Ross, Wes! You"re going to see Manning?"
"He"s expecting me. Schedule says I have to be there at four."
"Schedule? The man"s been lying to you for eight years about the single greatest tragedy in your life. Doesn"t that-?" He lowers his voice, forcing himself to calm down. "Doesn"t that let you say F-you to the schedule for once?"
"He"s going to Manning?" Dreidel asks in the background.
"Rogo, you don"t understand-"
"I do do understand. Lisbeth made you sad . . . The Three got you scared . . . and as always, you"re running for your favorite presidential pacifier." understand. Lisbeth made you sad . . . The Three got you scared . . . and as always, you"re running for your favorite presidential pacifier."
"Actually, I"m trying to do the one thing we should"ve done the first moment I saw Boyle alive: go to the source and find out what the h.e.l.l actually happened that day."
Rogo"s silent, which tells me he"s seething. "Wes, let me ask you something," he finally says. "That first night you saw Boyle, why didn"t you go to Manning and tell him the truth? Because you were in shock? Because it seemed that Boyle was somehow invited to that hotel by his old best friend? Or because deep in the pit of your chest, no matter how much you"ve rationalized it over the years, you know that before he"s a father, a mentor, or even a husband, Leland F. Manning is a politician-one of the world"s greatest politicians-and for that alone, he"s fully capable of lying to your face for eight years without you ever knowing it."
"But that"s what you"re missing, Rogo-what if he didn"t lie? What if he"s just as clueless as we are? I mean, if O"Shea and Micah and whoever this Roman guy is-if they"re the ones who sent Nico to shoot Boyle-maybe Manning and Boyle aren"t the villains in all this."
"What, so now they"re victims?"
"Why not?"
"Please, he"s the-" Catching himself and knowing I won"t listen if he yells, Rogo adds, "If Boyle and Manning were complete angels-if they had nothing to hide and were only doing good-why didn"t they just take Boyle to the hospital and let the authorities investigate? C"mon, Wes, these two guys lied to the entire world-and the only reason people lie is because they have something to hide. Now, I"m not saying I have all the pieces, but just by the lie alone, there"s no way Manning and Boyle are just helpless victims."
"That still doesn"t mean they"re the enemy."
"And you really believe that?"
"What I believe believe is that Ron Boyle"s alive. That The Three, with all their connections, helped Nico sneak into the racetrack that day. That O"Shea, Micah, and this Roman, as members of The Three, clearly have some grudge against Boyle. And for that reason, they"re now doing anything in their power to find out where he is. As for how Manning fits into this, I"ve got no idea." is that Ron Boyle"s alive. That The Three, with all their connections, helped Nico sneak into the racetrack that day. That O"Shea, Micah, and this Roman, as members of The Three, clearly have some grudge against Boyle. And for that reason, they"re now doing anything in their power to find out where he is. As for how Manning fits into this, I"ve got no idea."
"Then why race to him like a battered wife back to her abuser?"
"What"re my other choices, Rogo? Go to the FBI, where O"Shea works? Or the Service, where The Roman is? Or better yet, I can go to the local authorities and tell them I saw dead man walking. Ten minutes after that happens, you think O"Shea and his little posse won"t show up with their federal badges, take me into private custody, and put a bullet in the back of my head claiming I was trying to escape?"
"That"s not even-"
"It is is true and you true and you know know it"s true, Rogo! These guys went after one of the most powerful men in the White House at a stadium filled with 200,000 people. You think they won"t slice my neck open on some deserted road in Palm Beach?" it"s true, Rogo! These guys went after one of the most powerful men in the White House at a stadium filled with 200,000 people. You think they won"t slice my neck open on some deserted road in Palm Beach?"
"Tell him not to mention my name to Manning," Dreidel calls out in the background.
"Dreidel wants you to-"
"I heard him," I interrupt, twisting the steering wheel into a sharp left on Via Las Brisas. As I curve around a well-manicured divider, the street narrows, and the privacy hedges rise, stretching as tall as twenty feet and blocking my view of all the multimillion-dollar homes hidden behind them. "Rogo, I know you don"t agree, but for the past two days, the only reason I stayed away from Manning is because O"Shea and Micah convinced me to. D"you understand? The man"s been by my side for eight years, and the only reason I doubted him is because they-two strangers with badges-told me to. No offense, but after all our time together, Manning deserves better than that."
"That"s fine, Wes, but let"s be clear about one thing: Manning hasn"t been by your side by your side for eight years. You"ve been by his." for eight years. You"ve been by his."
I shake my head and pull up to the last house on my right. For security reasons, they don"t allow parking in the driveway, so I head for the shoulder of the gra.s.sy divider and park directly behind a navy-blue rental car that"s already there. His guests are early-which means, as I hop out and rush across the street, I"m officially late.
Even before I stop at the ten-foot-high, double-planked wooden fence, the intercom that"s hidden in the shrubs crackles. "Can I help you?" a deep voice asks.
"Hey there, Ray," I call out to the agent on duty. "It"s Wes."
"You don"t have to do this," Rogo pleads through my phone.
He"s never been more wrong. This is exactly what I need to do. Not for Manning. For me. I need to know.
A metallic thunk unlocks the wooden gate, which slowly yawns open.
"Wes, at least just wait until we get through Boyle"s personnel file," Rogo begs.
"You"ve been searching for four hours already-it"s enough. I"ll call you when I"m done."
"Don"t be so stubborn."
"Good-bye, Rogo," I say, hanging up the phone. It"s so easy for someone outside the ring to tell a fighter how to fight his fight. But this is my my fight. I just never realized it. fight. I just never realized it.
As I walk up the driveway, there"s no house number on the front door, and no mailbox to identify the occupants. But the four suit-and-tie Secret Service agents standing outside the garage are quite a giveaway. With Nico on the loose, they kept Manning at home. Fortunately, as I lift my chin and stare up at the pale blue British Colonial, I know where the former President lives.
73.
And how"d you meet him again?" Lisbeth asked, holding her cell phone with one hand and taking notes with the other.
"Mutual friend," Violet replied, her voice already shaking. "It was years ago. At that point on the job, it was personal introductions only."
"Introductions?"
"You have to understand, with a man like him, you don"t just walk up and swing your tail. In this town-with all the money . . . with everything these guys have to lose-the only thing they care about is discretion, okay? That"s why they sent him to me."
"Of course," Lisbeth said as she scribbled the word Hooker Hooker in her notepad. "So you were . . ." in her notepad. "So you were . . ."
"I was twenty, is what I was," Violet said with a verbal shove. She didn"t like being judged. "But lucky me, I could keep a secret. That"s why I got the work. And with him . . . our first two appointments, I didn"t even say his name. That alone guaranteed he"d invite me back. Gladiators need to conquer, right?" she asked, her laughter soft and hollow.
Lisbeth didn"t laugh back. There was no pleasure in someone else"s pain.
"I know what you"re thinking," Violet added, "but it was nice in the beginning. He was, honestly . . . he was tender-always asking if I was okay . . . he knew my mother was sick, so he"d ask about her. I know, I know-he"s a politician, but I was twenty and he was . . ." Her voice trailed off.
Lisbeth didn"t say anything. But as the silence wore on . . . "Violet, are you-?"
"It sounds so d.a.m.n stupid, but I was just thrilled he liked me," she blurted, clearly trying to stifle a sob. From the sound of it, the flush of emotion surprised even her. "I"m sorry-let me just . . . I"m sorry . . ."
"You have no reason to be sorry."
"I know-I just . . . it mattered that he liked me . . . that he kept coming back," she explained, sniffling it all back in. "I wouldn"t see him for a while, then the phone would ring, and I"d be jumping up and down, like I"d been asked to the prom. And that"s how it was until . . . until he left one night and I didn"t hear from him for almost three months. I was . . . to be honest, at first, I was worried. Maybe I did something wrong. Or he was mad. And then, when I heard he was in town, I did the one thing I never should"ve done-the dumbest thing I could possibly do, against every rule," Violet explained, her voice barely a whisper. "I called him."
Right then Lisbeth stopped writing.
"He was at my place in ten minutes," Violet said, another sob clogging her throat. "Wh-When I opened the door, he stepped inside without a word . . . made sure he was out of view . . . and then he just-I swear to you, he never did it before . . ."
"Violet, it"s okay to-"
"I didn"t even see the first punch coming," she said as the tears flooded forward. "He just kept screaming at me, "How dare you! How dare dare you!" I tried fighting back-I did . . . I"m . . . I"ve never been weak-but he grabbed the back of my hair and he . . . he sent me straight for . . . there was a mirror above my dresser." you!" I tried fighting back-I did . . . I"m . . . I"ve never been weak-but he grabbed the back of my hair and he . . . he sent me straight for . . . there was a mirror above my dresser."
Staring at her own rounded reflection in her computer screen, Lisbeth didn"t move.
"I could see him behind me in the mirror . . . just as I hit it . . . I could see him behind me . . . his face . . . the red in his eyes. It was like he pulled off a mask and let out . . . like he freed something underneath," Violet cried. "And-and-and when he was gone . . . when the door slammed and the blood was pouring from my nose, I still-I know it"s-can you believe I still missed him?" she asked, weeping uncontrollably. "I-I mean, could I possibly be more pathetic than that?"
Lisbeth shook her head to herself, trying hard to stay focused. "Violet, I know this is hard for you-I know what it takes to tell the story-but I just need- Before we do anything, I need to ask: Do you have any way of proving this . . . anything at all . . . videotapes, physical proof . . . ?"