I’d been checking my e-mail account throughout the day. By three o’clock, there was still nothing, and I was getting antsy. Finally, at exactly three thirty, there it was. I didn’t bother to open it. I forwarded it straight to Tim, then picked up the phone and buzzed him to let him know that it was in his inbox.
No sooner had I put the landline down than my cell phone buzzed. I looked at the screen. Unknown caller.
“This is Harry Starke.”
“Harry, it’s Linda Michaels. Can you talk, privately?”
I was instantly alert.
“Just a second. I’ll close the office door… Okay, we can’t be heard. What is it? You sound—”
“I am,” she interrupted. “I’m pissed. Harry, I— that is we—have a problem. I had a visit from Congressman Harper today. It was not a pleasant visit. He wanted something, something I’m not prepared to give him.”
I had a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. “And what would that be?”
“Votes, Harry. He wants me to endorse him in his run for the Senate. He knows I can deliver several key constituencies, the most important of which is the senior senator from Tennessee.”
“So? That’s not a problem. You either endorse him or you don’t. It’s your choice.”
“Not quite, Harry. For one thing, I don’t like the man. I have a bad feeling about him. I’ve had it for years. He throws his weight around the Capitol, demands favors, and… well, I don’t think he’s honest. It’s not something I can put my finger on, just a gut feeling, but I’ve been in this business a long time, and my gut is rarely wrong. I told him I wouldn’t do it.”
“What did he say?”
“Not much. He put a photograph down on my desk in front of me. It was a photo of you and me, Harry. It was taken in the restaurant, nothing compromising other than that I was with you, and that’s fine. We’re both adults, both single, and we have no history together. We can do whatever the hell we like with our private lives. No, Harry, it was the way he smiled that bothered me. He simply got to his feet and said, ‘I’m sure you’ll want to reconsider, Senator.’ That was it. No direct threats. He simply walked out of the room.”
She paused, sucked in a breath, blew it out, then continued. “Harry, what if there’s more? What if there was a camera in that room? I have it swept regularly, but you know what goes on around here better than anyone.”
Oh boy, do I ever.
“Okay, Linda. Here’s what we’re going to do. I need to talk to you. I’ll leave for Washington as soon as I can.”
“When, Harry? Chattanooga is not an easy place to travel from.”
“It’s not a problem. At least, I hope not. My father has a Lear. If his pilot is available, I can be out of here in a couple of hours. I need to call him. I’ll do that and then call you back. Give me your number.”
After she gave me her cell phone number, I hung up and called my father.
“Dad, it’s me.”
“How are you, son?”
“Fine, Dad… Dad, I need a favor, a big one. It’s urgent.”
“What is it?”
“I need to get to Washington, in a hurry.”
He was silent for a moment, then said, “The Lear has full tanks. Joe is in the other office. Hold on a minute.”
I could hear faint voices talking, and then he was back. “Harry, Joe is leaving for the airport right now. He should be there in fifteen minutes, no more than that. He has to file a flight plan, but he should be ready to take off in less than an hour… Is there anything you want to talk to me about, son?”
“Oh hell yeah, but not right now. I don’t have time. I’ll get with you when I get back. I may need some help. You up for it?”
“You got it. Take care, Harry.”
I disconnected and called Linda.
“I leave Chattanooga in an hour. The flight takes about an hour and forty-five minutes, which should put me on the ground no later than…” I looked at my watch. It was almost four o’clock. “Let’s say seven. Can you pick me up at the airport?”
“There’ll be a car waiting for you at the VIP lounge. The driver will know where to go. His name is Grant.”
“That’ll do it. I’ll see you in about three hours, give or take a few minutes.”
“Thank you, Harry. I… I appreciate it.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Senator. It’s the least I can do.”
I disconnected, grabbed some clean clothes from the office closet, and was on my way to the airport in less than thirty minutes. Joe was already warming up the Lear’s engines.
---
We arrived in the Washington area right on time. Unfortunately, air traffic in the circuit was heavy, and we had to circle for fifteen minutes before we were allowed to land. The car was already waiting. I had Joe make sure the plane was refueled and ready to go on short notice. I also told him to grab a room at a nearby hotel, to keep his cell phone turned on, and wait for my call.
From the airport, it was a drive of just thirty minutes on US 1, south of the Beltway, to a rather dowdy-looking house in a quiet cul-de-sac just off the main road. The driver dropped me at the front door, and I rang the bell. It was opened immediately by what could only have been a Secret Service agent.
“Mr. Starke?”
I nodded.
“ID, please.”
He glanced at it, nodded, and handed it back to me. “This way, please, sir.”
The house was much larger than it had seemed from the outside. He led me through the foyer, through what must be the living room, and into a large office, or maybe it was a library. She was seated by herself in front of a log fire, staring into the flames. The agent closed the door quietly behind him.
“Hello, Harry.” She got up and gave me a peck on the cheek. “It’s good to see you again. I wish it were under better circumstances. Sit down, won’t you?”
She looked tired. She also looked lovely. She was wearing a white woolen dress, and her shoes lay on the floor beside her chair.
I sat. “It’s good to see you again, too.” I looked around the room. It was Old World Washington, DC, high ceilings and wood paneling. “Where exactly are we, Senator?”
“Oh, Harry, please call me Linda. This”—she tilted her head and smiled—“is a Secret Service safe house. It’s at my disposal whenever I need it. Being Chairman of the Appropriations Committee has its benefits. Now, you’ve had time to think. What have you come up with?”
“Not a lot. Since you called I haven’t been able to do anything else but think, but I need more information, Linda. You want to talk to me?”
“I wouldn’t have dragged you up here if I didn’t. But before I do, I want to say something.”
I nodded. “Go on.”
“You need to know, Harry, that I am an honest politician, and there are few enough of those around here. I cannot be bought. I will not be intimidated. I will not bow to coercion. I will not support Harper. If we can’t put a stop to this, and if he really can ruin me, then by God he must do it, but I’ll bring the son of a bitch down with me. Harry, if you’re willing to help, I’m prepared to fight him and let the chips fall where they may.”
I smiled at her. “Of course I’m willing, and we’ll not be alone. I already have several of my staff working on it, and my father’s standing by; his resources are almost infinite.”
She heaved a visible sigh of relief. “Good. Now your retainer.”
“Please, Linda. Don’t insult me.”
She smiled, just a quick twitch of her lips. “Fine. What is it you want to know?”
“Well, you can start by telling me about Mystica. I need to know all about it. How it works. How many members. Who they are.”
“All right.”
“Wait just a minute. Do you mind if I record this?”
“I’d rather you didn’t, but if you must, you must. I trust you, Harry. Don’t let me down.”
She waited while I set up my digital recorder. When I was done, I nodded.
“Where would you like me to begin?” she asked.
“Let’s start with the membership. How many members are there?
“I don’t know, but I think there must be quite a lot, and I say that because of the number of people I’ve seen in the gym, the restaurant, and the clothing stores wearing pendants.”
“Did you recognize any of them?”
She looked at me, unsure, and then nodded slowly. “I’ve seen one other senator and two congressmen at the mall and in the restaurant—one congressman was a woman, the other a man. They didn’t see me. As soon as I spotted them, I left.”
“How about their names, Linda.”
She hesitated but said, “Senator Jordan Wickham, Congresswoman Glenda Webster, and Congressman Henry Studdington.”
“How many times did you see them?”
“Just once, each on different occasions. They were not alone. They may have been guests of other members.”
“And that’s all? Did you ever see anyone else there that you knew?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“What about Harper? Did you ever see him there?”
“No. Never.”
“Linda, Harper wears a gold ring on his left pinky finger. Have you seen it?”
“I’ve seen it, but I’ve never looked at it. Why do you ask?”
“It has a replica of the pendant on it.”
She looked stunned, then quietly said, “So he’s a member, then.”
“Possibly. It’s too coincidental, but I don’t know for sure.” I mulled it over, but nothing came. I shook my head.
“Now… Linda. Please tell me exactly how and why you became involved.”
She lowered her head. “My husband, Tom, died more than ten years ago. I loved him very much, and when he passed, I was very much alone and—so I thought at the time—very vulnerable. I was a junior senator then.”
She looked up at me; there were tears in her eyes.
“I had needs, Harry. I still do, but with the position I was in… Well, I felt I could trust no one. I was on the fast track in the party and, well, you know how Washington is, so I kept to myself. I didn’t, wouldn’t, accept invitations from men. I didn’t dare. The publicity… Then, one day, my secretary walked into my office and caught me, well, you know. She was very sympathetic, understanding. We talked. She asked. She understood. No, Harry. I’m not a lesbian. You of all people should know that. And neither is she, although she was in the same situation that I was, but she had found OM.”
I nodded. “I’ve heard of that. I know what it is.”
She nodded. “Anyway, Heather was discreet, and one night we went out together and she took me to her… nest, I suppose you’d call it, and that was it. I liked it. It filled my needs, at least for a while, and no one knew who or what I was, or cared.
“And then, one day, while I was in the middle of a session, the practitioner, a man called Terry, I think his name was, asked if I was happy with the service. I told him I was, but there must have been something in my voice that told him different, because he said, ‘There’s another level of OM, you know.’ Well I didn’t, but he could tell I was interested, and he told me about Mystica. In detail. He said it was similar to OM but came with more… benefits. The more he told me, the more intrigued I became, and he knew it.”
“Had you ever met this Terry before?”
“Hmm, maybe. As a practitioner, he was new to me, but I think I’d seen him there at least once before.”
I nodded.
“Anyway, he told me that Mystica was based in Chattanooga. He gave me a business card with a name and phone number on it, and he gave me my pendant. He said I could call the number on the card and they would arrange things. He also assured me that I had nothing to worry about. Mystica was a very discreet and very exclusive club. He asked for nothing in return.
“I kept the pendant and the card for almost six months before I did anything about it. Then I called the number. A man answered the phone, told me his name was Lester, and he gave me some instructions.”
Aha! That would be Shady. Now I know his connection.
“He told me there was no membership fee, but that I would be required to pay for the room. I could take it on an as-needed basis, or I could lease it outright. I chose to lease it. He said he would send me a key to the building, a keycard for the room, and directions for how to find the place—there’s another door at the back. He also explained how the pendant worked, and he promised me complete anonymity. The suite is expensive, but the rate included maid service, and I could afford it. I did not, however, believe the anonymity promise.”
And there it was, the answer to the key and the business card in Tabitha’s clutch. At least I hoped it was.
“Linda, those pendants are exclusive. They are only handed out by founding members of Mystica. If this Terry person gave one to you, it must have come from someone else. I think you were targeted, possibly because of who and what you are.”
“In retrospect, I’m sure you’re right.” She shook her head, exasperated. “My package arrived the next day by FedEx. I flew to Chattanooga two days later, booked in at the Read House, rented a car, and drove to the mall. I parked at the rear, found the door, and checked out my suite. I have to tell you, Harry: I was impressed.”
“Did you ever meet this Lester character?”
“No. My instructions were to leave a check on the washstand in the bathroom. I, of course, always left cash in an envelope. Anyway, I didn’t stay that first day. I went back to the Read House and the following day, I had the Secret Service thoroughly sweep the place for bugs, cameras and so on. They declared the suite clean, and I was all set.”
“Linda, how many suites are there, do you know?”
“Not really. Ten, maybe twelve, and there are at least six cubicles used by the OM practitioners.”
So that’s where Tabitha worked.
“Anyway, the next day, I booked a table in the restaurant—oh, and I joined the gym too—and I had dinner. The first night, nothing, nor the second, nor the third, but on the fourth night, well, you know the rest of the story, and that, Harry, was the only time I ever played the game, except for you, that is, and oh how glad I am that I did play the game with you.”
“Me, too, Linda.”
“I told you that I had taken only one other man up to the suite; that was the one. I wasn’t too bothered with who might see me in the restaurant, but I still didn’t trust the security inside the suite, so I kept the lights off as much as possible, and I kept the talk to a minimum. So there could have been no photographs. Audio, perhaps, but I doubt it. With you, however…
“Anyway, nothing happened. The guy was a jerk and I got rid of him, quickly, but it made no difference to the way I felt. I was disgusted with myself. I felt like a hooker. I swore I’d never do it again. But I did use their OM service a few times, to relieve stress. Hell, that’s not true either. I enjoyed it… and then you came along.”
I grinned at her. “Go on.”
“Harry, with you it was different.” There were tears in her eyes. “I don’t know what came over me. You were so… I wanted it all. I wanted to see you, for you to see me, to touch me. I wanted to hear the things you said to me. I…”
I went over to her, knelt down beside her. The tears were rolling down her cheeks; she was crying gently.
“Shhh. It’s all right. I wanted those things, too.”
Abruptly, she gathered herself together, pushed me away, sat up straight, cleared her throat, turned toward me, and said, “Enough, Harry. That was inappropriate of me. I’m a senator, for God’s sake. I can handle this.”
“Senators are human, too,” I said.
“Humph. Not this one.” It was said with a smile, but I knew that deep down she meant it.
“Do you want to continue?”
There was steel in her eyes when she looked at me. “Of course I do. What’s next?”
“I need to get back to Chattanooga. I want to check out a couple of things. Tabitha Willard had a key in her purse, and a business card. I also know who your man Lester is. His name is Lester Tree, known as Shady. He runs the mall. Has an office at the end of the block. He’s a real piece of work. I think he may be in bed with Harper. With what you’ve told me tonight, and with what I already have, I might be able to make the connection. We’ll see.”
I looked at my watch and saw that it was after eleven.
Linda cleared her throat. “You can stay with me tonight, but I have an early appointment in the Senate tomorrow morning, so I’ll need to leave here by seven.”
“You sure?”
“Of course. Grant will take you to the airport. I’ll let him know.”
She got up, took my hand, and led me to the stairs. Fifteen minutes later, I was in heaven, again.