Reed and Max had agreed to my plan of playing damning portions of the tapes for the majority leader. The next morning at 9:15, I was sitting with Barton when he called Tom Kelly.
After the amenities, Barton told Kelly about the audio tapes implicating him in alleged illegal activity and that he wanted to give Kelly the opportunity to hear the tapes before the Star ran with the story. Kelly must have balked, because Barton firmly assured him the tapes were authentic and could be easily corroborated. Kelly must have eased off. Barton was nodding and asked the senator to pick a time to meet.
“Thank you, Senator. Yes, 2:00 in my office.”
I called Max to tell him, but he hit me with his news without saying hello.
“NYPD knows the name of Sherman’s killer. They matched facial recognition photos with the hospital’s tape. They sent me the perp’s photo, and it matches up with B&G’s photos. FBI has put the perp at the top of their most wanted list. NYPD and MPD put out APBs as well.”
I told Max that Kelly agreed to hear the tapes and when. Max said he’d call Reed.
Senator Kelly arrived on time, and Barton played him Mort’s tape, edited so that Roanne’s voice was not on it. Pembroke’s tape was edited down to just his comments about the money and Mort being right. Riley, Lassiter, and I watched the meeting on closed circuit TV in an adjoining room. Kelly appeared calm, very much the actor. I thought Pembroke’s comment about Mort’s “being right” elicited the only flicker of emotion from him.
When finished, Barton asked if Kelly wanted to say anything, on or off the record. The senator denied the accusations without characterizing the tapes. As he stood to leave, he asked Barton what the Star’s plans were. Barton declined to say and again asked if Kelly wished to make a statement. He did not.
Max called me later in the day. “FBI agents were on Kelly from the moment he left the paper. He didn’t head straight back to his office. At one point, his car pulled over to the curb, Kelly got out and made two calls from a pay phone. Dumb move. The FBI’s parabolic microphone picked up his end of the first call, which was a message for Horowitz. That was confirmed later from the pay phone’s records. Horowitz hadn’t answered because he was in custody at that time.”
“He’s in custody?” I blurted.
“He was lunching with friends. FBI agents handcuffed and marched him out of the restaurant. I am told it created quite a stir. We picked up the male PI from Horowitz’s firm who ran the two hit men, and we arrested the female PI who told Tina to get with Mort. Although a minor character, she is a link to the next person up the line. Kelly’s second call was to Senator Pembroke. Again there was no answer. Kelly left a message for him to call back.”
Riley and I spent the afternoon organizing our information. I called Travis and Rias. Both the German and Carmayan locations were deluged with cancer patients. Rias said the presence of the peacekeeping troops was the only thing preventing a riot.
He also told us that the cancer patients with appointments were immediately ushered into the rapidly filling airport motel for processing. He felt the Carmayans were doing the best they could with their meager resources, but might have to divert future flights to nearby airports in order to be able to sift out the tourists and the patients without appointments from the patients who had registered and been accepted.
Riley had Claire come in, and I brought her up to speed on Kelly. She was not happy at being left out of Barton’s meeting with Kelly. Riley, to his credit, gently explained that it wasn’t personal. He had given her all the senators except Pembroke, Crawford, and Dalton. Those three were mine.
I met with Health Editor Metzger at Barton’s request because he had assigned her to get statements about Tutoxtamen from pharma critics and the health community. It would be front page. He had asked Grace Herman to read the Szymanski/Dalton Bill and to line up the Hill people and FDA administrators for their comments. I had Tutoxtamen.
At 11:00 Wednesday morning, Ro, Gavin, Michael, Harley, Rufus, who had already flown to New Jersey for Sherman’s memorial service, and I met with Reed Davis and Max Walsh in a conference room at FBI headquarters.
Sherman had confessed to Harley about his duplicitous involvement with Horowitz before they’d left Carmaya. Harley’s recounting of it was very close to our scenario. The pharmas had gotten their claws into Sherman when he was young and irresponsible.
Harley said, “Sherman hadn’t been that person for twenty-five years. He’d used drugs and, for a short time, had sold them, but he’d never been charged or arrested. Horowitz learned of his drug activity and held it over his head. Sherman told me he thought that setting up the ambush would save the plant and send Horowitz a message. It did, but at too high a price. I wish he had consulted with me long before. He held himself fully responsible for the casualties and deaths and was prepared to . . .”
Harley choked and weakly asked. “Will any of that or the invasion details have to become public?”
“That’ll be up to the prosecution or the defense teams,” Reed said. “Senator Pembroke has returned, thanks to Senator Crawford. He has promised to cooperate with us fully. We’ve set up security at his home.”
Max said. “NYPD has arrested the alleged killer of Sherman Rogers, and we have matched him up to what we had on the second man in Stroble’s murder.”
Reed added, “We know from the yacht’s crew and guests that a man named Sam had been on board when the mercenaries were dropped off. When the six mercenaries didn’t return to the yacht, he left, which was before the two from the hotel boarded. That confirmed their assertions they had only seen the crew and women on board.
“Thanks to Senator Crawford, the DOD counterterrorism experts, and the captured mercenaries, we now have a solid picture of the attackers’ mission. The female guests and your Mr. Manchester have tied the pharmaceutical lobbyists to the yacht.”
“We expect,” Max said, “the Mort PI may be the link to the paramilitary people. His email and phone records are presently being scrutinized.”
Reed said, “We’re watching Kelly. We are holding Horowitz and that PI over for arraignment tomorrow morning. When Kelly is unable to reach Pembroke or Horowitz, we are hoping he will realize his predicament and lawyer up. The attorney general has told us to expend all our resources to show the American people that the United States Senate government is not for sale, even if some US senators are. The AG emphasized that every warrant had to be perfect. US Marshals will be used for the arrests. House and Senate leadership will simultaneously be informed of those arrests.