Mounting Fears

35

FELIX SAT IN THE RECEPTION ROOM AT THE NATIONAL INQUISITOR FOR MORE THAN three hours, getting hungrier and hungrier but determined to see Willard Gaynes. Finally, the receptionist got up and went to the ladies' room, and Felix saw his chance. He was through the door and into the editorial offices before the woman had a chance to get her knickers down.

He stopped for a moment and assessed the layout of the floor. There was a sea of desks in a large newsroom, and offices, apparently for higher-ranking people, along the walls. Where would he sit if he were Willie Gaynes? he asked himself. The corner office, that's where.

Felix walked purposefully along one side of the newsroom, not dawdling but not hurrying, either. He was wearing a necktie and his best jacket, so he wasn't dressed too differently from how the other men present were dressed. The corner office was dead ahead, and the door was closed. He stopped, took a deep breath, let it out, rapped on the door, opened it, and stepped in.

Gaynes was sitting at his desk, talking on the telephone. He looked up at Felix and put a hand over the mouthpiece. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"I'm one of Ned Partain's best sources, Mr. Gaynes, and Ned told me that if ever I couldn't reach him about something important I should come directly to you."

Gaynes pointed at a sofa. "Sit over there and shut up," he said, then went back to his phone conversation. "Seсor, please give me the name and number of that funeral home," he said, then jotted down the information. "Can you tell me, seсor, was this accidental or a homicide?" He listened. "All right, I understand that the official investigation will take some time, but can you give me your personal opinion, based on your experience as a police officer?" He listened again, and his face grew more serious. "Thank you, seсor," he said. "Please call me at this number should you learn anything new about the case, and may I call you again, if I have any questions? Thank you, seсor, and good-bye." He hung up and turned to Felix, but he said nothing. He seemed to be deep in thought.

Felix waited him out, and suddenly Gaynes seemed to snap out of his reverie.

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked, as if he hadn't asked before.

"I'm Felix Potter, Mr. Gaynes, one of Ned Partain's sources. Ned told me to contact you if I had something important and couldn't find him, and I can't find him."

"That's because Ned is in Panama, playing the role of corpse," Gaynes said. "I've never lost a man due to violence before, and I'm having a little trouble digesting it."

"Ned has been murdered?" Felix asked.

"It appears so. That's the opinion of the Panamanian police officer I just spoke to, anyway. You've worked with Ned, you say?"

Although Felix had set eyes on Ned Partain only once, in a coffee shop in the building, he saw an opportunity. "Yes, sir, and I'm extremely sorry to hear about Ned's death. Is there anything I can do?"

"You can tell me what's so important that you come barging into my office unannounced," Gaynes said, appearing to recover himself.

Ned held up his briefcase. "Mr. Gaynes, I have something in here of national importance, something that could have an important effect on the presidential race."

Gaynes sighed. "Spit it out, kid. This has been a bad day all 'round, and there isn't much of it left."

Felix opened his briefcase and took out a small CD player. He got up and walked toward Gaynes's desk. "I have a recording of two people here that's going to knock your socks off, Mr. Gaynes." He set the little machine on Gaynes's desk and switched it on.

"This better be two celebrities fucking," Gaynes said.

"Almost," Felix replied. The two voices began speaking, their conversation broken, then there was a gap, and they spoke again.

"What's with all the interruptions?" Gaynes asked. "And why do I care about this?"

"These people were on a cell phone and were recorded just outside the White House," Felix said.

"What, you're telling me they're White House staff? That's certainly not the president's voice. This guy doesn't have a southern accent."

"Sir, what does it sound like to you that they're doing?" Felix asked.

"Doing? They're certainly not fucking. I've heard a lot of recordings of people fucking, and that's not what they're doing."

"No, sir, but they're talking about fucking."

"Well, I guess you could draw that conclusion," Gaynes said, "but I wouldn't want to have to prove it in court. Why do you come in here with crap like this?"

"Because the man is the vice president of the United States," Felix said.

"The vice president is dead," Gaynes said. "Don't you watch TV?"

"Not that vice president, the new vice president," Felix said.

Gaynes squinted at Felix. "Play it again," he said.

Felix played it again.

"Well, he's got the deep voice and no accent," Gaynes said. "He sounds like Dick Nixon. Why do you think it's what's-his-name?"

"Martin Stanton, sir. I've had an expert compare this recording with Stanton's press conference on TV, after he was picked to be the veep. It's the same voice." This was a bald-faced lie, but Gaynes didn't know that.

"Well, Stanton is getting a divorce," Gaynes said. "Who's the woman?"

"I haven't been able to nail that down yet, sir."

"What city is she in?"

"I'm not sure about that, either."

"Who recorded this?"

"I did, Mr. Gaynes. My car is equipped to intercept cell-phone conversations."

"And you were at the White House?"

"I was driving around the neighborhood of the White House, sir."

"Play it again," Gaynes said.

Felix played it again.

"It does sound like Stanton," Gaynes admitted. "Who's your expert?"

"I'm afraid I have to keep that confidential, sir. He thinks this is too hot to touch."

"Well, it's hot only if it's Stanton and only if he's fucking this woman and only if we can find out who the hell she is."

"I think it's a pretty good start, sir."

Gaynes pressed the eject button on the machine and removed the disc. "You leave this with me, and I'll have it checked out by an expert I trust. If he says it's Stanton, then we'll talk."

"We need to talk now, Mr. Gaynes," Felix said. "We need to agree on a deal, if what I've told you is confirmed."

"All right, I'll give you a grand, cash, right now, and another ten grand, if it checks out."

"I'm going to need twenty-five thousand, if it checks out," Felix said.

"I'll pay you that when Stanton's voice is confirmed and the woman is identified," Gaynes said. He swiveled his chair around, opened a safe, and counted out some money with his back turned. "Here's your grand," Gaynes said. "Give me your phone number and get out of here."

Felix gave him a card, picked up the money, and got out of there.