Executive Privilege

“Any boyfriend problems?”

“No. She was going with this Alpha Sig, but they both decided it wasn’t working. They’re still…were still friends.”

Kitces paused. “Gee, I can’t get used to…” She choked up and managed a tearful, “You know.”

The agents waited for Bethany to regain her composure. When she signaled that she was ready Sparks asked her next question.

“Can you tell us something about your friend? It will help us find the person who hurt her.”

Kitces wiped her eyes and took another sip of water.

“She’s from Kansas,” Bethany said when she could speak without crying. “Her dad’s an orthodontist and her mom is a lawyer in a big firm in Kansas City. Lotte is…was very smart. She had almost all A’s her freshman year. She’s poli-sci. She wanted to go to law school, then maybe politics. She worked on a congressman’s campaign in high school and she was working for Senator Gaylord.”

Bethany paused and frowned.

“Yes,” Sparks prodded.

“You asked about anything odd. There was something. Lotte was working on President Farrington’s election committee. Then she quit and started working for Senator Gaylord.”

Evans’s brow furrowed. “You’re saying she switched her allegiance?”

“Yeah. What made it strange was she really liked the president, she was a huge fan, and she used to bad-mouth Gaylord all the time. When she started working for Gaylord she still didn’t seem all that excited about her campaign or her positions. And, now that I think of it, what makes everything weirder is the way she acted when she came back from Chicago.”

“What happened in Chicago?”

Kitces hesitated. “I promised her I wouldn’t say anything.”

“I can understand that you want to be loyal to your friend, but she’s been murdered, Bethany. You wouldn’t want to hold back information that might help catch her killer.”

Bethany looked away. The agents let her think.

“Okay,” she said when she turned back. “It was something to do with President Farrington. That’s all she would tell me. One afternoon, I came home from class and found her packing an overnight case. This was when she was still volunteering at Farrington’s campaign headquarters. I asked her what was up. Like I thought maybe she was meeting some boy and staying over, not that she did that a lot. She was pretty old-fashioned. She’d only stay with a guy she really liked and not right away, you know. Like not on the first date or even a second.”

Bethany looked at Sparks to make sure she understood that her roommate wasn’t a slut. Sparks nodded.

“So I teased her about her seeing some guy, and she said it wasn’t like that. She said that the president was giving a speech in Chicago and she’d been invited to hear him and help out at the fund-raiser, but it was all hush-hush and she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. And that’s when she swore me to secrecy.”

“She didn’t say why her trip was hush-hush?”

“No. I tried to get it out of her but she wouldn’t give.” Kitces looked down. “I feel bad about telling you. She didn’t want me to say anything, and I promised.”

“You’re doing the right thing.”

“I hope so.”

“Was Lotte excited about this trip?”

“Yeah, but that changed when she came back. She stopped volunteering for Farrington and she was quiet and seemed nervous. Then, a week or so later, she started volunteering for Gaylord.”

“Did she ever tell you why she switched?”

“No.”

“You said that her mood changed after Chicago. What was the difference?” Sparks asked.

“Lotte was always upbeat. After Chicago she seemed to go up and down, quiet for a few days then excited and secretive then nervous and quiet again.”

“And you don’t know what was causing her to be like that?”

“No. I asked a few times if everything was okay. I thought it was a boy.”

“And you’re sure that wasn’t it?”

“If she was seeing someone she’d have told me.”

“Do you have a number for Lotte’s parents?” Sparks asked.

The color drained from Bethany ’s face. “Oh my gosh, her parents. I’m not going to have to tell them, am I?”

“No, we’ll take care of that.”

“I guess I’ll have to talk to them about the funeral and all. I want to be there.”

“It seems like you were a good friend to her,” Sparks said.

“It was easy,” Bethany said. Then she sobbed, “She was the best.”

“Could you show us Lotte’s room?” she asked when Kitces had cried herself out.

Bethany wiped at the tears that streaked her cheeks as she led the agents down a short hall. Walsh’s room was luxurious by the standards of most college students and much neater than a typical dorm room. The bed was made, there were no clothes on the floor, and the top of Walsh’s dresser and desk were orderly. Evans guessed that Bethany was responsible for the mess in the living room. He wandered over to the desk while Sparks looked in the dresser and the closet. Several books about the United States Congress were stacked in a neat pile.

“She was working on a paper about the Senate majority leader for an honors program,” Bethany explained.

“Thanks,” Evans told her. He found a physics text and a few books about international politics on the other side of the desk. Evans frowned. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what was bothering him. He opened the desk drawer and rummaged through it. He riffled through a checkbook but found nothing of interest. There were pens, Post-its, some paper clips, and a stapler. Another drawer contained letters from Walsh’s parents. Something dawned on Evans. Walsh’s parents might be old enough to communicate through snail mail but anyone closer to her age would be using e-mail. Evans searched the room but he didn’t find what he was looking for.

“Where is Miss Walsh’s computer?”

Bethany looked around the room too before answering. “If it’s not here she must have had it with her. She had a laptop. She took it everywhere. She carried it in her backpack.”

Evans took out his cell phone and dialed the agent who’d taken custody of the evidence from the Bethesda police at the crime scene. He asked if a backpack or a computer had been found in the alley. Then he asked if a laptop or a backpack had been found in Walsh’s car. After a few minutes, Evans hung up.

“ Bethany, if Miss Walsh didn’t have the laptop with her where would it be?”

Bethany shook her head. “It wouldn’t be anywhere. She never let it out of her sight. It had all her stuff on it: her papers, private stuff. It was either on the desk or in the backpack.”

“She must have backed up her hard drive,” Sparks said.

“Sure,” Bethany said. “Everyone does. She kept her backup disks in a plastic box in her desk.”

Evans started opening the drawers in Walsh’s desk again but he couldn’t find the box.

“ Bethany,” Evans asked, “I don’t want to alarm you-and there may be a simple explanation for the missing laptop and backups-but can you check this room and the rest of the apartment to see if anything else is missing?”

Kitces looked scared. “Do you think someone broke in?”

“I don’t know what your place usually looks like so I have no opinion. Did you notice anything unusual when you got home, this morning?”

“No, but I was pretty tired. I just went right to bed. I didn’t look around.”

Sparks and Evans helped Bethany search the apartment, but they didn’t find the laptop or anything else that would help them in the investigation and Bethany couldn’t point to anything else that was missing or out of place. When they were certain that there was nothing more to be done Sparks asked Bethany if she wanted them to call a friend to come over. Bethany said she’d call her boyfriend. Evans called police headquarters and asked to have a policeman come over to take Bethany ’s statement regarding the missing laptop and backup disks. As soon as the police officer arrived the agents thanked Bethany again, gave her their cards, and left.