Eleventh Hour

He said finally, “What the hell is going on here?”

“Haven’t you wondered who wrote me that letter since Cleo has been dead for three years?” Nick asked.

He splayed his hands in front of him, didn’t say anything.

“You kept insisting that last night, John, that Cleo hadn’t written the letter, that it was impossible. It occurred to me that you must have known she was dead, that it was impossible for her to have written to me, that it had to be someone else.”

“No, I had no idea Cleo was dead. What I simply couldn’t believe was that Cleo would slander me like that, that she would make up that story about a journal and what I’d written. There was no way she could have believed that I killed Melissa, would have killed her as well, and now even you. All because of some rumor that you were sleeping with Elliott Benson?”

“That all three of us slept with Elliott Benson, begi

He shook his head. “That’s absurd. Elliott is a friend, not an enemy. He’s a man I trust, a man I’ve always trusted.”

Nick looked away from the man she’d pla

She rose and walked to the huge window that gave onto Lake Michigan. The water was whipped up by a strong wind. She could tell it was cold and blustery from there, on the twenty-second floor of the Grayson Building. She said over her shoulder, not looking back, “I never heard any rumor about me and Elliott, did you, John?”

To her surprise, he slowly nodded, saw she still wasn’t looking at him, and said aloud, “Yes, I did hear some rumors. I actually spoke to Elliott about them, and he denied them, of course. I remember I was about to leave when I turned and saw that he was smirking behind his hand. Then it was gone, and I believed I must have imagined it. Elliott would never hurt me.” He rubbed his knuckles then, and Savich knew that the restrained aristocratic senator had been thinking about hitting Elliott Benson. Because he believed he was the enemy? Did he believe that Nick would do such a thing?

“Why do you think he would slander Dr. Campion?” Sherlock asked. “If, of course, he actually did.”

“I don’t know. He’s occupied a unique position in my life, sometimes a friend, sometimes an enemy. It’s been that way since we were in high school. I do know he wanted to sleep with Cleo, I know that for a fact. But she didn’t want him. She told me about it.” He paused, looked down at his hands, at his fingers rubbing against his palms. “But of course there was Tod Gambol.”

“Who still hasn’t been located,” Dane said.

The senator said, “Maybe Tod’s the one who killed her. Or maybe it was Elliott and he’s the one who started the rumor about Nicola because he wanted her to leave me. Maybe I’ve been wrong about him all these years. But would he go that far? Jesus, I don’t know. Do you know why he would say such a thing, Nicola?”

“No, I have no idea. Did you believe him when he denied the rumor about me, John?”

“Good God, yes, naturally.”

“Are you quite sure?”

“Of course.” But he dropped his eyes. He said, “Those references to my journal, to what I’d supposedly written, listen to me. I didn’t write any of that, so that means she lied, but now we know it wasn’t Cleo who lied, it was someone else.”

“Yes,” Savich said. “Yes, we think that just might be the case, Senator.”

Senator Rothman looked pathetically eager. “Really? And just what exactly do you think, Agent?”

“We need to speak to you and your sister, Albia Rothman, sir,” Sherlock said. “Could you perhaps arrange a meeting?”

“I’m sure Albia would want very much to see you again, Nick. Why don’t all of you come to di

“That would be fine,” Nick said. “Thank you, John.”

“What’s this about Albia? You think she’s got something to do with this? You think she wrote the letter to Nicola, made up that journal?” His face was flushed. “That’s nonsense, absolute rubbish.”

“What time, John?” Nick asked.

They were all seated at the magnificent dining room table, which was set for six. Senator Rothman sat at the head of the table and Albia at the other end.

Dane thought she was a beautiful woman, as charming as her brother, though perhaps a touch more calculated. It was obvious to him that her brother hadn’t mentioned the letter or the journal to her.

Albia Rothman had cried when she first saw Nick, hugged her, told her over and over how very worried they’d been about her, that she was utterly distraught that Nick had believed such horrible things about John.

“My dear, I ca

“Yes, it was very bad, Albia,” Nick said.

Nick’s voice was soft, a slight musical lilt to it. Dane saw that she wasn’t wearing anything he’d bought her. She and Sherlock had gone shopping at Saks on Michigan Avenue, and both of them looked expensive, and, to Dane’s eye, utterly beautiful. Nick’s black dress was short, showing off very nice long legs, but conservative, very appropriate for these surroundings. Once again, he thought she fit perfectly in this environment. He could easily picture her as a powerful senator’s wife. It made him sick to his stomach. He realized, as he looked at her, that he never would have met her if Michael hadn’t died.

It was over the artistically arranged Caesar salad with glazed pecans set precisely atop the lettuce, nestled in among croutons, that Nick said, “Albia, did you write the letter to me? The letter that Cleo supposedly wrote?”

Albia Rothman raised a perfectly arched brow. She looked markedly like her brother with that expression. She frowned, just a bit, hardly furrowing her brow, and shook her head. “No, I don’t know anything about a letter. What letter are you speaking about?”

Nick said, “John didn’t mention the letter I received from Cleo, warning me that he was trying to kill me, that he’d also tried to kill her and that was why she ran away?”

“Good God, what a novel idea. A letter from Cleo? How very preposterous. John try to kill Cleo? Kill you? That is utterly absurd. John, what is going on here?”

Senator Rothman merely shrugged, methodically picked a pecan out of his salad, never looking at them. “The FBI agents are the ones with all the answers here, not I.”

“You realize, I hope,” Albia said to the table at large, “how very absurd that is. John is a very kind, intelligent man, a man to admire, a man who will make this country a better place.”

Dane said, “Ms. Rothman, let’s get back to whether you were the one who wrote Nick the letter.”

“That means you were trying to warn me, Albia,” Nick said. “You were trying to help me. Or were you trying to get rid of me?”

“Do eat your salad, Nicola. I didn’t come here to discuss this nonsense.”

Savich said, “We need your help, Ms. Rothman.”

Albia said as she carefully laid down her salad fork, “If your friends-these Federal officers-are pushing you to do this, Nicola, then I do believe that I don’t even wish to stay.” She rose as she spoke, said to her brother, “John, I’m leaving. I have no intention of trying to digest my di

And she walked out of the dining room.

John Rothman said nothing until he heard the front door close quietly in the distance. “Well, whatever it is you were trying to achieve, that was disgraceful. Good evening to all of you.”