Page 39 of The Senator's Wife

“Sloane, what can I do for you?”

“I have a favor to ask. Could you run a license plate and checkit against CCTV and tell me if this car was spotted near Kramers Bookstore between 7 and 9p.m.two nights ago?” She read him the plate number.

“What’s this about?”

“The car belongs to my home healthcare worker.” Sloane didn’t want to tell him about Rosemary’s message just yet, since it was possible that she’d dreamed everything up. “It’s a little embarrassing. Both she and Whit were out that night. I just want to make sure they weren’t at the same place. That’s why I need your discretion.” She felt bad about the light in which this placed Whit, but Jim was trustworthy, and she knew it would go no further.

“I can check the cameras around Dupont Circle, but you know how limited the metered parking is, so even if she was at the bookstore, her car could be anywhere. The parking garage in the Dupont Circle Hotel is a possibility too, but to be honest it’s all a long shot. And then viewing footage from the cameras is pretty tedious. Takes some time.”

“I understand. Is it possible to track where the car has been? It seems like there are cameras at all the traffic lights in town.”

“No, the VDOTs are live. They show traffic in real time, but they don’t record traffic camera footage. I’ll see what I can do on the CCTV cameras, Sloane, and get back to you.”

“Thanks, you’re a doll.”

She ended the call and closed her eyes. She knew from her own security cameras that Athena had left the house at 7:15 and returned at 11:05. What she’d done between those hours was the question.

- 30 -

ATHENA

Athena was on her way to the foundation in the Mercedes that was kept at the house for when Emmy visited. It was a smooth ride, and she loved driving a car that was so much more luxurious than her own. As she rubbed her hand over the leather steering wheel and took in the sleek console, she couldn’t help the sense of distaste she felt that a gorgeous vehicle like this just sat around for the occasional visit. It was a staggering example of conspicuous consumption.

When she arrived at the foundation, Athena parked the car, and as she entered the building, she thought again about the items that Whit had given Sloane, just for the heck of it. The halter dress was gorgeous and obviously expensive. She hadn’t been prepared for the price tag, though: over five thousand dollars for a dress! The most Athena had ever paid for a dress was four hundred dollars, and even then she’d felt guilty for splurging. You had to make serious money to throw it away on something so frivolous, and there was no way Whit pulled that in on a senator’s salary alone. She knew from her research that Whit hadn’t grown up rich. So was he using Sloane’s money to buy gifts for her? She wondered, not for the first time, if he’d married Sloane for money or love. If it was the former, that could work in her favor.

Putting a bright smile on her face when the elevator doors opened on the seventh floor, Athena greeted the receptionist and went directly to Brianna’s office. She tapped on the open door and walked in. “Good morning. I have a few things to take care of for Sloane. She said she was going to let you know I was coming in this morning.”

“Yes. I spoke to her a half hour ago. You can go right in, I unlocked her office,” Brianna said, looking up from her wheelchair.

“Great. Thanks.” Athena turned to leave.

“Oh, one more thing,” Brianna said. “I have some papers that need her signature. Could you stop by my office before you leave, and I’ll give them to you?”

“Sure. No problem.”

This was the first time Athena had been at the foundation without Sloane. She shut the door, sat down behind the desk, and slowly swiveled the chair, surveying the room at her leisure. When she’d first visited the foundation with Sloane, she’d been surprised. Sloane’s office was smaller than she’d thought it would be. In fact, all of the offices were fairly modest, considering the foundation’s enormous endowment. It was a pleasant room, though, filled with books, photographs, and memorabilia. On the desk was a framed quotation that read:Only What We Do for People Will Be Left Here.She looked away and was tempted to browse the bookcases and take some time to examine the framed photographs on the walls, but she resisted. She didn’t have all day, and there were more important things to do. Who knew when she’d have the next opportunity?

She decided to take care of everything on the list before doing her own sleuthing. She began with the list of video calls she needed to schedule for Sloane. After an hour, she’d checked off everything on the list and placed all the reports in her bag. She logged in to the desktop with the code Sloane had given her and printed off the financials on the shelter project Sloane had requested. Now she could poke around Sloane’s computer and see if she could get into the financial files. She methodically clicked through each project folder for a quick view, but there were no spreadsheets or ledgers. A photo icon caught her eye. Why did Sloane have a lone picture of Emmy on the desktop? She clicked on it and laughed. Voilà! A balance sheet with all the deposits over the past six months. Did Sloane really think this was a secure method for hiding a file? Athena printed it off. She then printed the accompanyingdisbursement ledgers for the foundation’s most recent projects. It wouldn’t tell the entire story, but it would give Athena a truer picture of what the foundation’s assets were. While everything printed, she opened each desk drawer and looked through, although her search didn’t yield anything of consequence. There was a key in the top drawer, however, one that looked like it could be for a small safe. She scanned the room again but saw nothing resembling a safe. She rubbed the key between her fingers, thinking. Perhaps inside the credenza or behind a photograph, as James Bond as that sounded?

Rising from the chair, Athena crossed the room and opened the credenza, but the shelves inside were filled with scrapbooks. She picked up the first one and flipped through, seeing photos of a new shelter opening. Quickly scanning the rest, she saw that they were similar mementos from each new shelter the foundation had sponsored. She closed the cabinet doors and looked around once again, then moved to the wall of photographs and began to look behind each one. On the tenth picture she found it: a safe built into the wall. Her breathing became rapid with excitement, until she saw the combination lock. The key she held was useless, so she returned it to the drawer, and she sat, wondering if the combination might be written down somewhere. She looked up as she heard the door open.

“I’m going into a meeting, so I thought I’d bring you the paperwork for Sloane.” Brianna handed her a folder.

“Thank you. I’m finished with everything Sloane asked me to do, so I’ll be on my way, then.” Athena hoped she sounded as innocent as she was trying to appear. She grabbed the papers from the printer and turned it off.

Brianna pivoted the chair and hesitated a moment as she faced the wall. Athena followed her gaze to the picture hanging crookedly over the safe. Dammit. She’d been careless. It was a stupid mistake. She knew better.

“Tell Sloane I asked about her,” Brianna said before turning the chair and wheeling away.

Athena exhaled, castigating herself again. She didn’t need Brianna harboring any suspicions about her or taking those suspicions to Sloane. She’d have to be more careful, try and ingratiate herself the next time she was here. When Athena reached the ground floor and walked out of the building, the tension in her shoulders finally eased. She made her way back to the house so she could drop everything off with Sloane before taking the rest of the day off. When she looked in on Sloane, she saw that she was sleeping. Tiptoeing into the room, she put the folders down on the nightstand and retreated. She stopped by her room to freshen up her makeup. She opened the door to her bedroom and looked down. The dental floss. Someone had been in her room.

- 31 -

WHIT

Whit took the stairs to the vice president’s office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Built in the 1800s next to the White House, the enormous structure, with over five hundred offices, had been called the ugliest building in America by Mark Twain. Whit disagreed, thinking the French architectural style amusing in a city filled with neoclassical federal structures. He checked his watch as he reached the landing, seeing that he was early for their ten o’clock meeting.

“Morning, Shelly,” he said cheerily to Vice President Bishop’s secretary as he entered the outer office. “I’m a little early.”

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