Murder in the CIA (38 page)
Authors: Margaret Truman
Cahill stared at him incredulously, then quickly went to a closet. She would not allow him to see that her eyes were moist. She waited until she was under control before pulling out a blue blazer and slipping it on over her white blouse. “Let’s go,” she said.
“Stan wants to talk to you before you leave,” said Breslin.
“I know. What is it, a debriefing?”
“Something like that. He’ll lay down the rules. He has to do that with anyone leaving. There are rules, you know, about disclosure, things like that.”
“I can live with rules.”
“What about your friend, the journalist?”
“Vern? Don’t worry, Joe, I won’t tell him what happened, what
really
happened.”
“The book he’s writing.”
“What about it?”
“You’ve seen it. Is it damaging?”
“Yes.”
“We’d like to know what’s in it.”
“Not from me.”
“Do him a favor, Collette, and get him to drop it.”
“That sounds like an order.”
“A strong request.”
“Denied.”
She started to open the door but he stopped her with
“Collette, you sure you want to make such a clean break? Hank Fox told you what your options were before you came here. The outfit takes good care of those who do special service, and do it well. You could have six months anywhere in the world with all expenses paid, a chance to get your head together and for enough time to pass so that it all doesn’t seem so terrible. Then a nice job back at Langley, more money, the works. People who …”
“People who carry out an assassination are taken care of. Joe, I didn’t assassinate Eric Edwards. He tried to rape me. I was like any other woman—except I had a plastic gun, a vial of lethal acid, and the blessing of my country’s leading intelligence agency. I killed him to save myself, no other reason.”
“What does it matter? The job got done.”
“I’m glad that makes everyone happy. No, Joe, I want ten thousand miles between me and the CIA. I know there are a lot of good people in it who really care about what happens to their country, and who try to do the right thing. The problem is, Joe, that not only are there lots of people who
aren’t
like that, but the definition of ‘right thing’ gets blurred all the time. Come on. Let me go and have the rules explained to me, and then let’s have dinner. I’m really going to miss Hungarian food.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.
MURDER.
MARGARET TRUMAN.
National bestsellers available from Fawcett Books.
Is there one you missed?
MURDER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
MURDER ON CAPITOL HILL
MURDER IN THE SUPREME COURT
MURDER IN THE SMITHSONIAN
MURDER ON EMBASSY ROW
MURDER AT THE FBI
MURDER IN GEORGETOWN
MURDER IN THE CIA
MURDER AT THE KENNEDY CENTER
MURDER AT THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL
MURDER AT THE PENTAGON
MURDER ON THE POTOMAC
MURDER AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY
MURDER IN THE HOUSE
MURDER AT THE WATERGATE
MURDER AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
MURDER IN FOGGY BOTTOM
MURDER IN HAVANA
MURDER AT FORD’S THEATRE
MURDER AT UNION STATION
MURDER AT THE WASHINGTON TRIBUNE
MURDER AT THE OPERA
MURDER ON K STREET
MURDER AT THE WATERGATE
It is home to the powerful, the glamorous, and the politically connected. It has a gorgeous view and a notorious history. Now the Watergate, a vast complex of hotel rooms, apartments, health spas, and fine restaurants, is famous for something else: two shocking murders whose victims have ties to Mexico. As the case reaches from the Watergate into the White House, law professor Mac Smith and his wife, Annabel, set out to uncover the truth. Because the ultimate dirty trick is threatening a political career and a nation’s future. And the killer is already plotting his next lethal move.…
“Truman’s inside knowledge adds to the crisp plot, and her portrait of capital people … is superb. Who can you trust? In D.C. politics, there’s no way to know.”
—
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published by Fawcett Books.
Available in a bookstore near you.
MURDER IN THE HOUSE
He died beneath the Statue of Freedom, clutching a 9-mm pistol in his hand. But as dawn rose, the politician would die again—in a hail of rumor and character assassination.
Now one man suspects the shattering truth: that the congressman’s suicide was a carefully planned murder. In the heart of the free world, a furious struggle begins: to reclaim a man’s innocence, expose a woman’s lie, and stop a chilling conspiracy of murder that reaches halfway around the world.…
“This is the 13th in her Capital Crimes series, and it’s as rich as the others in behind-the-scenes Washington detail.”
—
People
Published by Fawcett Books.
Available in bookstores everywhere.
MURDER AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY
When the senior curator at Washington’s famed National Gallery finds a missing painting by the Renaissance master Caravaggio, he mounts a world-class exhibition—and plots a brilliant forgery scheme that will stun the art world.
But an artful deception suddenly becomes a portrait of blackmail and murder—as gallery owner and part-time sleuth Annabel Reed-Smith and her husband go searching for clues in the heady arena of international art and uncover a rare collection of unscrupulous characters that leads all the way to Italy.
“A thrilling chase.”
—
Publishers Weekly
MURDER IN GEORGETOWN
Valerie Frolich, the beautiful twenty-year-old daughter of New Jersey senator John Frolich, was among the youngest guests at the elegant Georgetown party. Her provocative dancing raised a few eyebrows—but could someone have found it distasteful enough to kill her?
Assigned to report on her murder is Joe Potamos, of
The Washington Post
’s police beat. What he finds out about Valerie—a top-notch journalism student as well as a heartbreaker of men young and old—leads to a number of startling questions about Georgetown’s most powerful men and women.
Someone from above does not like Potamos’s particular brand of reporting, and he is pulled off the case. But Potamos is in too deep to stop investigating. And as the smell of corruption in high places becomes stronger, he realizes that it’s not just his job that’s at stake. It’s his life.
“A smooth-running, fast-moving narrative.”
—
Chicago Sun-Times
MURDER AT THE KENNEDY CENTER
During a gala benefit for the Democratic party’s hottest presidential hopeful at the glittering Kennedy Center, a young woman dies a brutal death. The dynamic campaign of Senator Kenneth Ewald has collided with a tragedy that can send his son to jail—and wreck his own career.
George Washington University law professor Mac Smith comes out of the classroom to tackle this case, marching straight into the firing line of an unscrupulous TV evangelist who gets his orders from God and a dethroned Central American dictator who takes interference from no one.
“An exciting romp through the maze of Washington politics.”
—
The Dallas Morning News
MURDER AT THE PENTAGON
The chief engineer on Project Safekeep, an antimissile system under contract to the Pentagon, is murdered and a senior CIA official is accused of the crime. Major Margit Falk is a combat pilot and a lawyer with little trial experience who must defend the man accused of murder in the Pentagon. The closer Margit comes to the truth, the more she realizes that her career, her love of the military, and her life are in dire jeopardy.
“Margaret Truman has become a first-rate mystery writer.”
—
Los Angeles Times Book Review
MURDER IN THE SMITHSONIAN
Heather McBean came from Scotland to Washington to find out who murdered her fiancé, Dr. Lewis Tunney. It had happened during a glittering black-tie affair at the Smithsonian. Dr. Tunney, a brilliant historian, had stumbled onto an international art scandal and was brutally murdered in front of two hundred guests.
Captain Mike Hanrahan, who was in charge of the case, developed a special feeling for Heather. He knew she was in danger, and above all he wanted to keep her safe.
When suddenly there are two more murders, Hanrahan is decidedly worried. But Heather is very stubborn and insists on going her own way—right into the arms of a killer.
“Nonstop action and a brilliantly evocative setting make this another winner.”
—
Booklist
MURDER AT THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL
Murder didn’t stop Mac Smith and Annabel Reed from falling in love, or from getting married at the glorious church on the hill in Washington, D.C., the National Cathedral. But the brutal murder of a friend drags them from their newlywed bliss into an unholy web of intrigue and danger.
The body is found in the cathedral. There are scant clues and no suspects. And to further complicate matters, a parallel crime is committed at a church in England’s Cotswolds, where the honeymooners have recently been visitors. Across the sea go the Smiths again, and straight into the center of an ungodly plot of secret agents, a playboy priest, a frustrated lover, and a murder so perfect it’s a sin.
“A vigorous tale of twists and turns … An authentic thriller.”
—
The Washington Post Book World
By Margaret Truman:
MURDER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
MURDER ON CAPITOL HILL
MURDER IN THE SUPREME COURT
MURDER IN THE SMITHSONIAN
MURDER ON EMBASSY ROW
MURDER AT THE FBI
MURDER IN GEORGETOWN
MURDER IN THE CIA
MURDER AT THE KENNEDY CENTER
MURDER AT THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL
MURDER AT THE PENTAGON
MURDER ON THE POTOMAC
MURDER AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY
MURDER IN THE HOUSE
MURDER AT THE WATERGATE
MURDER AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
MURDER IN FOGGY BOTTOM
MURDER IN HAVANA
MURDER AT FORD’S THEATRE
MURDER AT UNION STATION
MURDER AT THE WASHINGTON TRIBUNE
MURDER AT THE OPERA
MURDER ON K STREET
Nonfiction:
FIRST LADIES
BESS W. TRUMAN
SOUVENIR
WOMEN OF COURAGE
HARRY S. TRUMAN
LETTERS FROM FATHER:
The Truman Family’s Personal Correspondences
WHERE THE BUCK STOPS
WHITE HOUSE PETS
THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE