"I'm in the car. I took a run up to Atlanta for lunch, but I'm on my way back home right now."
"Maybe you should take a detour," Carter suggested. "Why don't you pick me up at the house and I'll catch you up on some things."
"All right," I agreed. "I'll be there in five minutes."
My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking as I pulled up to the Berryhills' home. Carter met me at the curb. He opened the door and slid into the front seat.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I want you to pull your car into my garage," he said. "You can park beside my car. Tee's over at the newspaper office."
"Carter, you're starting to scare me," I said, my voice shaky, steering the Catfish into the slot he indicated in the garage beside the house.
"We'll talk inside the house," he said. I followed him in the back door to the kitchen. "Sit down," he said, indicating a wooden ladder-back chair at the kitchen table.
He sat down beside me. "I'm sorry to have alarmed you," he said. "But I thought it best to handle things this way. You've had some company looking for you this morning."
"Company?"
"Two FBI agents," he said. "An African-American gentleman and a lady."
I felt the blood drain from my head. "Oh no. How did they, I mean, why?"
"I suppose they went over to Birdsong this morning. And when they found nobody home, they knocked on some doors. I think one of your neighbors told them I might know how to reach you."
"Oh my God," I whispered. "The FBI!"
Carter patted my hand. "I must tell you, I've read the Washington Post story. Dempsey, I'm so sorry you've been dragged into this mess. These agents wouldn't tell me why they wanted to speak with you, but I'm sure they're looking into this matter with the congressman."
My face grew hot with embarrassment. I couldn't bear to look my new friend in the eyes. "You must think I'm awful."
He laughed easily. "I think the situation is awful. You, on the other hand, are a delightful, forthright, and honest young woman who seems to have unwittingly gotten mixed up in a very serious situation. If you'll let me, maybe I can be of some assistance."
I looked up. "You don't believe what Alex Hodder is saying?"
"Of course not," Carter said. "I never believe everything I read or hear on the news. This man Hodder is obviously attempting to shift blame to you so that he can extricate himself from this scandal."
"I can't believe he's doing this," I said. "Maybe the newspaper got it all wrong."
"Maybe," Carter said, his voice dubious. "But in the meantime, those FBI agents are camped out in front of your house, waiting for you to get home. I think we'd best do something about that."
"What? Carter, I don't want to talk to the FBI."
"Nobody does," he said, standing up. "But I think, in this case, it's unavoidable. So, let's go on over to Birdsong, and get it over with. I'll let them know I'm your attorney, and that you won't be talking to them without me present."
"I can't afford an attorney," I said. "I'm broke. That's why I moved down here, Carter. Alex Hodder fired me. I'm broke, I've got no place else to live." I bit my lip. "I'm twenty-eight years old and had to go running home to my father for help. I'm a one-woman disaster. You should run the other way."
"Nonsense," he said. "It's agreed then. I'm your attorney. We'll discuss fees later. But for right now, let's go see what these folks have to say."
We drove over to Birdsong in Carter's Mercedes. He asked me questions as he drove, focusing on the Bahamas trip. His responses to my answers were slow and measured. And by the time we pulled up behind the silver sedan parked in front of Birdsong, I felt an unnatural sense of calm settling in.
The agents did not look pleased to see Carter Berryhill. The woman, who introduced herself as Camerin Allgood, seemed to be in charge. She was tall, with a dancer's slender build, and had shoulder-length blond hair and piercing blue eyes. She introduced her partner, Jackson Harrell. He was an inch shorter, which put him just under six feet, with mocha-colored skin and unusual hazel eyes with light flecks. She wore a somber navy pantsuit; he was dressed more casually, in charcoal slacks, a yellow golf shirt, and a blue blazer.
"Shall we go inside to chat?" Carter asked. Harrell looked to Camerin Allgood for guidance.
"We'd prefer to do this interview in the Atlanta field office," she said. "That's procedure."
"Miss Killebrew has some appointments this afternoon," Carter said smoothly. "It would be more convenient for her to speak to you here. Or at my office, which is only five minutes away, whichever suits you better."
"Here is fine," Agent Allgood said. They trooped up the front walkway after me. As I struggled with the front-door key, I was thankful for having cleared away the worst of the clutter at the front of the house.
"You'll have to excuse the way the place looks," I said, swinging the door open. "My father just recently inherited this house, and I've only started working on the restoration this past week."
"Nice place," Jackson Harrell said, running his hand over the leaded glass sidelights. "How old is this house?"
But before I could answer, Camerin Allgood interrupted.
"Miss Killebrew, let's get this started, shall we?" Her voice was icy.
"All in good time," Carter said. He looked around the hallway. "Very nice, my dear. You've done wonders with the place already."
I flashed him a grateful smile. "There's not a lot of furniture in these front rooms, so I guess we'll have to talk in the kitchen."
"Fine, kitchen, basement, whatever," Agent Allgood snapped.
I opened the kitchen's swinging door and gestured for them to sit around the wooden kitchen table.
No sooner were we seated than Agent Allgood unsnapped her briefcase. She brought out a small silver tape recorder, and flipped open a file folder. "Sign here, please," she said, indicating a line on a sheet of paper. "This will indicate that you've agreed to having our discussion tape-recorded."
"Maybe you could tell us what it is you're going to be discussing," Carter said evenly.
"Let's start with public corruption," Agent Harrell said. "Bribing a United States congressman in general, specifically Representative Anthony Licata. Is any of this sounding familiar to you?"
My mouth was dry as dust. I swallowed. "I never-"
"Miss Killebrew," Agent Allgood broke in, "let's put our cards on the table here. I'm sure you're aware that we executed a search warrant on Representative Licata's office some weeks ago. I'm sure you're also aware that we have the hard drives from the offices of Hodder and Associates. That would include the hard drive from your computer. Containing documents and communications among you, Mr. Hodder, and Representative Licata. In addition, we are in possession of certain other documents that were voluntarily surrendered by your employer Mr. Hodder. That would include the records of purchases charged to an American Express credit card, issued to you by Mr. Hodder."
"Alex told me that woman was a wakeboard instructor," I cried. "I never met her. Or the masseuse."
Agent Harrell snickered. "You tellin' us a woman named Mahogany Foxx sounds legit? And her working for a company called Pleasure Chest? We're talking about surfing lessons for a man in his sixties, with two bum knees? You tellin' us you weren't curious about charges to a credit card-your credit card-amounting to nearly six thousand dollars? And you're a lawyer? Georgetown Law School?"
"I'm a lobbyist, for God's sake," I cried. "Part of my job was to entertain clients. Business dinners. Tickets to ball games, concerts at Wolftrap, those kinds of things were legitimate business expenses for our clients. Alex instructed me to use my company credit card to pay for the wakeboard lessons," I said. "He never told me the woman's name. He just gave me a phone number to call. He said, 'Set it up.' And I did. I didn't know that's how much they charged to my AmEx card. The bills were sent directly to the office manager. I never saw them."
"Riiiight," Agent Harrell said. "Listen-"
"Enough," Agent Allgood said, slapping her palm on the top of the kitchen table.
She leaned forward, so that her face was only a few inches from mine. "Miss Killebrew, do you know who you're dealing with here? Do you understand what's at stake here?"
"She understands," Carter said dryly. "We both do. But I don't appreciate your trying to intimidate my client."
"Trying to intimidate?" Harrell said. He laughed softly.
"I don't think Miss Killebrew understands at all," Agent Allgood said. She sat back in her chair, and crossed her legs. She was wearing gorgeous navy blue crocodile pumps with three-inch stacked heels. I never knew feds had good shoes.
"Fifteen years in a federal prison," Agent Allgood said. "That's for every count of bribery she's convicted of. Plus a hefty fine. Disbarment, of course. And that's just for starters."
"Fifteen years!" All the blood drained out of my head. I felt faint.
Carter squeezed my hand under the table.
"What is it you want from her?" Carter asked. "She's told you what she knows. She was instructed to call a phone number, to make arrangements for surfing lessons and a therapeutic massage. You obviously have the AmEx records. You have Mr. Hodder's version of what happened, and Representative Licata's version. And now you have my client's."
"Cooperation's the name of the game," Agent Harrell said, giving me an understanding smile.
"I have cooperated," I said. "I'm telling the truth."
Agent Allgood stood up and walked over to the back door. She opened it and looked out into the yard, at the bright green buds leafing out from the trees crowded up against the back door. "This is a nice place down here," she said when she turned around. "But it's gotta be pretty boring after leading the party life up there in D.C."
"I didn't party that much," I said. "I had a life. An apartment. Friends. A job. Up until recently."
"Yes," she said. "But Alex Hodder took care of all that. Didn't he? As soon as things started to heat up, he fired you. Didn't he? Or, should I say, his office manager fired you?"
I shrugged. I didn't know what she wanted from me.
"He's playing you, Dempsey," she said, giving me a pitying smile. "You know that, right? He probably set everything up from the very start, so that if anything went wrong with the payoffs to Licata, you'd be the one to go down. Not him."
Carter squeezed my hand again. This time it felt like a warning.
"Dempsey, Dempsey," she said, sighing softly. "You were in love with Alex Hodder, weren't you?"
"No." It came out with a squeak.
"Dude's good lookin'," Agent Harrell said. "Got that whole silver-fox thing going on. Takes good care of himself. Dresses nice. You believe he's fifty? I would have said more like forty, but that's what the driver's license says. I was a young girl, I might get a crush on him too."
Camerin Allgood shot him an annoyed look. "Jackson?"
"I'm just sayin'."
"We took a look at your cell phone bills, Dempsey," Agent Allgood said. "The day Licata was indicted? The day you and your boss were all over the news? You called Alex Hodder's cell phone nineteen times."
"I was trying to find out what was going on," I said. "The FBI came in, they took our computers, shut the office down. CNN was saying Alex was mixed up in this vote-buying thing. I was concerned."
"I'll bet," Harrell said. "Especially after they fired your butt."
Carter was squeezing my hand again. So I shut up.
"What is it you want from my client?" Carter repeated.
"Assistance," Harrell said. "A little help. So we can nail Alex Hodder's ass to the wall. Nail him up good, right beside that slimeball Licata. Yeah. We want us a congressman, and a big old lobbyist."
"Spell it out, would you please?" Carter said.
Camerin Allgood opened her briefcase again. She picked up the little tape recorder and stowed it inside the case. Then she brought out a small black plastic box, about the size of a pack of chewing gum.
"What's that?" I asked.
"That's your get-out-of-jail-free card," Agent Harrell said jovially.
26.
"No," I said flatly. "That's a bug, right? You want me to wear a bug and talk to Alex and get him to admit he bribed Licata? So you can send him to jail? Forget it. I won't do it."
"Dempsey," Carter said. "I think perhaps you should let the agents explain what they want before you turn them down."
He crossed his arms over his chest and turned to the woman. "It is a recording device, is it not?"
"It's a bug," Camerin Allgood said. "We'd like Miss Killebrew to contact her former boss, set up a meeting, see if she can get him to talk about that trip down to the islands with Representative Licata."
"No," I said. "No way."
"Dempsey." Carter put a warning hand on my arm.
"Talk to her, Mr. Berryhill," Harrell suggested. "Explain how these things work."
"You'd give her immunity from prosecution, I'm assuming?" Carter asked, looking at Agent Allgood.
"That's not up to me," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "You'd have to talk to the U.S. attorney about that. I'm just authorized to suggest that the government would look very favorably on working out an arrangement with your client, should she be of assistance to us in our investigation."
"Alex isn't stupid," I said, pushing the black plastic case away. "Even if I did agree to wear this thing, why would he be dumb enough to meet me, and if he did meet with me, which he won't, he'd never talk about Licata, or about what went on down in Lyford Cay. So you guys are just wasting your time."
Camerin Allgood gave a tight smile. "We never waste the government's time, Dempsey. Because we don't have a lot of it. I'll tell you what. You think about our conversation here. Think about what's at stake. As in your future. You may be naive when it comes to men, but I don't think you're dumb. I think you're a smart cookie. And I'll bet a smart cookie like you can come up with a way to keep from going to jail."
She uncrossed her legs and stood up. "You've got my card. Call me. Sooner would be better than later."
Jackson Harrell stood too, and shook Carter's hand. I didn't offer him mine. I let them out of the house, and stood on the porch watching as they drove away down the street.
"Shiiiiiit," I said, letting the word out in a long, deep exhale.
"My sentiments exactly," Carter said.