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He nodded brusquely, then turned his back on her and walked to the window.
Of course. This explained so many prevalent questions. Vanessa’s distress and utter helplessness. The waiver of an autopsy. The violent attempts to stifle the story. Bondurant’s involvement. Especially Bondurant’s involvement.
Slowly her gaze moved to him. He was still standing with his back to the room, peering through the crack in the faded draperies.
Daily stood. “Well, I think accusing the President of the United States of baby killing is enough excitement for one night. At least it is for an old fart like me. I’m going back to bed. You two are welcome to stay here as long as need be.”
The trolley carrying his oxygen tank had a squeaky wheel. It could be heard as he made his way down the hall and into his bedroom. When he closed the door behind him, a thick silence descended over the house.
Barrie said quietly, “The President gave me his hearty approval to interview her.”
“To throw everybody off track. Which is more suspicious: publicly addressing an issue, or keeping it hush-hush?”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“I’d bet everything I own.”
“You’re afraid for Vanessa, aren’t you?”
He turned around and looked at Barrie, but he said nothing.
“As long as she appeared well adjusted,” Barrie said, organizing her thoughts as she spoke, “you dismissed your suspicions about the baby’s death. But when you saw my interview with her, you realized that she wasn’t herself, even considering her fluctuating moods and behavior. That caused you to entertain more doubts. Then I came to see you, and my theory echoed what you’d feared all along—that the baby’s death wasn’t caused by SIDS. Spencer Martin’s visit clinched it for you.
“Now you believe that Vanessa’s life is in jeopardy, too. If David Merritt killed an infant, what compunction would he have against killing his wife to ensure that his first crime is kept secret?”
“None whatsoever,” Gray said. “If you don’t believe anything else I’ve told you, believe that. He’ll do anything to protect his presidency and get a second term. Anything.”
Barrie rubbed her arms to ward off a sudden chill.
“You look ready to drop,” he remarked. “We’ll take this up again in the morning. Get some sleep.”
“Are you serious? I won’t be able to sleep.”
“Lie down and close your eyes. You’ll sleep.”
Too tired to argue, she gestured toward the back of the house. “The guest room, for lack of a better word, is at the end of the hall. There’s a cot in there, but I don’t recommend it. Cronkite was the last to sleep on it.”
He looked toward Daily’s closed bedroom door. “Do you trust him?”
“With my life.”
“Then it’s likely they’ll know to look for you here.”
“No one knows I come here.”
“Care to explain that?”
“No, I don’t.” Her friendship with Daily was something she kept just between the two of them, and she didn’t feel moved to share with Bondurant the reasons why. “No one will look for me here. For the time being, we’re safe.”
“Okay,” he said, grudgingly. “I’ll sleep out here. You take the cot.”
She started down the hallway, almost too tired to place one foot in front of the other. She didn’t remember ever feeling so physically and emotionally spent.
In the bureau in Daily’s second bedroom, she found a pair of pajamas that were atrociously ugly even for Daily’s nondiscriminating taste. She took the pajama top into the bathroom with her and filled the tub.
She’d gone almost twenty-four hours without sleep. Her eyes were gritty. Her joints and muscles ached. She had skinned her knees. She swallowed two aspirin tablets taken from Daily’s medicine chest, then gratefully submerged herself, even her head, in the hot water. After soaping and shampooing, she reclined against the back of the tub and closed her eyes.
As her physical discomforts were eased by the bath, her emotional injuries began to hurt more. Her heartache was profound. Considering how many human lives were taken by natural disasters, disease, war, and murder, it seemed petty to mourn the demise of a mutt. Nevertheless, she felt a crushing sense of loss. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep from sobbing.
