Capital Crimes Read Free Page A

using the voice she used when briefing the president, not the one she used when giving her husband bad news. “Christmas three years ago, when you were deciding whether to run, we were in Delano with your folks. Do you remember that I had to go somewhere on business?”
    “Yes, you took the car, and I thought it was very odd, but I’ve been trained not to ask questions when you say ‘business.’”
    “The business was Ed Rawls. I had a letter from him that morning, addressed to your parents’ house, asking me to come to see him at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary.”
    “And you went to see him?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why on earth did you do that? It would certainly be against Agency policy, wouldn’t it?”
    “Not if I reported the visit, and I did. Something in the letter made it necessary.”
    “What was in the letter?”
    “He knew about Joe Adams.”
    Adams had been vice president at the time, and only the day before, he had invited Will and Kate to Camp David for brunch and told them that he was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
    Will was stunned. “Jesus, you and I had only known about it for twenty-four hours, and I thought we were the only ones. How could a man in prison get that information?”
    “He wouldn’t tell me. He did say that all sorts of things went on there that no one on the outside could imagine. He said there were prisoners there with cell phones. For all I know, he might have been one of them.”
    “I’m glad you didn’t tell me at the time,” Will said.
    “There’s more. Freddie Wallace also found out about Joe’s condition and leaked it to a columnist, probably Hogan Parks.”
    “Why didn’t Parks use it?”
    “Because Ed somehow got to Freddie and threatened to expose his relationship with the black woman, if he let Parks run the story.”
    Will shook his head. “This is insane, all of it. A man in prison knows the most intimate secrets of the vice president and a United States senator?”
    “You have to remember who Ed is, or rather, was. Of all the people I knew in the Agency, Ed had the widest range of contacts in government and the press. In those days, he could find out anything, track down any rumor, scare anybody to death, if he had to. He was not the sort of man you’d want for an enemy.”
    “I suppose not. But why are you telling me all this now?”
    “Because of the real reason Ed wanted to see me in Atlanta.”
    “Which was?”
    “He wanted a presidential pardon, and he thought if he helped you win the election you might come through for him.”
    “This is the craziest thing I ever heard of,” Will said.
    “Except that he did help you get elected. In fact, you could say that without his help, you would not have been elected.”
    Will blinked. “By dealing with Freddie about Joe Adams?”
    “Exactly. He got a letter to Freddie, threatening to expose his relationship with the woman if he used the information about Joe’s health. Freddie somehow figured out where the letter came from and had Ed thrown in some dungeon part of the Atlanta pen for a week, but when Ed got out, he managed to convince Freddie that he had the wrong man, and he continued to write to him, having letters sent from other places. He kept his foot on Freddie’s neck for months.”
    “And he expects me to pardon him for that?”
    “He does.”
    “And how do you feel about this?”
    “At the time, I thought he was crazy, and I told him so, but he actually did the things he said he would do. Think back: During the summer before the election, after the president’s stroke and Joe’s becoming acting president, what would have happened if Freddie had managed to expose Joe’s illness and the fact that Joe had told you about it? I’ll tell you: Joe would have been forced to resign, you would have been disgraced, and the speaker of the House—your opponent in the race—Eft Efton, would have become president.”
    Will thought about that. “I suppose you’re