Tailspin(126)

Delores’s fists were clenched at her sides. “Shut up!”

Brynn, breathless with disbelief, looked at Nate. He had nothing to offer. He had backed into the wall and had one hand held over his mouth, whimpering. Richard Hunt’s gaze was trained on his wife.

In his deep, melodious voice, he said, “Delores?”

“They’re all lying, Richard.”

“Are they?” The senator was seething. “Goliad!” he shouted. “Where the hell is he?”

“Brynn.” Rye spoke her name sharply. “Out. Now!”

“Not with the drug.” Richard took a step toward her.

“Hold it, senator!” Rye said. “You touch her, and you’re gonna have a lot to explain to the media. Police are on their way here. And don’t rely on Lambert to lie for you. To save his ass, he’ll sing like a canary.”

Brynn hastily rounded the portable table, giving no regard to Nate, who whined her name as she passed him.

When she reached the open doors, Rye thrust Timmy forward and sent him sprawling at Delores’s feet. Then he banged the double doors shut, grabbed Brynn’s hand, and ran with her across the wide entry foyer into the formal dining room where a pair of French doors stood open.

“This is how I got in,” he said as he pulled her along behind him. “We gotta hurry. Wilson and Rawlins are on my tail.”

“Where are they?”

“Their SUV got stuck in a ditch when Rawlins was turning around to chase me down.”

“There’s more to that story.”

“Much.”

He approached the vehicle she recognized as the one that Goliad had used to transport them from the private landing strip. “Goliad,” she said. “Where is he?”

“Can’t be far,” Rye said.

“Are the keys in the truck?”

“With luck.”

The fob was in the cup holder. They scrambled in. Rye left the lights off as he sped down the lane to the main road. When he reached it, he turned right toward the landing strip.

5:44 p.m.



Timmy came unsteadily to his feet and, standing before Richard, pointed a finger at Delores. “She paid me. She didn’t want it to get to you. She said that a plane crash would look like an accident. Then when that pilot—”

“Enough!” Richard barked. “I get the picture.”

Nate was dismayed to find himself in this situation. When, where, had it all gone wrong? This was supposed to be his moment of triumph. Confounded by Delores’s deceit, he said, “You wanted it destroyed? All along? Why?”

Beneath her husband’s incendiary glare, she drew herself up, not with shame over having been found out, but with defiance. She shook back her hair. “For sixteen years, I’ve made all the important decisions. If it wasn’t for me, prodding you, pushing you, politicking for you, you would still be peddling tin houses. I was the locomotive, Richard. You were a cattle car I dragged along.

“Well, it was my turn. Publicly I would have mourned your death. ‘How horrible. He was so strong, so vital. Who could have predicted a rare blood cancer would bring him down? Mrs. Hunt is prostrate with grief.’

“That’s what they would have said.” She laughed. “But then, after the lavish funeral I would throw you, they’d be saying how brave I was to assume your place, your seat in the Senate. This is what Richard Hunt would want and expect from his widow, to take up the torch and carry on.” She smiled beatifically. “And it wouldn’t be too long before they forgot all about you.”

Following her dumbfounding monologue, Nate braced himself for Richard’s reaction, one with an impact equal to an earthquake, a lightning strike, another big bang. Therefore, it astounded him when a smile spread slowly across the senator’s face.

When he spoke, his voice didn’t rumble with righteous wrath. Rather, it was soft and laced with sympathy. “How na?ve of you, Delores. Did you honestly think that I didn’t know what you had planned? If Dr. O’Neal hadn’t come in when she did and taken that vial from you, I would have. I knew what you were about.” He cast a glance toward Timmy. “Did you actually believe that I would allow you to put this urban vulture on the payroll without thoroughly vetting him myself?”

She laughed. “You were oblivious.”

“If it makes you feel better to think that,” he said with a shrug. “Every kiss, caress, tear, avowal of how much you loved me, all lies.”

“You didn’t know! You couldn’t have known.”

“You’re not nearly as good at deception as you think you are. As it turns out, I’m far superior.”

She tossed her hair again. “What difference does it make now who was the better deceiver? You can’t tell anyone about this or you incriminate yourself, just like that redneck pilot said. I have the video that proves your compliance in our little scheme. You’re not going to show it to anyone. Not when you’re so outspoken on imposing stiffer FDA regulations. Exposing this scandal would irreparably cripple your crusade.

“So,” she said, spreading her arms at her sides, “we’ll put this behind us. Our marriage will go on as before. In due time, I’m sure Nate can procure another dose of the GX-42.”

Richard looked at her with a sympathetic smile. “Impossible, darling.”