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Merritt impatiently motioned for them to leave. “Get out,” he yelled. “This is private.”

“Who’s going to do your dirty work this time, Mr. President?” Barrie asked. “Dr. Allan tried to kill himself because of his contribution to your treachery.”

“He tried to kill himself because of his own inadequacy. He’s the Barrie Travis of medicine, a total screw-up. He couldn’t even blow his own brains out successfully.”

“What about Spencer Martin?” she said. “You had him killed last night because he knew too many secrets. Was he in the room when you smothered the baby?”

“You had Spence killed?” Vanessa cried.

David shot her a venomous look, then he said to Barrie, “I did not kill the baby. How many times do I have to say it? If Spence was here he’d tell you the same thing. I did not kill him. She did!” he exclaimed, jabbing his finger toward Vanessa.

Vanessa cried out in shock and outrage.

“Vanessa didn’t kill her child,” Barrie said. “No more than Becky Sturgis killed her baby son. You strangled him.”

“Oh, my God. My God!” Vanessa wailed.

“That’s right,” Barrie told her. “Then he beat that young woman unmercifully. At least he learned one lesson from that experience. He learned to use more subtle tactics.”

Vanessa rounded on her father again. “Is this true, Daddy? Did you know?”

Looking as flaccid as a deflated inner tube, the senator backed into a chair and plopped down on the seat. His posture was indicative of the guilt weighing down his shoulders, twenty years’ worth of it.

Vanessa cried out as though in agony. “It is true. Oh, God! Why’d you let me marry him? Why’d you encourage me to have his baby?” She sobbed. “I wanted a baby so much.” She looked at her husband as though looking into the embodiment of evil. “How could you kill him? He was so helpless, so sweet.”

Merritt barked a harsh laugh. “You’re such a sentimental fool, Vanessa. And so false. The baby was driving you to distraction. You couldn’t stand his crying. You were inept at taking care of him, just as you are at everything. You didn’t love that baby. The stuff that Gray squirted into you, and which you’ve so ridiculously romanticized now, was slime. It should have been flushed. That would have saved us both a lot of trouble.”

Barrie was stunned by the ugliness of the President’s words. Armbruster too was shocked into speechlessness.

But Vanessa was not. Eyes blazing, she came to her feet. She swayed weakly, but gripped the back of the divan for support. “You son of a bitch, it wasn’t Gray. It was Spence.”

“Spence?” Merritt exclaimed.

Spence? Barrie’s mind reeled.

Seemingly unmindful of the IV tube in her arm, Vanessa moved toward her husband, dragging the wheeled rack behind her. “Yes, Spence. Spence!” She virtually spat the name in his face. “You thought Gray was my lover because you wanted to think it was him. A man of Gray Bondurant’s inflexible sense of duty and right and wrong, sleeping with his best friend’s wife!” She laughed tauntingly.

“Get real, David. Gray was only nice to me because he knew about your other women. It never occurred to you that it was Spence who was fucking your wife,” she said in that same gloating voice, happy to destroy his illusions about the man in whom he’d placed so much trust.

“But he did fuck me. And I wanted him to. Only thing, the joke was on me. He wasn’t any better at it than you are. He was a cold, heartless bastard just like you. He was actually glad that the baby died.” Her voice cracked. “Spence wanted no part of him, and that broke my heart. But at least my son wasn’t yours. At least I didn’t have your baby.”

Merritt slapped her.

That launched Armbruster from his chair. Roaring like an old lion, he charged his protégé. But with very little effort, Merritt shoved him aside. “You’re a joke, Clete.” David laughed. “You’ve got no power, figuratively or literally. You’re a eunuch. You don’t have the balls to bully me into making any decision.”

Then, looking at his wife, he said, “I’ve changed my mind about the divorce, Vanessa. Not about granting it, but about the reason. I think it’s time the world discovered what a cunt their sweetheart really is.

“As for you,” he said to Barrie, “if you know what’s good for you, you’ll fuck off. And fuck Bondurant too, while you’re at it. Although no doubt you already have.”

He strode to the door and flung it open.

Gray Bondurant was standing on the other side of the door with Attorney General Yancey and a phalanx of federal agents.

“Mr. President, you have the right to remain silent—”

“What the hell are you doing here, Bill?”

Gray pushed past Yancey and Merritt and leaned down over the two women. “Are you all right?”