recalled Shakespeares words precisely: Knowest thou not that when the
searching eye of heaven is hid behind the globe and lights the lower world
… then thieves and robbers range abroad unmen … in murders and in
outrage bloody here.
‘What does it mean?”
“I dont knowl I can’t remember it … Somebody’s confusing me with someone
else. Thaes the only thing
88 Robot Ludlum
I can Imagine, … What did he sound like?-
“NormaL He was angry but he didnI shout or anything.”
“No one you recognized? Not specifically, but did you ever hear the voice
before?”
‘Tm not sure. I don’t think so. No one I could pick out but … n
‘Tut whatr
“Well, it was a … cultivated voice. A little actorish, I &inL-
O’A man used tD lecturing.” Matlock made a statemenik he did not ask a
question. His cigarette tasted sour so he crushed it ou:L
‘Yes, I guess that would describe
mAnd probably not in a science lab…. That reduces the possibilities to
roughly eighty people on canlpus-~*
Yotere making assumptions I don’t understandl That phone call did have
something to do with what happened here.-
He limew he was talking too much. He didet want to involve Pat, he couWt
involve her Yet someone else had-and that fact was a profound complication.
It might have. According tD the best sources-natarally I refer to
television detectives-6ieves make sure people aren t home before they rob
a place. They were probably checking me ouLw
The girl held his wavering eyes with her gaze. 4NVereet you home then? At
quarter to four? – . . IU question is not inquisitorial, my darling, simply
a point of information.-
He swore at himself silently. It was the exhaustion, the Beeson episode,
the shock of the apartment Of course the question waset inquisitoriaL He
was a free
THE MATLOCK FAP= 89
agent And, of course, he w home at quarter to four.
“rm not sure. I wasn’t that concerned with the time. It was one hell of a
long evening.* He laughed feebly. “I was at Archie Beesoes. Proposed
seminars with young instructors promote a lot of booze,*
She smiled. “I doet think you understand me. I really dont mind what Poppa
Bear was doing . . . Well, of course, I do, but right now I doet understand
why yoWre lying to me. . . . You were here two hours ago, and that phone
call wasn’t any dad checidng your whereabouts and you know it”
‘Momma Beaes reaching. 11hat doeset go with the territory.” Matlock was
rude. It, too, like the lying, was obviously false. Whatever his past
rebellions, whatever his toughness, he was a Idnd person and she ]mew that.
‘All right I apologize. IT ask one more question and then Ill leave….
What does Omerta ineanr
Matlock froze ‘What did you say?’
Me man on the phone. He used the word Omrte
ME[owr
‘Very casually. Just a remindej; he said.*
8
Fleld Agent Jason Greenberg walked through the borderless door of the squash
court. “You’re working up quite a sweat there, Dr. Matlock.”
*Td hate to have it analyzed… Anyway, it your idea. I would have been
just as happy at Kress&s office or even downtown somewhere.”
“rhis is better. . . . Weve got to talk quickly~ though. The gym registry
has me listed as an insurance, surveyor. I’m checking the extinguishers in
the corridors.”
`They probably need checking.’ Matlock walked to a comer where a gray
sweatshirt was wrapped in a towd He unwound it and shpped it over his head.
‘What have you come up with? Last night was a httle hairy.-
“If you discount confusion, we haven’t come up with a thing. At least
nothing specific. A couple of theories, thafs alL . . . We think you
handled yourself very we1V
“17hanks. I was confused. What are the theories? You sound academic, and Im
not sure I hke that.0
Greenberg’s head suddenly shifted. From the right waU there could be heard
a dull thumpin& “Is that another court?’
‘Yes. There are six of them on this side, They’re
TBE MATLOCK PAPER 91
practice courts, no balconies. But you know that*
Greenberg picked up the ball and threw it hard against the fiont wan.
Matlock understood and caught it on the bounce. He threw it back, Greenberg
re. tamed it They maintained a slow rhythm, neither man moving more than a
foot or two, each taking his turn to throw Greenberg spoke softly, in a
monotone.
-We think yoeze being tested. Thaes the most logical explanation. You did
find Ralph. You made a state. ment about seeing the car Your reasons for
being In the area were weak; so weak we thought they were plausible. They
want to make sure, thaes why they brought in the girl. They~re being
thorough.0
“Okay. Theory number one. Whafs number twop*
01 said that was the most logical. … les the only one, really.”
“What about Beeson?’
“What about him? You were there.’
Matlock held the squash ball in his hand for a few seconds before lobbing
it against the side walL The wall away from Greenberg7s stare
“Could Beeson have been smarter than I thought and sent out an alarm?”
“He could have. We think fes doubtfiA … The way you described the
evening.”
But Matlock had not described the entim evening. He had not told Greenberg
or anyone of Beesoes telephone call. His reasons weren’t rational, they
were emotional. Lucas Herron was an old man a gentle man. His sympathy for
troubled students was legendary; his concern for young, untried, often
arrogant new instructors was a welcomed sedative in faculty crises. Matlock
had convinced himself that the “grand old birir had befriended a desperate
young man,
9s Robert LucUum
helping him in a desperate situation. He had no right to surface Herron!s
name on the basis of a phone call made by a panicked drug user. There were
too many possible explanations. Somehow he’d speak with Herron, perhaps over
coffee at the Commons, or in the bleachers at a baseball game-Herron loved
baseball –ftlk to him, tell him he should back away from Archer Beeson.
0–about Beesonr
OWhatr Matlock had not heard Greenberg.
‘I asked you if you had second thoughts about Beeson.w
-No. No, I haven’t He’s not important As a matter of fact~ hell probably
throw away the grass and the pills-except for my benefit-if he thinks he
can use nm.~
‘I woet try to follow that”
*Don!t I just had momentary doubts. … I caet believe you arrived at only
one theory Come on. What elser
‘All right Two others and they’re not even plausible-both from the same
egg. The first is that there might be a leak in Washington. The second-a
leak here at Carlyle.”
‘Why not plausible?”
‘Washington first. There are fewer than a dozen men who know about this
operation, and that includes justice, Treasury, and the VvUte House.
They’re the caliber of men who exchange secret mesuges with the Kremlin.
Impossible
‘And Carlyler
‘You, Adrian Sealfont, Emd the obnoxious Samuel Kressei…. rd like nothing
better than pointing at Kressel-he’s a prick-but, again, impossible. I’d
also take a certain ethnic delight in knocking a venerated
THE MATIOX PAP= 93
WASP Eke Sealfmt off his pedestal, but there, toono sense. That leaves you.
Are you the one?”
“Your wit is staggering.” Matlock had to run to catch the ball which
Greenberg threw into a comer. He held it In his hand and looked at the
agent ‘Don’t misunderstand me-I like Sam, or at least I think I do-but why
is he ‘impossibWP-
“Same as Sealfont … In an operation like this we start at the beginning.
And I inean the beginning. We don’t gtve a gDddamn about positions,
stattxs, or reputation-good or bad. We use every trick in the books to
prove someone guilty, not innocent. We try to find even the flimsiest
reason not to clear him. Kressers as clean as John the Baptist. Still a
prick but dean. Sealfonfs worse. Hes everything they say. A goddamn
saint-Church of England, of course. So, again, that leaves you.*
Matlock whipped the ball up in a spinning reverse shot into the rear left
ceiling. Greenberg stopped back and slashed the ball in midair into the
right wall. It bulleted back between Matlock’s legs.
“I gather you!ve played the game,” said Matlock with an embarrassed grin.
rhe bandit of Brandeis. What about the girl? Where is slier
“In my apartment I made her promise not to leave till I got back. Outside
of safety, ies one way to get the place cleaned up.”
“I’m assigning a man to her. I dont think ies neoessary, but *M make you
feel better” Greenberg looked at his watch.
“It will and thanks.”
‘We’d better hurry…. Now, listen. Were letting everything take its normal
course. Police blotter, newspapers, everything. No covers, no counter
stories, noth-
94 Robert Ludlum
tag to obstruct normal curiosity or your perfectly normal reactions. Someone