Dana turned off the television monitor and sat there for a long time. Who would want to wipe out a wonderful family like that? Who? Why?
Dana arranged an appointment with Senator Perry Leff at the Hart Senate Office Building. Leff was in his early fifties, an earnest and impassioned man.
He rose as Dana was ushered in. “What can I do for you, Miss Evans?”
“I understand that you worked closely with Taylor Winthrop, Senator?”
“Yes. We were appointed by the president to serve on several committees together.”
“I know what his public image is, Senator Leff, but what was he like as a person?”
Senator Leff studied Dana for a moment. “I’ll be glad to tell you. Taylor Winthrop was one of the finest men I’ve ever met. What was most remarkable about him was the way he related to people. He really cared. He went out of his way to make this a better world. I’ll always miss him, and what’s happened to his family is just too goddamn awful to think about.”
Dana was talking to Nancy Patchin, one of Taylor Winthrop’s secretaries, a woman in her sixties, with a lined face and sad eyes.
“You worked for Mr. Winthrop for a long time?”
“Fifteen years.”
“In that period of time, I imagine you got to know Mr. Winthrop well.”
“Yes, of course.”
Dana said, “I’m trying to get a picture of what kind of man he was. Was he—?”
Nancy Patchin interrupted. “I can tell you exactly what kind of man he was, Miss Evans. When we discovered my son had Lou Gehrig’s disease, Taylor Winthrop took him to his own doctors and paid all the medical bills. When my son died, Mr. Winthrop paid the funeral expenses and sent me to Europe to recover.” Her eyes filled with tears. “He was the most wonderful, the most generous gentleman I’ve ever known.”
Dana arranged for an appointment with General Victor Booster, the director of the FRA, the Federal Research Agency, which Taylor Winthrop had headed. Booster had refused to talk to Dana at first, but when he learned whom she wanted to talk to him about, he agreed to see her.
In midmorning, Dana drove to the Federal Research Agency, near Fort Meade, Maryland. The agency’s headquarters were set on eighty-two closely guarded acres. There was no sign of the forest of satellite dishes hidden behind the heavily wooded area.
Dana drove up to an eight-foot-high Cyclone fence topped with barbed wire. She gave her name and showed her driver’s license to an armed guard at the sentry booth and was admitted. A minute later she approached a closed electrified gate with a surveillance camera. She spoke her name again and the gate automatically swung open. She followed the driveway to the enormous white administration building.
A man in civilian clothes met Dana outside. “I’ll take you to General Booster’s office, Miss Evans.”
They took a private elevator up five floors and walked down a long corridor to a suite of offices at the end of the hall.
They entered a large reception office with two secretaries’ desks. One of the secretaries said, “The general is expecting you, Miss Evans. Go right in, please.” She pressed a button and a door to the inner office clicked open.
Dana found herself in a spacious office, with ceilings and walls heavily soundproofed. She was greeted by a tall, slim, attractive man in his forties. He held out his hand to Dana and said genially, “I’m Major Jack Stone. I’m General Booster’s aide.” He indicated the man seated behind a desk. “This is General Booster.”
Victor Booster was African-American, with a chiseled face and hard obsidian eyes. His shaved head gleamed under the ceiling lights.
“Sit down,” he said. His voice was deep and gravelly.
Dana took a seat. “Thank you for seeing me, General.”
“You said this was about Taylor Winthrop?”
“Yes. I wanted—”
“Are you doing a story on him, Miss Evans?”
“Well, I—”
His voice hardened. “Can’t you fucking journalists let the dead rest? You’re all a bunch of muckraking coyotes picking at dead bodies.”
Dana sat there in shock.
Jack Stone looked embarrassed.
Dana controlled her temper. “General Booster, I assure you I am not interested in muckraking. I know the legend about Taylor Winthrop. I’m trying to get a picture of the man himself. Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated.”