Capitol Murder Read Online Free Page A

he’s probably going to be dropped from
my mother’s Christmas card list.”
    The phone rang. A moment later, Jones held his hand over the receiver and whispered across the
lobby. “Ben? It’s for you.”
    At the moment, Ben had an overwhelming desire to brush his teeth. “Is it something that can
wait?”
    Jones shook his head fiercely no.
    Something about the expression on his face made Ben’s Spidey-senses start tingling. “Who’s
calling?”
    “It’s from Washington. As in DC.”
    All heads slowly turned toward Jones. Ben made his way to the phone. “Where in
Washington?”
    Jones pointed toward the caller ID screen on his phone console. “The U.S. Senate, that’s
where.” He pushed the receiver firmly into Ben’s hand. “I think you’d better take the call.”

2

WASHINGTON DC, THE NEXT DAY

    Ben was crushed with disappointment as they exited the overpass for I-395. Even though he knew
they were nearing Capitol Hill, the neighborhood was, to put it politely, a dump. They were
surrounded by all the hallmarks of abject poverty: low-income housing, trash in the streets,
rampant graffiti, broken chain-link fences, homeless people holed up in cardboard boxes. He
spotted two teenage boys in stocking caps huddled between homes, doing what looked very much like
a penny-ante drug deal. Ben had read that DC had an astronomical crime rate, and gazing at this
neighborhood, he didn’t doubt it.
    Jones turned onto C Street, and the view gradually improved. Shantytown gave way to tall
narrow brick townhouses, one squeezed closely up against the next. He could believe that
congressional staffers could conceivably live here, although he was beginning to understand why
most members of Congress had places in the suburbs.
    “We’ve arrived,” Jones said at last. “And we’re early. Let’s take a spin around and see the
sights.”
    Ben gazed at the shimmering image of the Lincoln Memorial in the famed Reflecting Pool.
Magnificent. The cherry trees were in bloom, and the Main Mall was dotted with picnickers,
families tossing Frisbees, and aging hippies handing out flyers. They whizzed by the Holocaust
Museum, then the Vietnam War Memorial—the first one. Ben marveled at its sheer stark blackness. A
perfect commemorative of a stark black war, he thought. And all those names.
    “There it is,” Jones said, pointing ahead of them. He was driving the rental car down New
Jersey Avenue, and doing an admirable job of it, maneuvering through the frenzied DC traffic.
They raced past the corner of Independence and South Capitol.
    Ben didn’t need Jones’s help to spot it—Capitol Hill, the white sculpted dome glistening in
the bright sunlight. A magnificent work of architecture. Again Ben felt his heart swelling.
Gazing at this fabulous construction, it would be easy to become a superpatriot. Especially
since, from this distance, you couldn’t make out any of the people who inhabited it.
    “This is the House side,” Ben said. “We need to get around to the north—that’s where the
Senate is.”
    Jones complied. “Which building?”
    “The Senate has three office buildings—the Russell, the Dirksen, and the Hart. Senator
Glancy’s office is in the Russell.” He leaned forward and pointed. “That one.” Jones turned
toward First and Constitution Avenue.
    “That’s the side entrance where he told us to come in,” Ben continued. “I’ve got our passes.”
Jones pulled up behind a cab stand. Ben, Christina, and Loving popped open their doors.
    “Shouldn’t there be some sort of formal greeting party?” Christina asked. “Team Kincaid has
arrived.”
    “Guess all the heralds and buglers are momentarily occupied.”
    A sign by the curb informed them in no uncertain terms that although this was a valid drop-off
point, anyone trying to park here would be immediately apprehended by surveillance guards. “Wait
a minute,” Jones said. “What am I going to do?”
    “Guess