Conspiracy Read Online Free Page A

person plays a prank like that? Mother was frantic with worry. She's on her way here. Do you want me to have her call you?"
    Now Cady understood how the envelope had ended up on his desk. "No," he said slowly, "I don't think so."
    He returned to his office and closed the door. Seated in his black leather chair, he began reading the documents that supported the charge against Boyd. Then he suddenly stopped. He dug into his cluttered desk drawer, looking for the little white booklet with Jim Doerr's home telephone number. Before he could find it, the phone rang.
    "The champagne's chilled," Anita said. "It's party time."
    "Listen," Cady said, "a personal emergency has come up. You and Ed had better go ahead without me."
    "Oh, I'm so sorry. Anything I can help you with?"
    "Afraid not. But thanks. I'll work it out."
    He dumped the contents of the drawer on the desk in order to find the office telephone directory.
    A teenage girl answered the phone in Doerr's Georgetown house. He heard her shout, "Daddy, it's for you." She sounded irritated that her father would be tying up the line during prime evening phone time.
    "Hello?"
    "It's C.J. Sorry to bother you."
    "Nonsense. I should be calling you. I heard about our victory in the Kuznov case on a news bulletin on TV. Congratulations. But I do appreciate your calling to make sure I knew about it."
    "Unfortunately, that's not why I'm calling."
    "What's up, then?"
    "I think we'd better do this in person. May I come out to your house?"
    "Can't it wait until morning?"
    "Afraid not."
    * * *
    Cady knew that Jim Doerr had little enthusiasm for his job. Until four years ago he had been a successful practitioner with a large Washington law firm, specializing in white-collar crimes. He had jumped on the Webster bandwagon early, organizing the preparation of policy papers evaluating the country's criminal justice system. He was hoping for the A.G.'s job, but that went down the tubes when the president's old crony, Hugh McDermott, got the nod. Doerr had accepted the U.S. attorney job as a stepping-stone to a judicial appointment, which thus far had failed to materialize.
    "You're not going to like my conclusion," Doerr said after listening to Cady, "but I think it's right under the circumstances."
    "What's that?"
    "I'm a political appointee, and the president who appointed me is in the midst of a reelection campaign. I can't possibly get into this."
    "Should I take it to Attorney General McDermott, then?"
    "That would be worse. Hugh is the president's closest adviser. He's his campaign manager."
    "But he's also attorney general of the United States."
    Doerr looked annoyed. "Of course I know that. All I'm saying is that at this point you can't take it to him."
    "So what do I do?"
    Doerr shrugged his shoulders. "You're on the civil service side. You should investigate this as you would any anonymous tip involving a public official. It's your case. Run with it. Follow normal procedures. Keep me posted in the same way you did in the Kuznov case."
    Cady looked down at his hands. This case was potentially explosive, and here his boss was saying he didn't want to touch it. "Suppose I tell you I won't do it?"
    Doerr glared at Cady. "Then I'll have to tell you to look for another job. You're the best I've got. I'd hate to lose you, but I wouldn't have any choice."
    "Thank you for your vote of confidence," Cady replied, not trying to conceal his sarcasm.
    It was raining as Cady walked down the steps of Doerr's house to R Street. He was clutching his briefcase with the Boyd documents so tightly that he suddenly realized his hand, damp with perspiration, was aching. He felt very much alone, angry at Doerr, but not surprised. He had learned long ago that in Washington it was SOP for political appointees to let civil servants take the fall while they pursued their own agendas. Yet even by those standards, what Doerr had done was despicable. For chrissakes, Boyd was running for president.
    Cady was too absorbed