vigil.
Maggie and Jamie continued to act like kids. They played with blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes. They laughed and fought, and then laughed again. It warmed Veronica’s heart.
The CIA was the first to react to Zach’s appearance on the Baer Cave, denying any involvement regarding Heinrich Müller, and pointing to previous inquiries and release of their documents on the subject. Veronica thought the haste of their response showed that they’d hit a nerve. Which meant she’d probably need to check her phone for bugs for the rest of her life.
The first arrest was Theodore Baer. And like the bully he was, the minute someone fought back against him he surrendered. He admitted to taking the bribe to lose the election, but denied any involvement in any bigger plot. He claimed to only have discussed the transaction over the phone with a man who called himself Otto. He agreed to testify against Sterling, hoping to save himself from being charged with treason and facing the death penalty. But conspiring to fix a presidential election wouldn’t come without a lot of years behind bars.
After authorities grilled Youkelstein for hours in his hospital room, a search warrant was served on Kingston’s estate. Eddie’s body was found loaded in a sailboat, prepared for a burial at sea before the authorities could find it. The NYPD credited Eddie with uncovering the diabolical plot as part of his job as the head of Kingston’s security team. The accepted theory was that Eddie was killed for what he’d discovered.
Sterling predictably denied that it was his voice on the tape, or that he was the mysterious man called Otto who’d paid off Baer. But according to news reports, when the FBI threatened to send him to Israel and let them interrogate him, he suddenly got very chatty and admitted his role in the Apostles and 9/11. He became the villain he always planned to be, just not the way he expected.
By mid-afternoon, Jim Kingston was missing and presumed on the run, which had to be a first in US election history. At three o’clock, Senator Langor held a press conference in his native Florida, to disassociate himself from any knowledge of Kingston and Sterling’s plot, and took himself out of any consideration of becoming president, effectively resigning.
But as Maggie pointed out, he really had no position to resign. The US presidential election was not a popular vote, as many believe—it is decided by the vote of the Electoral College, which wouldn’t cast their votes until December.
An emergency caucus was called. There were discussions of holding a “do-over” election, but nobody was sure if that was even constitutionally possible. It was a mess!
But there was some good news—while tensions were still high in the Middle East, it looked like war would be averted.
At four o’clock, Veronica’s stomach began to grumble. The only thing she’d consumed all day had been coffee.
Flavia joined her in the search for food. But even though the bad guys had been rounded up and hauled away, Veronica was still hesitant to leave Maggie and Jamie behind. They had finally crashed, now sleeping side-by-side on a cot, and she didn’t want to disturb them. Ben agreed to watch them. Veronica agreed, which would have seemed unfathomable just a day ago.
The two women found a secluded table in the hospital cafeteria and picked at pre-packaged salads in plastic containers and drank diet sodas.
Flavia eyed her intently. “Are you okay? You seem troubled by something.”
“I’m just worried about Maggie and Jamie. It’s not every day you learn your children are …”
“Hitler youth—like me?” Flavia said, matter of fact.
“I’m sorry, I forgot it also affected you. It must have been hard to learn that?”
She shrugged. “Not really. It’s not exactly something I’m going to brag about, but it’s not like I was diagnosed with a terminal disease.”
Veronica looked surprised. “With all due respect, how can it not bother you? When you see the things that man did and then look at the history of violence that followed him from Harry Jr. to Ellen’s other son to …”
Flavia looked annoyed. “Don’t even say Carsten. That was one fight that got out of hand and you know it. He didn’t invade Poland.”
Did everyone know about their fight? “But if you would have seen the look in his eyes. Like there was something inside of him, urging him to do it again.”
“I want to hit you right now, does that make me a bad person?”
“Thanks a lot.”
“What I’m trying to say is,