The Witch of Watergate by Warren Adler

Mrs. Grayson and scream smear or distortion or
excoriate us for printing lies. Oh, they threaten dire consequences. Say things
like, 'I'm gonna getcha.' We're all used to that. We expect it. Hell, we expose
dark deeds, bring down the liars, the cheats, the scum. That's our mandate. We
cut through the bullshit. We've been wrong sometimes and we've paid the price.
But I'll say this, Polly Dearborn didn't make too many mistakes. Go through her
copy over the years, you can find lots of murder suspects. The point is, it
never really happens. They think it, wish it, hope it. But, in the end, it's
just talk."
    "Until now," the Eggplant said.
    Harry Barker nodded and lifted his feet off the desk. He
leaned over and rested his elbows where his feet had been.
    "You really think that, don't you, Captain?"
    Fiona could see now what was in the forefront of Harry
Barker's mind.
    "I told you, Mr. Barker, it's difficult to theorize at
this stage."
    "How do you connect the Downey thing?" Barker
asked suddenly. So there it was, Fiona thought.
    "It's a suicide. No question. Man left a note more or
less apologizing for the mess." The Eggplant cut a glance at Fiona, who
nodded confirmation.
    "That I got, Captain," Barker said. "What
about the other note, the one to the son?"
    The Eggplant showed his cynical smile, complete with the
twitching nostrils of a genuine sneer.
    "You've got your ear to the ground, Mr. Barker."
    "One of the tricks of the trade," Barker said,
but it was not meant to amuse.
    "Then you might know more than we do," the
Eggplant said. "We didn't read the note. The feds got it first."
    "It was addressed to Robert Downey, the son,"
Fiona interjected. "I hope they've handed it over to him by now."
    The Eggplant nodded his approval of her remark, then
blinked his eyes, signaling her to remain silent.
    "National security," the Eggplant said.
"That's the ploy they use to preempt our jurisdiction. You can bet they've
read the contents."
    Harry Barker moved his head closer to them and lowered his
voice with an air of extreme confidentiality.
    "If Polly Dearborn was not a suicide..." Barker
paused, watching the Eggplant's face. "You think Chester Downey could have
done it, Captain?"
    "It did cross my mind," the Eggplant said.
"But we haven't found any evidence to that effect." He turned to
Fiona.
    "Not yet," Fiona agreed, adding hastily,
"But nothing can be written off."
    "It occurred to me that maybe the letter to his son
was a confession," Barker said. A deep frown wrinkled Harry Barker's brow.
    "A confession?" the Eggplant asked.
    "It bothers the shit out of me," Barker said. He
sucked in a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. "Fact is I cut out the
really bad stuff in her story. I tried like hell to reach her last night and
this morning to tell her that. It bugged me, nagged at me, and finally I cut it
out."
    Fiona had seen it countless times. Someone out on the limb
of conscience, itching to let it out. Harry Barker, despite all his power, was
not immune to such an urge. There was only one way to handle it: wait, listen,
prod cautiously. Barker needed no prodding.
    "Polly Dearborn and her computers," he sighed. It
sounded very much like a beginning. "She was plugged into all these data
banks. Indefatigable, that one. Never stopped. She picked up, from God knows
where, this testimony of a case nearly twenty years ago. It seems that the
Downey kid had got himself mixed up in a cult.
    "One of the parents of a kid also in the cult
kidnapped his own child, but the deprogramming didn't work and the kid, with
the backing of the cult, sued his parents. Nice people. The point is that young
Downey was a witness for the kid. One of the cult's bonding techniques was to
have these kids confess to the group any abuses they had been subjected to at
the hands of their parents. Idea was to make the kids hate their families,
substitute the cult for the family.
    "The Downey kid takes the stand and the parent's
lawyer presses him. He testifies that