Ill call Margaret, tell her Im still of this world, and to find a hiding place for your mother.

Now.

Shes being very well guarded. Can I finish my coffee first? He gazed at her over the rim of the cup. Are you going to help me, Eve?

Maybe. If I dont think youre keeping me wan-dering around blind. She turned to Gil. I want to know about this Timwick you think is pulling the strings. You worked under him?

Gil nodded. Not close. As a humble Secret Service man, I was not privy to the great mans confidence.

Whats he like? You have to have made judgments.

Hes smart, ambitious, and knows how to pull strings to get what he wants. Personally, I wouldnt have wanted him to back me up in a tight situation. Ive seen him explode too often. I dont think he re-acts well under pressure. He paused. Is he dan-gerous? Hell, yes. Volatility translates too often to unreasonable violence.

What about Fiske?

Hes only a hired man. Calculated, efficient, and likes what he does. Anyone else?

You tell me. There could be a dozen people lurking in the wings you havent told me about.

As I mentioned before, they would need to keep down the number of people involved, Logan said. And wed be stupid to try to keep you in the dark now. You know what we know. Everything is out on the table. Will you help us?

If my mother is safe. She stared directly into his eyes. And Im going to help myself, not you. Id be an idiot not to know what a target youve made me. And the only way I can help myself is to prove Ben Chadbourne is really dead. DNA and dental records are the only legally acceptable proof. So we have to go after them.

And your suggestion?

Im not a DNA expert or a forensic anthropolo-gist with the additional qualifications necessary to do the extraction. So we take the skull to one of the most respected anthropologists in the profession, see if he can get enough DNA to make a match.

The skull went through a fire.

Its still a possibility. She added deliberately, As I think you know. I was just the first shot in your arsenal. Ill bet youve even chosen the forensic an-thropologist to do the work.

Dr. Ralph Crawford. Duke University. He has the qualifications we need.

She shook her head. Gary Kessler. Emory.

Hes better?

At least as good and I know him.

Another Quincy? Gil asked.

That TV show drives Gary crazy. Besides the fact that its inaccurate, people are always confusing pathologists with forensic anthropologists.

Well, what is the difference?

Pathologists have medical degrees and resi-dence training in pathology. Anthropologists dont have medical degrees, they have doctorates in an-thropology and some of them specialize in the human skeletal system and its changes during a lifetime. Like Gary Kessler. Hes worked with sev-eral Atlanta pathologists and is well respected. Be-sides, since you were researching Crawford, its very likely that they wont think wed go to anyone else.

Theyve probably been looking at your back-ground with a magnifying glass too.

And theyll find out Ive worked with ten to twelve anthropologists in L.A., New York, and New Orleans and that Ive been bombarded with requests since that 60 Minutes story. It will take time for them to check out everyones specialty and they would con-sider Gary a long shot since I havent worked with him in over two years.

Logan slowly nodded. Youre making sense. And, under the circumstances, it may be easier to con-vince someone you know to help.

Since those circumstances involved probable trouble with the law, she could see the problem. What about dental records?

That may be more difficult. Chadbournes den-tist was a woman named Dr. Dora Bentz. He paused. She was one of the people Fiske murdered after you came to Barrett House. You can bet every dental file Chadbourne ever had has been switched.

You said it was a witness who was murdered. She held up her hand as he started to speak. Never mind. Why should I expect truth from you?

Im not going to defend myself. It was a dif-ferent situation.

She noticed he didnt apologize or claim hed do anything else. Then were left with the DNA. What if we dont have enough for a test? Could we find a way to force Detwil to take a test to prove his identity?

No way, Logan said flatly. Hes now the presi-dent. We bear the burden of proof. Besides, his medical records could be switched like mine.

Couldnt we try? Hes got to have relatives.

Other than his mother, who died seven years ago, he had one older half brother.

Had?

John Cadro. He and his wife were killed the day after Dora Bentz.

Jesus. It doesnt have to be a close relative. They proved the Anastasia impostor wasnt genuine by comparing her DNA to Prince Philip of Englands. Isnt there anyone else?

Not that we can readily trace. They chose Detwil very carefully.

What about the mother? They could exhume

I dont mean to make a morbid pun, but we dont have time to dig deeper. Once we go public, we have to have full proof.

Why dont we have time?

Because well be dead within twelve hours after we show ourselves, Gil said bluntly. According to the news, John is already dead. That leaves only you and me, and they have the power of the presidency behind them. Im sure the scenario is already in place. Quick, logical, and thorough. Timwick was al-ways thorough.

Eve shivered. There has to be another leadhellip; someone else.

Yes, there is. Scott Maren.

Another relative? She grimaced. And is he dead too?

No. Hes Chadbournes personal physician, and hes been out of the country, which probably saved his life. He paused. But Im not sure well be able to use him. I believe hes probably involved in the actual murder.

How?

Opportunity. Two years ago, on the morning of November second, Ben Chadbourne checked into Bethesda for his annual checkup. The body appeared at Donnellis funeral home after midnight on No-vember third.

You think thats when the switch was made?

Logan nodded. It had to have been choreographed perfectly, with one Ben Chadbourne checking in and another checking out. Maren probably gave the real Chadbourne a lethal shot claiming it was vitamin B or something.

So hes their inside man at Bethesda, Eve said slowly. It was possible and diabolically clever, she thought. A physician was in a position of trust and yet dealt with the means for taking life every day. This has to be supposition. Maren would have had to go through all kinds of security checks before he became Chadbournes physician.

Im sure he did, Gil said. But hes highly re-spected and also a close friend of the Presidents. Maren, Chadbourne, and Lisa Chadbourne all went to college together. Either Chadbourne or his wife was probably instrumental in getting him his posi-tion at Bethesda.

Why would he do it? Why would he take that chance?

Logan shrugged. I dont know, but Id bet he did. Thats why Ive been trying to contact him. We might be able to persuade him to implicate Timwick and Lisa Chadbourne.

I cant see that Maren is a lead. Theres no way hed admit he was involved if its true. Hed be a fool.

Maybe. Logan paused. Unless we could con-vince him that hes a dead man if theyre not taken out. When I made up my list of their possible targets for elimination, Maren ranked high on it.

Eve thought about it. Hes the only witness who can link Lisa Chadbourne and Timwick to her hus-bands death.

Right. If theres no such witness and the death is discovered, they could set up a patsy, claim it was a terrorist plot or some other conspiracy. But Maren is real, and if he goes down for the murder, they couldnt be sure he wouldnt talk and bring them down with him. I havent any doubt that from the moment the plan was conceived, they were already planning on killing him.