Margaret Truman's Experiment in Murder (41 page)

The sound that came from inside the house snapped her out of her reverie and caused her to sit up. It sounded like firecrackers. Or could it be…? Gunshots were always described as sounding like firecrackers. Four reports came in rapid succession.

She threw open the door and scrambled from the car, slipping as she did and falling to one knee on the pavement. She got up and ran to the house. Before she had gone up the front steps, a single report, the fifth, was heard from inside.

She pushed open the door. What she saw horrified her. Her mouth opened but no sound came from it. She felt faint and braced herself against the doorframe. Nic was on the floor, half his body on the hassock, the other half sprawled in a grotesque, twisted position. Blood flowed freely from his chest and neck.

Sheila Klaus was slumped on the couch, a revolver in her hand. Blood from a single shot to her temple ran down her cheek and onto her neck.

 

EPILOGUE

In the years that followed, the assassination of Senator George Mortinson was added to the annals of political assassinations in the United States. Dozens of books would be written, none of them putting to rest the question of whether Iskander Itani acted alone or was part of a larger plot. A few movies would be made based upon the most sensational of the books, and a cottage industry of blogs and websites claiming that there had been a larger conspiracy were launched, each taking issue with the commission convened by President Swayze. That august body concluded after more than a year of interviews and examining the evidence that Iskander Itani, a demented young man whose rage was fueled by a hatred of Israel and all things Jewish, had acted alone. He was found guilty at his trial and would spend the rest of his days behind bars, his memory of what had transpired unavailable. His family was urged to return to Beirut for their safety, and Itani's mother and brothers heeded that advice.

Sheila Klaus's murder of Dr. Nicholas Tatum, and her suicide, would eventually be deemed exactly that, a murder-suicide. Cindy Simmons told the police why Tatum had gone to Sheila's house and how he was convinced that she'd been programmed by a physician connected with the CIA to run down Dr. Mark Sedgwick and had also apparently been manipulated into killing Tatum. Her claims were, of course, dismissed by the investigating authorities as representing a fantasy-infused imagination. The final report concluded that Tatum had forged an unhealthy relationship with Sheila Klaus during the time that she was held by the police for the Sedgwick murder, and he had harassed her into a fragile emotional state leading to the death of both. In other words, Tatum had brought about his own demise because of his unprofessional actions involving Ms. Klaus.

Mac and Annabel Smith were, of course, devastated by what had happened at the house in Rockville. Mac offered testimony to authorities that he hoped would bolster Cindy's explanation of what had happened and what was behind it. But all he could do was reiterate what Nic Tatum had told him. As an attorney, he knew that all it represented was hearsay, hardly capable of making a case for anything. Because of his excellent reputation in the legal community, he was treated with great respect, but his recounting of everything leading up to the murder-suicide in Rockville was politely dismissed.

The Smiths lost track of Cindy Simmons after a year. She'd quit her job at Walter Reed and left Washington for her hometown of Davenport, Iowa, where she went to work at a local hospital. She and the Smiths promised to stay in touch, but as often happens, action doesn't always match well-meaning promises. For weeks after Nic Tatum's funeral, Mac and Annabel lamented his passing and tried to make sense of it and everything surrounding it. They finally agreed not to torture themselves and to hope that someone, someday, would step forward and tell the truth about the Mortinson assassination and Tatum's death. They would never enjoy that satisfaction.

San Francisco Detective Duane Woodhouse retired from the SFPD without ever having brought Elena Marciano's killer to justice. It would haunt him throughout his retirement years.

Peter Puhlman would die of cancer eighteen months after leaving San Francisco.

Jake Gibbons moved to Los Angeles, where he landed a few bit parts in B movies until his alcoholism turned him into a stumbling drunk, who died when he rammed his car into a bridge abutment.

CIA psychiatrist Colin Landow enjoyed his retirement on his ranch in Oklahoma, where he raised quarter horses.

David Considine attended the funeral of his friend Nic Tatum and told Mac Smith immediately following it that Nic had possibly gone off the deep end in trying to link the CIA to illegal psychological experiments. When questioned by Smith about what Tatum had told him of the conversations he'd had with Considine, Considine dismissed it as Tatum hearing only what he wanted to hear. Smith took an immediate dislike to Considine and decided that Tatum's so-called friend was hardly that. But he also knew that his evaluation of him was irrelevant. Who knew what the truth was anymore except that it was a rare, precious commodity in Washington, D.C.

George Mortinson's running mate, Raymond Thomas, won what turned into a closer election than had Mortinson been the candidate. He was urged occasionally to reopen the investigation into the assassination, but he declined to do so until new, hard evidence was unearthed. It never was during his eight years in the White House.

And Dr. Sheldon Borger sold his Nob Hill mansion and Washington condo and moved permanently to Bermuda, where he was quickly absorbed into the island's upper stratum of society. That he'd been an assassin's psychiatrist made him a popular guest at dinner parties, where he fascinated the other guests with his professional profile of and analysis into the mind of a killer.

 

BY MARGARET TRUMAN

First Ladies

Bess W. Truman

Souvenir

Women of Courage

Harry S Truman

Letters from Father: The Truman Family's Personal Correspondences

Where the Buck Stops

White House Pets

The President's House

IN THE CAPITAL CRIMES SERIES

Murder in Foggy Bottom

Murder at the Library of Congress

Murder at the Watergate

Murder in the House

Murder at the National Gallery

Murder on the Potomac

Murder at the Pentagon

Murder in the Smithsonian

Murder at the National Cathedral

Murder at the Kennedy Center

Murder in the CIA

Murder in Georgetown

Murder at the FBI

Murder on Embassy Row

Murder in the Supreme Court

Murder on Capitol Hill

Murder in the White House

Murder in Havana

Murder at Ford's Theater

Murder at Union Station

Murder at The Washington Tribune

Murder at the Opera

Murder on K Street

Monument to Murder

Experiment in Murder

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

MARGARET TRUMAN
won faithful readers with her works of biography and fiction, particularly her Capital Crimes mysteries. Her novels let readers into the corridors of power and privilege, and poverty and pageantry, in the nation's capital. She was the author of many nonfiction books, including
The President's House,
in which she shared some of the secrets and history of the White House, where she once resided. When she passed away, she left behind a rich legacy of great political fiction, as well as ideas for new novels.

DONALD BAIN
, the author of 115 books, including forty of the bestselling Murder, She Wrote mystery novels, was a longtime friend of Margaret Truman. He worked closely with her on her novels, and more than anyone understood the spirit and substance of her books.

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

MARGARET TRUMAN'S EXPERIMENT IN MURDER: A CAPITAL CRIMES NOVEL

Copyright © 2012 by Estate of Margaret Truman

All rights reserved.

Cover photography by Eye to Eye Video (background) and Jupiterimages (man)

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Bain, Donald, 1935–

      Margaret Truman's Experiment in murder: a capital crimes novel / Donald Bain. — 1st ed.

    p. cm.—(Capital crimes)

“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

ISBN 978-0-7653-2610-2 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4299-4630-8 (e-book)

1.  Governmental investigations—Fiction.   2.  Murder for hire—Fiction.   3.  Washington (D.C.)—Fiction.   I.  Truman, Margaret, 1924–2008.   II.  Title.

   PS3552.A376M37 2012

   813'.54—dc23

2012019972

e-ISBN 9781429946308

First Edition: November 2012