Treadmill (11 page)

The point, the point
, Cooper begged silently.

“Then suddenly, the Vice President was allegedly sent away to an undisclosed location. He would surface briefly from time to time, then disappear again. The thing is that Dale—supposedly his closest aide—was never told where he was taken.”

“Maybe they considered your husband a security risk.”

“Impossible.”

“Did Kent Henderson know?”

“Yes he did. In fact, the only way Dale could communicate with Riggs was through

Henderson.”

“So he had been elbowed aside,” Cooper said. “Obviously this is the reason your husband was pissed off.”

“There’s more. I was very friendly with Betty, Riggs’ wife. That friendship also stopped

abruptly. She used to call me daily. Then, not at all.” She stopped for a moment.

“I’ve always been a skeptic. I take nothing at face value, and I have a nose trained to smell bullshit. Dale knew this.” Her voice trailed off. “These are strange times, and secrets are necessary, but fuck that! I had a husband. He was my life. We didn’t have kids, and we were joined at the hip. I sensed that he wanted to tell me and unburden himself. He dropped little hints. Finally, I ceased being a nag, stopped my questioning, but rather than just watch my husband eat himself alive, I decided to find out exactly what was going on.”

The hot water was throwing off steam. Condensation clung everywhere. Laura’s blonde ponytail was becoming stringy.

“Do we have to stay in here?” Cooper asked.

“We can’t take any chances,” she said, reaching over the sink. She turned off the hot water faucet, and turned up the cold. “Better safe than sorry.”

She looked down at her hands as if she were inspecting something important there, but Cooper knew she was hiding the tears in her eyes.

“Before…well, we enjoyed each other. We had postponed having children,” she said, averting her face as to hide something too personal. “We were in love.”

Cooper, stiff from standing, sat down on the edge of the tub.

“My personal investigation was handicapped by the fact that I couldn’t risk letting Dale catch on. He wanted me to stay out of it. He had warned me during one of his rages that it was none of my ‘damned business,’ that it would be dangerous, if I found out. By then he was having nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, screaming.”

She paused for a moment. “I haven’t confided to a soul about this Jack, and I wouldn’t be telling you, except that…well…you’re in it up to your eyeballs.”

“In what?” he asked impatiently.

“You’d be surprised at how necessity forces you to be creative,” she continued. “I started to pick up things being communicated without ever being articulated. The power of the unsaid. I was certain Dale was involved in something that was making him crazy. It was clear that he and Henderson were at loggerheads over something. I also felt, despite his not wanting me to know, that he wanted to reach out to me, but couldn’t. The more I sensed his need, the more I wanted to know. I’m lousy at subterfuge, but what choice did I have? I didn’t know where to start. So I started with Blake.”

“Blake?” Cooper was startled

“Blake was the Vice President’s trainer. I joined Bethesda. Began to watch them. Those two women that work out daily…they’re part of the Vice President’s secret service detail. And that new man working the treadmill next to you…Kessler, I’m sure that he’s part of it too, and that Dietrich, the doctor that Blake is always fussing over too.”

“Melnechuck?”

She nodded. “Has to be part of it.”

“Part of what?”

“I’m not sure.”

Cooper shook his head in disbelief.

“Now you really think I’m paranoid, right?”

“It’s a tempting presumption.”

“Did you tell your husband about this?”

She paused for a long moment. “My husband is dead.” A tear rolled down her cheek, and she suppressed a sob with a hand over her mouth. She stood up and splashed some water on her face.

“I’m sorry,” Cooper said, feeling genuine compassion for her for the first time. She had just appeared so much in command of herself. Now she looked beaten and forlorn. Regaining composure, she wiped her eyes and face with a piece of toilet paper. Cooper grabbed a glass from the sink, filled it with cold water and offered it to her. She took it with her shaky hands. She took deep breaths until she had calmed down.

“Two months ago Dale crashed into a ravine in Rock Creek Park.”

“I’m sorry,” Cooper whispered again.

“The police called me. The car hit a tree. He was crushed. I had to go down and identify the body. When they completed the autopsy, they said they had found a tremendous amount of alcohol in his blood…Dale never drank. I couldn’t believe it. The whole thing was horrible. Riggs called after he learned what had happened, and I asked him: ‘Riggs, level with me. What is going on? What was torturing Dale?’”

She seemed like she would lose control again, but she maintained her composure. “Riggs turned the questions back on me. He admitted that Dale had been acting strangely, but he said he assumed it was because of something happening at home. Riggs said Dale was convinced I was keeping something from him. I was shocked. I let his explanation lay there.” She frowned. “I couldn’t buy that it was an accident. It had to be something about Riggs.”

“A scandal?” Cooper volunteered. “Like Clinton and Lewinsky.”

“Riggs wasn’t a lady’s man. He was Mr. Straight Arrow, no doubt about that.”

Again Cooper’s memory of Margo surfaced. The pain rushed back at him.

“Dale was murdered, and I’m sure that there is some connection with all of these people at Bethesda.”

“But others come in and out of there daily. They can’t all be connected with the Vice President. Also, if those people are involved with the Vice President and you know who they are, they must know who you are.”

For the first time she since had entered his apartment, she offered a tiny smile. “I’m in disguise. I’ve dyed my hair blonde, changed my hairdo, put in contacts. I only met Blake once, and that was briefly. And the women are new to the secret service detail.”

“How does Parrish fit in with all this?”

“I had the feeling that he was being watched, right after he disappeared. Trust me. You wouldn’t have noticed, but I’m sure of it. And now he’s gone.”

“I know,” Cooper said. He told her about his day’s adventures.

She listened carefully and nodded. “Figures.”

“Where did he go?”

“Maybe the way of my husband. Who knows? There’s no record of him. Right?”

“None,” Cooper agreed. He was into it now.

“Ask yourself why.”

“Maybe he found out something he shouldn’t have.”

“When you didn’t come today, I panicked. They’re watching you too, Jack. I know they are.”

His own recent experiences seemed to confirm her theory.

“All I can ask is that you take me on faith, Jack. I’ve come to warn you.”

“Okay then. Consider me warned.”

Laura began preparing to leave.

“Do you have any theories of what’s going on?” Cooper asked cautiously.

He feared entering Laura’s tortured world, where he would be forced to travel far beyond the borders of his life, to a place of disorder and chaos from which it would be impossible to return. If only to dispel the gloom evinced by her warning, and to keep him from falling into the hellish pit of her paranoia, he added gently, “Well, I’m here now, safe and sound,”

“There’s only one thing you can do to keep it that that way. Run. Run far away. As fast as you can.”

Then she moved closer to him and whispered in his ear.

“If you don’t, I’m not going to let you out of my sight.”

Laura turned, walked out of the bathroom, and without looking back, let herself out of the apartment door.

Cooper was awakened from a deep dreamless sleep by a rainstorm battering his window. It took him some time to adjust to his surroundings, and for a moment he felt panicked by some inchoate danger. He had tried to resist allowing Laura’s strange story to inspire fear within him, but he could not totally avoid its influence.
Paranoia might be contagious after all
, he thought. Jumping out of bed, he went to the window and looked through the relentless downpour to the street below.

Nothing unusual
, he decided. Nobody watching.

“Run,” she had told him.
Run, where to?
He was having difficulty enough deciding what he was running from.

After shaving and getting into his jogging clothes, Cooper firmly resolved to resume his routine. He had absolutely no interest in the fate of the Vice President, his aides, or for that matter, anything to do with politics. Being planted in Washington D.C was little more than a coincidence for Cooper, a mere accident of geography.

Just to be certain that she was being paranoid, he went through the motions, and began searching his apartment for something that might resemble a microphone. He looked inside closets, in drawers, under the bed, around his books. He even unscrewed light bulbs and the telephone. Finally, he conceded, that perhaps earlier he might have been under some kind of surveillance
.
He was even willing to believe that it did have something to do with Parrish.

But what did all this have do to with me?
He vowed to submit only to logic based on his own objective observations. Laura Chase’s story was suspect, perhaps a manifestation of hysteria about losing her husband. Maybe the woman had created her role as a central figure in some imaginative conspiracy. He wanted no part of it. He longed only to go back to his own unruffled existence. He had no desire to reenter the rabbit warren of pain, confusion, and uncertainty.

Cooper didn’t care what any of these people were involved in. The only person he thought about with even the slightest interest was Susan Haber, Parrish’s former neighbor. He could not deny a vague sensual pull, but he was hopeful that mental discipline would keep that interest at bay as well. Non-involvement was the order of the day.

But once he arrived at the club, remaining uninvolved was not as easy as his earlier resolution. There was Laura on the step machine. She looked his way for less than a second, with an expression of both caution and alarm. He reluctantly obeyed by turning away swiftly, but only for the sake of appearances. Cooper did not want to appear doubtful about her wild story, but neither did he want to be subjected to any more of her fantasies.

Beside him on the treadmill was Kessler. Cooper could feel the man’s eyes on him, searching for some acknowledgment. Cooper fixed his gaze straight ahead, offering not the slightest hint of recognition. Blake, he noted, was in his office, talking on the phone. Melnechuck, sweat soaking through his sweatshirt, biceps and pecs bulging, was just finishing the bench press.

Good
, he thought,
better to cast them out of the line of further observation
.

The ordinariness of the situation calmed him. But that was soon dissipated by his discovery that Anni Corazon was not in the room. A quick involuntary glance toward Laura placed significance to Anni’s absence. She gazed back and nodded, the hint of a smile on her lips, a tacit sardonic rebuke to his rejection of her warning.

“Take it easy.”

He was doing lat pull-downs and Blake had come up behind him.

“Like I showed you. Smooth. Easy.” Blake placed his hands on his shoulders as Cooper pulled.

“You’re too tense, Cooper,” Blake said. “Relax.”

Cooper tried to relax, but Blake’s proximity was disconcerting.

“Tomorrow first thing, we’ll go through the machines again,” Blake said. “Maybe add some weights. Okay with you?”

Cooper nodded, surprised at Blake’s sudden attention, especially considering their recent dispute about Parrish.

“Sorry about that shit I gave you the other day. I’m a lousy paper shuffler. Always misplacing stuff.” Cooper shrugged and continued his sets. “Better,” Blake said, patting his shoulder, and went back to his office.

He glanced toward Laura. Her expression had changed. She looked grim.

Where is Anni? Why isn’t she here? What is her car doing in the Georgia Mews parking lot?
Then
a mental attempt at evasion.
Anni meant nothing to me.

Then, as if a gust of breeze was dissipating a cloud of toxic fumes, Anni walked in, her face impassive. She mounted a treadmill, set the controls, and began her routine. Cooper shot Laura a look of profound skepticism.
Enough
, he told himself.

He finished his sets, and reached the locker room, but he was disgusted with his inability to snap back into his resolved mindset. He entered the sauna. Kessler came in.

“Missed you yesterday,” he said, slumped against the wall on the top level.

“I was busy,” Cooper muttered, surprised that Kessler noticed his absence. Then he remembered that Laura had included him in the cabal, and in spite of his earlier resolution, he couldn’t help interrogating him.

After a moment of silence, Cooper asked politely, “You into politics?”

“Me?” Kessler shook his head.

“I couldn’t care less,” Cooper said casually. “You like our President?”

“I don’t think about him much,” Kessler said.

“Not a bad guy,” Cooper said.

Kessler uncurled himself and moved to a pail of water on the floor, stuck in a dipper then poured it over his head.

“Too damned hot,” he said.

“Yeah,” Cooper said, as Kessler climbed back up to a shelf.

“Better,” Kessler mumbled.

“They say Haley will be the next president,” Cooper said casually. He felt himself tense as he waited for a reply. None came.

“You think so?” Cooper persisted.

“Think what?”

“About Vice President Haley.”

“I have no views on it. I can’t vote. I’m not a citizen yet.”

“Where are you from?”

“Latvia,” Kessler said.

“You like it here in the US?”

“So far.” Kessler stood up, and without another word, slipped out of the sauna.

Cooper stretched out on the wood boards and closed his eyes, hoping that his mind would shut out all the strange information that was pouring into it. There was no way to close the spigot. He got up from his supine position and left the sauna.

Downstairs at the lunch counter, he could barely get down the first bite of his sandwich. He tried to focus his attention on the squash game. It was futile. His mind was churning too fast. Logic was becoming garbled. Then suddenly a telephone rang behind the lunch counter. The woman answered it.

“Cooper?” She looked toward him.

He nodded and the woman gave him the phone. At first, he was too shocked to take it. No one had ever called him at the club. In fact, no one ever called him. Cooper felt his hands shake as he took the phone from the woman.

“Mr. Cooper?”

“This is Susan Haber. Remember?”

He was dumbfounded and struck silent. It took him awhile to recover.

“Of course, I do.”

Her image rushed full-blown into his mind, her blonde hair falling to her shoulders, green eyes hiding shyly behind little round glasses perched between her high cheekbones. Suddenly he felt relieved. The soft inviting sound of her voice seemed to lift a burden. She seemed cheerful and chatty, like a young girl.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you. But you did say that you and Parrish worked out there on a daily basis, so I thought it would be okay.”

“It is. No problem.”

“I…I’m sorry I was so nervous yesterday, you know, about Parrish’s apartment.”

“It was empty,” Cooper said. He didn’t want to tell her what happened to him.

“I know.” Her voice purred. He liked hearing it.

“You do?”

“I finally summoned the courage. Let myself in. I suppose it was after you left. Curiosity got the best of me.”

Another mystery unraveled
, he thought. It was the light he had seen behind the blinds of Parrish’s apartment.

“Anyway, after I got Parrish’s call, I turned the key in.”

Parrish’s call?
Cooper felt his heartbeat pound against his ribcage.

“He said he was sorry, but he had to leave suddenly. Some big freelance offer he couldn’t refuse. He wanted to say good-bye. I thought that was nice.”

“Yes it was,” Cooper agreed.

“He said he was calling from California somewhere.”

“Did you mention that I was trying to find him?” Cooper asked with some trepidation.

“Yes I did,” she said. “He apologized for his abrupt departure and sends his regards. Says you should keep up the good work on the treadmill.”

“I’m glad he’s okay,” Cooper said, smiling, relieved. Laura’s theories were being obliterated.

“I just thought you’d like to know,” Susan said.

“I appreciate your call,” he told her, waiting through a long pause.

“Listen, I’ve got a great idea…that is, if you can spare the time. If you haven’t eaten lunch, I could rustle up a sandwich, and we can chat about our eccentric mutual friend.”

At that moment, Cooper saw Laura, coming down the corridor in his direction.

“Sure. That would be nice. Be about twenty minutes,” he said.

“Good. See you then.”

“Changed my lunch plans,” he said to the woman behind the counter, handing her cash for the sandwich. Before Laura could reach him, he moved swiftly through the lobby and into the street.

It had stopped raining, but the air was still heavy with moisture. The sun was struggling to poke through heavy clouds, perfectly matching his mood. He, too, sensed that he was struggling to poke through some symbolic clouds.

Clear
skies ahead
, he told himself, thinking of Susan.

He started jogging toward Georgia Mews, which was in the opposite direction of his own apartment. Then he remembered Laura’s warning about keeping an eye on him. He was certain she had seen him leave. Looking behind him, he quickly changed direction. He needed to evade her prying eyes. He could imagine what was going through her mind.
Where was this Cooper fellow heading? Why didn’t he take my advice?

It did not take him long to confirm that. Peripherally, he saw her behind the wheel of a black car.
Another mystery solved
, he thought wryly, suspecting that this was the car that had followed him a couple of days ago.

So it was she who watched me through the night
. The revelation set off further possibilities. He suspected it was also Laura who had broken into his apartment and gone through his things. What should have made him suspicious of her motives, whatever they were, was her urging him to run.
From what?
He had no connection with anything that even hinted at intrigue or espionage, government or otherwise. He possessed absolutely no information of anything even remotely relevant to politics. He had never been a witness to events that might seem serious or important to anybody. He was now convinced that he had, despite all resistance, innocently galloped into her obsession.

Cooper’s inquiries about Parrish had simply added him to the cast of characters who populated her fantasy. She probably did lose her husband in a car crash, and it was quite likely the event had unhinged her, and triggered her paranoia. But even paranoids could be logical and persuasive, he decided. The mind was a delicate instrument, subject to shocks and strains that could skew one’s perception of reality.

Parrish’s absence had simply set off a ridiculous chain of imaginary events. There was, after all, something exotic about Parrish, even mysterious. Susan was right about him being a character.
All right
, he conceded, he had dwelled on that fact of Parrish’s life, and he had himself succumbed to silly speculations. But something good had come of all this. He had met Susan Haber. Perhaps it was time for reentry into the world. Perhaps his bitter feelings about Margo were fading. Good things, he decided, were about to happen.

Cooper mapped out a path of escape. At a cross street, he turned suddenly and sprinted up an alley that separated two high rise apartment buildings, but instead of continuing to where the alley emptied, he jumped into a stairwell. As expected, the car moved through the alley. He waited until the car made a turn at the end of the alley, then doubled back where the alley began and cut across the rear of a small shopping center. Traversing alleys and cutting through side streets, he reached Georgia Mews and moved swiftly to Susan’s building.

Before entering, he paused and surveyed the parking lot. Laura’s car was nowhere to be found.

“Jack,” Susan said, opening the door of her apartment. “I’m glad you could come.” She smiled broadly and fixed her green eyes on him. She wore black slacks and a tight T-shirt over obviously well formed breasts, her nipples clearly outlined beneath the tight fabric.

She had set the bridge table with a yellow tablecloth on which she had placed a sprig of daisies in a small vase. Everything looked cozy and inviting. He stood in the living room in front of the couch.