“The morning television shows are all reporting that several women have emerged, accusing you of charges similar to the one on television last night. Your attorney called and requested that you cancel the press conference this morning and not give any interviews until you and he have met.”

Knott was unable to speak.

“Sir, what would you like me to do?”

“Cancel the press conference,” he replied, “and don’t call me again.” He hung up. He reached for his wife, but he had forgotten that she was in New York, shopping. He got out of bed and paced the room, naked and in a panic. It was obvious to him that his presidential bid was at an end, and Christian St. Clair was dead, so he couldn’t ask him what to do next.

He went into his study and looked out the big windows with their view of the Virginia countryside. It was pouring rain, and the wind was whipping the trees on his lawn. It seemed a metaphor of what had suddenly happened to his life, and there was nowhere to go from here.

He sat down at his desk, still naked, opened a drawer, and removed a beautiful, handmade .45 semiautomatic pistol, one of a considerable collection. He racked the slide, thumbed the safety off, put the barrel into his mouth, and pulled the trigger.

—

STONE OVERSLEPT, not waking until nearly nine o’clock. The TV was still on to MSNBC, and Mika Brzezinski was speaking into the camera and a banner beneath her read: “Breaking News.”

“The Virginia State Police, called to the home of Nelson Knott, found him at his desk, dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. His death came after multiple reports of accusations of rape by former female employees of his company. Thus ends perhaps the shortest presidential campaign in American history.”

The phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Stone, it’s Ed Rawls. I’m back on Islesboro, at your place. Just got in.”

“Have you heard the news?”

“I’ve heard nothing else,” Ed said. “I’m in your living room, and it’s on right now.”

“You heard about St. Clair, too?”

“Yeah, at bedtime last night, in Augusta.”

“Ed, do you know anything about that explosion?”

“Well, I know that if you don’t follow the proper procedure when you open a strong case, you get a strong reaction.”

“Did you mention that to the people who took the case from you?”

“Nope. They didn’t ask me.”

“Ed, there’s something I’ve got to know.”

“I’ll help if I can.”

“What was in the strong case?”

Ed chuckled. “Nothing. Not a thing.”

“And for how long had that been true?”

“Well, I emptied it before I left it with Joe Adams,” Ed said. “I was trying to finish my book at the time, and I needed a red herring to keep people busy and off my back until it was done.”

“Did Joe know it was empty?”